Fish
A while back, we did a Bible study and all we did was look up verses that were related to a wall. I thought it was a neat idea and fun and I wanted to expand on it and do a few more. So tonight we’re gonna look at verses that relate to – fish.
Why are fish? Well, the fish is a common Christian symbol that you see every day. It is a symbol for Christ. It is a symbol for God‘s provision. It said that back in the days of Rome when Christians were being persecuted one would draw the first line in the sand. Then the other person would draw the second line to complete the symbol of the fish and that would mean they were both Christians. If not, it would just look like a person drawing in the sand.
The common symbol:
It is called an ICHTHYS, which is a Greek acronym:
I – Jesus
X – Christ
O – God’s
Y – Son
E – Savior
Not only that because the Bible is so complementary to itself. Because it tells a bunch of little stories, but one gigantic story throughout. Because it is so succinct, I was wondering, can we get the gospel message with verses only related to fish?
So the first thing we’re gonna do is look up random versus dealing with fish, and then we’re gonna see if we can lead our brothers to Christ using only verses relating to the fish.
Let’s have some fun:
Matthew 17:27 ”“But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”“
This is an interesting little tidbit from the Bible. Jesus does not have to pay this tax because he is a king. He explains this in some verses before. However, he does pay it, so as not to ruffle some feathers. There’s some things to learn here. We can choose our battles, God will provide for us. He provides in a pretty cool way in the story. Interesting note, Peter is a professional fisherman. He’s used to fishing with Matz. But Jesus tell him to throw in a single hook. Not sure what it means, but it’s kind of cool.
I always think of this verse when I pay taxes and it makes me feel better. The government or the Pharisees or whoever thinks they’re putting one over on you by charging you money. But it gives me peace to think “who cares, this is just money. I have Jesus, I have salvation. I love this verse for that reason.
”Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.“
Note on skeptics:
Some say the plagues each have a naturalistic explanation. In the case of this first plague, some point out that when the Nile reaches an extremely high flood stage, it collects finely powdered red earth, and this red earth carries organisms that color the water and kill fish. But if this were the cause, it is hard to explain how Pharaoh could possibly be impressed.
i. God may or may not have used natural mechanisms to accomplish these plagues; even if He did, the timing and character of the plagues come from God’s hand alone.
ii. It is important to understand that these plagues were all literal; there was nothing symbolic about them. Each plague pointed to a greater meaning than the event itself, but they really happened. This guides our understanding about the plagues in the Book of Revelation; there is no reason to see them as merely symbolic either.
iii. The plagues God brought against Egypt had a definite strategy and purpose. Each of them confronts and attacks a prized Egyptian deity. Not only did they bring punishment against Egypt, the plagues also answered Pharaoh’s original question: Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? The plagues show the LORD God to be greater than any of the deities of Egypt.
”But I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your streams stick to your scales. I will pull you out from among your streams, with all the fish sticking to your scales. I will leave you in the desert, you and all the fish of your streams. You will fall on the open field and not be gathered or picked up. I will give you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky. Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the Lord. “ ‘You have been a staff of reed for the people of Israel.“
I don’t know exactly when this happens, and I didn’t want to spend too much time looking it up, but this is a prophecy about the fall of Egypt, the pharaoh. Even though Egypt had been the slave masters, for Israel, men in Israel would look back longing to go back to Egypt. This is Ezekiel writing to the people of Israel, what is going to happen to Egypt.
Saying the fish in the rivers would stick to your scales is speaking about Egyptian prosperity and sustenance that would be greatly affected. The fish they are speaking of here are followers of the king. Egypt is very high on death burial, but here it says they’ll be scattered and become food for Predators.
Matthew 4:18-19
”As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”“
This is a pretty cool snippet from the Bible, and there have been thousands of sermons about this very verse. The way the verse is laid out, it looks as if Jesus walks up, says follow me, and they leave everything, and go with him. There is no small talk, there is no getting their fishing gear back on shore, there is no please explain what we’re doing now, Jesus? It is just follow me, and they left.
A few notes: this is not the first time Andrew has been with Jesus. In the book of John, it tells a story that Andrew was a former disciple of John the Baptist, and he was standing there. The date Jesus came to get baptized. He heard the sky open up and say “behold, the lamb of God“ Andrew understood that Jesus was the messiah and rushed back to tell his brother Peter. This happened before the time Jesus walked up to them and said follow me.
