THE LORD'S THIRD APPEARING IN JOHN
THE LORD’S THIRD APPEARING IN JOHN
This chapter, as most of us will know, is an appendix or a postscript. We all know how postscripts of letters are of great interest and this is not an exception. The gospel is complete at the end of chapter 20. This, therefore, is, as I said, an afterthought, but a full thought. It is a dispensational chapter indeed, as if the Spirit through the apostle were to compare the dispensational idea, saying, “This is already the third time that Jesus had been manifested to the disciples, being risen from among the dead”. So that the showing to the disciples is found in this afterthought or postscript. The other two occasions are in the body of the book; they are found in chapter 20. This third occasion is found in this appendix. It must not be overlooked in this great composition known as the fourth gospel.
A dispensational idea comes in, for the third time alludes to the millennium, or what immediately precedes it, what is intended to make it up; that is to say, not only the Jews but the nations. The Jews will lead, will have the first place, but the nations come in too, for indeed, primarily the Jewish nation was intended to be in the very centre of the earth, of the circle of the nations. They are essential, therefore, to the divine scheme on the earth, and these one hundred and fifty-three great fishes are symbolical of the nations. They are viewed as great at the end. The Israelites, that is, the Jews as we speak of them now, come into chapter 20. That is, they are seen where Thomas appears, having been absent at the first great meeting of the disciples with the Lord after He rose. The first meeting is on the first day of the week. It has a great place in this chapter, and it is signalised by being the day of the first great [p. 521] gathering of the disciples with the Lord after He rose from the dead. What a day that was! The day of chapter 20. The first day is inaugurated by the glory of the Father. The first day of the week is signalised as representing the gathering of the assembly, the greatest thought in the universe outside of divine Persons. The Lord Jesus came where the disciples were. They were first in His heart as He arose. He came where they were. That was the first appearing. The second was when Thomas was present eight days afterwards. What occupied the Lord during those eight days we have to leave, but He was occupied well. Luke would say, Those eight days have to be deducted from the forty. There were thirty-two days more, but those eight were between the first gathering in the upper room and the second when Thomas was present. Luke would say that the Lord was engaged with His own even in those eight days during what we call the week-days, the week-nights. We have enjoyments from the incomings of the Lord on those days on the same principle as we have it on the first day of the week. The first day is supremely the day in which the Lord is known in the midst of His own; but Luke would say and does say, that during all those forty days He appeared to His apostles. Here we are told that this is the third time in which the Lord showed Himself to His disciples — the third time.
Now, there are many other times; there are several mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15 and we know that there are some mentioned in Luke and some mentioned in the early days of the Acts, but these three are particularly in mind at this time in this postscript, as I said, in this afterthought of John which is yet a full thought, a precious thought, a spiritual thought, a Spirit-inspired thought. It is the third. Therefore, it is bound up with chapter 20 in this sense. It is the third of three occasions in which the [p. 522] Lord showed Himself to His disciples characteristically. He showed Himself to Mary, by herself, but that is not included here. He showed Himself to the two on the way to Emmaus, but that is not included here. The Spirit has in mind that it is a characteristic showing to the disciples. They were not all present. There are a good few of us here now, so that this has a characteristic bearing as to the times of the appearings to the disciples. You can well understand, dear brethren, that these meetings are much more important than any experiences we may have ordinarily in an individual sense. The appearings to individuals are not mentioned in these three. These are three singled out as characteristic appearings to the apostles or the disciples. The word ‘disciple’ here is more than simply that they were believers. It is really tantamount to the fact that they were apostles. Peter was there and Nathanael was there and John was there. It was a characteristic time, and so was the season on the first day of chapter 20, and the eighth day. So an occasion like this is a dignified occasion, and those who miss it miss something that they will never get afterwards. There is always something distinctive. In each of these appearings, there was something distinctive. The first was the greatest, and there will be a last one of these meetings on earth, and I should not like to miss it, if I have not gone to the Lord before. I certainly should not like to miss the last occasion such as this. Many will, I am afraid, and we should be warned.
