You have saved the best until
now. J. R. Miller, Daily Bible Readings
in the Life of Christ, 1890. Everyone brings out the choice
wine first, but you have saved the best until now. John 2.10. The world gives its best first,
and the worst comes afterwards. It is so in all sinful pleasures,
first exhilaration, and then bitter remorse. It is so in the
chase for wealth, power, and fame, Gratification first, and
then painful disappointment. At first money brings gladness,
a sort of satisfaction, but as time rolls on and wealth increases,
cares multiply, anxieties thicken, burdens grow heavier, and at
last the rich man finds that in all his riches he has less
satisfaction than he had in the days when he was just a poor
boy. It is so in all mere worldly
ambitions. The first cups of fame are sweet,
but soon they pour upon the taste. This truth holds especially in
the sinful life. We need not deny that at the
beginning, sin is sweet, but bitterness is found at the bottom
of the cup. In grace, however, this is reversed. The good wine is kept to the
last. Christ himself first had humiliation,
darkness, and the shame of the cross. And then, exaltation,
power, glory. In the Christian life, the same
law holds. First, there comes bitterness,
but out of the bitterness, sweetness flows. There is first a deep
sorrow of penitence, but this gives way to the blessed joy
of forgiveness. First comes self-denial and cross-bearing,
but out of these experiences comes a holy peace which fills
all the heart. Sorrows are to be endured, but
the good wine of comfort is poured into the emptied cup. There is
also a constant progression in the blessings of the divine life.
We never get to the end of them. Indeed, we never get to the best. There is always something better
yet to come. Christ keeps the really best
wine until the very last in heaven. As sweet as Christ's peace now
is to the Christian, he will never know the fullness of the
love of God until he gets home to the Father's house.