why 153 fish?

[tov]

Why 153 Fish?

John 21: 1-11
After these things Jesus shewed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias; and on this wise shewed he himself. 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. 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. But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. 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. 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. 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. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid thereon, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. 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.

The obvious question, Why 153 Fish?

In Grant Jeffrey’s book "Unveiling Mysteries of the Bible" we find that one hundred year ago, a Christian army officer, named Lt. Col. R. Roberts, made a discovery. He discovered that the four Gospels record precisely 153 individuals who were specifically blessed by Jesus Christ. Through their personal encounters with Jesus, they were blessed with salvation, healings, and even being raised from the dead.

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Also the fish was an early Christian symbol...

Icthus is the Greek word for fish. The fish symbol was adopted by early Christians as a secret sign, due to persecution. The fish symbol was chosen because, in the original Greek,the letters stand as an acrostic for "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour." An acrostic is a poem whose initial or last letters can be put together to form a word or message...

In the times of the early Roman Christians, followers of Christ were often persecuted for their faith and any outward symbol of their belief could often get them imprisoned or killed. However, for their underground movement, the practitioners needed some means of identifying one another, and for safety they chose a symbol that was not directly associated with their faith. Thus the fish symbol was born.

For the symbol to be a success there had to be some recognisable links with the faith. The fish was said to symbolise the baptismal waters, the loaves and fishes that Jesus used to feed the five thousand, and Jesus's own declaration to the disciples to become 'fishers of men'. The Greek word for fish, ichthus, is an acrostic consisting of the initial letters of five more Greek words, which briefly but clearly described the character of Christ and His claim to the worship of believers: 'Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter' which translates as 'Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour'.

The symbol of the fish and the word ichthus gained a meaning of high significance for those early Christians, and is still recognized as a Christian symbol today. Chromed fishes can often be seen stuck onto the back of Christians' cars, and for some time a chalk fish-mark was used by homeless wanderers to mark the houses of people who could be depended on for charity or for food.
Source...
http://www.icthus4men.org.uk/html/icthus_and_jesus.html

More obscure lessons might be drawn from at least a couple of sources. One source is the ancient study of numbers and the other source is the hidden numeical values of words and phrases.

First, the ancients had a different way of handling numbers...

In the next chart we have several overlapping progressions. To begin with notice how if you take any number in the chart and add the number to the right, the total is then below the 2nd number. For instance, 5+10=15 or 6+15=21.

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Now notice the realationship of this table with the traingle table. On the triangle table, if you take any number on the left and add it to the next right hand number on the next lower level, the sum will be on the right. For instance, Six (in the right column) plus 4 (in the left column down one level) equals ten (then found on the right of that level). The triangle numbers as shown in the pyramid table are 1, 3, 6, etc. The 17th triangle number is 153.

153 is also the sum of 1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13+14+15+16+17=153

153 is also the product of 17x9=153
or
153=17x(3x3)

Do you begin to see some unusual properties to the number 153?

Some have pointed out that 9= the fruit of the Spirit
and 17= Victory
The Lord was raised from the day on the 17th day of Nissan.

Certain words and phrases have a numerical value of 153
The Hebrew for Sons of God = 153
The Greek for joint hiers with Christ (Rom 8:17)= 153
The Greek for the creation of God = 153
The word for fishes = 153
7 disciples in the story.
This is the 3rd time Jesus appeared to his disciples since he rose from the grave.

John 21:2
This is now the 3rd time that Jesus showed himself to his disciples after that he was risen from the dead.

WHY THE EXACT NUMBER OF FISH....153?
17 is the 7th prime number.
153 is the number of people Jesus ministers to in the Gospel of John
Jesus lived for 12,240 days which equals 80 x 153... That sounds right. 33.53 years or 365 days each. Or 34 years of 360 days (a Jewish year)