Well, now, I wanted, in making these remarks, to show how the occasion here, this third appearing, has peculiar dignity attached to it. The phrases and the words and thoughts all bear this thought, this suggestion that it is a time of dignity. It is at the sea of Galilee; not a large sea, but it was large enough for the Lord to bring out great thoughts, from the [p. 523] standpoint of the sea. It is nothing, you might say, as compared with the Atlantic or the Pacific or the Arctic or Antarctic. It was small, but it was large enough to be called a sea and enough to bring out thoughts of the sea, and miracles belonging to the sea — one hundred and fifty-three great fishes — great fishes in a small lake, for it really was a small lake. What size these fishes were we are not told, but they are called great, and the word ‘great’ is intended to convey to us that they were great. Whether they were normally in the lake, who can say? We read of one that had a piece of money in its mouth. The Lord knew that one, and He knew the piece of money was there. We read, too, of a fish that had Jonah in it. It was not an ordinary fish of the Mediterranean. It was prepared of God for that purpose. We must not forget that God can do things for a purpose, for an occasion, for an emergency, and that fish was for an emergency that swallowed Jonah. God prepared it. It was provided by Him for the occasion. And may I not add those one hundred and fifty-three great fishes? One would like to have seen them. How long were they? And yet there would not be much in seeing them. They were just fishes, but they were great; quite a good many, one hundred and fifty-three. Why did they stop to count them? Well, I have alluded to the idea of dignity, and surely the word or phrase “great fishes” belongs to the great phrases or terms in this chapter. It is a chapter of dignity.
Well, the first thing that might be thought negative to what I am saying is that it was a fishing scene and those who were engaged in it had been engaged in fishing before. It was their trade, and the Lord found them in that trade. He found two sets of them in that trade. That was the beginning. Now the question arises spiritually, Is there any change in these men? Of course, Nathanael was not in the [p. 524] first fishing scene. He is seen in John 1, but is there not a change in these men? They are turned aside to fish when they should have been fishing for men, but nevertheless they had not lost their discipleship, nor had they lost their apostleship. The Lord is not quick to discard us, you know. He is very patient with us. He holds on to us. There is no idea that these men lost their apostleship in the fact that they went off fishing. There is no thought that Peter lost his apostleship because he denied the Lord. There is not a word about that. The Lord never brings it up. I am speaking thus that we might come to regard the Lord even in the service. He does not discard us quickly. He values us and He never forgets our best moments, what we used to be; in our darkest moments the Lord never forgets the brightest moment. Did He forget the brightest moments of these seven in this expedition? No. He is not saying to them. You are all wrong. No. He said, Children. “Children, have ye anything to eat?” (verse 5). You will not assume for a moment, I am sure, that I am in any way minimising the fact that they turned aside to fish when they should be waiting for the Lord to appoint them their work after He arose. The Lord knew well how to deal with that. In fact, there is something here to show that He was dealing with it. The fact that He raised the question of whether they had any meat, knowing well they had not, was just to remind them they had been working for nothing. They had got nothing for their night’s work. If we are not catching anything, then there is something wrong with us. It is a fine thing, when a person is a little away, however little, to call a halt and challenge himself or herself why it is I have no results.
When I speak of results, I do not mean simply persons who are converted through me or make confessions through me. No, not that at all. That is [p. 525] only one result. There are many others that are open to the levites, but in this case there was none. They said, No. They had to say it. The Lord meant them to say it. The Lord did not say it Himself. He could have. It was evident. He could have looked at their boat and seen it was empty. Fishermen always look at the depth of the boat; the draft of the boat will indicate. If they go shell fishing that is the way they determine at a distance whether the expedition is a success, the draft of the boats. These shell fishing boats draft heavily. The Lord knew that, but He asked them to tell whether they caught anything, and they said, No. We have no meat. But the Lord said, “Children”. Very beautiful, I think. The link of affection is established at once. John says, “It is the Lord” (verse 7).
