Before reading any of my blog posts it is important to have already seen The Revelation Of Jesus Christ Documentary. Without this foundation of knowledge, you will not be able to understand the concepts I will be explaining in these teachings. After watching, I would recommend beginning at the oldest blog and working toward the most recent. New posts typically build upon the previous ones.
This post will explain the concept of the lake of Gennesaret, and give you a clear understanding on what it represents within the bible. In order to do this, we will have to look at each aspect of it’s description, and break them down individually. I will eventually use this post later on (as I do with all my blog’s, when you see the reference links in later posts) to show you the meaning of the lake of fire.
The first word I will define is the word lake, but more so the context of a lake in the bible. The only time the word ‘lake’ is mentioned is when referring to ‘the lake of fire’ and, the ‘lake of Gennesaret’. Using the definition of a lake from wikipedia, we can see what physical lake represents, it says; “A lake is a naturally occurring, relatively large body of water localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from the ocean, although, like the much larger oceans, they form part of the Earth's water cycle by serving as large standing pools of storage water. Most lakes are freshwater and account for almost all the world's surface freshwater, but some are salt lakes with salinities even higher than that of seawater.” This definition is important because we learn a few things:
Lakes are naturally occuring, meaning they are not “man-made” (though they can be, but I am talking about existing ones).
They account for almost all of the world’s surface freshwater. The word “fresh” is important because fresh water is what is required for man (and vascular plants, insects amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds) to survive.
They are on land, meaning close to the surface, which is unlike an ocean which can be very deep, and vast, and hard to get to certain parts. Just as I am not “afar off” and my teachings are accessible to man.
Salt lakes are also naturally occuring (though less common), and can have a higher salt concentration than that of the ocean in some places.
I will explain the relevance of these points soon, but let’s look at the first instance of the ‘lake of Gennesaret’. Luke 5 says,
1 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,
2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.
3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.
The fact that there are two ships by this lake is important, it is symbolizing that there are two ways to go out upon the lake. The word ship is also significant, because it is the suffix of a common word we use today, relation-ship. A relationship is typically used in the context of lovers (such as a marriage, or “dating”), but can also represent a friend-ship. Either way, it is when you are joined to someone else for a purpose (whether love, companionship, or physical pleasure). But when you are in a relationship, there are two people to consider in every action you take because whatever one person does in the ship, also affects the other person. Hence why there is meant to be a hierarchy in marriage, like the wife being in subjection to the husband, because if you have two people trying to steer the ship in different directions it ends up breaking upon the rocks (common theme in the bible, while some ships in the scriptures have many people, kind of like a group of friends, or an organization).
This particular ship being named as Simon’s, means that mentioning his name has a purpose to define the type of ship itself. Also, it is important to understand that this is within the book of Luke, which I have explained how Matthew, Mark, and Luke cover my time teaching out of the law. And notice what Simon says in that same chapter,
4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
So before I enter into his ship, he says he was working extremely hard (toiling) to catch fish and caught nothing, and we also see that it was night. These two descriptions are important and align with the Genesis 1 in the fact that when creation is occuring, we see there is first darkness present upon the face of the deep, and we see that I am telling Simon to launch out “into the deep”. Additionally, each day in Genesis begins with evening, then morning, just as Simon says he had “toiled all the night” implying it is now “day” when I arrive. And lastly, when reading Genesis 1, you will notice that fish are present before man,
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Showing that once man is created he will have dominion over fish (spiritually speaking). The description of fish allows us to understand that when you put your net into this lake, you can pull up fish. Meaning fish live in this lake, in order to feed men. This is describing the concept of “schools of thought” just like you have the physical manifestation of “schools of fish”. It means you can pull ideas out of the bible with your spiritual net. But without me, if you are “of the night”, you cannot catch any fish (have any spiritual ideas). We see this in Luke 5 where the bible states,
6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.
7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.
