I trust that as we come to this
extraordinary picture of the sovereignty of our Lord Jesus
Christ and the glory of the pictures we have here of his salvation,
that we might like the disciples see the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ and we might believe on Him. We might find ourselves
at rest on who He is and what He's doing. This is the beginning
of miracles in Cana. And it's a remarkable creative
act. Only God creates, and it's a
remarkable picture. It's a sign, as the word miracle
implies. It's a sign of the deity of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And the wedding party enjoyed
the wine, but the disciples saw his glory. The wedding party enjoyed the
wine and the festivities, but the disciples believed on him. And I trust that that would be
the end result of it, that the picture here is a picture that
just focuses all of our attention upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We
don't know who the bridegroom was. We don't know who the bride
was. We don't know why Mary was there
in that position of some Leadership, it seems, and responsibility.
We don't know who the ruler of the feast was, and we just know
that the Lord was there with his five disciples. The Lord
Jesus Christ honors the bond of marriage. Blessed are they
who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And the Lord
Jesus Christ displays his sovereignty here in gloriously lavishing
gifts and lavishing gifts abundantly. The heavenly bridegroom is the
giver of gifts and we see his power and the fullness of his
love and his provision for his people in time of need. John says earlier that he's full,
he's full of grace and full of truth. Of course, there is a
purpose in all of these things. It's so easy for us as we look
around this world to wonder whether things are just happening in
some sort of a random event and there is no order to this world. And from many perspectives, we
would think that things are extraordinarily disordered here. But of course,
we who know our Savior and know our God know that everything
is purposeful. of God and this marriage pictures
that the eternal purpose of God in Trinity is this marriage,
the end result of all of what we see around us now is the Lord
gathering his bride to himself in that glorious marriage supper
of the Lamb and then the eternal blissful relationship in that
new creation where there will be no sin, there will be no death
and there will be no tears. and there will be the most intimate
of relationships between the bride and her dear beloved husband. See, what was promised in eternity
in this marriage union was proclaimed before the fall in Genesis chapter
2. We have that marriage instituted
when Adam fell into that deep sleep and Eve was taken from
his rib and they were joined as one flesh. It was proclaimed
before the fall. It is the one institution that
we have that pre-dates and pre-figures all of what happens. And it was
purposed in history. All of the purposes of history
is for the Lord to gather his bride to himself. And the preparations
are made in the experiences of every child of God as they walk
through this world. And it's all consummated in the
new creation. The essence of all this creation,
the essence of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ is his union
with his bride. She is his body. She is betrothed
in eternity before the fall. And we have in the scriptures
again and again this glorious picture that John will reiterate
to us again and again of the fathers electing in love a bride
for his beloved son. to be numbered amongst that glorious
group. And the son seeing his father's
gift of love and saying, this is bone of my bone and fresh
of my flesh. And there was a union, and where
there's a union in the scriptures, there's communion, isn't it?
