Participating in Yehovah’s Ancient Plan to Regather the Lost Sheep of Israel
(John 21, Luke 5, Jeremiah 16:16, and the True Meaning of Being “Sent”)
1. Peter’s Boastful Pride and His Great Fall
Before the crucifixion, when Yeshua warned the disciples that they would all fall away that night, Peter boldly declared:
“Even if all fall away on account of You, I never will. … Even if I have to die with You, I will never disown You.” (Matthew 26:33-35)
Peter was convinced he loved Yeshua more than the other disciples. His pride led him to claim superior loyalty and a willingness to follow Yeshua even to death. Yet hours later, he denied knowing Yeshua three times—exactly as Yeshua had predicted. Peter’s great fall exposed the truth: his love was not yet the deep, self-sacrificial love he thought it was. He had failed miserably, and the rooster’s crow ( actually called the Temple cryer) left him weeping bitterly (Matthew 26:75).
2. The Waiting Season and the Return to Familiar Nets
During the 40 days after the resurrection and before the ascension, the disciples were left waiting for clearer instructions. Peter, still processing his failure, did what seemed reasonable:
“I’m going out to fish,” he told the others (John 21:3).
They fished all night and caught nothing. This mirrors many of us today—we feel the call to step away from religious systems and pursue the higher calling, and once we’ve been greatly humbled, yet we still face practical needs and the pull of old skills and security. Peter was not rebelling; yet he began doubting while he was waiting on Yehovah by doing what he knew best’ his occupation.
3. Yehovah’s Faithful Provision When We Obey
At Yeshua’s words—“Throw your net on the right side of the boat”—they hauled in 153 large fish. The net was full yet did not tear (John 21:6-11). This was the second miraculous catch; the first had occurred at the beginning of the ministry when the boats nearly sank and the nets began to tear, (more on this in my next installment of Fishers of men (Luke 5:1-11). Yeshua also provided the temple tax from the mouth of the very first fish he caught, symbolizing that Yehovah does provide from the support of those being regathered of Israel. (Matthew 17:27).
The clear lesson:
Take the skills, discipline, work ethic, and relationships you have developed in your vocation and redirect them toward the calling. Yehovah knows how to fill empty nets. Provision follows obedience to the redirected purpose.
4. The Probing Question on the Shore: “Do You Love Me More Than These?”
After breakfast on the shore, with the boats, nets, and overflowing catch right in front of them, Yeshua turned to Peter and asked:
“Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” (John 21:15)
“These” (Greek toutōn, neuter plural) points actually to the fish, the boats, the nets, and the entire familiar vocation and security it represented, not toward the other disciples which everyone reading this passage assumes (more on this later).
Peter, who had once boasted that he loved Yeshua more than all the others and would die for Him, now stood humbled by his three denials. He knew he had failed. He no longer dared claim superior love over the other disciples. His great fall had stripped away his pride. So when Yeshua asked the question, Peter understood it was no longer about comparing himself to the others—it was about whether he loved Yeshua more than his occupation, more than the security of fishing, more than his fears about the future.
Peter answered humbly each time: “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He no longer boasted, which resulted in three denials, He simply appealed to Yeshua’s knowledge of his heart.
5. Three Denials, Three Restorations – And the Costly Love
Yeshua asked the question three times—precisely paralleling Peter’s three denials. Each denial had broken the relationship; each question now publicly restored and recommissioned him before the others:
- “Feed My lambs.”
- “Take care of my sheep.”
- “Feed My sheep.”
This was a full restoration. But after the third exchange, Yeshua spoke words Peter did not want to hear—words that addressed the very issue his pride had hidden and his failure had exposed:
“Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
He said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then He said, “Follow Me!” (John 21:18-19)
Peter would eventually be crucified (tradition says upside-down, feeling unworthy to die like his Master).