Well, now, I do not wish to spend all the time before I get to my main point, but I wanted to bring out this point of dignity in these one hundred and fifty-three fishes and how they point to the dignity of the nations as they come into God’s possession in the future. There is no moral dignity attached to the nations now. Not that I want to say a word against them, but there is none. There is none where there is not a full recognition of Christ. But then when the Lord gathers the nations they will be worth gathering. He is going to have them. “And the nations shall walk by its light; and the kings of the earth bring their glory to it”, Revelation 21: 24. That is a clear indication of what they will be. How rich, how wealthy, how valuable, how worth having. That is really what is meant dispensationally. You can see the importance of this after-thought, that surely the Lord would not want to leave the nations out. His earthly people, that is, the Jews, are involved in Thomas in the second meeting in chapter 20, and the assembly is in the first meeting, and it would look as if the Lord were to say, ‘Well, I must not [p. 526] leave the nations out. I must bring them in’. And, hence, the postscript, as I said, is added.
So, we have one hundred and fifty-three great fishes. They are counted. Whether they are all the same size, I cannot say, but they are worth having. The Lord said, “Bring of the fishes which ye have now taken”. They are recognised; they are owned as having taken them although the Lord had directed how it should happen, saying, “Cast the net at the right side of the ship and ye will find”. As I was saying a moment ago, was it not a miracle? Were they just fish that were usually caught there? Who can say? Why not say they were prepared for the purpose. So the nations will be prepared for the purpose. They are not in evidence now. The nations now are represented in ourselves. God is gathering His people out of the nations and is placing them in the assembly, so that we have to understand what these fishes really are. They are great. The nations as they are today are wanting. God is owning them, and they are here today, but they are not the ones that are pictured in that one hundred and fifty-three great fishes. They are the product of the labourers, of the Israelites, the twelve, whoever they may be; the working people of that day. They will be honoured in the nations being gathered together for their service. “And the nations shall walk by its light”. It is a very beautiful phrase. They walk in the light of the heavenly city. That is to say, they walk in the light of the assembly in heavenly glory, and also, they bring their glory to it, showing how entirely they are secured for heaven.
So, as I said, these one hundred and fifty-three fishes, great fishes, point to dignity in this part of the gospel. They point to a dispensational result in the future, but then, as the Spirit of God says, “Every scripture is divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching” (2 Timothy 3: 16), and this is profitable [p. 527] now for more than I have said. It is profitable for ourselves, because in these last days I believe God is aiming at dignity among the brethren. Of course, we have to own that there are very few persons of value coming in among us. We may as well accept that. There are some. Thank God there are some among us who have not come in in that sense. They are born and brought up among us and, of course, they are the best. And yet, surely, there is something for us as to persons of value in the service and ornamentation of the assembly through those coming in through the gospel. There are many of them abroad, and the Spirit of God shows that in the early days there were distinguished men. Some distinguished in this world like Theophilus and Paul, and many others; but there are others distinguished as converted through spirituality and that is the great point. There is no value really in what a person may have been before. It is what he is after his conversion or through his conversion. The great fishes must represent those that are the fruit of the work of God, and we must admit, dear brethren, that we have very few. But we thank God for what we have, at least, I hope we do. I do for the number here today. The dignity, the spiritual dignity manifest in a number of persons such as are sitting here listening to the word of God, and valuing it; valuing the fellowship we are in today. Surely it is a great matter, but it could be greater and it may be greater. It can be greater. God can make it greater. And so I go on to the sheep. The great fishes are one idea. They represent quality and value, value in the eyes of heaven. And the apostles are seen as capable of catching them, although the Lord really did all the work, you might say. He told them where to cast the net. But they drew the fishes in and the Lord says, “Bring of the fishes which ye have now taken”. That is a beautiful thought. If the brethren have [p. 528] any dignity through conversion, coming into the assembly, bring them. Let them be seen. The Lord is waiting to see them. “Bring of the fishes which ye have now taken”. They are already great. Conversion will make a man great right away, if it is a real conversion. But a real conversion, like the conversion of Paul and many others that are mentioned, constitutes the converts great, so that they are able to work at once. Paul was able to go to work almost immediately. The subject of his first preaching was that Jesus is the Son of God. That was the great point, too, for the moment to the Jews, that He is the Son of God. And so, as I said, one is exercised about getting some like that; great by their conversions, an evidence of the power of God. Their conversion and then their subsequent formation so that there is ornamentation and usefulness. There is the word ‘great’ which is applicable. They are really great. It is only the work of God that can really make a man great. Why not have an eye for it, dear brethren? Aim at something. Fishermen aim at something. All workers of that kind aim at something. What we aim at we may count on God to give us. Not that the apostles were aiming at anything. They did not really know much what they were doing. The Lord did everything. But He says, “Bring of the fishes which ye have now taken”. And they brought them, and we are told then that they were great and that they were counted.
Well, that is one thing, and the first thing I mention is that these men were fishers before. They had gone through this experience before, and now they are greater men than they were then; although some of them failed and were now failing in some degree, yet they had not lost their apostleship. They had not lost their greatness. They were all men of God abstractly. They were levites, workers, and part of the assembly. They had not lost their greatness,
[p. 529] and the Lord knew they had not lost their greatness, and as far as He was concerned they were not going to lose their greatness, and He at once emphasised their greatness. “Children”, He says. And, “the fishes which ye have now taken”. So that this is the third time. We are not left in this dispensation without this picture of what will mark the coming glories of Christ when He appears in the gathering in of the nations. It is exhilarating to think of the nations. What they will be as depicted in these one hundred and fifty-three great fishes.
And, now, the Lord says, “Come and dine” (verse 12). It is a dining time. It is not simply, ‘Come and eat; you are hungry’. That is not the point. The point is it is a dignified time. The Lord would never fail to add dignity to our position. It must be a spiritual thought, and so He says, “Come and dine”. There is no word of reproaching Peter until he dined. His dignity stays. The dining is only to re-establish it in his soul; what he is to Christ. He is the real Peter that Christ had in His mind. He had named him; he has not lost his caste. The Lord would emphasise that he is the same Peter, and dining surely is to add to that. He is more dignified now than he was in the morning when he was naked. When he heard it was the Lord Jesus he said, I have nothing to put on. That is really what he meant. I have nothing to put on. Well, he had something in a coat and he put it on. The idea is, if we are to dine we must be dignified. The dress-suit. So to speak. Pardon the allusion. That does not carry much with it but it is right. It is the idea of something. Peter had to put on the best he had. It was not much but he had the sense that he must appear in clothing. We must not be found naked, and we must not be found without a wedding garment. Paul says that “we shall not be found naked” but it is also serious to be without a wedding garment.
[p. 530] You might be clothed without a wedding garment, but in the full dress affair we must have on our wedding garment. If the king comes in to inspect persons he knows what is suitable in the presence of royalty, so that he says, “Bind him feet and hands, and take him away, and cast him out into the outer darkness”, Matthew 22: 13. Most solemn! That is persons who pretend to be christians and are not. So that, here we have the idea of dining, it is a dress time, but then it is a dining time. That is the point. “Fish laid on it, and bread”. That was all that was necessary. The word ‘dine’ means a full meal. It was not what we call dinner, but it was breakfast really; it was early morning. But it was a full meal. The Lord had it and they dined.
And then the question of heart comes up, which I am not going to enlarge on. It has often been spoken of, but the Lord raised the question after they had dined. In verse 15 it says, “When therefore they had dined, Jesus says to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?”. All that is just to challenge in a very mild way the boasting of Peter. I might go on and speak quite a little on that point, but it is well known, only it is noticeable that the dining comes first. It is after they had dined. It is no question of the clothes now. It is a question of love, whether you love more than others. And, dear brethren, this is a challenging thing, because there is always this tendency to rivalry in one way or another. Peter said, “If all shall be offended in thee, I will never be offended”, Matthew 26: 33. He would profess that he loved the Lord more than others. Perhaps he did, but any way, the Lord would bring it out, and the Lord brought out from him finally that Peter had to say, ‘Lord, I do not count on You just believing that I love You because You are a divine Person. You are God and You know what is in my heart’. He really meant to say, ‘Lord, there is evidence in me that I love you’. That is very challenging. Is there any evidence in me that I love the Lord Jesus? He says, ‘Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You’. That is, you know by what you see, not simply by divine power, but by what you might see in the sense of evidence. So that Peter says, ‘Lord, You know that there is evidence in me that I love You’; that is, really what he means in the last word as to this matter of love. And the Lord is satisfied about that. If you can say to the Lord that you love Him, the Lord would say, ‘I am satisfied; I am not going behind that. I am not going round the corner to see what you have been doing. I am satisfied by what you are and what you do. I am satisfied by the tone of your voice and the way you speak. I am satisfied that you love Me’. The Lord settles the matter Himself by accepting Peter’s remark. He could see that Peter loved Him. The next matter is the sheep. There is no question of dignity when we come to the sheep. They are the same persons, of course, but they are sheep and they are lambs. The point in sheep is largely that they are defenceless persons. Figuratively, they represent the saints as defenceless. “He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and was as a sheep dumb before her shearers, and he opened not his mouth”, Isaiah 53: 7. That is the idea, and that is what the Lord was. He brings in now the lambs and the sheep in addressing Peter as to his love. It is no question of love as to fish. The sheep represent the Lord in a most peculiar way. They have the same characteristics as the Lord Himself. They are like Himself. “They shall hear my voice”, John 10: 16. They would not hear the voice of strangers. They will not follow a stranger. That is what the Lord brings out. And so, when they had dined, this matter of the love of Peter comes up, then He says, ‘What is in My heart are these sheep’.
