John 21:4–7: “When it was already very early morning, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. So Jesus said to them, ‘Children, you don’t have any fish, do you?’ They replied, ‘No.’ He told them, ‘Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.’ So they threw the net and were not able to pull it in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ So Simon Peter, when he heard that it was the Lord, tucked in his outer garment (for he had nothing underneath it) and plunged into the sea.”

This is a very interesting interaction. This is the resurrected Lord, and He is no longer physically, permanently with the disciples in the same way. This is between the resurrection and the ascension you are going to see in Acts 1–2. And He is using this word here—the word “children” — to describe the disciples.

You might want to feel insulted. But you are talking about God, and you are talking about a new relationship that Christ inaugurated between God and us, between humanity and God.

John started communicating about it in John 1: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), and “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:11–12). Jesus calling these people “children” is such a powerful thing. We are children of God.

In his letters, Paul expounded on the fact that we are now children of God: “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26). We are born of the Spirit. John wrote in John 1 that we are not born “of the will of the flesh or the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). In John 3, Jesus spoke of being born from above because Nicodemus was confused. He was saying, “How can a grown‑up man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus said, “No, I am not talking about natural birth; I am talking about spiritual birth” (John 3:3–6).

Look at these grown‑up men being called “children.” They had their own natural parents. But we have now been adopted; we are now members of the household of God; we are now regenerated. We have been brought in. Paul uses different analogies to communicate this. One of them is being grafted in: we were wild olive branches, and we have been grafted into the cultivated olive tree (Romans 11:17–24)—into the life of Christ.

We know that we are children of God in Christ Jesus. That is powerful transformation. We are not children of wrath; we are children of God (Ephesians 2:3–5). We are in God's household, on a permanent basis (Ephesians 2:19). We are God’s. We are God’s own.

So this is such a lovely scene: “Children, you don’t have any fish, do you?” They replied, “No.” “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” So they threw the net and were not able to pull it in because of the large number of fish.

The disciple whom Jesus loved said, “It is the Lord.” They recognized Him as Lord—as the Supreme One. He overcame death, and through Him also we will overcome death. We will be resurrected and overcome death (1 Corinthians 15:20–23).

God bless you. See you later.