John 21

John 21:1-14

Section 5. (John 21:1-14.)Man as man -the Gentile -with God. After the Jew is brought into blessing and the appearing of the Lord in their behalf, blessing will, as we know, go out to the nations, the judgments that are inflicted upon the world preparing the way for this, as the prophet says, “When Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isaiah 26:9). Restored Israel will then be the centre from which living waters will go forth to water the earth; and, as their casting away has been for the reconciling of the world, the receiving of them shall be, in the words of the apostle, “life from the dead” (Romans 11:15). To this the closing scenes in this Gospel now carry us on, in what has evidently the character of a supplementary part. For, as another has remarked, here “we find ourselves upon the ground of the historic Gospels; that is to say, that the miracle of the draught of fishes identifies itself with the work of Christ on earth, and is in the sphere of His former association with His disciples. It is Galilee, not Bethany. It has not the usual character of the doctrine of this Gospel, which presents the divine Person of Jesus, outside all dispensation, here below; raising our thoughts above all such subjects.

Here, at the end of the Gospel, the Evangelist comes for the first time on the ground of the synoptics, of the manifestation and coming fruits of Christ’s connection with earth. Thus the application of the passage to this point is not merely an idea which the narrative suggests to the mind, but it rests upon the general teaching of the Word.” (Synopsis.) As in the final parable of the seven in Matthew 13:1-58 the net is cast into the waters of the nations, those of the disciples in one way or another most prominently connected with Israel being foremost among the fishers now. Thus Peter, the leading apostle to the circumcision, is conspicuous all through. Next to him, we have Thomas named, and then Nathanael, both typical representatives of Israel in the latter days. The connection of Nathanael with Cana of Galilee, where the water was made wine, is noted also for the first time. Only the sons of Zebedee are named besides. Peter leads, but there is unsuccessful toiling through the night, until with the morning Jesus stands upon the shore.

Then at His “Cast the net upon the right side of the ship, and ye shall find,” they do find, acting upon His word, a great multitude of fishes. Yet it is noted that the net holds together: “Christ’s millennial work is not marred. . . . That which He performs does not rest on man’s responsibility as to its effect here below: the net does not break. Also, when the disciples bring of the fish that they have caught, the Lord has some already there. So shall it be on earth at the end. Before His manifestation He will have prepared a remnant for Himself upon the earth; but after His manifestation He will gather a multitude also from the sea of nations;” which “the sea of Tiberias,” bearing the name of the Caesar whom man has chosen for his king, may fitly image. Peter, prominent all through, not only presents, as already said, the Jewish ministry which will be used in this, but it is to be remarked how in keeping with it is the work of restoration needed in his own soul. He also has denied his Master, as Israel has, and has to be brought back after such terrible failure, yet is put again into the place he might seem irretrievably to have lost. Thus we see in this section man as man, apart from all covenant privilege, brought to God. Judgment itself will work out the purposes of grace; and thus also will it be seen that grace truly reigns: although that which is for God a “strange work” must still, alas! have its place, as we shall see clearly in the day that comes.

John 21:15-19

Section 6. (John 21:15-19.)Peter; the shortened Jewish Ministry. What follows now to the end of the Gospel takes a different turn. In it we may see, not obscurely, the foreshadow of the passing away of the ministry to the circumcision, Peter being still the representative of this, in contrast with John, who in his covers the whole interval until Christ’s return. This requires to be looked into, however, while upon the surface may be seen the instructive history of a soul exercised under the tender but searching eye of Christ, -the exemplification of that process of cleansing to have part with Him, which He Himself has depicted for us under the symbol of feet-washing. This is fully in the line of John’s special teaching, and its importance may well claim from us most earnest consideration. The searching of Peter’s soul which comes now before us is not the first step by any means towards his recovery. Evident as this is, it needs to be emphasized because of a very general mistake that is made with regard to it. The Lord’s words to him in view of his sin, not yet committed, disclose, on the other hand, that which is the fundamental need of one who has fallen as he had. “I have prayed for thee,” says He, “that thy faith fail not.” With our hand in His, in the self-distrust which is the fruit of true self-knowledge, we should he surely guided and safely guarded. In Peter we see, at the very time when the Lord’s warning words are uttered, the indications of his danger: “Though all should be offended,” he says, “yet will I never be offended. I am ready to go with Thee to prison and to death.” This is a condition which not only exposes one to fall, but for which the fall itself may be the only remedy. We have to learn that when we are weak only are we strong; and that Christ’s strength is made perfect in weakness.

Peter’s case is a typical one; and thus it is so valuable for us. The Lord Himself, in such a case as this, cannot pray that Peter may not fall, but that he may be “converted” by it, -turned from that dangerous self-confidence to consciousness of his inability to trust himself, even for a moment.

