Jesus proved the great reality of His resurrection body. He showed that He really did arise from the dead. Death had been conquered and men could now live forever. Let’s get right into the passage.
READ 1-3. Let’s note some things about these verses. First, the word “afterward refers to the proof of Jesus’ resurrection already recorded. So, in other words, it is saying, after Jesus’ resurrection, Jesus appeared again….
Seven disciples were together. It is believed they were in some home continuing to hide from the authorities. Peter went fishing because they needed some food. The others decided to join him and they went under the cover of darkness and off on some lonely strand of beach. This small band of men needed to learn a lesson, and by God’s sovereignty He set the stage for them to receive this lesson.
They caught nothing, and it was in this that they needed to learn the much needed lesson: self-sufficiency is inadequate. They could no longer do anything on their own. They must know the risen Lord, and they must depend upon the risen Lord. They couldn’t provide for themselves in their own strength; they must know that the Lord is really risen and they must learn to depend upon Him.
Jesus used this experience of catching nothing to teach the disciples that He had truly risen. IT was He in the resurrected body. He was truly the Risen Lord, and it was He they must depend upon from now on.
READ v. 4. Notice this is Jesus in His bodily form. His presence was immediate, sudden, unexpected. It wasn’t a ghost. It was His physical body. It was morning, and the disciples saw someone just as they would see any other person standing on the shore. There was no thought of a vision, hallucination, or spirit. They saw a person on the seashore and thought nothing strange about it. They didn’t know it was Jesus, not at first sight.
READ 5-8. This is a Forrest Gump moment. How many of you have seen the movie “Forrest Gump?” One scene shows him on this huge shrimp boat and he’s going along when he suddenly sees Lt. Dan on the pier. He immediately, without thinking, jumps in the water and swims toward Lt. Dan. His boat, with no one else on board eventually crashes into another dock.
That’s what I think about when I read this passage. Peter sees that it’s Jesus and without thinking just jumps into the water and swims toward Him. But let’s note now Jesus’ supernatural knowledge. He knew where the fish were. He’s the best fish finder there ever was.
Remember the disciples had been commercial fishermen before their call to serve the Lord. Jesus was teaching that He, the risen Lord, was the same Lord who took care of them before the crucifixion, so He would take care of them now. But there was one significant difference they must learn.
The resurrection increased His care and added much more to their salvation. What I mean is He was the sovereign majesty of the universe who could use His sovereign knowledge to provide all things for His dear children.
Now note: John immediately knew that it was the Lord. But it was the miracle of knowing where the fish were, the Lords’ supernatural sovereign knowledge, that told John.
The response was exactly what it should have been. Peter clothed himself and jumped into the lake and swam to shore. The other disciples followed in the boat. We should react the same way. When a person hears that Jesus really is alive, that person should rush to Him as quickly as possible.
READ 9. Here’s another miracle that is often overlooked. When they landed the boat, Jesus was there with a fire going, burning coals, which meant the fire had been burning for a time. There was already fish on the fire and bread made.
Now think about this. The disciples were able to see Jesus standing on the seashore. Don’t you think they would have first noticed somebody building a fire? Wouldn’t they have seen this fire first? I think they would have. They didn’t notice the fire until they landed the boat. AND it was a fire that had been burning a while.
Then there is the fish already on the fire. Where did that come from? You and I know. And the bread. When did Jesus have time to make bread? So here we see a 3 in 1 miracle. Not only a fire, but fish and bread.
Jesus was showing the disciples the reality of the situation. The fire, the fish, the bread—these were real. He was showing that He was the same Jesus who had always been with them. He was not a figment of their imaginations, not a vision, not even a spirit. He was in a body just like the body they had always known.
READ 10-11. Jesus now showed them that He could see, speak, hear, and feel. He tells them to gather in the fish, instructing them just as He always had. They obeyed, even to the point of counting the fish. Jesus was heaping proof upon proof, giving the disciples indisputable evidence of His resurrection.
READ 12-13. Jesus showed that His body was real. He invited them to eat and He ate with them, just as He always had. Again, the point is that they must KNOW it was Jesus. The risen Lord was the same Jesus who had walked and lived with them. The only difference was that He had risen from the dead in a perfected and glorified body.
The disciples knew beyond question that it was the Lord. Humanly, it wasn’t supposed to be; a dead man arising from the grave was impossible. But remember, too, that they had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead, and others as well.
The physical and material world knew nothing but corruption and decay, sin and death. But seated there eating with them was Jesus. He had risen from the dead and come back to life again. They knew that death was now conquered and that man could now live forever.
They knew just what Jesus wanted them to know. They knew the great reality of His resurrection body and the great reality of His sovereign majesty and care for them in conquering death.
READ next page then come back to verse 14.
READ 14. John is simply keeping track of the number of Jesus’ appearances. Remember why John was writing. So that we might believe that Jesus really was the Son of God and through Him we might have life.