We read about it in John chapter seven, that they may be one. He says of his church, And the scriptures declare that
not a bone of his will be broken. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
hanging on Calvary's tree and shedding his last blood to pay
for the sins of his bride. Not a bone of his will be broken. of that glory of all of the righteousness,
that robe, that white robe of the righteousness of the saints,
and that righteousness is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And all of this is sealed in an eternal covenant of promise
in which the Holy Spirit covenanted to come and quicken and give
life to the bride to reveal to her her promised Redeemer. The
promise is given in all the pictures of the Old Testament, all the
shadows of this union to come. the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
gathering his bride to himself. He made a promise in eternity,
didn't he, that he would take full responsibility before his
father, knowing what was going to befall this bride, knowing
the depths of sin that would flow from the fall of our father
Adam in the garden. But before that fall there was
a Saviour, before that fall there was a surety, before that fall
there was a promised marriage. And the Lord Jesus Christ comes
to this earth which exists for the sake of Him and His Bride
and the cross of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
It's a theme of all the scriptures. And every message, however it
may bring order and wise Words for the way for men to conduct
themselves in this world. All the true meaning of all the
scriptures is about this marriage. Husbands, in Ephesians 5, we
are to love our wives as Christ loved the Church. In Ephesians
5 you have that glorious, glorious picture. husbands love your wives. Even as Christ also loved the
church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present
it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own body, "'He that loveth his wife loveth himself. "'For no man ever yet hated his
own flesh, "'but nourisheth and cherishes it, "'even as the Lord
the church.'" What a remarkable description of our God's activities
right now. He's nourishing and cherishing
his church. Four, because we are members
of his body, of his flesh, And of his bearers for this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined
unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great
mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. I speak
concerning Christ and the church. This great mystery is a mystery
revealed to us, and that mystery is revealed to us in this glorious
picture we have before us in John chapter two. And all this is for the manifestation
of the glory of our great Redeemer and Husband. There is just one object in view
in this story, as in all the stories, and the great object
is the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We are married,
Romans 1 says, we are married to the risen Lord that we might
bring forth fruit unto God. The disciples believed on him.
I pray at the end of this you might find the dear and blessed
Saviour worthy of us believing on him. That word on means entrance
into. entrance into a union with him. It means a point reached. It
means to rest on him, to rest on him. So let's go back and
let's follow the Holy Spirit's lead as he brings this glorious
picture before us. As we said earlier, the word
in John chapter two, verse one, begins with and, and so we have
these five disciples, at least, now beginning to see greater
things, now beginning to see the manifestation of that glory. And so it begins with the third
day. And the commentators and others
struggle to try and find out when the third day was, but it's
most likely after the call of Philip. But the third day in
the scriptures is a significant day, isn't it? It's the day of
resurrection. The third day is the day in creation
when the earth rose from its watery grave. And Hosea chapter
6 says, come, let us return unto the Lord, for he hath torn You'll
see more of that in a little while. He has torn and he will
heal us. He has smitten and he will bind
us up. After two days, he will revive
us. And in the third day, will he
raise us up and we shall live in his sight. That's exactly
what happened on that resurrection day. We were risen with him. We were buried with him. We were
crucified with him. Everything is about union. Everything
is about union Today there was a marriage in
Cana of Galilee and the mother of Jesus was there. We're not
told why she's there, but it would appear from what comes
subsequently that she had some position of authority there.
Maybe she was mother of the bride or the bridegroom or someone,
but all we can do is guess about it. But what is really significant,
isn't it, is that both Jesus was called and his disciples
to the marriage. Isn't it a blessing at the very
beginning of this manifestation of the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ that the Lord Jesus responds personally to calls? He was called
to the marriage. He places high, high esteem upon
the institution of marriage. And it's the very first public
act of his ministry is to take his disciples to a wedding feast.
And I want us to remember that while the Jews were preparing
for a feast back in Jerusalem, with all of their ceremonial
activities, the Lord Jesus Christ was enjoying a feast with his
disciples at a wedding as far away in Israel as you can get
from Jerusalem. The true gospel is about a wedding
feast. The true gospel should be called God is it should delight our
hearts in love and gratitude The lips that sing praise to
his name, we are commanded in the scriptures to rejoice. Just
read Philippians, rejoice always, rejoice. So there is in the Christian
life a place for feasting and there is a place for joy. Let's not try and pretend how
holy we are by living some sort of monastic lifestyle. We are
called into fellowship and that fellowship involves joy and delight. But Jesus responds to a call
and he brings his disciples with him. He brings them to a marriage. Blessed are those who are thee
called. We are called according to His
purpose. We are called into the gospel
of the grace of God. We are called saints. We are
called with our Saviour. And when they wanted wine, in
fact it says in the original, when the wine fails, the wine of man's providing father.
