COME AND DINE
John 21:1-14
It was a special blessing this morning as I stepped outside, bright and early, in hopes of seeing a sunrise. The Lord gave me a thought from His Word where Peter said to the disciples, “I go a fishing.” And they told him, “we go too” (Jn. 21:3). And they went out that night and cast their nets and fished and caught nothing all night.
The next morning, Jesus was standing on the shore, And they didn’t recognize who he was at first, and he said, “Children, have ye any meat?” And they replied, “No.” And he said, “Cast your net on the right side, and ye shall find.” And the Bible says that they cast their nets, and they caught so many fish they couldn’t draw the nets into the boat. And when they came to the shore, they found that Jesus had prepared a fire and laid fish on it, and there was bread. And he said to them, “Come and dine.”
Amen! Hallelujah!
This story reminds me this morning that, like Peter and the other disciples, toiling all night, fighting the waves. They struggled through the whole night in an attempt to catch fish. So we, too, go through life laboring and straining and struggling with our heavy burdens and seemingly futile efforts to achieve our goals. But it reminds me of the verse where Jesus says, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt. 11:28).
Standing on the beach that morning, Jesus knew their struggles. He knew their hardships and understood their burdens. Yet, he was standing there that morning, ready to give them rest.
The Bible also tells us that all men are sinners and condemned to an eternity separated from God. In John 3:18, we read, “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
But we’re also reminded this morning that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2Pe. 3:9). God’s Word reminds us that, “For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost” (Mt. 18:11).
Jesus died on the cross and shed his blood for the remission of our sins. The sins of the whole world. “…He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins” (1Jn. 1:9)—all who come unto him. No repentant heart is ever turned away!
That early morning of the day after the disciples had toiled all night catching no fish. Jesus was standing on the beach saying, “Come and dine!”
This morning, Jesus wants to lighten our burdens. But he’s also standing at the door of the condemned heart saying, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Re. 3:20).
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
“COME AND DINE.”
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