Matthew 4:18-22
Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.
“And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. Then He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ They immediately left their nets and followed Him.” Matthew 4:18-20
Peter and Andrew were doing their usual 9am-5pm job and working overtime long hours into the night. They would sell the fish they netted to the locals of nearby cities. Then our Lord Jesus said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” They immediately followed Him as they left their nets, their way of life, and their source of income. There was something empty within themselves in the work and toil they were doing but when they heard the call of Jesus, they felt a new purpose and meaning in life begin to bubble up from within them. They would be fishing for people; to enrich the lives of others with something that would nourish their hearts, minds, and souls. Peter and Andrew would be bringing a life-changing message through the testimony of Jesus, enabling people to be born-again by the forgiveness of sin.
In today’s culture, which is global, people are casting their nets into the global waters to fish for people. They work continuously to entice and wrangle people into the boat of the global culture. People are fished to live by the presence of this world that gives what to say, do, think, and feel. That presence gives breath/life to the image of the beast to speak by speaking and living through people. By what they are given to say and do, people are being conformed to the mark, name, number of the beast. Jesus Christ calls us to follow Him and to leave the work of the power of darkness, to leave the “nets” being used to bring people into the ways of the culture of the beast. Instead of destroying souls by causing people to deny God, to reject Jesus, and oppose the presence of the Holy Spirit, Jesus calls us to bring healing to hearts and minds by pointing them to the Cross where there is forgiveness of sin and life in the presence of the Holy Spirit is found.
Peter and Andrew immediately followed Jesus, but that didn’t mean they were immediately perfect in their walk with Him. Peter was the first to decare that Jesus was the Christ and Son of God Matthew 16:13-19, after following Jesus for quite some time. We have to realize that the Apostles did not yet know the meaning of the Cross where Christ would suffer and die to atone for sin. They did not yet know about the resurrection, had not yet witnessed the ascension of Christ, and had not yet experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Today, we automatically know that following Jesus Christ means to accept that He died for us on the Cross to forgive our unbelief, that He was resurrected from the grave after three days, and because He lives, we will live eternally with Him.
Even after Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ and Son of God, he lied about being His follower three times. He lied because He had just seen Jesus being arrested and knew it could lead to His death Luke 22:54-62. Peter wanted nothing to do with that part of following our Lord Jesus. Afterwards, He wept bitterly. Jesus calls us to take up the cross and follow Him, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 16:24-25 “And some of those of understanding will fall, to refine them, purify them, and make them white,” Daniel 11:35 Jesus Christ appeared to Peter after His resurrection, and asked him three times, the exact number of times that Peter denied Him, “Peter, do you love Me? All three times, Peter said, “Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.” Jesus responded to Peter, “Feed My sheep” John 21:15-19.
Peter went on to preach when the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-40), brought healing to a lame man (Acts 3:12-26), defended the Gospel before those hostile to Jesus Christ and after being beaten, (Acts 4:8-12…Acts 5:29-32), had fellowship with and ate with a Gentile Roman Centurion (Acts 10:24-43), preached the Gospel to the Jerusalem church Acts 11:1-18, an angel freed Peter from prison (Acts 12:1-19), and at the Jerusalem council, affirmed the inclusion of Gentiles into the fellowship of Jesus Christ (Acts 15:6-21).
“If God is for us, who can be against us?…who will bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies…who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us….’For [Christ’s] sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’…yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:31, 33-35, 37
“Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.” Matthew 4:21-22
The area of Capernaum was a place that drew a lot of fishermen because of the warm springs flowing into the Sea of Galilee from there. To this day, there are seven mineral-rich springs that rise from the ground and flow into the Sea/Lake, making it a productive fishing spot. James and John were fishermen, like Peter and Andrew, and they all lived nearby the city of Capernaum.
Peter and Andrew left their fishing nets to follow Jesus, and then Jesus called James and John to follow Him. They immediately left the boat and their father to follow Him. We know how important boats are to fishing, that is the place where fish are stored and then transported to be sold. Everything stored up in a boat would have represented the financial well-being of James, John, and their father. All the wealth stored up in that boat was not bringing satisfaction to James and John. There was something within themselves that needed more than what financial security could bring to them. When they heard the call of Jesus, they felt something within them that provided more riches than any size boat that they could have owned. They immediately left the boat and followed Jesus.
