Why Were 153 Fish Caught?

With the death of Jesus, the disciples must have thought their ‘ministry’ was over. So, Peter and some of the other disciples, decided to go back to what they were doing before Jesus called them; fishing. That is what they knew and they were good at fishing, at least before Jesus changed everything. After Jesus was resurrected from the grave, he began to first show himself to his disciples. John Chapter 21 states that Peter and several other disciples had been fishing all night. Then, just as day was breaking, Jesus was standing on the shore, but they did not know it was Jesus. Jesus then asked them if they had caught anything. Their answer was ‘No’. So much for being the experts! Then, Jesus told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat. Suddenly, their net was so full of fish that they could not haul the fish into the boat. That was when John realized that it was Jesus on the shore and he exclaimed, ‘It is the Lord’. This was the third time that Jesus has appeared to his disciples after the resurrection. Peter jumped out of the boat so he could reach Jesus quicker than the ones in the boat. The other disciples brought the boat to shore with their massive haul of fish. They noticed that Jesus was cooking fish over a fire; he made breakfast for them. And he did not need their fish, he created his own!

John states that Peter helped to bring the net ashore and it was full of large fish, 153 fish, to be exact. They took time to count the fish, which must have taken 5 or 10 minutes, while Jesus watched and waited. Jesus then invited the men to come and have breakfast. An interesting comment is then made in the scriptures. John 21:12 states; ‘Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?”. Why did John make that statement? John is the one who recognized Jesus earlier, when they were in the boat. So, they knew this was Jesus, the man whom they had traveled with for the past 3 and a half years. And they had heard him say he was the Son of God. Is it possible they had a new revelation of the true identity of Jesus? Did the number 153 contain a message to them?

It is possible that the number 153 was significant to them because the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are each assigned a number. From the beginning of the written Torah, the rabbis calculated the value of various words and phrases; they believed these values carried a ‘message’. Phrases or words with the same value were considered to be related. So, is there a phrase in Hebrew that has a value of 153? Yes, there is; it is the phrase ‘Ani Elohim’. This phrase, written in Hebrew, is shown below.

If you review the chart below, which shows the numeric value for each Hebrew letter, you will see that the calculated value for ‘Ani Elohim‘ is 153. Aleph=1, Nun=50, Yod=10, giving a total of 61 for ‘Ani‘. For Elohim, Aleph=1, Lamed=30, Vav=6, He=5, Yod=10 and Mem=40, giving a total of 92 for ‘Elohim‘. The phrase Ani Elohim has a calculated total of 153 (61 + 92)!

Since the disciples had fished all night and caught nothing, when they caught 153 fish, they must have realized that Jesus either created that number of fish, or he caused that number of fish to fill their nets. The distance from one side of the boat, to the other side, was only about 8 or 10 feet; not enough distance to explain their sudden catch. This had to be a miracle. So what does Ani Elohim mean in English? It means ‘I am God’! Was Jesus trying to tell his friends, the fishermen, that he was not just the Son of God, but that he was God? Is that why John wrote: ‘Now none of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” We can’t be sure and there are other explanations for the number 153. But, that is the only explanation which seems to make sense with the verses that followed, explaining that one one dared asked Jesus who he was.

For us as Christians, we know Jesus is God. So, let this lesson teach us that we can be doing everything we know to do,  but our efforts may be in vain. If Jesus tells you to ‘cast your net on the other side’, you need to be obedient. It was John who also told us (in John 1:2- 3) that Jesus was ‘in the beginning with God. All things were made through him.’ Jesus can create provision from nothing in your life. And Jesus can change you from a fisherman, to a fisher of men. Just take time to have breakfast with him; start your morning with the Word of God and let Jesus speak to your heart.

So, Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them.
John 21:11 (ESV)