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The
Miracle Of The 153 Fishes
The
Meaning of Numbers :
The
Number 153
The meaning of the number 153 centers
around the New Testament event sometimes referred to as the miraculous draught
or catch of fishes (John 21:1-11).
It is only mentioned in the Gospel of
John.
This amazing miracle involving 153 was
performed by Jesus, after His resurrection from the dead, in His next to last
appearance with his eleven disciples before ascending into heaven.
By understanding what led up to this
miracle of fishes we can gain a broader perspective of what the number 153
represents.
After His resurrection Christ appeared
a number of times to His innermost circle of eleven disciples.
He first showed Himself alive to all
the disciples, except Thomas, on the Sunday night after His resurrection (John 20:19-24).
Eight days later He met with the
disciples when Thomas was present (John
20:26-29).
An unknown period of time later He met
with all the apostles at the appointed mountain in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-17).
It was sometime after this meeting in
Galilee, but before Christ's ascension on May 18th, that the miracle of 153
fishes occurred.
One day Peter decided he wanted to go
back to his pre-conversion job of being a fisherman (John 21:2-3).
Upon hearing his plans several of the
other disciples (Thomas, Nathanael, James, John and two unnamed disciples) went
with him to fish on the Sea of Tiberias (Sea of Galilee).
The men fish for an entire night and
catch nothing.
In the morning, a man on the shore
(they did not know it was Jesus) yells to them and asks if they caught
anything.
They answered no.
They are then told to drop their net on
the right side of the ship.
When they try to bring the net out of
the water it is so FULL of fish that it requires being dragged to the shore!
The disciples now realize it was Jesus
talking to them.
On shore, Peter counts a total number
of 153 'great fish' in the net.
Symbolizing abundance, 153 can even
represent an OVERFLOW blessing from God.
The Bible states the disciples
marvelled at the fact that their net held together even though it contained so
many large fish (John 21:11)!
Additionally, the catching of 153 fish
happened only after Christ became involved in the work.
This is a subtle (or perhaps not so
subtle!) reminder that without Christ the disciples' (and any believer's)
attempts to accomplish something great on their own will fail, but that with
Jesus all things are possible (John 15:5).
Lastly, the 153 fishes is reminiscent
of a previously abundant catch Peter, Andrew, James and John experienced when
they were first called to follow Christ and become fishers of MEN (and not
food).
Given the disciples were trying to go
back to their pre-conversion employment when the miracle occurred, it likely
reminded them that they now worked for God whose will it still was for them to
catch men and not fish.
Additional info on the Biblical Meaning of the number 153
We discover something quite interesting
about 153 when we look at how many people, in the Gospel accounts, Jesus
personally blessed.
The book of Mark records Christ, on a
total of three occasions, personally blessed three people. These events were
the healing of a man with an unclean spirit (Mark
1:23), healing a man who was deaf (Mark 7:32) and making
whole another who was blind (Mark 8:22).
Matthew, however, writes that on 23
occasions Jesus blessed a total of 47 people.
Some of those whom he bestowed God's
grace to include a leper (Matthew 8:2), a non-Israelite woman and her daughter (Matthew 15:22),
Mary Magdalene (Matthew 27:56) and Joseph of Arimathaea (Matthew
27:57).
Luke writes that on 14 occasions 94
people were blessed. They include the seventy disciples sent out to preach and
heal (Luke 10:1), ten lepers cleansed at the same time (Luke 17:12) and Zaccheus (Luke 19:2).
Lastly, the apostle John bears record
of 8 incidents where 9 people were helped by Jesus.
Nicodemus (John 3:1), the woman
accused of adultery (John 8:11) and Lazarus (John 11) are among those personally touched by the Savior of
mankind.
All told, the Lord directly blessed a
grand total of 153 people in 48 separate incidents!
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