AudioOn the Sunday morning when I planned to preach this sermon, I did a final check of Facebook before leaving my house for church. The first post I saw was this picture, posted by Rev. Jay Pollan, of sunrise over the Sea of Galilee! It was a scene much like this in which this text takes place. I don’t know about you, but I love watching the sun come up on the beach. In fact, would say it is my favorite thing to do at the beach, and my favorite way to watch the sun rise. C. S. Lewis once said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” Just as the risen sun dispels the darkness and makes everything else come into clearer view, so the Risen Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, makes all things visible to those who walk with Him by faith. And here in our text, we find the Risen Son of God standing on the beach of the Sea of Tiberias as the morning sun rises over it. As He stands there on the shore, He brings to light important realities for His followers. Though we are inclined to see Peter and the other disciples as the key figures in this narrative, the Apostle John tells us in verses 1 and 14 that the Lord Jesus should occupy our attention as we examine this text. The chapter begins with the words, “After these things.” What “things” are “these”? “These things” are the things recorded in Chapter 20, and more specifically, the appearance of Jesus in the locked room with His disciples on the first Easter Sunday, and the appearance of Jesus on the next Sunday when He confronted Thomas’s unbelief. In verse 14, John says, “This is now the third time that Jesus was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.” There had been other resurrection appearances, but this was the third time that He appeared to the disciples as a group. It is that word manifestedthat we should take careful note of here in the passage. It is used three times: twice in verse 1, and once in verse 14. In the original language, the word means “to make known,” “to make visible,” “to reveal,” or “to show.” And what is it that the Risen Jesus “makes known” or “reveals” here in this text? Each of the three times the verb is used in our text Jesus Himself is both the subject and the object. That is, He is the One who reveals, and the One who is revealed. So, the point of the passage is that He showed Himself to the disciples there on the beach at daybreak, and through this account of it, He shows Himself to us. So, how do we see Him manifested here in this encounter? That is the question that the text answers, and we will see four aspects of this manifestation as we look at these verses. I. Jesus manifests Himself as the Promise Keeper (v1)  Verse 1 tells us that this scene unfolds at the Sea of Tiberias. This body of water went by several names. In the Old Testament, it is called the Sea of Chinnereth. In various places in the New Testament, it is called the Sea of Gennesaret, and more commonly the Sea of Galilee. More a lake than a sea, measuring about 12 miles by 7 miles at its widest points, it was the site of so much of Jesus’ ministry. Capernaum, the city where Jesus spent much of His time, was on the shores of the lake. As one writer said, “The Sea of Galilee is indeed the cradle of the gospel.”[1] It was here on the shores of this lake that Jesus spoke profound words and did miraculous deeds. It was here that He first called His disciples to follow Him. Most of them were natives of this area, so it is natural that they would have returned to it after leaving Jerusalemfollowing their encounter with Jesus after the resurrection. Of course Jesus knew that is where that is where they would go. In fact, twice before He had promised them that He would meet them there. Once was before His crucifixion, when He foretold of how the disciples would all forsake Him in the moments leading up to His death. He said in Matthew 26:28, “But after I have been raised