FIRES
Bill W Lovie
I seek help, beloved, to say a little as to these three fires that we have read of. The first fire is the world’s fire. The second fire is provided by the Lord Himself in view of food; and at the third fire, Paul is exercised that it may continue that there might be warmth.
Peter loved the Lord. There is no question as to Peter’s love for the Lord - I trust everyone here loves the Lord. Peter found himself in a position that he was not able for: maybe we do that. It tells us twice that he was standing warming himself. He was not at home there; I have no doubt he did not feel at home there. He put himself in a position where he denied the Lord. The first time he denied the Lord must have been a warning to him. Maybe if we are honest with ourselves, we may have found ourselves in a position where we might deny the Lord: it is incumbent upon us to extricate ourselves. Peter was here because he loved the Lord. He did not understand that he could not follow. Peter had followed Him on that pathway of service but there comes a point where the Lord is now going on to accomplish a work that He is going to carry out alone. Peter has to learn that he cannot follow there.
We read all these verses because it gives us the setting of things. It shows us - as we might say - that the ark takes care of itself. Here they came to take the Lord Jesus. The Lord says twice, “Whom seek ye?” and “they went away backward”. They could not take the Lord; they could not take Him unless the Lord surrendered Himself in love for the will of His God and Father, and love for you and me, dear friend. That is what He did. He surrendered Himself, they had no power to take Him, “they went away backward”. It is like Dagon toppling over (1 Sam 5); there is no power there.
If you go through these sections, you can ask who is in control. Is it the chief priests and the Pharisees and the scribes and the Romans? No, it is the Lord who is in control. What a wonderful matter this is. When you read through these verses at the end of John’s gospel, it is also like the ark approaching the Jordon. The waters of the Jordon fled, they fled. It was not like the Red Sea where they stood in a heap and you could still see them. The ark approached the Jordan, and in the days of harvest the waters of the Jordan overflow all its banks, Josh 3: 15. All that concentrated power was against Christ, and it fled. If you read through chapters 18 and 19, the Lord says more as John records it to the chief priests and the Pharisees and to Pilate than He does in the synoptic gospels.
The Lord is in control. Simon Peter did not realise that. He finds himself at the world’s fire. We are told, in the brackets, “for it was cold”. John tells us in relation to one of the feasts that “it was winter” (chap 10: 22); he tells us here “it was cold”. He tells us when Judas went out “it was night”, chap 13: 30. These are moral conditions that exist currently. We are also told in the beginning of John 5 that there are five porches in Bethesda, v 2. That is a current condition. You might ask why that is important? When John wrote his gospel - we understand John was the last writer, and he wrote his gospel as an old man - Jerusalem was in ruins, the Romans had destroyed Jerusalem. He says, “there is in Jerusalem”. That means, beloved, that these five porches are a current condition that marks Christendom, man’s number, all the ‘isms’ that make up Christendom publicly. When John tells us things, he makes them current. The fact it was winter, and the fact it was night, and the fact it was cold, are current conditions that are around us, so we need to get warmth and we need to get food. We do not get warmth at the world’s fire. That would be a warning to us. I do not want to labour the point. The world’s fire is not where the believer is to stand warming himself. Peter denies the Lord as we know because he is in a position that he is not able for.
If you go through these verses, you see the ark moving and taking care of itself. The Lord was scourged in chapter 19. He had a crown of thorns put on Him; they put a purple robe on Him. John does not record that they are taken off, as if he would impress us with the glory of the Person who was moving forward into death. John does record that the Lord carried His own cross; He was going forward in the power and majesty of His own Person in John’s gospel as if no one else could take it up. No one could take it up. John gives us things, or omits things, and they always have a point. Every verse of scripture has a point, for our contemplation. What we are contemplating is the greatness of the Lord Jesus as approaching death. The whole purpose of God in His mind, securing the universe for God, all that is in His mind as He goes to the cross. How wonderful to contemplate, I think that is what we need to take from these chapters in John. We need not become over occupied with Peter’s failure because Peter was recovered and, as we know in Luke, the Lord appeared to Simon Himself: “The Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon”, Luke 24: 34. Think of the grace of the Lord Jesus in doing that. How gracious the Lord Jesus is with each one of us. Dear young one, the world’s fire is not the place for the believer to be because you will find that you deny the Lord Jesus and you have no power. There is salvation for one who confesses the name of the Lord Jesus: “The name of Jehovah is a strong tower”, Prov 18: 10. Think of that, you can confess His Name: it is a refuge. Peter found himself in such a place that he denied the Lord Jesus. John does not tell us of Peter weeping but Peter felt that: “he went forth without, and wept bitterly”, Matt 26: 75. Peter felt it, although John does not record it.
