John 2:1-11 JESUS TURNS WATER INTO WINE 6-8-13
Today I want to talk for a few minutes about the 1st eleven verses here in John 2:1-11, here we're told that this was Jesus first miracle, He turned water into wine.
As I was putting this together I read the story about a man that use to stay drunk all the time, his family would have to go without the basic necessities to get by on, but one day he was saved and became a vocal witness for Jesus.
One of his old so called drinking buddies trying to poke fun at him asks him, "Do you believe that Jesus turned water into wine?"
And his reply was "I certainly do, in my home, He has turned wine into furniture, and decent clothes, and food for my wife and children".
>2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
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~This wine that Jesus created looked, smelled, and tasted exceptionally good, this wine had a stronger body, and better flavor than ordinary wine, but I personally think you couldn't have gotten drunk on it if you'd drank it all. --
Jesus came to save drunks, not make drunks.
~ I remember years ago that an acquaintance of mine found a passage in the O.T. that he thought said it was alright to drink strong drink.
>Proverbs 31:6-7 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, -- this is telling about a person that's on his death bed, he's ready to perish; here a medicinal meaning is implied.
-- and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. -- 7 Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
~Common senses tells us that if a person is going to drink something that's going to cause him to forget, and to not be able to remember his misery, then he must be stone drunk.
> Proverbs 23: 29-32 Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? -- who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
30They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. 31Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. 32At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
~ I have the remedy for the folks that are not sure if it's wrong to take an occasional drink or not; just don't drink any thing that contains alcohol at all.
~Listen -- if it takes 10 beers to make you drunk, and you drink only 1, guess what, your 1/10th drunk.
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ƒÞ LISTEN as I read verses 1-11 of John 2:
>1And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:
~~ CANA was about 8 miles from Nazareth, and the disciple Nathaniel was from CANA, so it's highly probable that Nathaniel knew the couple being married. -- also let me point out that Nathaniel & Bartholomew are thought to be the same person, here in Johns gospel Bartholomew is never mentioned, but the other three gospels name Bartholomew and never Nathaniel, so it's probable that Bartholomew and Nathaniel are the same person.
~ Also In the entire Bible, CANA is mentioned only in the Gospel of John.
CANA was a town that was in the allotted territory of the tribe of Asher, (Jos. 19:28), it was located near the city of Sidon,- Zidon of which, Jacob on his death bed in Gen.49:20 prophesied that "he (Asher) shall yield royal dainties."
~ And here in John 2: we're reading about this wedding feast in Cana of Asher, with ROYAL WINE, created by the Lord Jesus Himself.
~ Christ began to work miracles in an obscure corner of the country, remote from Jerusalem, to show that he sought not honor from men
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>>verse 1 again; 1And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:
~~ The mother of Jesus is said to already be there, and not to be called as Jesus and his disciples were, which seems to point out that she was there helping with the preparations, it's possible that Mary was related to the couple getting married, -- Mary's husband Joseph is not mentioned, evidently he had already passed away.
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>2And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
~Jesus was not yet well known; He had worked no miracles as yet, it was not likely that He was invited because the people knew who He was, it was probably His relationship with Mary that brought about the invitation.
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~ We notice that Jesus by his presence, put His approval upon the ordinance of marriage, which is, 1 man and 1 woman, not like the "Lot days" that we're in today with the sodomites openly flaunting their sin in Gods face, not as the Mormon cult where a man can have several wives, but one day these will be no longer around.
~ There are only five disciples at this point: Andrew, Peter, Philip, Nathaniel, and John, if John is indeed the other disciple that we read about back in chapter 1.
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> 3And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, "They have no wine."
~~ Mary informs Jesus with the hope that He might do something about the situation.
~She knows that out of all those that are present, Jesus would know best. She knows of the miraculous events surrounding His birth. -- She knows also of John the Baptist's miraculous birth as well, and of John Baptist ministry in which John has identified Jesus as the promised Messiah.
~Up until now Jesus has not yet worked a miracle, and we can't be sure that Mary expected one. But from what she does know, it is certainly possible that she expects Jesus to do something out of the ordinary.
>> Psalm 50:15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
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>> 4Jesus saith unto her, "Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come."
~Mary is very careful not to tell Jesus what to do. ~Jesus does not call her "Mary," or "mother," but "woman." This is the same term Jesus will use when He speaks to her from the cross (John 19:26 *).
