The last time we were in Cana, we observed a wedding celebration in progress; they ran out of wine and Mary knew exactly Who could help in this situation . . .
JOHN 2:1-5
And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: 2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage. 3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine. 4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
We continue now and see how our LORD handled the situation, and what this means to us as His followers:
JOHN 2:6-11
6 And there were set there six water pots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. 7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the water pots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. 9 When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants knew which drew the water;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, 10 And 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. 11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
The LORD would use what was at hand; and as is the manner of custom for the Jews, they would not eat any meal without first washing their hands, and for that, they would need water to purify themselves - and so there were these six stone water pots:
They were made of stone - from the earth; and there were six of them; man was made from the earth, created on the sixth day. Thus we may infer from an allegorical sense that these vessels unto glory (See ROM. 9:23-24; 2 COR. 4:7; 2 TIM. 2:20) are the saints of the LORD. A firkin is about 8-9 gallons and each of these six water pots held 2-3 firkins apiece, meaning about 130 gallons total.
In the blessed union between the LORD and those who express faith in the Gospel and receive salvation (EPH. 5:31-32), there is a joining of Spirit to spirit and in a very deeply spiritual sense of the word, we become "one with the LORD" (1 COR. 6:17). As His children, we serve the LORD and one another, as He has given us as His own example, being the Supreme Servant in God's Kingdom.
Just as He washed our feet, He has likewise instructed us to wash one another's feet (JOHN 13:14), and so the ministry of washing is ours: the church of the LORD Jesus Christ, as we use the water of the Word (EPH. 5:26).
In these six pots of stone we witness pure water that would become defiled when once its been drawn and used to cleanse hands and arms. Yet in ourselves, we represent those who were once defiled and now made clean by the blood of the LAMB (1 COR. 6:11). We are the purified who will one day see God face to Face (MATT. 5:8)! On that Day we shall be blessed to partake of a far greater and glorious Wedding Feast than the one we see before us today in this passage (REV. 19:7-9).
Note that these stone pots are filled to the brim - and likewise are we to be filled with the Spirit - (EPH. 5:18; the idea here in this verse is to "be continually being filled by the Spirit", passive perfect present tense: an ongoing reception from the LORD towards ourselves), nothing lacking (1 THESS. 4:12) and be filled with the grace and knowledge of the LORD Jesus Christ (COL. 1:9; 2 PET.1:3; 3:18). There is nothing we need do for this except to ask and receive. The LORD does all the rest!
As soon as anyone would draw from any of these stone pots, they would no longer be full, thus we must resort to continue to be filled with the Spirit, to overflowing - that we may draw out to minister to others, yet still be full of the Spirit ourselves, like a lake that has an inlet and outlet of the same capacity. The overflow resulting from being filled and still receiving from the LORD - that is where we minister to others: in the overflow. That way, we can serve others, and yet remain full still ourselves. I covered this in a TTUF article entitled ABLE MINISTERS Of The NEW TESTAMENT.
When the governor of the feast tasted the water, he declared to the bridegroom that its customary to serve the best wine first, then that which is of lesser quality is served, but that he has saved the best wine for the last.
Here we see the transformation of the LORD's miraculous work: He Turned The Water Into Wine!
Likewise there is transformation from the sinner to the sanctified, from the heinous to the holy, from the hell-bound rebel to the heaven-sent righteous!
We note that when the LORD hung upon the cross, the Roman soldiers were sent by Pilate to verify that He was in fact dead after so 'short' a time of a mere six hours (see MARK 15:44) crucified victims were known to live on for days, or even weeks if they were cruelly provided water in their dying thirst).
The soldier pierced the side of our LORD with a spear and blood and water flowed (JOHN 19:34), indicating the certainty of His demise (upon death, blood separates between its component parts of platelets and plasma; plasma may appear clear as water); this is medically speaking, known as hypnovolemic shock.
Likewise there is transformation from the sinner to the sanctified, from the heinous to the holy, from the hell-bound rebel to the heaven-sent righteous!
We note that when the LORD hung upon the cross, the Roman soldiers were sent by Pilate to verify that He was in fact dead after so 'short' a time of a mere six hours (see MARK 15:44) crucified victims were known to live on for days, or even weeks if they were cruelly provided water in their dying thirst).
The soldier pierced the side of our LORD with a spear and blood and water flowed (JOHN 19:34), indicating the certainty of His demise (upon death, blood separates between its component parts of platelets and plasma; plasma may appear clear as water); this is medically speaking, known as hypnovolemic shock.
These are the emblems of the LORD's purchase for His own Bride, purchased out of the 'slave-market of sin' (ROM 7:14) to become a beautiful bride, whose garments are pure and sanctified (REV. 19:7-8). The wine of His blood is amply supplied for any and all of humanity to come and be washed of their sins, and inherit eternal life as the blessed bride of our glorious LORD Jesus!
May we all, as did His disciples, witness His glory and power, His grace and truth, and believe on Him! AMEN.
The next time we shall look at JOHN 2:13-17 where relatives of Jesus of Nazareth deem Him 'out of His mind' because they could not understand Him. Similarly we are looked upon by our own family, friends and co-workers as crazy or weird - even as 'Jesus Freaks'. But we are of sound mind and heart, as the LORD has seen fit by His Spirit. We will meet again to look at "The Mad Messiah?"
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