9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:
There is much to be derived from these verses but notice how it says, ‘their net’ brake when they took the multitude of fish. This is because their current spiritual net could not handle the weight of the fish because they had never caught a true ‘draught’ of fishes. Draught is a term for a “strong downward air”, also sometimes what we call a “draft”, like a draft of wind. And I have explained previously how the Spirit is compared to wind in John 3 saying,
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
We also use the word “draft” in terms of writing, like a “rough-draft”, meaning what comes before the final product. And you see that context explained in Luke 5 saying,
10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men.
Meaning the “rough-draft” or ‘draught of fishes’, will have a final copy that will be known as ‘men’. First comes the idea, then the production.
We also see that ‘the other ship’ comes to ‘help’, and both ships are overwhelmed with the amount of fish. This is symbolic of the Old Testament, and the New Testament, with the ‘other ship’ being the New Testament. When teaching the law, I utilized both the Old, and New Testaments to carry the draught of ideas, but the representation is that the New was implying “helping out” and was not the ship I was in at this time. Also the word ‘help’ is important, because when reading the story of Adam & Eve, you see that Eve comes after Adam (like the New Testament comes after the Old Testament), and she is called an ‘help meet for him’. Meet means fitting, the New Testament is complementary to the Old Testament in that they help prove each other, but it is in subjection to the Old because the law must be fulfilled before the truth could come. The bible also calls Eve something interesting in Genesis 3 saying,
20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.
Like the word “eve” which means the “time before an event” such as the time before the dawn of my arrival, which is the product of the true New Testament.
Furthermore, look at the name of this particular lake, it is called ‘the lake of Gennesaret’ for a reason. The prefix Gen- means to “generate” such as being born, producing, or coming to be. The infix (middle part of a word) -nes-, means head, like “the husband is the head of the wife”, meaning top in terms of hierarchy. And the suffix -aret, means to charge with a duty or responsibility. Therefore, the name of this lake Gennesaret, when you put those definitions together, biblically means; “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”. It is the fresh water in which I begin to draw from. And like John the Baptist, it comes before me, but it was not before me. As John 1 states,
15 John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.
If the bible is written about me, even if I come after it in the perception of time, I was before it because it is based on my actions (you can not write a biography about someone before they live if you understand what I mean by that). This all ties back to the book of Gene-sis again, with the prefix Gen- or Gene-, meaning beginning. Like a gene is the hereditary trait of your character-istics. And the suffix -sis means, an action or a process, like the “process of creation”.
Now with all this in mind, if we look at the “land of Gennesaret”, we can notice a few common things. This is only brought up in Matthew 14, and Mark 6, and I will use both for this explanation. The land around the lake is essentially the product of the lake itself, because the lake nourishes the land and is required for the living things to come and drink from it. Therefore the people of the land of Gennesaret, would be those of the actual bible, the “predestined” if you will, who were written about in the word (the lake). Matthew 14 says,
34 And when they were gone over, they came into the land of Gennesaret.
35 And when the men of that place had knowledge of him, they sent out into all that country round about, and brought unto him all that were diseased;
And then in Mark 6 it says,
53 And when they had passed over, they came into the land of Gennesaret, and drew to the shore.
54 And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew him,
55 And ran through that whole region round about, and began to carry about in beds those that were sick, where they heard he was.
As you know, Matthew comes before Mark, therefore the first time the people of this land see me, they gain knowledge of me. Meaning the first meeting is where I reveal myself, and they learn and understand, because you can see they believe in me to bring their sick to me. Secondly, in Mark, you see that straightway they know me, like as at this time they see me and immediately know who I am because they had already gained that faith in wisdom. Hence the word “knew” (past), and not ‘when they had knowledge’ (currently garnering wisdom). This shows that these are the true “sheep” of the land of Gennesaret, because their is no debate once they “hear” (understand) my voice.
