THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

John: Believing On The Christ, The Son Of God, For Eternal Life

Part X: Believing On Christ Due To His Miracle At Cana

B. Believing On Christ Due To His Rich Grace Seen By The Miracle At Cana

(John 2:1-11)

I. Introduction

A. If we must trust in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God for eternal life (John 20:31) and if God is a God of great grace that John wrote he witnessed in Christ's life (John 1:16 KJV, ESV), there should be evidence of that fact.

B. Just prior to His public ministry, Jesus performed a private miracle in John 2:1-10 that John 1:11 asserts manifested forth the glory of His grace to His disciples to such a degree, they believed on Him (as follows):

II. Believing On Christ Due To His Rich Grace Seen By The Miracle At Cana, John 2:1-11.

A. Jesus manifested His grace to perform a miracle though news of its need was wrongly expressed, John 2:1-4a:

1. Jesus' mother expected Him to fill the shortage of wine, so she told Him, "They have no wine," John 2:1-3.

2. However, to meet this need required Jesus to do a miracle, a deed that was under the Father's oversight, so He corrected her, saying "'(T)hat concerns you, leave me alone,'" Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, 1978, ftn. to Jn. 2:4.

3. Thus, Mary recanted, telling the servants to obey Jesus (John 2:5), and He privately performed the miracle of turning the water into wine to honor His mother, John 2:5-10!

B. Jesus manifested His grace to perform a miracle though it was not time for Him to do miracles, John 2:4b: the Father had not directed Jesus to show Himself publicly to Israel by way of miracles as prophesied in Isaiah 35:4-6 (cf. Matthew 11:2-6), so, in grace, Jesus privately turned the water into wine, John 2:4b with John 2:9.

C. Jesus manifested His grace to perform a miracle though the items used to perform it were legalistic, Jn. 2:5-6: the six stone waterpots used for purifying before meals were never commanded by God in Scripture, but were used for one of the many legalistic rituals established by Israel's leaders, John 2:6-7 with Matthew 15:1-9.

D. Jesus manifested His grace to perform a miracle though the water used was despised as unclean, John 2:6: no Jew would think of drinking from water used to clean their hands (Bible Know. Com., N. T., p. 278)!

E. Jesus manifested His grace to perform a miracle in using an abundance of the despised water, John 2:6-7: each of the six stone waterpots contained around 25 gallons of water each, making the total amount of liquid affected by the miracle to be around 150 gallons, Ibid., Ryrie, ftn. to John 2:6!

F. Jesus manifested His grace to perform a miracle in utilizing faith in His word from lowly people, John 2:8:

1. Jesus told the lowly servants to draw the water out of these "unclean" purification stone waterpots and bear it to the governor of the feast, and act of faith in Him to make the water quality wine, John 2:8.

2. Thus, typical of God's workings, He here called the lowly to believe in His Son for blessing, cf. James 2:5.

G. Jesus manifested His grace to perform a miracle in revealing it only to lowly believers, John 2:9: only the lowly believing servants and Jesus' disciples knew how the water had been made into wine, cf. Matt. 11:25.

H. Jesus manifested His grace to perform a miracle of highest quality through utilizing despised things, Jn. 2:10:

1. The governor of the feast declared that the wine Jesus had miraculously produced was better than the wine initially brought to the wedding feast, the opposite of what customarily occurred, John 2:10.

2. This reflects God's work of grace in producing great works with that which is despised, 1 Cor. 1:26-29.

I. Jesus manifested His grace in performing a miracle that graciously honored its recipients, John 2:10: typical of God's grace, the Bridegroom was honored for the quality wine that he did not provide! (cf. John 12:26)

J. Jesus manifested His grace in performing a miracle that signaled the supremacy of God's Son to the Law, John 2:10: the lesser quality wine came first with Christ's higher quality wine coming later, symbolic of the grace of Christ that follows and supercedes the Law of Moses, cf. John 1:17; Ibid., Bible Know. Com., N. T.

K. [Note: Jesus did not create wine that had the alcoholic level of wines that are produced by distillation today: the Jews of His era mixed naturally fermented (not distilled) wine 3 parts water to 1 part wine, so one would have to drink 22 glasses of it to get drunk! (Robert H. Stein, "Wine-Drinking in New Testament Times," Christ. Today, 6/20/75, p. 9-11) It is even possible that the wine Jesus created was unfermented, explaining the governor's compliment! (Lloyd Button, Ph. D., "Did Jesus Turn Water Into Intoxicating Wine?"]

Lesson: Jesus privately manifested the glory of His rich unmerited favor to a few believers in His miracle at Cana.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ as God's true Messiah and Son of God for salvation. (2) May we partake of the rich blessings of His unmerited favor by obeying Him in faith as did the lowly servants at the wedding at Cana.