Now we will touch upon the hidden 153's that show up in the gematria of numerous phrases, etc., in the Word.
THE NET has a value of 153 X 8
Luke 9:13-the word fishes = 153 X 8.
Mark 8:34-follow me = 153 X 12.
John 14:6- I am the Way = 153 X 8.
WAY + TRUTH +LIFE = 153 X 8.
Luke 13:25-The Door = 153 X 6.
John 10:7-I say unto..down to...of the sheep = 153 x 37.
Matthew 7:13-The narrow gate = 153 X 13.
John 10:1 Entereth not by the.......sheepfold = 153 X 41.
Mark 1:17- Fishers of men = 153 X 14.
Matthew 4:18- Casting a net into the sea = 153 X 20.
For they were fishermen = 153 X 4.
Mark 1:18-Immediately......follow him = 153 X 41.
Luke 5:6-ltitude of fishes = 153 X 16.
John 21:6 - ? Cast the net......ye shall find = 153 X 27.
John 21:11-Drew the net...........fifty and three = 153 X 54.
Rev. 3:20- If anyone.......will come in = 153 X 39.
JOINT HEIRS of Romans 8:17, the gematria = 153 X 7.
THE CREATION OF GOD of Revelation 3:14 has the value of 153 X 8

To find the 10th triangular number:
1. Multiply 10 times itself. (10 x 10)
2. Add the number(10) to the answer. (100 + 10)
3. Divide the answer by 2. (110/2=55)
The 10th triangular number is 55.

Example 2:
To find the 36th triangular number:
1. Multiply 36 times itself. (36 x 36)
2. Add the number (36) to the answer. (1296 + 36)
3. Divide the answer by 2. (1332/2=666)

The 36th triangular number 666. The number of antichrist is a triangular number. Satan is a FAKE. He will come to deceive those who don't know he is an imitator of the Real.

Only about 4% of all numbers are triangular. Why is the triangular number 153 significant? Again, why did the disciples pull exactly 153 fish from the net? Why not 150 or 155 or 158? (Because He is so Wondrous and His Word is Perfect. He has something to show us.)

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2

From here the study gets really weird...
Next: If you sum the cube of the digits in 153, you always get 153. That is the only number in the entire numbering system which will do that... and it is done by cubing the digits, which is once again the use of the number three... multiplying the digit by itself three times.
(1x1x1) + (5x5x5) + (3x3x3) = 153 or 1 + 125 + 27 = 153.

and there is even more...
One day I'll put it all together in some kinda understandable way.
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by the way- that's the name of my band... 153 Fish

http://www.millenniafever.org

 

[StAnselm]

Or maybe that's just how many fish there were...

 

[Radagast]

After all, whatever the number of fish, we'd be asking the same question...

-- Radagast

 

[McCravey]

That is why the Bible is both literal and symbolic

 

[JohnJones]

Why 153? Because it was the net's capacity.

 

[SolomonVII]

is 153 the number of people Jesus ministers to in the four gospels, or just in the gospel of John? The OP is unclear on thispoint.

I am also unclear on what lesson the number 153 is meant to be teaching us?

Is the 153 correspondance between fishes and people blessed just a meaningful coincidence?

Was it intentional on behalf of the author(s) of the gospel?

Or is to serve as a sign from God- His seal of approval on the authenticity of the 4 pillars of the Chruch so to speak?

My ow bias leads me to wonder exactly who these 153 people being blessed were. I had not idea that Jesus blessed so many individuals. The number play is interesting, but in the end the people of the Bible and the themes of the Biblical literature speak to me more directly than the numbers do.

 

[daveleau]

Good grief! Numerology sure can make a lot of connections.

Hundred:
hekaton
hek-at-on'
Of uncertain affinity; a hundred: - hundred.

Fifty:
pentēkonta
pen-tay'-kon-tah
Multiplicative of G4002; fifty: - fifty.

Three:
treis tria
trice, tree'-ah
A primary (plural) number; “three”: - three.




This wording could be much less specific than is being let on here, depending on how the "hundred" is meant.

Regardless, this is an incidental detail. There are numbers of significance in the Bible, like 40 and 666, but 153 only occurs once. The letter counting that makes numerology 'work' is a very liberal way of interpreting and gathering information from the Bible.

 

[pimorton]

If you can use this passage to minister to mathematicians, more power to you. For me the number was mentioned only because John, a fisherman himself, knew how big a catch this really was.

 

[KleinerApfel]

I just find it odd that somebody bothered to count a mass of wet squirming fish

Blessings, Susana

 

[Under_His_Shadow]

Or maybe that's just how many fish there were...

I think you might be on to something there, brother!

Or maybe it was because 154 fish would have caused the net to break, and the blessings (both materially and spiritually - i.e. the building up of their faith) would have been lost (yes, I'm serious)?