”For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.“
This is Jesus referring back to the old testament story of Jonah. More on the story of Jonah coming but I kept this in there to discuss the actual history of a fish swallowing a man and keeping him for 3 days. There is scientific debate if this is possible or if it was a whale, or something else.
But it really does not matter what science says. What do you guys think? Is the story of Jonah true or allegory?
- I think it is true just the way it is written – and it would seem like so does Jesus by this verse.
Mark 6:38
38. “How many loaves do you have?” he asked. “Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five—and two fish.”
God’s way of provision always begins with what we already have. He wants us to use what we already have wisely. Don’t foolishly pray for more from God if you don’t use what He already has given you in a godly way.
Mark 6:41—44
41. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to his disciples to distribute to the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. 42. They all ate and were satisfied, 43. and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. 44. The number of the men who had eaten was five thousand.
Such a famous story. What are some of the lessons from here?
”Moreover, no one knows when their hour will come: As fish are caught in a cruel net, or birds are taken in a snare, so people are trapped by evil times that fall unexpectedly upon them.“
Solomon is lamenting that everything under the sun is fleeting. Life is fatal. Like a fish swimming one second and caught in a net the next. Ultimately he finds truth in God alone.
Job 12:7-10
”“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.“
Jobs “friends” were just mocking him and God in the prior verses and this is Job’s response. What is he saying?
Here Job is responding to his friends who have been mocking him and mocking God. Jo is basically saying the birds in the sky or the fish in the sea. No more about God than you do. They can see that God created everything here. He is calling his friends fools for not understanding the simplest things about God.
Numbers 11:4-5
”The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.“
A little background: these are the Israelites who used to be slaves in Egypt. They are currently in the desert waiting to enter the promised land. The reason they didn’t go right into the promised land is because they created false gods right after they were set free. Now, they are complaining that they don’t have any meat to eat.
They lament that at least back in Egypt they had fish to eat.
How many sins are they committing here?
Coveting, ingratitude, longing for their old life of bondage.
Look where it says they had fish at “no cost”. That’s kind of funny. They maybe had fish, but it cost them their freedom.
When you read it like this, the Israelites seem petty and foolish. But how is this similar to us? Do you have any sin that you really don’t want to let go of? Are you still looking backwards at your sinful life or are you looking forward?
Amos 4:2-3
”The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness: “The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks. You will each go straight out through breaches in the wall, and you will be cast out toward Harmon,” declares the Lord.“
This verse is not good news at all. You do not want to be on the bad end of this statement from God. First of all he swears on his own holiness. You don’t want to bring God to a place where he basically says “as my holiness as my witness” this is about to happen to you…
This is not an allegory. He is predicting that Israel will literally be taken away by the Assyrians as captives. The Assyrians, when they took people captive, put an actual fishhook through the lower lip of all their prisoners, tied them together and marched them out. Total painful humiliation.
John 21:9-11
”When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread. Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.“
This story takes place after the disciples have been fishing all night. The next morning, they are still on the boat. Jesus from shore tells them to cast their nets on the other side where it is filled, but does not break.
Now, as they come in, we see these verses explain that Jesus has a fire going, and he already has fish on it.
One note is that Jesus, as always, is serving. Also, he does not need their current catch because he already has fish on the fire. But he does tell them to put fish on from their current catch, which adds to it.
Why do you think is the number 153?
There has been many interpretations of this over the years, including, but not limited to:
-Saint Augustine thought that 153 is the sum of the numbers 1 to 17 which points to the total number of commandments, plus the sevenfold gifts of the spirit.
-Some ancient writers believed there was 153 different types of fish in the world at this time, which would represent a full harvest
-Some thought that 100 stood for the gentiles, 50 stood for Israel, and three stood for the Trinity
The truth is that all we know for certain is that 153 represents the number of fish that were in the net. There are also warnings against trying to find hidden messages where there aren’t any in the Bible.
I think that Peter is a fisherman. He hauls the net himself, which would be very heavy with all the fish and a wet net. He counts the fish like any fisherman would. He’s just a guy proud of his fishing take.
Gospel thru Fish?
Next week…