Here Satan is foiled and made to serve the purpose of that grace which he hates and resists. He can overpower this self-sufficient Peter; but only to fling him for refuge upon his omnipotent Lord. Just as “the messenger of Satan to buffet” Paul works for what he in no wise desires, to repress the pride so ready to spring up in us, and which the lifting up to the third heaven might tend to foster. Here there had been no fall, and all was overruled for fullest blessing; in Peter’s case, on the other hand, Satan’s effort would be to assail the fallen disciple with suggestions of a sin too great to be forgiven, -or, at least, for restoration to that eminent place from which it would be torture to remember he had fallen. What he needed to meet this was faith; and this, therefore, the Lord prays might not fail with him. How careful is He to revive and strengthen in the humbled man the practical confidence so needful! The knowledge of it all given him before-hand, -of the prayer made for him, -of the exhortation addressed to him when restored, to “strengthen his brethren,” -all this would be balm indeed for his wounded soul; but even this was not enough for his compassionate Lord. The first message of His resurrection has to be addressed specially “to Peter,” (Mark 16:7,) and “to Cephas” himself He appears, before the twelve (1 Corinthians 15:5). Thus he will not shrink back when they are all seen together. When we find him now at the sea of Tiberias, it is easy to realize that all this has done its work. Told that it is the Lord who is there upon the shore, he girds on his outer garment, and casts himself into the sea, impatient to meet his Lord.

But now it is he is ready, only now, for that so necessary dealing with his conscience, when his heart is fully assured. On the shore a fire of coals is burning, the only other time when we read of such a thing beside being when he had warmed himself at a similar one at that time which he never will forget. Yet it would seem as if Christ had forgotten it. He adds no word, but makes him sit down there in company with Himself and it, -a silent preacher, not the less effectual. They have dined, and now the living Voice begins. Where does it begin? where the preacher to his conscience left it? No; not a word of this. Nothing is said for a moment about this fall; there is no charge, -scarcely, one would say, a reminder -of what the preacher before had taken for his text. A quiet and a tender question it is now, and from One whose love has been more and more rising upon him, till now it is full day, brightness and warmth together. “Simon, son of Jonas,” says the Voice now, with its familiar and yet ever growing fulness of meaning for him, “Simon son of Jonas, lovest thou Me more than these?” One cannot help but see that the Lord is recalling to Peter, and yet not as if He would recall them, his fervent but boastful words, that, though all should be offended, yet he would not be. He will not charge him with them, but only let him himself recall them in the light of what deeper knowledge he has acquired, that he may now give judgment as to them. But Peter simply declines the comparison. He is content with affirming his love, though not in the terms of the question put: The Lord cannot allow it, therefore, to rest there, but repeats His question in a briefer and more pointed way. Peter again affirms, and again the Lord presses him upon his own chosen ground; and now Peter’s heart bursts out: “Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest thou Me? And he said unto Him, Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.” This threefold repetition connects Peter’s boastful affirmation with his repeated denials in the high priest’s palace. Root and fruit are connected together, so that he may the better trace that connection, and Peter’s answer testifies of the omniscience that has searched him out. “Lord,” he says, “Thou knowest all things!” but that only deepens the conviction that while he had signally failed to manifest his love in outward act, yet He who knew all could read it in his heart. The Lord’s questions vary, however, more than we have yet taken into account. In the first two He uses a different word for “love” from that which He uses the third time, but which is that which Peter uses throughout. The latter is the term for affection, ardent and heartfelt, but, it may be, unintelligent and unappreciative also. The former is a love guided and sanctioned by a deliberate judgment. Both terms are used in a bad sense as well as a good, and the more discriminating and deliberate love is, the worse it is, if set upon evil. Yet this intelligent love which can give a reason to itself is otherwise the higher quality. It is the love of the spirit, as Scripture would put it, as Peter’s word expresses that of the soul; and although the Father is said in both ways to love the Son, yet when it is said, “God is Love,” the word used is necessarily the former. The Lord then uses this higher term first, and descends afterwards to the lower, thus searching out Peter more and more. In the first place too, He adds, “more than these do,” (the other disciples,) but then asks, “Dost thou love Me?” as if He would say, “at all?” And when Peter still urges his, “Thou knowest I have affection for Thee;” He at last takes him up even there, and asks, “Hast thou affection for Me?” Then the disciple’s heart gushes out. Even this slighter “affection,” alas! might be questioned now: -for had not mere friend braved and done more for friend than he for his Lord and Saviour? Yes, but He who knew all things would not judge him as men might. He dares not now say that he loves more than others -dares profess nothing as to the quality of his love at all: let the Lord judge, who would not too severely; -who has not been driven from him by all that He has seen in him: yet, be it what it may, he has affection. His self-judgment is complete. Searched out under the divine eye, he is found and owns himself, not better but worse than others, so self-ignorant that he cannot claim quality for his love at all; only something he is conscious of, which even so, in his utter failure to manifest it, omniscience alone might see. The needed point is reached, the strong man converted to weakness is now fit to strengthen his brethren; and, as Peter descends step by step the ladder of humiliation, step by step the Lord follows him with assurance of the work for which he is destined. “Feed My lambs,” He says, “tend My sheep,” “feed My sheep.” He, the faithful Shepherd, who could give His life for them, could yet confide these sheep, so dear to Him, into the hands of this humbled, ruined man. How sweet and assuring this grace to Simon Peter, as to us all! Now indeed he answers to his name: he is the “hearkener, son of the Dove,” and is risen out of the ruin which will yet abide with him in cherished memory for ever. God, who is the God of resurrection, has performed this. But the Lord does not even stop here. He goes back to that fervent protestation that Peter is ready to follow Him to prison and to death. He has missed his opportunity, but he shall retrieve it yet, and show what divine grace has indeed made Christ to be to him. Sealing it with His strong manner of affirmation, He declares, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldst; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldst not.” “This spake He,” says he who had been witness of it, “signifying by what death he should glorify God. And, when He had spoken this, He saith unto him, Follow Me.” In the strength of nature he had not been competent. Mere flesh and blood will ever fail in the battles of the Lord. Yet He who has enjoined upon us the taking forth the precious from the vile, knows how to discern amid whatever may be mingled with it that which is truly of Him. Peter shall regain his lost opportunity, and yet have the privilege accorded him of dying for his Saviour. As a veteran in such warfare, he shall die upon the battlefield, and follow Christ through the gateway by which He left the conflict for the eternal joy. It is in the contrast with John which follows we are made to realize that Peter is here also the representative of that ministry to the circumcision which was, as we know, in a principal way committed to him. That ministry ended as a distinct thing with the scattering of the people when Jerusalem was taken and destroyed by the Romans. The times of possible restoration held out to them by the reception of the Crucified One, lengthened out by the longsuffering mercy of God for many years, though more and more realized as hopeless, was then ended in terrible judgment. Henceforth to the end of the times of the Gentiles, as our Lord announced, Jerusalem would be trodden down by them. While it is, of course, true that the gospel goes out to men everywhere, without distinction of persons, and that only “blindness in part” is happened to Israel, the nation as such is for the present set aside. The testimony characteristic of the time of God’s longsuffering is therefore set aside also.

John 21:20-25

Section 7. (John 21:20-25.)John completing the interval till the coming of Christ. We come now to the Lord’s words as to John, which have for us a deeper concern. Peter, turning about, sees John following; and with a natural, but perhaps too merely human interest, asks, “Lord, and what as to this man?” He answers, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me.” This saying, we learn, though put only in the form of a question, was taken by the disciples as intimating that that disciple therefore would not die; but that this was not really what the Lord had said. The apostle who writes this, and of whom it is written, knew apparently no more than the rest: he simply guards against what might be a misconception. That is impossible now; but it leaves the question for us still, what then did the Lord mean? Was it only a rebuke to Peter? Either it is that, or there must be, one would say, some way by which John could live on, other than personally, and which may explain the mysterious words. It is simple enough to say that John lives on in his writings. But then it might be urged, that is only what all the inspired writers will; still it cannot but come to mind that, in fact, John’s writings not only predict circumstantially the Lord’s return, but stretch over all the intervening time till then. While he does not take us up into heaven, as Paul does, and show us our place in the glorified Man up there, yet all the more he seems to abide with the people of God on earth until dhrist’s return, as a human presence watching and caring for them. John may be thus truly said to be waiting with those on earth for his absent Lord in a way in which we could not speak of any other inspired writer. Even his epistles declare the last time to be here, and while watching over the development of the life (which is, as we know, his great subject) in babes, young men, and fathers, gives them instruction as to Antichrist. His doctrine, in the Gospel and epistles, is a connecting link between Paul on the one hand, and those who treat of the practical walk, as do the writers of the other General Epistles. But he fills this, as no other, with the personal glory of Christ, the Only-begotten Son in the bosom of the Father. He is thus really a conservative presence: binding Scripture and the brotherhood of Christians also into a unity that is power to “abide,” -a favorite word of his, and which the Lord uses as to himself. We need not wonder to read upon his golden belt the words which most of all are fundamental to a unity of life, a living unity, —Light, and Love! The apostle closes his Gospel with another reminder of the inadequacy of all human words to tell out His glory, of whom he has been speaking. If it were attempted to tell out all, the world would be unable to contain the books that would be written. It would be an impracticable load to lift, rather than a help to clearer apprehension. How thankful we may be for the moderation that has compressed what would be really blessing to us into such a moderate compass! which yet, as we all must know, develops into whatever largeness we may have capacity for. Our Bibles are thus the same, and quite manageable by any. On the other hand, are we burning to know more? we may go on without any limit, except that which our little faith or heart may impose.

May God awaken our hearts to test for themselves the expansive power of Scripture, and whether we can find a limit anywhere! Like the inconceivable immensity of the heavens, ever increasing as the power of vision is lengthened, we go on to find that the further we go only the more does the thought of infinity rise upon us; but this infinity is filled with an Infinite Presence; in every leaf-blade, in every atom, yet transcending all His works; and “to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him.”