By The Sea 2: Come And Dine

2/4/2023

John 21:7-14

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. But the 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." (“Come and dine” KJV) Yet none 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. This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead.

This is now the third time Jesus showed Himself to His disciples after He was raised from the dead. His new life appearances on Earth are now complete and eternal in God, and Jesus is saying to them and us Come and eat breakfast; Come and dine with Me; let us share an everlasting sustaining, one with another.

See the picture that Jesus has created for us here, it is a vision of eternal life at the right hand of God; life in the Kingdom of Heaven:

We have been called by Him to the shore — for we have recognised Him as our Lord and we see Him in the place where He now dwells. So we put on our covering and come to Him as we are and as He has nurtured in us.
We come to Him by faith, no matter how we get there, for we have risen out of the waters of the mass of unredeemed mankind and have chosen to live in the fishing boat of the Church of Jesus Christ.
When we come to that shore, we find a perfect welcome into The Lord’s House awaits us. The Redeemer’s fire burns brightly and there is food ready prepared.
We see Christ’s invitation to ‘Come and dine’ as His guiding into the Holiest of All in His temple. Jesus Himself — as ‘The Light of The World’ — reveals the Candlestick in The Holy Place; the bread is The Table of Showbread, and the fish are the purified offering of our souls in the fire of the Altar of Incense.
Simon Peter, as the rock on which Jesus is building His church, brings His unbroken net of the souls to whom He has revealed the life in Christ, to lay before Him — to fulfil the Lord’s working in us that He will make us fishers of men.
These living souls brought before Christ number one hundred and fifty-three, revealing ‘the children of the harvest’ (100) perfected and resurrected by the fullness and grace of the Holy Spirit (53, as 50+3).
Jesus invites us to come and dine — to be a part in His completing and everlasting work — to breakfast with Him, from a line of meaning back to the root word ‘to elevate; raise up; lift or draw up (a fish).
This eating breakfast also suggests the time of day. It is the first and best meal of the day, strengthening after the night hours fasting, and just as the new day is dawning and the light is revealing a new beginning.

This is a message of such uplifting encouraging hope for each follower and disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. Come and dine.

MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS

REVELATION 3:20-21
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

COME AND DINE — sung by Gary Chapman

PRAYER requires OBEDIENCE

THE REASON FOR intercession is not that God answers prayer, but that God tells us to pray.
[from ‘Disciples Indeed’ by Oswald Chambers]

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LIVELY STONES MEDITATIONS