David says, “But these sheep, what have they done?” 2 Samuel 24: 17. And the Lord is thinking of “these sheep” in talking to Peter. Who can tell how many He had? He says, ‘They will never perish. I have laid down My life for them. They are the supreme object of My care now; not the nations, but these sheep. Now Peter, feed My sheep’. First He says, “Shepherd my sheep” (verse 17). He would say in effect, ‘You know you have strayed yourself, Peter, and you are a real sheep. You strayed, so that there is no guarantee that others may not stray’. Who is there here who would not admit the liability of straying, especially young people? How ready to take advantage of an opportunity to do what you should not do — the idea of straying, turning aside. The first word is, “Shepherd my sheep”. Peter is entrusted with that, possibly the Jewish sheep. That was possibly the immediate application of the word, for he was the apostle of the circumcision, but nevertheless, they were sheep. And then, “Feed my sheep”. Feed them. You say, Where shall I get the food? Well, that is for Peter to determine. He had been with the Lord for a long time and he knew what the Lord did and he ought to know, and the Lord implies that. He would say, ‘You know what you needed, and what I supplied to you. Now you do the same’. First, “Shepherd my sheep”, and then “Feed my sheep”.
That brings out, dear brethren, the generality of the saints; not simply the distinguished ones I have been speaking of. That is an important matter, the distinguished ones. I have been thinking of the elders. We may call the elders when we are sick. They are the distinguished ones; not the ordinary ones. Therefore, what is in mind here is the generality of the saints: old and young, rich and poor, lame and halt, sick and well. That is the idea. Every one of them is to be the subject of love and care that [p. 533] flows out of love, and that flows out of experience with the Lord Jesus as to what He does; how He has dealt with one; how He would have me to deal with the brethren viewed in their generality as sheep and then also as lambs, the diminutive thought, little sheep. The Lord does not say to Peter, Shepherd them. It is for their parents to look after them, for that is the inference really. Not that the Lord did not, for He took little children in His arms, but where He omits care of the lambs He has in mind that parents should have some care for them. Never let them out of your sight, if you can. Be an example to them. But then, the Lord does not tell Peter to shepherd the lambs; He says, “Shepherd my sheep”. The grown-ups need shepherding. He finishes with the word, “Feed my sheep”. And Peter takes it on. He is given that charge. He had a charge from the Lord. He had the keys of the kingdom. The Lord gave him the keys, not of the house, but of the kingdom. Peter had those keys, a very great charge; and now, alongside of that charge, he has the care of the sheep and the feeding of the sheep and the feeding of the lambs. It is the generality of the saints, and so it is that the Lord is helping us in these general meetings and in all our meetings. They are a provision that He has made Himself in His wisdom, and the brethren are taking advantage of them under the merciful sovereign care of God. The brethren seem to have awaked to the value of these meetings; they are occasions of dignity and good and care. So, I commend all this, dear brethren, to the saints for consideration, so that we may proceed on these lines.