The mother of Jesus saith unto him, I have no wine. I have no wine. And Jesus saith unto her, woman,
what have I to do? There are a couple of things
that I want us to see very significantly throughout this passage. They
are two fundamental issues to do with the Lord Jesus Christ
and to do with religion. One is the fact that he is the
one that's in absolute authority. He is our God. He reigns and
rules over all things. He is in absolute authority over
all things and the question between men and especially the question
between him and the religious world of his day and our day
is the whole business of purification. That's what religion is about,
isn't it? It's about purification. How do you get yourself pure?
But when it comes back to this issue of authority, the Lord
Jesus Christ rebukes his mother. She is now that His public ministry
has begun. He is respectful in His words
to her, but His rebuke is to her, is saying to her, I am no
longer now to be treated as your son in the flesh. I am your God
and your Savior and your Redeemer, and I am the one in authority
here. And he says, mine hour is not
yet come. That is a term that he uses all
through this gospel, that there is a decree fixed. His hour is
the hour of his crucifixion, the hour of the cross, isn't
it? But each time he speaks of this hour, mine hour, it's a
time of a critical stage in his ministry. And in John chapter
12, and the, The Greeks come to Philip and
say, Sir, we would see Jesus. He now says, well, my hour has
come, my hour has come. But while something else I want
you to see here, in verse five it says, and Jesus, in his mother
saith unto the servants, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. One
of the marks, one of the marks of grace, again and again and again. He
does through his word, he may also do through his servants.
And I love Mary's response. She didn't lose, she didn't lose
sight of her son. One of the problems we have in
this day and age is that the Catholic Church has so polluted
the name of Mary and polluted the name of Christ and polluted
the name of God in this world that we tend to think less of
Mary and speak less of her. for fear of what they might we
might be joining with him in some way but she is a remarkable
woman and she knew she knew that this son of hers was not born
by natural means she knew that he was the son of god she knew
that he was god incarnate and she stored these things in her
heart and so she knew and i love what she says to the servers
and this is wise advice for all of us all of the time There's
so much in this glorious passage, isn't there? This is wise advice. She acknowledges his authority.
She accepts his rebuke, acknowledges his authority, and moves on in
faith. It's glorious, isn't it? But
what a lovely word that the Holy Spirit has recorded for us here
from the lips of Mary. Whatsoever he sayeth unto you,
do it. That's pretty simple, isn't it? That's pretty simple. It's the end of all sorts of
questions. What does the Lord say about
this? It's a question that we should be asking in all the circumstances
of our lives. What does the Lord say about
this? What does the Lord say about this? And give us the grace,
give us the grace to do it. And there were set there six
water pots of stone. But the water pots are stone,
after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or
three ferrets a piece, which means they contained about 75
liters a piece. Once again, the numbers are here
and the structure of these things is incredibly important. As a
man is made from the dust of the earth, these pots are made
from the dust of the earth. Six is the number of man. It's
the number of man in the scriptures. And six means failure. Six, six, six, the number of
the beast is failure, failure, failure, frustration, frustration,
frustration, never achieving the mark, never achieving the
mark, never achieving the mark. Six water pots of stone after
the manner of the purifying of the Jews. The Jews will be debating with
the Lord throughout these Gospel accounts and they will even try
and raise a division between John's disciples and the Lord's
disciples in John chapter 3 verse 25. The Jews came to stir this
division and it says, there arose, in chapter 3 verse 25, there
arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews
about purifying. The Jews were passionate about
purifying. This is not the normal wise advice about washing your
hands before you eat. This is a ceremonial washing
where they made as much fuss of it as they possibly could.
And in Mark chapter seven, they come, the Pharisees come, and
they came to the Lord, and they said, when they saw some of his
disciples eat bread with defiled, so if you hadn't washed your
hands in a ceremonial way, you were defiled, that is to say,
unwashing hands, and they found fault. For the Pharisees and
all the Jews, except they washed their hands often. tradition of the elders. And when they come from the market,
except they wash, they eat not, and many other things there be
which they have received, they hold on to the washing of cups
and pots and brazen vessels and tables." So these pots were there,
these six pots, signifying the nature of man's efforts to purify
himself by his religious activities. And Jesus saith unto them, verse seven, fill the water pots
with water. And they filled them up to the
brim. See, the revelation of the glory
of God coming from the Lord Jesus Christ comes with a command.
