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imprint on the whole scene in a fatherly way. He the Prince of

peace, Wonderful!—and that is all ahead. I think we need a

sense of the way the Lord is presenting Himself in this chapter.

I think we need it at the present moment because the Lord in

that aspect is holding things.

Where would anything be apart from the controlling power of

Christ? The devil can only go so far. We have often been

encouraged by that word—God uses it Himself “Hitherto shalt

thou come and no further, and here shall thy proud waves be

stayed”, Job 38: 11. We have to leave certain things in the

hands of God; He permits things to reach a certain point. So it

is with the Lord in matters; He may let a matter run over years

until there is a heading up; then He says, ‘That is enough; no

more’, and He intervenes; the point is, when He does, to

discern His movements and follow Him.

That is what I have in mind in chapter 21. The Lord is in

control, and how skilful He is! So He says, “Come and dine”,

before anything else came up. The Lord had already had to do

with Peter on an earlier occasion, the first day of the week. But

He really puts Peter right in the presence of his brethren. And

it was to the man who left the ship to go to Jesus that He

committed the charge as to the feeding of His lambs and the

shepherding and feeding of His sheep. So everything was

righted. The last word that Peter brings in as to ‘knowledge’

means—‘Is there not something concrete about me that

proves to Thee that I love Thee?’ The Lord knew it, and Peter

knew that He knew it. Peter loved the Lord and I trust

everyone here tonight loves the Lord Jesus, and it is that love

that the Spirit of God is able to nourish, and control and lead

forward, whether it be in the witness, the testimony, or in the

service of God.

And so, after Peter has been adjusted in the presence of his

brethren—and who would raise anything after this?