Why 153 Fish? (PART 1 THRU 3)

Why 153 Fish? (Part One) In Psalm 12:6, David compares God's Word to silver that has been purified seven times. His revelation contains nothing superfluous, and thus each detail, no matter how seemingly insignificant, holds something of value for us. One of Jesus Christ's post-resurrection appearances contains one such detail. Seven of the disciples go fishing, and Jesus performs a miracle allowing the previously unsuccessful fishermen to haul in a catch of large fish—153, to be precise—withoutthe nets breaking (John21:11). Why did Jesus provide exactly 153 fish? It is a specific number. The disciples did not catch "a lot of fish" or "about 150 fish," but exactly "153 fish." Apparently, the number stuck in John's mind for decades, from the time of the miracle untilhe penned his gospel. This number must hold some significance, but what is it? Unraveling this mystery requires understanding something about John's gospel. Written much later than Matthew's, Mark's, and Luke's gospels, the gospel of John not only details Jesus' life and works but also builds the ironclad case that Jesus is the Messiah. John's gospel highlights eight signs Christ performed, giving it a sturdy structure. These signs were not just demonstrations of divinepower but also specific acts that pointed to Jesus as the Messiah, particularly Israel's Messiah. While He is the Savior of all mankind, these eight signs had great relevance for the floundering physical nation in dire need of the promised Seed. As with other collections in God's Word, John arranged his eight signs in a structure called a chiasm: The first corresponds to the last, the second corresponds to the second to last, and so on. The first to notice this structure and correlationappears to be E. W. Bullinger, who wrote his thoughts on the eight signs in Appendix 176 of The Companion Bible. The remarkable catch of 153 fish is the eighth sign in John's gospel, and it corresponds to—and in many ways answers—the first sign, Jesus' turning water into wine at the wedding in Cana. John 1 portrays the overall environment in which Jesus manifested the eight signs and why the people of Judea and Galilee needed Him so much. John 1:11 records that the Word came to His own—meaning, His own people—but they did not receive Him. The physical nation was spiritually blind, such that the people could not recognize their divine King when He stood before them. In verse 31, John theBaptist, speaking of Jesus, says, "I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water." Of course, John was aware of his cousin, but he did not grasp the magnitude of who He was until the events surroundingHis baptism. Thus, John proclaims that Jesus' baptism was to reveal Him to Israel. Somewhat later, in verse 49, God gives Nathanael the spiritual comprehension to recognize that he was in the presence of the Son of God, who was also the King of Israel. Christ, then, came to His own people, and His baptism revealed Him. Though a few people recognized Him for who He was, most did not. This environment sets the stage for grasping many features of His ministry. Immediately after this, John introducesthe first sign: Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine." Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come."His mother said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it." Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots withwater." And they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it. (John2:2-7) These events begin with a condition of lack—something was missing. As Mary says, "They have no wine." Such a lack would pose an embarrassing problem for a wedding feast, and Jesus exhibited mercy in intervening to allow the joyous occasion tocontinue. But we should not forget the highly symbolic nature of John's gospel, for the circumstance portrays a spiritual reality. Whether or not she knew it, Mary described not just the wedding feast but also the physical nation—its citizens had no symbolic wine, whose significance we will explore in Part Two. Instead of wine, the wedding party (and the nation) had only water. John points out that this water was for purification "according to the manner of the Jews." The purification rituals sprang from the minds of men rather than from Scripture. During His ministry, Jesus regularly encountered Jewish tradition makingthe Word of God of no effect. Not every Jewish tradition undermined God's Word, and washing itself constitutes no threat. However, the overall effect of both the Oral Law and all the rabbis' opinions was that Jews of that time pushed God's pure Word into the background. In part, their skewed priorities underlay the nation's inability to see their King in theirmidst. Their minds, having formed wrong habits of thinking, had become accustomed to focusing on the wrong things, following the wrong patterns of understanding, and