Christ Gathers in a Multitude to Enjoy Fellowship with God
Christ Died to Gather in a Multitude of Sinners
After Jesus died and rose from the dead, He appeared to His disciples to remind them of the commission that He'd given them at the beginning of His ministry. He told them that He would make them "fishers of men". This in-gathering of a multitude of sinners of all nations was what He purchased on the cross with His blood.
The Net that Gathers the Multitude is the Foolishness of Preaching the Gospel
Since His disciples were eyewitnesses of when and how He purchased this salvation, He would use the testimony of what they saw and heard to gather these people in - their testimony would be inspired by the Holy Spirit and it is the Gospel.
Jesus demonstrates that apart from Him, they can do nothing and that He would Himself accomplish this mission through them as they were faithful to follow His commands for it, rather than their own intuition or wisdom. It would be through the foolishness of preaching the Gospel that this in-gathering of the great multitude would be brought in.
The Multitude is Gathered in to Enjoy Fellowship with Christ
This meeting with the Disciples also revealed the purpose for which the multitude is gathered; to enjoy fellowship with Jesus. This is also the reason why we are compelled to join Jesus in gathering in - by participating in the Great Commission we can enjoy a sweet fellowship with Christ that sustains us for this work.
Questions for Discussion:
- What miracle did Jesus perform?
- What did this miracle teach about why Jesus had died?
- What is the net that God uses to gather sinners from all nations in?
- What are some fake nets that we might be tempted to use?
- Why do you think we are tempted to use these instead?
- What does this occasion teach us about why someone would want to be 'gathered in?' (Picture Peter jumping in the water and swimming toward Jesus.)
- What does this occasion teach us about why someone would want to join Jesus in gathering people in?