The First Sign of Jesus
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May 28, 2017 |
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 Senior Pastor Dr. Jaerock Lee
"This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him"(John 2:11).
Jesus performed His first sign during His public ministry when He attended a wedding at Cana. He performed the sign of changing water into wine. Concerning this passage, some people today say that Jesus made wine from the water to bless the wedding of people in this world. But it is not really so. It contains the providence of the human salvation.
1. The Providence of Jesus Attending the Wedding in Cana
Here, Cana of Galilee refers to this world, and the wedding refers to the end of time when people eat, drink, get drunk, and openly pursue sins and evil. Today, the enemy Satan, the ruler of this world, deceives people even more to follow their sinful natures to get drunk with the things of the world.
Why did Jesus accept the invitation to this kind of worldly party? And what does it mean? For Jesus to go to a wedding banquet means that Jesus allowed those worldly people who wanted to crucify Him to do so and finally died on the cross.
Changing water into wine means the blood of Jesus shed on the cross is the blood that gives eternal life. A man and a woman become one flesh and they give birth to children. In the same way, those brides of the Lord who accepted the Lord Jesus as their Groom are born again as God's children and they also become God's true children when they become one with the Lord.
2. Jesus' First Sign of Having Water Poured in the Waterpots and Changing It into Wine
Virgin Mary told Jesus that the wine for the wedding had run out while the atmosphere of the party was in full swing. She had observed Jesus very closely and she trusted fully that Jesus could do something about the situation.
But when Mary told Jesus that there was no more wine, in John 2:4, Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come."
Here, we should pay attention to the fact that Jesus did not call Mary 'mother' but 'woman'. The Word is God, and the Word became flesh and came to the earth. He is Jesus (John 1:1). Jesus, who is the Word, has no beginning and end and is the Creator of all things. The reason John 2:3 says 'the mother of Jesus' is that it was written by the disciples who called Mary 'Jesus' mother'.
Also, Jesus said, "Woman, what does that have to do with us?" and this means that Jesus had nothing to do with drinking and getting drunk like the worldly people. Therefore, by saying this, Jesus showed beforehand that His turning the water into wine was not for the worldly people but only for fulfilling the providence of God.
What, then, does it mean by "My hour has not yet come"? The hour that Jesus mentioned refers to the time when Jesus would shed His blood on the cross and fulfill the providence of salvation after He preached the gospel of the kingdom during His public ministry. Jesus meant this hour had not yet come.
Jesus did not immediately accept the request of Mary, but Mary said to the servants, "Whatever He says to you, do it" (John 2:5). Jesus answered to her faith and showed that sign. Jesus told the servants to fill up six stone waterpots. There were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each.
Also, the waterpots were not just ordinary clay pots but waterpots of stone. Stone symbolizes something unchanging and firm. Next, the number six here symbolizes the six thousand years of human cultivation. When Jesus told the servants to fill the waterpots with water, they filled them up to the brim. It symbolizes that the human cultivation will go on for a full 6,000 years without going beyond that.
Jesus told them, "Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter" (John 2:8). When the servants obeyed Jesus and took some water to the headwaiter, it was already changed into good quality wine. The headwaiter who did not know where the wine came from called the bridegroom and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine but you have kept the good wine until now" (John 2:10). This tells us that the latter wine, which was made from water by Jesus, was of very good quality.
3. The Spiritual Meaning of This Sign of Changing Water into Wine
First, water symbolizes the word of God, and more specifically here, it refers to the body of Jesus who is the word of God that came down to this earth taking on a human body (John 1:14). Next, wine symbolizes the precious blood of Jesus who redeems mankind from their sins.
Therefore, the spiritual meaning of changing water into wine and letting the people drink means that Jesus, who is the word that came in human body, would shed His precious blood at the appropriate time and redeem all mankind from their sins. Just as those who tasted the new wine made from water rejoiced and became happy, those who are forgiven of their sins by the blood of the Lord will rejoice and become happy in their deepest heart.
John 2:9 says, "When the headwaiter tasted the water which had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew)." Here, the headwaiter and other guests symbolize the worldly people. These servants represent God's servants and workers today. The servants obeyed the word of Jesus. As they gave the wine to the guests of the wedding, God's servants and workers have to diligently supply the worldly people with the new wine made out of water. It means we have to diligently spread the providence of the cross and who Jesus is and why He shed His blood.
John 2:11 reads, "This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him" It foreshadows that only when Jesus was crucified and revealed His glory by resurrection on the third day, could His disciples have true faith. Why is that?
In Matthew 12:38-40, people were asking for more signs. So, Jesus said, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." It foreshadows that only when Jesus manifested the sign of Jonah, namely when Jesus was crucified and revealed His glory by resurrection, could His disciples have true faith.
It was not until they witnessed the resurrection of Jesus who had been buried that they came to have true faith. Afterwards, they received the Holy Spirit and power, preached the resurrection of the Lord and the message of the cross, and eventually most of them were martyred for the Lord. The first sign of Jesus foreshadowed His crucifixion and resurrection—the amazing providence of human salvation.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, I pray in the name of the Lord that by understanding the heart of the Lord who desires all people to be saved, you will spread the gospel to the ends of the earth and adorn yourselves as His brides so that many people can be forgiven of their sins by the precious blood of the Lord and live with the hope for Heaven.
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