(John 21)
THERE are two great objects, in regard to man, for which Scripture has been written. In regard to man, I say, because the display and accomplishment of His own glory in Christ, is surely God’s highest object in His Word, as well as in all His ways. But as to man, Scripture has been written, first, for the communication to dead sinners of eternal life in the knowledge of the Son of God, and, secondly, the ministration to that life when it has been received, of all the fullness of Christ Himself, He being the object on which that life is exercised, as well as the source whence it proceeds.
We have the formal statement of the first object in John 20:30, 3130And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. (John 20:30‑31), “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of His disciples which are not written in this book; but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.” How blessedly simple! So simple that even a child may, by the teaching of the Spirit, understand it — understand that to which the greatest human learning is a hindrance rather than a help. Numberless deeds and words of the Lord Jesus had not been recorded by the apostle, “but these are written” — for what end? “That ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.”
“Well,” says the reader, “I do unfeignedly believe this — not because parents, or teachers, or ministers have said it, but because God has written it in His Word, and all He says is true.” You, then, dear reader, are a partaker of eternal life! The fact is, that the believing on the Son of God is the first pulsation of this life. The natural life received by an infant from its parent declares itself in various sounds and motions; and even if it be but the beating of the pulse, the life is thus surely manifested. Now, truly to believe in Christ is, so to speak, the pulse of the new life; so that, when any one believes on the testimony of God Himself, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, he has life through Christ’s name. “This is the record,” as we read elsewhere, “that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son,” so that “He that hath the Son hath life.”
Every one knows, however, that a newborn babe is the most helpless creature in the world; it can neither feed itself, nor defend itself, nor go by itself, nor care for itself in any way. It has to be fed, and tended, and cared for, till, as the life is gradually developed, it grows up from infancy to childhood, and from childhood to man’s estate. So does the new life through the name of Jesus need to be nourished and ministered unto. And what is its nutriment? “As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby, if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”
Here we have the first pulsation of the new life somewhat differently expressed, “If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” We cannot fail to know in natural things whether we have tasted any given flavor. We may not understand the composition of the substance in which the flavor is found; but if it be salt, or sweet, or bitter, there can be no question about our knowing its taste, supposing we have tasted it. So in the things of God: we have all heard that the Lord is gracious, but have you, dear reader — have I — tasted that He is so? Do we know the divine relish of the Lord’s grace, which, to be known, must be spiritually tasted? If we have, then are we born of God; for it is the new life alone which is possessed of this spiritual taste. It is through the Word that the Lord has made known to us that He is gracious, and it is in the reception of the Word that we have both received the new life, and become conscious of its tastes. “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” And how else should the life thus received be nourished, but by the same Word? By the same Word, moreover, still further unfolding “that the Lord is gracious”? It is in our first tasting this that we receive life; and it is as we taste it more and more that the new life is developed and grows.
The great subject of John 21 is the living grace of the risen Saviour — grace, which having met our need as sinners in the blood shed upon the cross, now meets all our necessities as saints in the fullness here seen to reside in Jesus as risen from the dead. These records of the intercourse between the risen Christ and His disciples, have thus a peculiar interest and charm. Who can fail to be touched by the tenderness, the sympathy of Jesus in all His relations to His disciples till the hour of His death? But death and resurrection might have been supposed to change all this. How blessed, that when, as here, we find the risen Jesus in the midst of His disciples, it is the same Jesus — tender, compassionate, full of sympathy and love, which, if it wield the arm of omnipotence, can yet enter into the most minute circumstances of the disciple’s condition and wants!
At the opening of the chapter we find a cluster of the disciples gathered together. On the night of His betrayal they had all forsaken Him and fled; and they all needed the restorings of His living grace as risen from the dead. Peter had, it is true, by his rashness, placed himself in circumstances which made his fall more conspicuous than that of the rest; but all had forsaken their dying Lord and Master, and had proved that, though the spirit was willing the flesh was weak. And though Jesus had already appeared to them once and again after His resurrection, we find them here, in verse 2, in such a state of soul as readily to respond to the proposal of one always the most forward to act — “I go a fishing. They say unto him. We also go with thee.” They go, and spend the whole night in fruitless toil.
Three years and a half before they had been called from that very employment by the Lord Himself. Jesus called them to follow Him, and to such of them as forsook their nets He said, “I will make you fishers of men.” From that time they had either accompanied Him, or gone at His bidding to preach the gospel, and cast out devils, He caring for all their wants, so that they lacked nothing. Now they supposed that His care over them was at an, end, and that they had become dependent on their own resources and endeavors. They go a fishing: but to what purpose was their toil? “that night they caught nothing.” In the morning, however, Jesus, who was cognizant of all their need, though they knew it not, stood on the shore and said, “Children, have ye any meat?” They knew not that it was Jesus, for such was the manner of His intercourse with them after His resurrection, but there He was, with all the interest in their minutest cares which He had been wont to manifest in the days of His flesh. He bids them cast the net on the right side of the ship, and now they are not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.
In all this there was, no doubt, instruction both for them and for us, beyond the circumstances of the moment. It is surely the happy privilege of all who know Jesus to testify of Him far and near; setting Him forth, according to the ability given, to poor perishing sinners, as their only hope and refuge. But while it is happy, and of all importance, that the heart be ready for this service anywhere, and at all times, let us never forget that success depends entirely on our being in the current of God’s workings. The disciples might spread the net, and cast it into the sea, but if not in the current where the fishes were, what advantage in it all? It is only in proportion as we individually walk with God, depending entirely on Christ, and guided by Him, that blessing will attend our labors. It is not on the amount of labor that success depends, but on our being near enough to Christ to have His directions in casting the net on the right side of the ship.
J. G. B.