JESUS' FINAL APPEARANCES AND ASCENSION

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples at the Sea of Galilee

-John 21:1-14

-Seven disciples, five of whom are identified, were at the Sea of Galilee.  Even with two of the

 disciples not identified, there are definitely similarities with this list of names and the initial

 followers of Jesus (see pg 16 of our study).

-Peter decided to go fishing and the others agreed to join him. 

            -Some commentators have suggested that these men, and perhaps Peter in particular, had

             abandoned their plans of following Jesus and simply returned to their previous

             professions.  Such is an unwarranted assumption.  As Woods states it, these men “...were

             waiting for further instructions from their risen Lord and this seemed to the proper way in which

             to pass the hours.  Some of them had been fisherman by profession and all of them concurred in

             the wisdom of the suggestion” (Woods, pg 436).  Jesus had told His disciples that He would

             appear to them in Galilee.  However, they were not expecting Him on this occasion.

-Even though they fished through the night, they caught nothing.  “But when the day was now

 breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know it was Jesus” (vs 4, NASB). 

 Either Jesus prevented them from recognizing Him (similar to Mark 16:12, Luke 24:16) or they

 simply couldn’t tell it was Him due to the dimness of the early morning.

            -When Jesus initially called out to them He did not identify Himself.  However, when the

             disciples heeded His instructions to cast their net on the right side of the boat which then

             resulted in a net full of fish, John realized Who it was that spoke to them.  He said to Peter,

             “It is the Lord” (vs 7).

-Peter, true to his character, quickly “put his outer garment on (for his was stripped for work)” (vs 7,

 NASB), jumped from the boat and swam to shore. 

            -“He had nothing on the upper part of his body, but threw his coat about him and left the

             fishermen’s vessel, and went through the water to land” (Lipscomb, pg 318).  Peter deemed it

             “…unseemly to appear in the Saviour’s presence not properly clad” (Woods, pg 438).

-The other disciples, about two hundred cubits or approximately 100 yards from offshore, came to

 land in a small boat dragging the net full of fish.

            -Jesus had a fire of coals ready with fish and bread.  Whether He provided these naturally or

             supernaturally, we simply are not told.

            -He had Peter retrieve some of the 153 fish they had caught (a number which stresses both the

             miracle of the catch and the unbroken net) and the men enjoyed a meal together.

            -“None of the disciples ventured to question Him, "Who are You?" knowing that it was the

             Lord” (vs 12, NASB).