A MANIFESTATION OF JESUS
[p. 192] A MANIFESTATION OF JESUS
I hope I shall be able to speak briefly and concisely, having in mind to show that the Lord Jesus always reserves to Himself the mastery of every set of circumstances in which the testimony may be, or in which His people may be, and shows that in crises it is not simply that He comes in for deliverance — He does, but it is not simply that; He shows also that He has a positive end in view in what happens; blessing is always in view in what He does.
You will observe here that the passage begins with a suggestion of a manifestation, not simply an intervention. If we get the thought of a manifestation of Christ into our souls, we shall think it worth while to go through certain exercises and processes and sufferings, so that it may be a verity to us. How great is a manifestation of Jesus! A manifestation is not simply that one passes before you; but it is intentional. In Canticles the Lord is presented as showing Himself by certain movements that would make Him attractive, “shewing himself through the lattice”(Song of Songs 2:9), behind which was His lover, but whose love was somewhat cold and uncertain. There was a movement to attract her attention so that she might move from where she was and come to Him. The Lord shows Himself through the lattice, that is in spite of something that is between your soul and Him. Very easily we allow some such thing, but in spite of it He would manifest Himself to us.
Manifestation stands at the head of this passage, not merely at the end, though it is there too: “This is already the third time that Jesus had been manifested to the disciples, being risen from among the dead”, verse 14. He might have been seen by anyone on the [p. 193] street before He died; as He walked through Judaea and Galilee anyone might have seen Him. He assumed no special garb. Scripture says He took His place “in the likeness of men” — not any special class. That is to say. He was ordinary outwardly. If He were in this city He would hire a house or stay with a saint, taking His place in outward humility and simplicity. He left Nazareth and went and abode at Capernaum; so that you might have been His neighbour. You might have seen Him go in and out of the house in which He lived every day. That would not be a manifestation. Some saw more than others, of course, as John says, “we have contemplated his glory”, John 1:14. There were those who watched more closely and saw beneath the exterior. They “contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father, full of grace and truth”(John 1:14). But here in John 21 it is a manifestation. He would have them to see it. That is what heads the account: “After these things Jesus manifested himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias. And he manifested himself thus”.
Now we come to the dark shadows of the picture. There were together seven disciples, more or less in unbelief, but they are called disciples. They are dignified in that sense in spite of the sequel about to be related. There were there Peter and Thomas. Peter is usually linked with James and John, but Thomas is put first here after Peter. And then there were the two sons of Zebedee, and Nathanael of Cana of Galilee, and two others whose names are not given. Now these seven disciples are mentioned here but not as in the full expression of discipleship. They are not in the world either. They are in territory well known, hallowed by the footsteps of Jesus, by the sea of Galilee, but they are not in the circumstances of discipleship. One says, “I go to fish”; the others say, “We also come with thee”. It is leadership, but leadership misused. Peter was a leader, we learn this in Matthew, who greatly enlarges on Peter: “first Peter”. He is the leader not merely by appointment but in fact. A man is what he is, not only by official appointment, but characteristically. In God’s ordering official position is sustained by moral worth. Here Peter has turned aside from this principle, but the Lord soon brought him back to it.
This little bit of precious divine history has this heading — it is a manifestation of Jesus. That is in view. If it were to be entitled, coming in as it does as a kind of appendix, that would be the heading. It would not be Peter’s failure. The title is a manifestation of Jesus; this begins and ends the narrative of the fishing expedition. Peter’s failure comes in between two manifestations. The first manifestation is in verse nineteen of chapter twenty, the second is eight days after, and the third is here. These manifestations are spiritual history, because they came in after Jesus rose from among the dead. Think of what spiritual impressions were imparted! Think of a risen Man showing Himself in His own divine way, so that the word manifestation applies! The point is, dear brethren, that the Lord is supreme in every set of circumstances or every circumstance in which His testimony or people may be found. It is as if He said, ‘I am taking advantage of this sorrow; terrible as it may seem to you, terrible as the storm may be, I am in charge. It is my affair, and I am going to bring out something for myself and for you greater than you could have calculated’.
These disciples go a-fishing; they have a leader and they follow him. You can see that he is a leader, so he says, “I go” and they say, “We also come with thee”. They did it immediately. That is proper in its own place; if we are taught in the Lord’s school of discipleship, we shall do things at once if they are to be done. The word immediately is a characteristic word in Mark. “Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently” (Jeremiah 48:10). That is a solemn word, but then we may act disobediently also in a [p. 195] hurry, and that is what they did here. There is no hesitation whatever in the decision to go with Simon.
Well, they got nothing that night. You can understand the Lord had the manifestation in His mind; His heart was full of it. He wanted to show Himself to these who were really His lovers and whom He loved. He would say, as it were, ‘I intend to show Myself to them as they never saw Me before’. It is a new thing altogether and it comes in at the end when you might have thought the Lord had finished, but it brings out a new feature, which shows what the whole dispensation is. It is a dispensation of variety. There is no limit to what the Lord can be to us. There is no lessening in the power or in the variety of His service. Indeed there is more care expended on this, more design, than in any of the manifestations in this gospel.
