The Gospel According To John

by Richard St.James

The Infinite Books

Bible 1611.Com / Old Paths Baptist Mission © 2011

---

John 21:18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.
20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?
21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?
22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.
23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?
24 This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.
25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”

---

1. The Death Clock
2. Meddling Brethren
3. Follow Me
4. The True Testimony

---

1. The Death Clock

The first part of verse nineteen: “This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God.”

According to Job [by the Holy Spirit] [in Job chapter fourteen] a man has a “few days” to live … compared to all eternity. In those few days, he will experience a lot of “trouble”. “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.” [Job 14:1]

Something else can be seen here, man has an “appointed time” [or an allotted time] to live on this earth. Then, he will DIE. “If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.” [Job 14:14]

What will be different is the manner of our death and the exact timing of our death. In Peter’s case, God [Jesus Christ] is prophesying that Peter will die in a good old age. Remember, a “few days” in comparison with eternity is a very short time. The last part of verse nineteen shows us this: “but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.”

---

2. Meddling Brethren

The first part of verse twenty-two: “Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” And again the last part of verse twenty-three: “but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?”

There is an admonition located in the book of Galatians for Christians to BEAR one another’s BURDENS. This is Paul writing to the brethren at Galatia [the church of the Galatians] for the purpose of exhorting the brethren to “fulfil the law of Christ”. Read it with me in chapter six, verse two: “Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” [Galatians 6:2]

We need to be concerned for one another [for the brethren] and bare up one another. To balance this out, the Spirit of God just a few verses later in the same chapter of Galatians says this in verse five: “For every man shall bear his own burden.” [Galatians 6:5] Ultimately, we are responsible for our own load.

However, in verse twenty-one, Peter seems to be overly interested in what the LORD … will do with John. “Lord, and what shall this man do?” Now, the brethren need to bare one another’s burdens. Make no mistake about it [the will of the LORD].
 
However, there is a very fine line between this need for the brethren to bear another’s burdens [such as with prayer or helps] and with what is called: “meddling”. What do the Proverbs say [in Proverbs 20:3]? “It is an honour for a man to cease from strife: but every fool will be meddling.” God calls a man that meddles in the business of another man … a fool.

The LORD is saying to Peter in verse twenty-two of our text this: “that is not your business, Peter”: “what is that to thee?” We all need to be on guard as to our motives in our dealings with the brethren [the affairs of men] so that we “fulfil the law of Christ” … yet at the same time not becoming a meddler.

---

3. Follow Me

The last part of verse nineteen: “And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.” And the last part verse twenty-two: “follow thou me.”

Peter, follow me! Christian, follow me! Peter, feed my sheep! Pastor, feed my sheep! Now, isn’t this the bottom-line thing that Jesus Christ wants from Peter [and all of us] that are “saved” [born again]? Remember, the: “follow thou me” that we see here matches the “follow me” of Matthew chapter four, verse nineteen. “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” [Matthew 4:19]

---

4. The True Testimony

Verse twenty-four: “This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.”

Now, as I close this commentary on the Gospel of John, I have written these things in order to persuade you … to believe the truths in this Bible to your salvation. The Bible [in the English language] is the King James Bible of 1611, or any of its revisions. My goal is for you to believe in your heart the words that the Apostle John gave by the Holy Ghost and committed as a BOOK [The Gospel according to John]. John wrote these things as his testimony. “We know that his testimony is true.”

Now, lastly verse twenty-five: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.”

This old world could not contain the books if everything would be written about Jesus Christ. There would be INFINITE BOOKS!!! This last verse of this gospel points to the INFINITE GOD … WHO is Jesus Christ. Amen!

---

Return To Home

Return to King James Bible Study Index

 

 

The Gospel According To John

John 21:1 After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise showed he himself.

John 21:2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his
disciples.

John 21:3 Simon Peter saith unto them, I go a fishing. They say unto him, We also go with thee. They went forth, and entered into a ship immediately; and that night they caught nothing.

John 21:4 But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus.

John 21:5 Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No.

John 21:6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes.

John 21:7 Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea.

John 21:8 And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes.

John 21:9 As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread.

John 21:10 Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.

John 21:11 Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.

John 21:12 Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine. And none of the disciples durst ask him, Who art thou? knowing that it was the Lord.

John 21:13 Jesus then cometh, and taketh bread, and giveth them, and fish likewise.

John 21:14 This is now the third time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples, after that he was risen from the dead.

John 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

John 21:16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

John 21:17 He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

John 21:18 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.

John 21:19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

John 21:20 Then Peter, turning about, seeth the disciple whom Jesus loved following; which also leaned on his breast at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?

John 21:21 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?

John 21:22 Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

John 21:23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?

John 21:24 This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true.

John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.