arriving at the wrong conclusions in spiritual matters. As John records, there were six waterpots, and biblically, six is the number of man. Carnal men added the purification rituals to the worship of God. God's law only specifies ceremonial washing for the priests when they served in the Tabernacleand later the Temple, not for the individual or on occasions other than Tabernacle/Temple service. In addition, the six waterpots made of stone may symbolize the people's hearts since vessels often represent people. Because of their hearts of stone, the peoplecould not change and so could not have a meaningful relationship with their Creator. They needed to replace their hearts of stone with hearts of flesh. To summarize, the Jews had their own approach to ceremonial cleanliness. They had this tradition in abundance, as shown by the waterpots containing between 120 and 180 gallons of water for their purification rites. What they lacked, and whatthey needed for this occasion, was wine. We will explore the symbol of wine in Part Two and begin tying this first sign to its chiastic partner, the enigmatic catch of 153 fish. - David C. Grabbe Why 153 Fish? (Part Two) As Part One detailed, the apostle John structured his gospel around eight signs that reveal Jesus Christ as the Messiah. He arranged these signs so that the first sign corresponds to the eighth, the second sign to the seventh, etc. To understand the specific and mysterious 153 fish that the disciples catch in the eighth sign, we must learn thelessons of the first sign, when Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana. The wedding party—and the physical nation—had water for man-devised purification rites, but the wedding feast—and the nation—lacked the all-important wine. In the New Testament, wine represents the covenantal relationship with God. During the Passover on the eve of His crucifixion, Jesus said that the cup of wine represented the New Covenant in His blood (Luke22:20; I Corinthians 11:25). It would cost Him His life. At the wedding, though, Christ told Mary that His "hour had not yet come" (John2:4)—the hour to seal the covenant with His blood. By miraculously supply wine, He fulfilled the physical need for that occasion, pointing to the even greater spiritual need that He would fill when He instituted the New Covenant. The people had their traditions, as seen in the six waterpots for ritual purification, but they needed the wine of the New Covenant. Unlike the Old Covenant, the New Covenant includes forgiveness, a personal relationship with the Father andthe Son, and the divine law written on their hearts (see Hebrews 8:8-12). The blood of the New Covenant, symbolized by the wine, flows into a person rather than merely being sprinkled on the outside, as had the blood that ratified the Old Covenant (Exodus24:8). In addition, wine adds a pleasurable quality to a meal or other social occasion. Psalm 104:15 says that wine "makes glad the heart of man"—it causes the heart to rejoice. Judges 9:13 agrees, saying that wine "cheers both God and men." In other words, wine positively affects the heart. We realize this when drinking the physical fruit of the vine, but the wine of the covenant similarly cheers and heartens us for spiritualreasons. The Jewish nation lacked this—they had no wine, as Mary said. They greatly needed the New Covenant. Zechariah 10 contains a prophecy of the restoration of Israel and Judah that correlates to this miraculous sign. It likens the nations' restored relationship with God to the heart rejoicing as if with wine: I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back, because I have mercy on them. They shall be as though I had not cast them aside; for I am the LORDtheir God, and I will hear them. Those of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as if with wine. Yes, their children shall see it and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD. (Zechariah10:6-7; emphasis ours) Jesus' production of an abundance of wine, combined with wine's symbolic meaning, echoes the essence of this prophecy. Soon, God will regather Judah and Israel and offer them the blood of the New Covenant. He will free them from the respectiveenslaving traditions of Judaism and Babylonish Christianity, such as Christmas, Easter, Sunday-worship, and other anti-God practices. Having a restored covenantal relationship with God, they will rejoice as that spiritual wine gladdens their hearts. With these things in mind, we turn to John's eighth sign. The apostle conspicuously notes that Nathaniel was from Cana in Galilee, where Jesus performed the first sign: After these things Jesus showed Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and in this way He showed Himself: Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His discipleswere together. Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We are going with you also." They went out and immediately got into the boat, and that night they caught nothing. But when the morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore;yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Then Jesus said to them, "Children, have you any food?" They answered Him, "No." And He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast, and now they were notable to draw it in because of the multitude of fish. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it), and plunged into the sea. Butthe other disciples came in the little boat (for they were not far from land, but about two hundred cubits), dragging the net with fish. Then, as soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread. Jesus said to them,"Bring some of the fish which you have just caught." Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken. Jesus said to them, "Come and eat breakfast." Yetnone of the disciples dared ask Him, "Who are You?"—knowing that it was the Lord. Jesus then came and took the bread and gave it to them, and likewise the fish. (John21:1-13) The disciples fish all night but catch nothing. They confess to not having any food. Jesus—whom they do not yet recognize—tells them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat, and when they do this, they catch so many large fish thatthey cannot draw the net onto the boat. John immediately recognizes Jesus, probably because he, Peter, and James had experienced a similar miracle near the beginning of Christ's ministry (see Luke 5:1-11). The disciples come to shore, dragging the net, and verse 11 informs us that the catch, totaling 153 large fish, had not broken the net. In the first sign, the people had no wine, and in the eighth, the disciples had no food. Jesus had said earlier that His food was "to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work" (John4:34), and here, the disciples went fishing for food instead of doing God's work. They had returned to their previous vocation to provide for themselves when, for three-and-a-half years, God had provided for all their needs while they did His work. Ratherthan seeking a way to continue, they had gone fishing, and consequently, they had no food. Whereas Mary's statement, "They have no wine," aptly describes the state of the nation, Christ's query about whether His disciples had any food concerns their spiritual condition. His miracle, then, points to the work they were to do so theywould have food. In the first sign, Christ commanded the servants to fill the waterpots, and in the eighth, He commanded His disciples to cast the net. He performed the miracles, but His servants also had work to do. Also, in the first sign, Jesus produced wine, and in this one, He provided bread and fish (John21:9). A careful reading of John 21:9-13 shows that the 153 fish were not what fed the disciples, as Jesus had bread and fish on the coals even before the disciples came to shore. The fish they caught were for a different purpose, as we will see in Part Three. - David C. Grabbe Why 153 Fish? (Part Three) The eighth sign of Christ's Messiahship in John's gospel contains the curious feature of 153 fish, which Jesus miraculously provided. As a symbol, fish typically represent people, such as when Jesus initially called some of His disciples, promising to make them "fishers of men" (Matthew4:19; Mark 1:17). Similarly, in the Parable of the Dragnet, a net is cast, and all kinds of fish are drawn in. The good fish are stored, and the bad are thrown away (Matthew13:47-50). Why did Jesus provide precisely 153 fish? What about this unusual number impressed the apostle John enough to remember it decades later? Few commentaries suggest any explanation for the number, and fewer still advance a theory of any substance. However, one relevant observation is that 153 is the product of nine and seventeen. In the Bible, the number nine signifies divine judgment, and seventeen indicates the perfection of spiritual order. In this way, the 153 fish represent God's judgment in bringing about His perfect spiritual order. The Bible presents only one occurrence of 153 people, which exposes the spiritually derelict state of the nation, particularly in the person of Ahaziah, the king of Israel. Ahaziah was an evil king�a Baal-worshipper who provoked God to anger and reigned only for two years (I Kings 22:51-53). II Kings 1:2-16 tells the story of King Ahaziah and his literal and metaphorical fall. Having fallen through a lattice, he had been injured badly enough to question whether he would recover. But instead of seeking the true God, Ahaziah sends messengersto inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of the Philistine city of Ekron (verse 2). Baal-Zebub means "the lord of flies" or "the lord of death." Because of the king's idolatrous inquiry, God tells Elijah to intercept the messengers and relay God's message that, because Ahaziah had sought a false