Our Lord Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21
John and James immediately left their father to follow Jesus. When there is a choice to make between family bonds and the bond we have with Jesus Christ, our bond with Jesus is always the choice we must make. No person on this earth is able to cleanse the sins of the heart nor to give the Holy Spirit. The cleansing that comes from within requires the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the Cross to atone for sin. Our faith in Him comes from within and by the remission of sin we are given the Holy Spirit. We know we have the Holy Spirit when we do not speak against Jesus and we say that He is Lord, “Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:3 “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” Matthew 10:37-39
We live in a culture today where the “boat” and family are the most important things to them. The economy and social unity are the foremost topics of every politician in every city around the world. The grassroots people want financial prosperity and community harmony while the politicians promise to deliver both. Global prosperity and the global culture are what the “Sustainable Development Goals” of the United Nations are all about. The Cross of Jesus Christ is foolishness to them. They are the fulfillment of the coming of the culture of the beast, as described in Revelations 13. The grassroots community live by the beast that gives them what to say, do, think, and feel. And the global government builds its power and authority from the beast that governs by giving them what to do, say, think, and feel. The United Nations was formed in 1945, immediately after World War 2, and brought the government of the beast with it, as described in Daniel 8:1-14 and also Revelations 17.
A “house” cannot be built on social-economic policies if sin remains in the heart. That’s because sin will overtake whatever is left of the goodness in the world until there is nothing left but lawlessness, corruption, and violence. “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” Matthew 7:24-27
Jesus says, “Follow Me”, and our response must be to immediately leave the ways of this world behind and follow Him.
James and John were called the “sons of thunder” by Jesus, “James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder.” Mark 3:17 They had a lot of growing to do in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. At one time, they wanted to call down fire from Heaven to destroy the enemies of Jesus, Luke 9:51-56. They also wanted power and prestige, Mark 10:35–37.
After Jesus gave Himself as the sacrifice to atone for sin, after His resurrection, after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, James and John began to understand what it means to walk with Jesus Christ. The sin within their heart that wanted to destroy the enemies of Jesus were washed away and became love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness. The sin of lust for power rand authority was washed away as they became humble and obedient in their service to Christ.
John became the writer of the book of Revelations, wrote the Gospel of John, and wrote 1st, 2nd, and 3rd John. John is mentioned in the books of Acts alongside the ministry of Peter.
James, the brother of John, did not write the book of James. It was James, the half-brother of Jesus, who wrote the book of James. However, James, the brother of John gave his life for Jesus Christ. Within the heart of John was a devotion so strong that no amount evil, tribulation, not even death could alter his faith held in Him. The Cross changes people. Jesus takes an ordinary person with a worldly heart of sin and supplies it with the power of the Holy Spirit. A power that declares Jesus to be the Christ and Son of God amidst all types of scrutiny, criticism, hatred, despise, threats, etc. James was killed by Herod Agrippa, as described in Acts 12:1-2.
On the map below, is the Sea of Galilee [Lake of Gennesaret]. Capernaum, where Jesus stationed Himself to begin His public ministry, is seen at the top of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus was walking along the Sea of Galilee, not far from His home city of Capernaum, and along the shore is where He saw Peter, Andrew, John, and James. To the right of Capernaum, is Bethsaida, that is where Peter and Andrew were from. “Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter” John 1:44 When Jesus called them to follow Him, they could have been anywhere between Capernaum and Bethsaida. James and John would have been in that same area.
The distance between Capernaum and Bethsaida was about 7 miles.
The Sea of Galilee is also known as “Lake Gennesaret”, Luke 5:1. “Gennesaret” means “harp”, and Lake Gennesaret [Sea of Galilee] is shaped like a harp. The Sea of Galilee is also known as Lake Tiberias, “After these things Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias.” John 6:1 The lake was named after the Roman Emperor Tiberius during the lifetime of Jesus. In the “Holy Land” of today, the people call it Lake Tiberias.
“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.
I am coming soon.
Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.’”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11
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