This is crucial:
The love Yeshua requires is not warm feelings, not superior claims over others, and not merely leaving an occupation on our own terms. It is love unto death—laying down our own life, our rights, our will, our plans, and even our physical life if called. Peter’s earlier boast of dying for Yeshua had been exposed as shallow. Now the question went deeper: “Will you love Me with a love that costs everything, even your life?” The rubber meets the road when self-sacrifice is required. Occupations can be redirected; the deeper call is to lay down ourselves. This calling is contrary to the teachings that oh jesus died for me and now I rule and reign with him in heavenly places and all is wonderful and good I am prosperous in all I do all because I love Jesus, does this rhetoric sound familiar. And yet these scripture quotes can be found in scripture, unfortunately Christianity loves to take what they want to hear having itching ears compile their own teachings to promote their agenda and self desires.
6. “Fishers of Men” – The Precise Calling from Jeremiah
Many Christians today assume “fishers of men” simply means “go preach the Gospel however you understand it”—a vague, self-directed evangelism often centered on a generic salvation message or primarily on Gentiles. This misses the exact thrust of Yeshua’s words.
Yeshua was deliberately fulfilling an Old Testament prophetic promise about regathering the lost sheep of the house of Israel from the nations. In Jeremiah 16:16, Yehovah declares (in the context of a future greater restoration):
“Behold, I will send for many fishers,” declares Yehovah, “and they shall fish them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and hill and from the clefts of the rocks.” these two terms can represent a negative response or the true intended response, if we refuse to return to the Torah instructions while in exile, Yehovah will send hunters to hunt us down in absolute terror, or he can fish us under maturity so that the nets don’t break and the boats don’t sink (more later).
The Hebrew word for “I will send” is from the root שָׁלַח (shalach) — “to send, to dispatch.” This is the very concept behind the Greek ἀπόστολος (apostolos) — “apostle,” meaning “one who is sent.” The fishers are sent ones, dispatched by Yehovah Himself to fulfill His sovereign plan.
The calling is precise: redirect your vocation to the regathering of Israel’s scattered tribes and families. It is not a vague “preach the Gospel under our own understanding.” It is active participation in Yehovah’s ancient prophetic plan to restore His people.
Yeshua echoed this when He first called the fishermen: “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). He instructed the Twelve: “Go … to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” and do not go by way of the gentiles, today’s modern gospel is pagan, “preach the gospel to all the world and when that happens then we are to be raptured into bliss while the whole world is suffering with Israel under the Satan”, those who propagate this false teaching, may it fall upon them and the fear mongers who twist Yehovah’s words out of context. No wonder why the net broke and the boats started sinking, they had not yet been taught to be fishers of men yet. (Matthew 10:5-6).
7. When Israel Is Regathered, the Nations Also Respond – No Pagan Rapture Escape
This focus on the lost sheep of Israel does not exclude the Gentiles. On the contrary, when the sent fishers faithfully obey the exact calling, the nations will also be drawn in and respond.
Jeremiah 16 continues: after the fishers and hunters do their work, the peoples will come and confess, “Our fathers have inherited lies, vanity (non lasting things), and things wherein there is no profit” (Jeremiah 16:19). They will turn to the true God of Israel.
The Good News was always meant to disciple the nations as a result of Israel’s restoration—not to replace or forget the priority of the lost sheep. Some today promote a pagan-like idea of a sudden “rapture” that removes believers from the earth, forgetting the core reason for the Good News: to participate in Yehovah’s plan of regathering Israel so that all nations can be blessed and disciplined through the restored people of God.
8. The Practical Challenge for Us Today
If you are in a waiting season—feeling the call but still holding the nets—hear Yeshua asking the same question He asked the humbled Peter:
“Do you love me more than these?”
Answer with the love that lays down its life. Redirect your vocation like the apostles (the sent ones) did. Become part of the “many fishers” or simply be the first fish hooked and support the ones going out. Yehovah sends through the Hebrew shalach.
Yehovah will provide, just as He filled the nets twice and put tax money in a fish’s mouth. The lost sheep will be found. As Israel is regathered according to the prophets, the Gentiles will see, confess their inherited lies, and be discipled.
The provision is real. The promise in Jeremiah is alive. The cost is laying down our lives—but so is the glory when we truly follow Him.
Feed His lambs.
Take care of His sheep.
Follow Him as one who is sent.
Yeshua is still asking. Will you answer by becoming a fisher in His exact prophetic plan?
