“I will make you to become fishers of men” (Mark 1:17).
The much-loved prophet Jeremiah, in the midst of his tears, was encouraged by this word from the Lord: “It shall no more be said, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but, The Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither He had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers. Behold, I will send for many fishers. . . . They shall fish them” (Jer. 16).
We see this in figure in the end of John’s gospel (ch. 21). The disciples had fished all night and caught nothing. This represents Jerusalem and those whom she represents at the present. “Thou hast forsaken Me, saith the Lord . . . . Her sun is gone down while it was yet day” (Jer. 15:69). “Hear . . . ye princes of the house of Israel . . . . Night shall be unto you . . . and it shall be dark unto you . . . and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them” (Micah 3).
They had the sun set upon them morally at the cross (Luke 23:45) and governmentally (in the figure of Elymas) so that they should not see “the sun for a season” (Acts 13). But a morning is coming for those among them who fear His name, when the Sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in His wings (Mal. 4). Healing grace was coming for them.
“But when the morning was now come,” Jesus instructs them to “cast the net on the right side . . . and ye shall find.” The right side is the side of the temple out of which the healing waters flowed. “The waters came down from under from the right side of the house” (Ezek. 47:1). This river brought life where it went and provided fish for the fishermen. It went into the sea, and the sea was healed, and there was “a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many” (Ezek. 47:10).
The right side is the side of healing grace to that beloved nation of Israel—and to us who are Gentiles, also. May we value this day of grace and be found casting our nets on the right side, for He has called us to be fishers of men. “And He saith unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). “Preach the word . . . . Do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:2,5). Oh! what a message of healing grace we have!
H. Short