~Here at the wedding in Cana, Jesus asks Mary this question, - "what have I to do with thee?"
~~ A new relationship between Jesus and His mother begins at the wedding in Cana. -- Jesus reminds her that she is just a woman, and that He, as God, cannot comply with her wishes if and when they are not in "His time."
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* Jesus lived on a "heavenly time-table," marked out for Him by the Father.
~God has His Prophetic Calendar, every thing that's done is because He allows it, He has already a set hour, time, and day that the rapture will take place, it will not happen until that set time, but according to what we see on the news as it relates to His people Israel we believe its close.
>John 7:30 Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.
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> 8:20 These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.
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>12:23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
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>13:1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father,--
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>17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
~ So God the Father and God the Son do things on a heavenly time table.
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~~ He cannot allow His submission to His Father to be "overruled" by the requests of His earthly mother. -- Jesus informs His mother that it is not yet "His time."-- He refers here to "His time" as the time of His beginning public ministry as the promised Messiah
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>>5His mother saith unto the servants, "Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it."
~~Lets be sure and notice that what Mary says consistently glorifies Jesus, not herself.
~To deliberately go through Mary to get to Jesus would be to imply that she knows more than He does.
~~ This mother & son thing goes all the way back to Nimrod and his kingdom called Babel, -- Gen.10: -- it's as pagan as it comes.
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~ As man, Jesus was David's Son and hers; but as God, he was David's Lord and hers as well.
~ Many that were there were related to Mary and also to Jesus as far as the flesh was concerned, let's keep in mind that Jesus had not yet worked a miracle so He was not well known as yet.
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~So His rebuke to His mother was for one and all to see and understand that they must never expect Him to have favoritism to His kindred above others when it comes to working miracles, which in this matter were no more to Him than other people. -- He is no respecter of persons.
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~ Also it's a standing testimony against idolatry which he foresaw in giving undue honors to the Virgin Mary.
~ Roman Catholics are notoriously guilty of this sin, they call her "the queen of heaven, the salvation of the world, their mediatrix, their life and hope" not only depending upon her merit and intercession, but beseeching her to command her Son to do them good.
~ The Son of God is appointed our Advocate with the Father; but the mother of Jesus was never meant to be our advocate with the Son.
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> 1 Timothy 2:5-6 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; 6Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
~These folks that go too Mary need to realize who it was that died on the cross in the sinners place, it was Jesus not Mary.
> John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. -- Not by Mary, by the way none of this is her fault.
> 1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; -- not Mary.
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~You and I as believers will pray to God the Father in Jesus name, not Mary's name. -- remember, the entire human race became sinners because of our 1st parents Adam and Eve, this applies to Mary as well, she was a sinner just like every one else, she inherited the damming blood decease of sin; she had an earthly father and mother, its real simple.
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~Mary went to visit her cousin Elizabeth in Luke 1: where we read;
>Luke 1: 39 -42 And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda; 40And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth.
41And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; *(John) and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 42And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women,--
~~ Notice, among women not above women.
We certainly love and respect Mary, God chose her to give birth to His Son, but Jesus is to always have the preeminence, not Mary.
> Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. * "to be first"
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~6And there were set there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. *(Twenty to thirty gallons each)
~Jesus began this miracle by using what was at hand. He could have supplied more wine any number of ways, but He started with what was there.
~He could have filled the pots Himself just by willing it to be.-- But He knew that if the servants shared in the work they would be witnesses of what took place.
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7Jesus saith unto them, "Fill the water pots with water." And they filled them up to the brim.
~They obeyed without question, and to the fullest (they filled them up to the brim). ~The water pots are connected with the system of Law, because they were used in ceremonial purification.
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>8And he saith unto them, "Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast." And they bare it.
~ This took faith on behalf of the servants. Imagine how angry the master of the feast would be if they brought him water to taste, yet in faith, they obeyed the word of Jesus.
~Notice- Jesus did not say, draw out now, and let me taste it, questioning whether the thing was done as he willed it or not; but with the greatest assurance He recommends it to the master of the feast first.
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>9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom,
> 10And saith unto him, "Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now."
~~ How did Jesus actually do miracles? He did them in many different ways. Here, Jesus did not say a word. He merely exercised His will and the miracle was done.
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>11This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
~~ According to verse 1- this miracle happened on the third day, and that His disciples believe on Him when they see His glory- they believed before, but now their belief was greatly strengthened.
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The more you and I drink of the WATER of LIFE the greater our faith will be.