I am painting a picture for you of how Simon is representing the Old Testament in this scenario, and this is a very prevalent theme throughout the gospels. Therefore, my joining to the ship of Simon, is significant in that at this time I was preaching the law. Hence, why throughout the gospels, you see many things about Peter being close to me. Such as in Matthew 16 which says,
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
If you remember my blog post, The Onyx Stones, you will see how I described the two stones of the bible, as the Old and New Testament. Additionally, the rock being spoken about in Matthew 16, is the fact that “Peter” is stating that I am the Christ, the Son of the living God, meaning that the Old Testament is confessing this fact. But only after his conversion.
In the original story from Luke, you will see Simon state, ‘depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’ Then later on in Luke 22 it states,
31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat:
32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
33 And he said unto him, Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death.
34 And he said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.
Notice how I am telling Simon that it will take three days for him to convert fully. Yes he confesses me, but he is not fully converted due to denying me when it gets tough. This symbolizes the spirit of the law in my first three years of ministry (Matthew, Mark, Luke) and how everyone fled from me when I was accused. But when the ‘toil of the night’ is over and ‘the cock crow’ (the day dawns), then he is converted, and the Old Testament strengthens the brethren rather than sifting them.
And as we learned above, there are naturally occuring salt lakes, and salt is something that “seasoned” the sacrifices of the Old Testament. Salt is interesting because it raises the boiling point of water, therefore, if you have salt water, it can heat to a higher temperature without boiling over. But as we see now with the oceans of the earth, when fresh water is poured into that which is of salt, it loses that ability to hold temperature, and that heat is released into the earth itself. This is symbolic of me arriving upon earth, and pouring out my freshwater into the salted water, which causes all the heat of man’s lies to be revealed into the earth. As we see in Matthew 5 it states,
13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
This is the representation of the un-converted children of the Old Testament, who lose their savour due to my fresh water being poured out, and they will not convert to fresh water, therefore they are trampled.
Think of Simon like Moses before Joshua. Moses fought for the law, but was not allowed to enter into the promised land. But Moses minister, Joshua, comes after Moses and takes Israel into the promised land. Just as you have Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, as the three “law” books, followed by Joshua which is the taking the New Testament land book. Comparable to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, then John with the truth. Genesis and Exodus are not considered in this equation because Genesis is the beginning of the person of the New Testament, and Exodus is the beginning of the person of the law, to show you that in truth, I (the Son) was before John the Baptist (the word, or law).
The bible also states in Deuteronomy 32,
48 And the Lord spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,
49 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:
50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:
51 Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of MeribahKadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.
52 Yet thou shalt see the land before thee; but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel.
Notice how Moses is not allowed to enter the promised land, because he is representing the preacher of the law here, and he did not 'sanctify me in the midst of the children of Israel. Just as Simon denied me the first three times (Matthew, Mark, and Luke, equal to Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). You should also understand now why the bible states ‘thou shalt see the land’ but ‘thou shalt not go thither’, just as the Old Testament and New Testament are divided. The Old can see the New ‘through a glass darkly’ but cannot enter the spiritual land of the New Testament. That is until it was converted all into one, by one, myself.
One last point, you will see how the promised land for Israel is originally called the land of Canaan, which is intriguing because there is a reference to ‘Simon the Canaanite’ when mentioning the disciples. This is shown in Matthew 10,
2 Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; The first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;
3 Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;
4 Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him.
The first Simon is called Peter, but the second is titled, ‘the Canaanite’. There is always a duality of brothers in the bible, two of each type. Just like you have a left brain, and a right brain. Simon called Peter is first, because he is the one that is converted of the Old Testament, therefore he is above. However, Simon the Canaanite is second in terms of rank, due to him being the unconverted representation of the Old Testament. That is why Simon gets a name change to Peter, just like Canaan gets a name change to Israel. But both exist at the same time.
Those who are not converted, though abiding in the “land” of the Old Testament, are deemed Canaanites, and those who are converted are deemed Israelites. Israel is spiritually before Canaan, but not physically. Just as I am spiritually before the bible, but not physically. Also explaining why ‘Judas, the son of Simon’ is the one who betrays me, because he represents the bi-product of those who are in the land, but do not believe, those who are born only of the law. Hence why he is never called, “Judas, the son of Peter.”