He says, believe on me. He says, come to me. He just
speaks a word to these servants. They filled them up to the brim. These water pots, picture the
emptiness of man's religion and the way the Lord overcomes all
of it. They filled them up to the brim
so nothing more could be added to them. There is going to be
no human contribution. They wanted wine and the servants
are told to go and sort water out and fill these pots up. All legal purification and all
man's purification is now going to be fulfilled. The law is fulfilled. We fulfill and honour the law
by faith. See, the sinner is pictured in
these pots, isn't it? The sinner is empty like these
pots. The sinner receives the water of the word at the command
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He commands the servants, he
commands his word to go forth. And the water became the best
wine by the power of Christ. It's a picture, it's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified and what he does
in the hearts of his people. you fill them up to the top so
that nothing can be added. And he saith unto them, draw
out now and bear to the governor of the feast. You draw it out
now and bear it to the governor of the feast. And they did exactly
as he said. He speaks with the word of command
and he rules command. This world is not travelling
in some random way. It is operating at the very command
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I love the fact that in the
midst of all of this manifestation of His glory and what will be
this tremendous miracle when we have six times, possibly 75
liters of water turned into the most wonderful wine that's ever
been created on this earth, that He uses means, doesn't He? He
says to the servers to fill the water. He couldn't have just
as easily created the wine in the water pots without the servers.
He could have done all sorts of things, but he chooses to
use means. When he says, at the grave of Lazarus, he says,
you roll away the stone. There is, in the midst of the
manifestation of his glory, there are activities for his people
to do under his grace and under When the ruler of the feast,
verse 9, 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. And he saith unto him, Every
man at the beginning doth set forth good wine, and when men
have well drunk, then that which is the worse, but thou hast kept
the good wine, you have guarded the good wine until good wine until now. This is
the beginning of miracles. This is the greatest of miracles.
This is the best of the miracles which Jesus did in Cana of Galilee
and manifested his glory. So what's going on here in this
glorious picture? There is, in all of the seven
miracles that will be in John's Gospel, there is always a remarkable
link between the miracle and the revelation of who the Lord
Jesus Christ is. In John chapter 6 he thieves
a great multitude and then goes on to say that I'm the bread
of life. He cures the blind man of his blindness from his birth
in John chapter 9 and he says I'm the light of the world. In
John chapter 11 of course he raises Lazarus from the dead
and he says I am the resurrection and the life. And if you believe There is here, of course, a glorious
picture between distinguishing man-made works religion of purifying
and the glorious gospel of the sovereign grace of God in a creative
act to save his own. See, salvation is an act of the
divine will. The wine, the water was made doing anything or going and doing
anything particular or saying some incantation of it, it just
became wine by an act of his will. His creative activity comes
by will. Salvation is an act of God's
divine will. That's what John had shown us,
hadn't he, earlier in this Gospel, in John chapter 1 in that glorious
prologue. As many as received him, to them
he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them which believe
on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will
of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." They're born
of the will of God. The best wine, the best wine
is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. See, the water was totally dependent
It was dead in those water pots. It was totally dependent upon
the will of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is His activity, 100%. He speaks with the authority
of a Creator and says, light be and light is. He has, He is the one. with all
authority in salvation. He is the one with all authority
in drawing his people to this wedding feast. He has all authority
and not us. No wonder when throughout the
gospel accounts, everyone that comes to him and says, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean, it will be the prayer
of all of us again and again. Lord, save me. Lord, you can
save me. Jesus, thou son of David, If you can will, all you have
to do is will my salvation and I will be saved. It's a glorious
picture, isn't it? The fact that this good wine
is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The wine, of course,
is a picture of his sacrificial death on Calvary's tree. It's
the best wine. It's the best wine, it's that
wine that comes from the lips of our Saviour in the Song of
Solomon. She says, kiss me, kiss me. Be close to me, be in close fellowship
and union with me. Let him kiss me with the kisses
of his mouth. Let him speak his words to me,
Song of Solomon 1.2. For thy love is better than wine. It is the glorious wine of the
gospel. The roof of thy mouth is like
the best wine, Song of Solomon 7-9, like the best wine for my
beloved that goeth down sweetly, causing the lips of those that
are asleep to speak. What a glorious contrast we have
between this and man-made works religion. What a sight inside of us. False religion always gives the
best at the beginning, doesn't it? And at the end is the worst. It's exactly the opposite to
the Lord Jesus Christ. He will take his people, as we'll
see throughout the gospel accounts, he takes his people through pain
and suffering and trials to bring them to himself. The conviction of sin. when the
Holy Spirit comes and convicts of sin, because you believe not
on Him. When the Holy Spirit comes and
shows you what you are, and shows you your utter need of the Lord
Jesus Christ, there is an agonizing time for all believers. And religion
wants to say, it's a simple thing, isn't it? It's a simple thing.