In the morning they had nothing. That is a solemn matter; they had nothing. It is a night matter, a sleepless matter; there was toil in this expedition. Peter was a man who liked his rest; he went to sleep on the mount and in Gethsemane. He was a fisherman, and fishermen usually like their rest; but this was evidently a sleepless enterprise. Although there were no fish caught, the morning brought out the great and glorious fact that Christ was on the shore, on sure ground, as supreme as in the first verse in the Bible where it is Elohim, the Supreme. Genesis 1 presents a dark picture as to the earth; there was no footing for a creature. It says, “In the beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was waste and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters”(Genesis 1:1,2). There was no solid ground, for the earth was evidently submerged, but the Spirit of God was there, doubtless feeling deeply as to the chaotic conditions, and also as to the possibilities of the scene. So here, it is the Son of God, One not less in Person than the Spirit of God, — there is the night of nothingness and nakedness, but Jesus [p. 196] is on the shore. Beloved, the Lord would bring Himself into our souls in the supremacy which is His, as Ephesians presents Him — gone beyond all the heavens. Who can tell about the uncreated sphere? No creature can go there, Jesus has gone there and from thence He fills all things; He is supreme. That is His position, and He would assure us that He is thinking of us. Indeed that very passage in Ephesians says, “Having ascended up on high, he has led captivity captive, and has given gifts to men ... who has also ascended up above all the heavens, that he might fill all things; and he has given some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some shepherds and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints; with a view to the work of the ministry, with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ”(Ephesians 4:8; Ephesians 4:10 - 12). In His exaltation up there He thus cares for His own; He provides for us, as in the scene of the wind and the waves, as He says to His Father, “I am no longer in the world, and these are in the world ... . I do not demand that thou shouldest take them out of the world ...”, John 17:11,15. It is enemy’s territory, but the Lord is supreme; He is on the shore, as it were, and furnishes us, so that we should correspond with Himself.
Now who is going to be the next leader? Peter was the leader, but for a little while it is to be John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. He comes into it through greater spirituality. John says, “It is the Lord”. Peter is second now. John is first; not that John retained that place; he is generally second, and in this he is an admirable example for us of one who happily and efficiently takes the second place. Unless one can serve after another he cannot succeed in the Lord’s work. The man who says, “I will be king” meets with God’s stern resistance, but John comes into the lead here as recognising the Lord before Peter, and Peter takes his place and moves in the light flowing from his brother’s discernment. That is a principle in the assembly. It is the prerogative of the Spirit of God [p. 197] to put another forward at any time. For instance, if I am speaking in the assembly and a revelation is given to another sitting by, I sit down, 1 Corinthians 14:30. Why did the Holy Spirit pass me by? It is His prerogative, and I bow to it; and in this way the Holy Spirit maintains balance in the assembly. Peter moves in the light John furnishes here, raising no question. In this way we are on the line of recovery, Christ coming into view as on the shore.
Peter casts his fisher’s coat about him and casts himself into the sea. He is leading again, for John does not do that. I do not say that was his motive, however. “Simon Peter therefore, having heard that it was the Lord, girded his overcoat on him (for he was naked), and cast himself into the sea”. What for? To get to Jesus. How affecting is recovery in a believer who has strayed! It is here the effect of Christ manifesting Himself.
The disciples reach the land and now what appears is that the Lord has been doing something. There is “a fire of coals and fish laid thereon and bread”. How simple divine Persons are in their relations with us! How we do feel the chill occasioned by our own wills! I may have been naughty; but there is the fire and food on it. Was Gabriel or some other angel there? There is no evidence. This was the Lord’s own service. How touching that He thus provides for us even in our waywardness! I believe the Lord Jesus in the days of His flesh, did the most menial things among His disciples. He says, “I am in the midst of you as the one that serves”(Luke 22:27). There is no limitation. He would do anything for their comfort, as He does now spiritually for us. There was “fish laid thereon and bread”. It was the Lord’s doing. Then He says, “Bring of the fishes which ye have now taken” — as though He would say. In all this you have been doing something after all. “Bring of the fishes which ye have now taken”. How did they take them? At his direction.
[p. 198] He is supreme over the fish. He is the Creator. The fish of the sea are put under Him as the Son of man. But He is the Creator. It is not here a question of the “deep”, as in Luke 5. It is a question of the right side of the ship. Why should not the fish be on the left side? The principle of the right side is power. Jesus is not at God’s left hand. He is at His right hand. Thus the Lord said, “Cast the net at the right side of the ship and ye will find”. Power was needed — “cast”. When Peter was directed earlier as to his nets it was to let them down. This would be by gravity, but here it is a question of power: “Cast the net at the right side of the ship and ye will find”. What did they find? Of great fishes, a hundred and fifty-three. And the net did not break. The Lord is now risen, and so there is no breakage.