We come on to chapter 21; we have another fire. The point in this section is that it is the third manifestation. The first manifestation was on the first day of the week; we have the second one a week later, and this third one. We have often heard it said that the first one relates to the assembly, the second one relates to Israel, and the third one to the world to come. But they are linked together so that we are to know, as lovers of the Lord Jesus, something of assembly privilege, which is really what the first day of the week speaks of. The second manifestation is in relation to faith and that involves the current time. Then we come to the third one and the Lord is moving in love and grace and service in recovery. Things are broken here; it is not the twelve; there are seven. Simon Peter gives this lead; “I go to fish” and others go with him. They took nothing. It has often been described as ‘nakedness, night, and nothing’ (JT vol 10 p160), the three ‘n’s’. The Lord is looking to manifest Himself. It is a word that John uses, manifestation; the other gospel writers speak about appearings. The Lord appears, He presents Himself in a way that we are to take account of. A manifestation would leave an impression on us of His glory. Think of that, on that first day of the week: “Jesus came and stood in the midst”, John 20: 19. He showed them His hands and His side, v 20. Think of that; they were hands that were holding everything for God. His side involving what came out of His side. Genesis 2 would bring before us the thought of the assembly as out of the side of Christ: what a manifestation. Here the Lord is moving in recovery. They took nothing; it was not exactly a wrong thing to fish, but these seven were not moving under the direction of the Lord. The Lord allowed them to do it and allowed them to go on and to take nothing. He says to them, “Children, have ye anything here to eat?”. Think of the graciousness of the Lord. “They answered him, No”.
Maybe when we were younger, we thought the end of Luke’s gospel was a different account of the same occasion. I do not think that is right at all. This is different from what Luke gives us. They had something there. “Have ye anything here to eat?”, Luke 24: 41. It has been suggested that that involves what is local, “here”. They had something. The Lord was looking to see what they were enjoying: “they gave him part of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb”. We can think of the saints in relation to the honeycomb; the disciples had been working things out together. The Lord appreciates that. Things are being worked out collectively. He enjoyed what they were enjoying.
Here He says to them, “have ye anything to eat? They answered him, No”. Immediately He gives this direction and immediately John recognises who it is. “That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved says to Peter, It is the Lord”. You notice earlier on how John hides himself in his writings. In verse 2 it speaks of the sons of Zebedee. It has been suggested that John could not say there that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved; not that it was not true at that point: it is always true. The Lord loved John; the Lord loves each one of His own. John maybe did not feel he could quite say that at that point. Here he says, “That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved”. He recognised it was the Lord. Is that not wonderful? Someone says it is the Lord: that is good direction. Simon Peter then is moved and he “cast himself into the sea”. He goes out of sight, too. Perhaps he reached land quicker than the disciples in the small boat. “When therefore they went out on the land, they see a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it”. This is the Lord’s provision that His own should be fed. They had taken nothing. There is nothing that they were having for that moment. The expedition had resulted in nothing, but the Lord has all the provision that is required; “coals there”, think of the warmth of that, “fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus says to them, bring of the fishes”. He links on with what they have now, these great fishes. It speaks of persons; it speaks of every one of us. Jesus says to them, “Come and dine”. We need to eat to live naturally and spiritually too; we need to eat to live, but the Lord says, “Come and dine”. It is not just getting a meal to get by; it involves an experience, the Lord’s abundant provision, just what was required. You might say He has to sort this out and sort that out; He does, and we can leave it to the Lord’s time. He feeds them first; He gives them food. If the Lord is providing food, it is exactly what is required at the moment, and it is good. “Jesus comes and takes the bread and gives it to them, and the fish in like manner”. Think of the Lord serving in that way. He would do that; He would do that currently. He has taken up that place of service in the dispensation; we know the greatness of His Person and yet this is how He is acting to His own. “Come and dine”. This fire is in view of food; it is in view of food being sustained.