god, he would not recover (verses 3-4). Ahaziah sends soldiers to capture Elijah, and it is in their number that we find 153 people. First, one group of fifty men and their captain go to get Elijah, and the prophet calls fire from heaven to consume them (verses 9-10). Then, a secondgroup of fifty and its captain go and are likewise incinerated (verses 11-12). The captain of the third group of fifty, however, humbly asks for mercy for himself and his men, and before Elijah could ask for fire from heaven, God intervenes and tells His prophetto go with them to deliver His message to Ahaziah (verses 13-16). The three groups of fifty men plus the three captains add up to 153. The 153 fish in the disciples' net do not represent Ahaziah's soldiers, but the circumstances in ancient Israel provide a reference point. As in the first sign, which symbolized the nation's lack of�and need for�symbolic wine, the eighth signalso corresponds with Israel and her debased spiritual state. Israel in Elijah's day was apostate, even as Israel in Christ's day rejected and killed their Creator and King. The number 153, then, points to Israel in a spiritually destitute condition, at a time of gross idolatry when God's servants (symbolized by Elijah) suffer persecution, and the humble and God-fearing (the final group of soldiers) escape God'sfiery judgment. Yet the eighth sign also points to a miraculous gathering of fish�of men. Jeremiah 16:14-16 contains a prophecy that combines these elements of a people in a destitute condition being gathered: "Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "that it shall no more be said, �The LORD lives who broughtup the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' but, �The LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.' For Iwill bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers. "Behold, I will send for many fishermen," says the LORD, "and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters,and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks." God uses the imagery of fishermen gathering scattered Israelites to the Promised Land in a mighty act that will completely overshadow the original exodus. Verses 17-20 show that when the regathering occurs, Israel will still be idolatrous. Aparallel prophecy in Ezekiel 20:33-38 foretells that God will not allow all the regathered into the land, as He will purge the rebels. But even as Jesus caused the disciples to catch a precise number of fish, so He declares that Israel "will be gathered one by one" (Isaiah27:12). He promises, though He will "sift the house of Israel among all nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve; yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground" (Amos9:9). The precise number of fish signals that He knows where every Israelite is, and sometime soon, He will direct a vast but personal regathering of the rebellious nation. The first sign teaches that when the Messiah gives joy to the nation through the restored covenantal relationship, He will fill it "up to the brim" (John 2:7; see Isaiah 9:2-7), and when He fills the land with restored Israel, He will fill it to the last one (Ezekiel 37:12-14). In the eighth sign, Jesus signifies that Hewill be the gatherer (Jeremiah 31:10), while the seven disciples symbolize the spiritual perfection with which Israel will be gathered, one by one, to the last one. After the eighth sign, Jesus charges Peter to feed His lambs, to tend His sheep, and to feed His sheep (John 21:15-17). His command has an obvious applicationin his role as the leading apostle, but his responsibility did not end when he died. In biblical numerology, the number eight signifies new beginnings, and Scripture often links it with resurrection. When Peter rises at Christ's return, he will judge the tribes of Israel, those regathered Israelites who will need significant feeding and tending. It will be a job far larger in scope and duration than what he did as the apostle to the circumcision�to first-centuryIsrael. But just as Christ provides the wine that is lacking, the food that is necessary, and directs His servants in where to gather, so will He always supply what is needed. Even before the significant events of the end, He seeks those willing tofill the waterpots, to cast the nets, to drag the loads, to tend and feed, not just once, but day after day, if necessary. He looks for those who will serve�not with bravado and bombast, as Peter tended to do in his early years�but with genuine humility. Thoughsuch efforts themselves are not miraculous, God works through those who make the effort, even when it might seem futile. Even small things, done faithfully, have great effect where God is involved. And where there is faith, God gives the increase. - David C. Grabbe VISIT: PROPHECY WATCHER WEEKLY NEWS: HTTP://PROPHECY-WATCHER-WEEKLY-NEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM