“Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said unto Peter,
It is the Lord.” John 21:7.
"You know that we read in the Gospels according to Luke and John, of two miraculous draughts of fishes. The one that is recorded in this Chapter from which our text is taken was, in several respects, similar to that which was worked at an earlier period of our Lord’s history. Before He called His Apostles, He worked the miracle of giving them a great haul of fish after they had toiled all the night and had taken nothing. And then, after He had died upon the Cross and risen from the grave, He repeated the miracle in almost identical fashion. I think there was a great lesson which our Savior intended His disciples to learn from that repetition. The miracle was a picture—and He wanted them to look upon it and catch the idea it was meant to convey—and as they had probably not all caught it the first time, He held the picture up before them again, that they might have another opportunity of learning the lesson which He had intended it to teach them. You notice that in both instances they had toiled—they had toiled all the night—but they had toiled in vain. The night was the best season for fishing, as it still is. They had toiled in the place where they had often caught fish before, for they were experienced fishermen, apt at their craft. Yet after using all the means that had been successful at other times, they were unsuccessful, for they had taken nothing. They had toiled perseveringly, too, for it was not only at night that they had toiled, but all the night. From the time when they pushed forth from the shore, in the moonlight, until the morning star warned them of the dawning of the new day, they had toiled. Yet they had taken nothing. This teaches us that we may work for Christ and try to win souls for Him—and do that work at the best time, in the best way and even persevere in doing it—and yet be unsuccessful. We must be unsuccessful if, like the disciples, we are laboring without the Master’s Presence. In both instances, the turning-point was when the Master came. On the first occasion, He borrowed Peter’s boat and preached a sermon from it to the crowd upon the shore. And then He said to Peter, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught.” In the second case, He bade the disciples, “cast the net on the right side of the ship.” But in both instances it was the appearance of Jesus that filled the net and filled it so miraculously that the despairing toilers of the night realized that Someone who was more than man had spoken to them— and they fell down to worship Him as Divine. So whenever Jesus comes to His workers, however unsuccessful they may have been, they are sure to succeed when He is there! Yes, and to succeed beyond their own expectations—just as the disciples were surprised that by the same hands which all night had taken nothing, 153 great fishes should be taken—and out of the same nets which were empty all the night, (save here and there a piece of tangled weed to mock their hopes), there should come so many great fishes upon which they and others might be feasted to their full! The Apostles could not do anything without their Lord and neither can we—so the main point for us to remember is that we need Jesus Christ to come into our midst—and this point I shall try to drive home with all my might, praying God the Holy Spirit to stir up the hearts of His people so that they may have a great longing to be useful in the winning of souls and realize that this can only be achieved by those who enjoy true fellowship with Christ!"
C.H. Spurgeon- "THE POWER OF CHRIST’S PRESENCE" NO. 3146
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