“When therefore they had dined”. The Lord is going to probe Peter. Peter as we know denied Him thrice, and the Lord probes him three times. He gets to the bottom of the whole matter. He fed them first. Is that not wonderful? They were satisfied, and then Peter became adjustable, very adjustable. The Lord secured His end in Peter. We could apply this section in relation to the breakdown publicly, but then we have the Lord coming in and bringing in His own provision and securing things: what Peter represents and what John represents as going on to the end. The Lord provides all that; He provides what is required for us individually, locality-wise, assembly-wise. The Lord has just what is required. Have we had this experience, do we know what it is to have this experience with the Lord and be fed and be satisfied?
We come to the end of Acts; here is Paul. It is the aftermath of the shipwreck. They land on this island. It was cold; it was winter, again it was winter. Outside it is winter. You might say, currently it is winter. We go through seasons in our soul histories and perhaps in our localities and assembly histories. We go through the seasons: the winter and the summer, the ingathering of fruit in the autumn. You might say these exercises go on, maybe they go on concurrently, but outwardly, things are winter. In the world, things are winter, so there is the need of heat. That is another thing we get in relation to the honeycomb, “part of a broiled fish and of a honeycomb”. The bees stay in the hive through the winter; there is warmth in the hive. If a hive does not survive the winter something has gone wrong, the warmth has not been there, because the bees can survive through the winter. In our localities there is to be warmth, and I suppose that is what we see here. Paul did not start this fire. They “kindled a fire”. There is nothing more miserable in winter, than rain and having been shipwrecked and coming out of the sea. You are soaking wet anyway and then the rain compounding things. These persons “shewed us no common kindness; for, having kindled a fire, they took us all in because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold”. How thankful we would be for a fire in such a situation as this. Perhaps we feel that we do not have very much, and we cannot do very much; perhaps we feel we cannot do anything. Gathering sticks is not beyond anyone. Here is a great apostle; it is not a matter of expounding on the truth of Romans, or Ephesians or Colossians, these doctrinal epistles. Who would have capacity for that? It is a matter of continuance, keeping the fire going in the local meeting. We need to be exercised. We can look back on the histories of our localities, and the locality was there before I came into fellowship; things are to continue. In a very simple way, can you gather a stick, can you add to what is going to keep the fire going in the locality, keep the warmth?
The impression at the end of the reading was that we come away fed. That is what John 21 would give us; we come away fed. You come away from a meeting and you are warmed up. Maybe you have felt you have enjoyed a good weekend, you have enjoyed a good Lord’s day, you go to work on Monday and you are back down in the doldrums; and it comes to Monday night and you maybe do not feel like going out because it has been a difficult day and you are tired: well, go to the prayer meeting: you will get warmed up. You will get warmed up and maybe by you being there you will warm up an older brother or sister.
These are simple things; Christianity is very simple; it is love for the Lord: what is your motivation, is it love for the Lord? Paul wants things to continue; so he goes out and gathers sticks. He has capacity: what can we say about our capacity? Capacity can be increased; go and gather sticks, put them in the fire. The enemy does not like this: “A viper coming out from the heat”. It has been pointed out that the viper does not come out of the sticks exactly; he comes out of the heat. The enemy would be quite happy if things in localities get overheated, but that is not normal. Here the enemy does not want this warmth in our localities, he does not want things going on and working out, impressions of Christ coming in, and persons being fed and built up, warmed up: he does not want that. He comes out and he attacks Paul. Paul shakes off the viper into what we might say is the very thing that the enemy is against, the warmth of the fire. He saw the beast hanging from his hand, but “He however, having shaken off the beast into the fire, felt no harm”. The Lord said, “By this shall ye know that ye are disciples of mine, if ye have love amongst yourselves”, John 13: 35. I think this is the working out of love amongst yourselves. How attractive it is.
I trust we may be helped in relation to these fires, the first one by way of a warning. How subtle and devious the enemy is. If you find you are somewhere where we might deny the Lord, extricate yourself; the Lord will help you in that. But then we come to what is normal, the enjoyment of food, the experience of having to do with the Lord and the warmth when outwardly everything is winter and cold. We can know warmth; it would help us as we go on, go on in the testimony, go on in committal to the Lord Jesus, looking for His coming, looking to be with Him forever. These exercises will be past; they are all in view of formation at the present time. Things are being worked out, worked out in persons like you and me. I trust we may be encouraged, for His Name’s sake.
Maidstone
6th July 2024