MIRACLE OF TURNING WATER INTO UNFERMENTED WINE. John 2

The mother of Jesus attended the wedding in Cana of Galilee. Her presence suggested that as a matriarch, she had planned the ceremony; obviously Mary was a dignified woman of character. Later, Mary alerted God’s Son to the grievous deficiency of wine, which I assume was the crushed, unfermented grape juice.

No greater blessing could grace a wedding than that God’s dear Son should be a celebrated guest, accompanied by His five disciples, at an early stage of His ministry. This is the first official occasion for our Lord, teaching us the importance of marriage with our beloved Lord; supplemented by the miracle which our Lord performed.

Crisis followed when ’They ran out of wine.’ The mother of Jesus turned to her son ( he was the son of Mary as well as the eternal Son ), urging ’They have no wine.’ Presuming she was the hostess for the celebration, this deficiency would embarrass her. Did she seize the opportunity to compel her Son to show His Messiahship in this supernatural way? . Or did she expect Him to authoritatively preach and show His adequacy in every situation?

An unusual answer came from God’s dear Son, ‘ Woman, what does your concern have to do with me?’ My hour has not yet come.’ He acknowledges Mary’s womanhood, thus honouring her.. Later at the cross, the suffering Lord Jesus provided home and family for her, as He respectfully and honourably provided for her. Our Lord set a perfect example for us to revere the one who gave birth and loving nourishment to us in our helplessness.

‘My hour is not yet come’. Our Lord always anticipated His Calvary suffering as our sinbearer. Even with this first miracle, the Lord Jesus predicted the climax of the cross.

As the lamb slain from the foundation of the earth, all His ministry prepared for His substitutionary death for us.

Mary directed the servant to ‘Do whatever he commands you,’ Did she think, ’ My son completely controls the situation. Rest in him.’ Let’s do all that the Lord directs us.

‘Six waterpots of stone were set there.’ to fulfil the purification rites of the wedding guests. Massive, they contained either twenty or thirty gallons ( 90 or 135 litres ) of water.

The water had been carried from the village well, possibly over several days. It was also a treasury of life-preserving fluid.

Our Lord commanded the servants to ‘Fill the waterpots with water,’ which they did. ‘Filling them to the brim.’ barred the addition of any extra substance. Our omnipotent Lord would glorify Himself. He took a common substance, water, an inorganic matter, H2O and changed it into a complex carbohydrate, Fructose, C6H12O6, an organic chemical, HE did not and could not have changed fructose into ethyl alcohol, C2H5OH, which is toxic ( poisonous or lethal ) , and does not occur in God’s world of nature. It is always the work of man’s art (destruction of fructose into ethyl alcohol with the release of CO2 , which we must exhale to survive. As Creator He called all things good. As the original Creator, he did not bend any laws of creation for this miracle.

Our Lord would never synthesise that toxic substance which in a life-time of medicine has destroyed individuals, corroded home life, and threatened a chemical addiction, a bondage to alcohol for the remainder of their years. Even converts to Christ from alcoholism run the peril of being sucked into the slavery of alcohol.

Our miraculous Lord condensed the harvest of grapes, nurtured through the four seasons, picked ripe by many pickers, crushed and trampled in the vat, and strained to produce pure unfermented grape juice, This marvellous event showed how the Lord of the harvest compressed in time and space His eternal creative ability. Normally, hundreds of grape vines over many acres ( or hectares ) and all the seasonal variations would produce this enormous quantity of pure grape juice. He is LORD OF THE HARVEST.

Christ performed a similar miracle when he took the small boy’s five barley loaves and two small fish, compressed the processes in an instant- and fed 5000 men, including women and children. This reduced to a split second all the seasonal and milling processes from which barley flour and fish spawning and developing from Galilee would be obtained. Scripture shows HE is LORD OF AQUACULTURE AND AGRICULTURE. We praise Him for such sovereignty. Is He yours?

This staggered the MC of the feast, when he had tasted the water made wine, not knowing its source, ( while the servants who had drawn the water knew ). Calling the bridegroom, the MC said to them, ’Every man at the beginning sets out good wine, and when men have well drunk, then that which is inferior ; but you have kept the best wine until now,’

This was the history of the human family. Spiritually betrothed to the living, loving God at creation; (pure unfermented wine ): man’s Fall when the sinful dregs and watery wine intoxicated the entire human family: the new unspoilt wine of His triumphant death, resurrection, ascension and the marriage supper of the Lamb. Eternity encapsulated.

John sounded a victorious note, ‘This beginning of miracles Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested HIS glory, and His disciples believed in HIM. (v11) In this miracle our Lord blessed marriage as ordained by Him. Many have usurped the role of God in non-religious celebrants, without prayer or bible reading, presiding over this God-made relationship. His royal presence at the wedding in Cana gave legitimacy to the occasion.

His glory shone through the entire occasion. This further indicates that no alcohol was present. My experience in army life and medical practice, convinced that His glory is never obvious where intoxicating drink is available. They are incompatible. Moses was saturated with the heavenly glory on the mount. Isaiah saw ‘ In the year that King Uzziah died, the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.’

Christ’s glory radiated as he moved quietly and majestically among the wedding guests.

Have you invited the King of glory to hallow your wedding and enrich your family life?