All you have to do is pray the sinner's prayer, and all you
have to do is do these things. All you have to do is exercise
your will. God loves you, Jesus died for
you, you have the best wine now. God loves you, Jesus died for
you, God the Holy Spirit wants to save you, and all you have
to do is do something. That's the best wine, isn't it?
That's the best they can offer. God's way of dealing with these
people is exactly the opposite to us. He says in Zechariah 12.10,
I will pour out on the house of David and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem the spirit of grace that word supplication, to plead
with God, to beg God to do something, because you're in his hands and
you have nothing to offer him in any way at all, not your will
and not your works and not your worth. He'll pour out on the
inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication,
and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. and they shall
mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be
in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his
firstborn. The Gospel Feast. In the Gospel
Feast, the good wine always comes last. These disciples were going
to go through extraordinary trials, weren't they? And at the end
of that earthly pilgrimage of the Lord Jesus Christ on that
night that he was portrayed by Judas and he wept those tears,
shed that blood in the garden and on Calvary's tree, and those
disciples all abandoned him, how dark was that night. How
dark was that night for those men. Nathaniel included. They'd
all made remarkable promises about how they were going And out of that darkness, three
days of darkness, the Lord Jesus Christ came and rose, gloriously
rose. The best wine, the best wine
of the marriage feast comes last. He's kept it, it's been guarded
by our God until now. What a glorious picture. What
a glorious picture we have in the salvation of sinners here.
The water was made wine. The water was made wine. The water ceased to be what it
was. what it wasn't. There is in the
heart of all God's children regenerated. There is a new creation and it's
made by God. We are made, we are made to be
partakers of all of what God brings to
us through the death of his Son. The water ceased to be what it
was. It was made. Nathanael was going to witness
this, wasn't he? He was told that he was going
to see greater things. Nathanael was declared to be a man in whom
there is no guile. Where's the evidence? Where's
the evidence for that? Nathanael? You could look in
Nathanael's life, and if Nathanael was honest with you, he'd say,
I'm guile, I'm nothing but guile, and I see it everywhere, and
I'm ashamed of it, and I'm horrified by it. The question is, where's
the evidence? The evidence is in the life and
the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We
are made. We are new creations created
in righteousness and true holiness. We love to think of these many,
many verses where this description of being made is there on the
cover of our Bibles. Col had it printed there for
us. But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto
us. He's made them unto us. Who's
done the making? God has done the making. He's
made us wisdom. We have all the wisdom of God
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's made us righteousness. We
have the very righteousness of God in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and we're made that way. and we're made sanctification.
