Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-12-18

iii, documentary by the Rev. ID. NJ
stearns.
compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by
permission of II. S. Hoffman, publisher, Phil
adelphia.l
l. after these things Jesus showed Him
relf again to the disciples at the sea of
Tiberias: and on this wise showed He Him
self"
The appearances of the risen Christ thus
! far seem to have been as follows: To Mary
Magdalene, to the other women, to the two
men going to Emmaus, to Peter, to the
eleven at Jerusalem, then week later to
the eleven again, including Thomas, so
that today's lesson gives us His seventh
appearance or the third to the disciples.
g "There were together Simon Peter,
and Thomas called Didymus, and Ma
thanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons
of Iebedee, and two other of His disciples"
Seven in all, and at least four of them
were His very first disciples (Math iv,
1922; John |, i5), and some of them were
called from their nets on the shores of this
very sei
g. "Simon Peter saith unto them, go
a-fshing. They say unto him, We also go
with thee. They went forth and entered
nso a ship immediately and that night
they caught nothing"
! A. "But when the morning was now come
Jesus stood on the shore; but the disciples
knew not that it was Jesus"
Unbeief makes us blind, so that we
! recognize Him not when He draws near to
us.
s. "Then Jesus saith unto them, Chill
dren, have We any meat? They answered
| Him, No."
A nights toll and nothing to show for it.
] I'll 1,l.. Al.
strength for naught. He said, "Without
me We can do nothing" John XIV, 81, but
| when we are obedient to Him, doing only
what He says, moving only at His word;
when at is God who maketh," then there
will surely be something accomplished and
our glad testimony will be, met I, but the
| grace of God which was with me-" See Isa.
| i, 10; John ii, 81 Mum. tx, 49, Phil ii, 10;
| Eph. Il, TO- Cor XIV, TO- Until we learn to
work on this line we shall only display our
emptiness and helplessness, and have to
confess our poverty,
6, "And He said unto them, Cast the net
on the right side of the ship and we shah
find. They cast, therefore, and now they
were not able to draw it for the multitude
of fishes"
Z. "Therefore that disciple whom Jesus
| loved saith unto Peter, 1t is the Lord. Now
when Simon Peter heard that it was the
Lord he girt his fishers coat unto him (for
he was naked), and did cast himself into
the sea-"
John is the first to recognize the voice of
the Master, and yet even John is slow, for
it is not till after the miracle that he
recognizes Him. One would think that
all the disciples should have cried out, at
is the Lord" But they were not like
! ha6 /.
ing. Our hearts are not right till we
see Jesus only and seek Him only and al
ways. There are only eight miracles in
this gospel and the first, fourth and
eighth are miracles of abundance teach
ing us how full we might be of all things
needful il we would only abide in Him
See John XIV, II; xvi, "a; xvii. 49, Eph
iii, 90
8. "And the other disciples came in lit
tie ship (for they were not far from land,
but as it were two hundred cubits), drag
gng the net with fishes"
Jesus was then only about a hundred
yards from them and yet they did not
recognize Him till they saw His power He
says to us $50 am with you Away" and
in all the events of life He is saying, at is
|, be not afraid" (Math. xviii, 20; xiv, %.
o. "As soon as they were come to land
thereon and bread"
10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the
fish which we have now caught"
How graciously He puts it, "The fish We
have now caught" Yes truly they caught
them they handled the net and took the
fish, but not without Him. 1t was in
reality His doing although He spoke as if
they did it,
II. "Simon Peter went up and drew the
net to land full of great fishes, an hundred
and fifty and three, and for all there were
so many, yet was not the net broken"
In Peters first lesson of this kind "their
nets brake" duke v, O.; but not so now.
Who has eyes to see this strange sight?
This is a resurrection lesson. And what
about the hundred and ffty-three and the
strength of seven men given to Peter to
draw them to land. Read II Chron ii. II,
II, and observe the wisdom and prudence
given to Solomon to build the house, and
the $4,000 strangers who helped, and be
not surprised if in the resurrection you see
a connection between these events and the
house now being buided by and of stran-
gers to whom Peter first opened the door
(Eph. ii, 1922; Acts x.)
IL. Jesus saith unto them, Come and
dine. And none of the disciples burst ask
Him, Who art Thou? knowing that it was
the Lord"
The r. v says, "Come and break your
fast" and does not this give us the light
upon why they went fishing. They were
hungry and Jesus was no longer with
them, and where He was they knew not
and they felt that they must now take
care of themselves, and so they had to
learn that they could not after all do any
thing without Him, and that they must
rely on Him unseen as much as they did
when He was visbly among them.
13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread
and giveth them, and fish likewise"
The risen Christ is the Interchangeable
Jesus. AS in the days of His humiliation
He waited upon them, so in His resurrec
ton body He waits on them and ministers
to them still. Though now assembled on
high and invisible to these eyes, He is not
a whit different in His love to His disciples
and in His care of them, from what He
was when mortal man among them on
earth. Look up, believer, and see at Gods
right hand the very same person who said
tI,nt, h. ,f,,l ,;t