The Lord regards the disciples as having caught the fish. I think it is wonderful grace that the Lord accredits them with this catch of great fishes. It is not merely a large number, but individually great persons, in keeping with John. “Bring of the fish which ye have now taken”. They are now looked at as in service, they have part in what He is doing. He had fish already, but now they are to bring of what they had just taken. What have I that I can bring? What He is doing as the supreme One He would bring us all into. “Bring of the fish which ye” (the seven of you) “have now taken”. Then He says, “Come and dine”. One has often dwelt on this word “dine”. Why did the Lord use it here? They are cold and hungry. Would “eat” not be more appropriate? Ordinarily it would, for hungry fishermen take food without much ceremony. The Creator says, “Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it”(Psalm 81:10). What volume of food of every description there is today! The great bounty of God is seen in this, although poor human administration prevents it reaching all. The word here is not something to eat; the disciples are asked to dine. They are to eat in dignity. They have part in all this now on the land. “Come and dine”. The word children here is in keeping with this. They are regarded as in the family. They are not mere needy ones; they are the Lord’s dignified companions in spite of what has happened. After all this, the passage says, “This is already the third time that Jesus had been manifested to the disciples, being risen from among the dead”. They never had a manifestation like this. It is an entirely new chapter in their histories. The Lord would lift them out of the feeling of shame and smallness occasioned by their conduct, in thus preparing for them and inviting them to dine.
Then the Holy Spirit goes on to say, “When therefore they had dined Jesus says to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?” Has anyone here been comparing himself with others, assuming to have exceeded them in love for Christ? I have heard questions in that form which were really intended to convey the thoughts of the person asking them. But the Lord meant Peter to answer all His questions, and a conclusion is reached. The first time Peter answers, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I am attached to thee”; the second time, “Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I am attached to thee”; the third time he says, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I am attached to thee”. According to the New Translation the word “knowest” in each statement except the last refers to what is called conscious knowledge. Peter appealed to the Lord’s conscious knowledge. ‘You are conscious that I love thee’. But in the last case the original word conveys objective knowledge; it evidently implies that in Peter’s mind there was something in him which the Lord could see that showed that he loved Him. This conveys an important principle — that one who has to commend himself should not appeal to divine knowledge as such only, but also to the evidence of the work of God in him; something, in his movements and words, that shows there is love. And the Lord does not deny Peter’s intimation. There must have been something in his words or manner that showed that he was after all a true lover of Jesus, and the presence of Jesus was bringing that out. What else could be the result of such a contact between Jesus and Peter, but to bring out what was in Peter? One has often heard from persons under a cloud, ‘The Lord knows’. Surely He knows, but if there is something in me evidencing the work of God I can let it speak for itself. It is pure gold, which normally the brethren will recognise. In Peter’s case it might have been just a movement of the eye, a gesture or an emphasis on a sentence, but something that could be seen; that is testimony; that is treasure, and the Lord did not deny it.
There is a gradual establishment of confidence on the part of the Lord with Peter. He says, “Feed my lambs”. The Lord could not have given anything more precious than what He committed to Peter at that time — His sheep and lambs. It is a question of the establishment of confidence, Peter’s answers entering into this. Jesus had already expressed His confidence in John. On the cross, as He saw His mother standing by. He said to her, “Woman, behold thy son. Then he said unto the disciple. Behold thy mother. And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home”(John 19:26,27). How is she to be in his home? Doubtless many of you have thought of John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, taking the Lord’s mother to his own home. But in what relation? As the mother of Jesus? No, as his own mother. The relations would be those of a mother and son. What holy converse they must have had! What that mother could have told him about Jesus! Can we doubt that the wonderful worth of John’s ministry is due somewhat to the holy converse of the mother of Jesus with John in his own home? No one else could have told John what she could of Jesus, and the Lord constituted that relation which in itself gave to the loved disciple an advantage which no one had but he.
[p. 201] Peter has the lambs and sheep to feed. The way he distinguishes between young and old believers in his ministry is beautiful. “Feed my lambs ... . Shepherd my sheep”, the Lord says. It might be asked, Can sheep not take care of themselves? No! they go astray. Peter himself was an example. The lambs follow the old ones. If we can keep the old ones right, the young ones will be right. First it is, “Feed my lambs”; then, “Shepherd my sheep”, and then, “Feed my sheep”. Can any charge be greater than that?
What I have said, dear brethren, is to show how the Lord is supreme in all circumstances, and how thus the desired end is reached. The closing verses show the perfect result in Peter, which would take years. The Lord says, “When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst where thou desiredst”; that is what marks young people, will, “but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and bring thee where thou dost not desire”. What was the Lord alluding to? The scripture says “he said this signifying by what death he should glorify God”. What a fine result! We have the whole picture of Peter and that he would pass out of this world in perfect abandonment of his own will for the will of God. He would pass out glorifying God, in a death that glorified God.