July 20, 2007

• Creation & Fine Wine: Part 3 – Some Final Things

  I was going to end this subject with Part 2 but with the urging from
  Bee who said I should do a little bit more on the “other things” found
  in John 2, I’ve decided that I would do that.

  We were able to note that Jesus was only in His third day of public
  ministry, the first day was with John the Baptist where Jesus was
  baptized. The second day was gathering some of his disciples. The five
  that came with him were Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel. So
  Jesus went with them to Cana of Galilee on the third day (His first day in public ministry) and Jesus’
  mother was there and both Jesus’ and His disciples were invited to the
  wedding that was to take place.  When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother
  said to Him that they have no wine. And Jesus answers her, “Woman, what
  does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.”

  Have you ever wondered why Jesus’ answered that way? It seems odd that
  He would just out of the blue say something like that without a
  reason.  I have heard several different explanations over the years but
  none of them sounded quite right. It wasn’t until reading  later in the
  account we find that the headwaiter asks the bridegroom about why he
  chose to serve the best wine last, and then the answer began to dawn on
  me.  It wasn’t Jesus’ time to order the wine for a wedding. You see it
  is clear that in that culture it was the bridegroom who made the
  selections and arrangements for the wine.  When His mother asks Him
  about this, He is rightfully responding… “Its not my wedding. The time
  for that has not come.”  Given this, it appears that Jesus is referring
  to the marriage supper of the Lamb that is referred to in Ephesians
  5:22-33 where the church is referred to as the bride of Christ and in
  Revelation 19:7-10 where the marriage actually occurs. So we have an
  actual reference to this future event right at the beginning of Jesus’
  ministry.

  The matter of the stone waterpots, their number being six which was
  made reference to in the last post, were interesting. These were set
  there for the Jewish custom of purification. Being that the whole affair of the wine was important enough to have us
  understand its significance with creation based on the nature of the
  wine and it was at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, perhaps the pots
  were for the purification of a people for His namesake and this may be the entire reason for the creation as it is. Consider that the Bride of Christ mentioned above will be washed by the
  water of His word (Ephesians 5:26). She will be cleansed from sin by His shed blood on the Cross symbolized by the wine as the blood of the covenant which is poured
  out for many for the forgiveness of sins. It would show us that they
  would be purified from their sin. This would be signified by His being
  raised in miraculous power on the third day after His death and with
  the miracle of the changing of the water into wine happening on the third day of His ministry. Since
  the capacity of all the waterpots was more than enough for all the
  participants in most any wedding, the 120 to 180 gallons of wine would
  indicate that the wine (blood) would be more than enough for all at the
  wedding and then some and that the salvation through Christ would be
  just as overly abundant.

  Even the serving of the wine, the lesser quality wine being served
  before the best wine that came from Jesus’ miracle has significance.
  This life has no comparison to the life that follows this one and
  certainly when Christ reigns and the new heavens and new earth are here
  and the old things are passed away (physically) there will no
  comparison to the wonderful quality of the life that is to come. 

  There is so much here it makes me want to stop and just ponder at the
  power of His word and the value of every word that He has given us
  concerning His love for us. I am simply in awe and there’s little more to say.  Mr.Vee

  • 1:14 am
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