We have holiness before God and we're made redemption. He is
made our redemption. In 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 is
that glorious, glorious description of this remarkable exchange between
the Lord Jesus Christ and his people which comes about because
of this marriage union between the Lord and his bride. They
were one in eternity and he is fully responsible. And look what
God says about it. He has made him sin for us who
knew no sin. The Lord Jesus Christ, that water
ceased to be what it was and became what it wasn't. The Lord
Jesus Christ, when he was made sin, when all of the sins of
all of God's elect people were laid on him, he was made what
he wasn't. He was made what He wasn't, and
sin in all of its horror. We have no notion of how horrific
sin is. The only time we ever get close
to a notion of what sin is is when the Lord allows us to see
what happened on Calvary's tree. He not only bore the sins, He
bore the guilt, He bore the shame, He bore it all away. He was made
sin for us. He was made to be something that
He wasn't. And he put it away. When he returns,
there is no sin in him. And we are made that we might
be made. There's that glorious word again.
We might be made the righteousness of God in him. That's why the Lord could proclaim
to Nathanael, you're a man, you're an Israelite. Indeed, in him
there is no God. We are made that. Colossians
has that glorious description of what the Lord has made us,
isn't it? We give thanks, Colossians 112,
giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet. He's made us perfectly qualified,
that word means, perfectly fitted to be partakers of the inheritance
of the saints in light. We're made. We're made, but we
weren't before. The water was made wine. that gladdens the hearts of people,
that very wine that speaks of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
that very wine that speaks to us in remembrance of Him when
we participate in that wine at the Lord's table. We are made. There is authority and there
is power. And there is purification. And there is the glory of the
gospel. That God takes us and makes us
to be something that we aren't by nature. And we come into that
new creation by the will of God, by the power of God, by the command
of our Lord Jesus Christ, at a marriage. A marriage promised
in eternity, a marriage pictured, a marriage to be consummated,
a marriage where we are made fit by him to be members of his
body, bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh. Colossians goes
on in Colossians 1.20, I love these verses, having made peace
through the blood of his cross, he's made peace between us and
God, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. Everything
is reconciled to the Lord Jesus Christ. There's nothing outside
of that. He is in control of all things
and everything is working towards this marriage. I say, whether
they be things in earth or things in heaven, and you who were sometime
alienated and enemies in your mind, that's a great description
of us, isn't it? Alienated from God and enemies
of God in our mind by wicked works. Yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you. He does
it all, brothers and sisters, that's the gospel, isn't it?
He does it all to present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable
in his sight. The governor of the feast. all of us and we like Nathanael
Israelites indeed are declared to be people in whom is no God. This is the beginning, this is
the first, this is the best, this is the biggest, this is
the arch miracle that Jesus did in Cana and he manifested his
glory, his glory as a sovereign creator, his glory in union with
his bride He manifested His glory, and where He manifests His glory,
His disciples believed on Him. Lord, give us faith. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You
for the revelation of Your Son in Your Word, and we pray, Heavenly
Father, that this precious story will be something that You write
on our hearts and cause us to meditate on, Heavenly Father,
and cause us, as the disciples did so long ago, the glory of
your Son, that we might simply believe on Him, we might rest
the eternity of our souls upon Him, Heavenly Father. Teach us
to profit our Father, as you have promised, and take His words
and make them life to us by your blessed Holy Spirit showing us
your dear and precious Son. Bless our church family and bless
your family throughout this world and cause us, Heavenly Father,
in the midst of the trials that no doubt will befall us in this
world, to have our eyes fixed on a marriage in eternity, a
glorious work on the cross, and a marriage in eternity. We pray your blessing upon us,
Heavenly Father, in these times. We pray in Jesus' name and for
his glory. Amen. We're going to sing, we're
going to sing number 49. Thank you. To close our service,
there is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's
veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood, lose all their guilty
stains. The dying thief rejoiced to see
that fountain in his day, and there have I though vile a pity
as he washed all my sins away. Thank you. There is a fountain filled with
blood Drawn from Emmanuel's veins And sinners plunged beneath that
flood Lose all their guilty stains lose all their guilty stay, lose
all their guilty stay. And sinners but these