As gold is to fools gold, so is the Bible to all other books. While many books are helpful for one reason or another, only one is of infinite value – the revelation of God. A knowledge of the Bible means an acquaintance with the God of eternity. Having said that, we have to be careful, because a mere head knowledge of God or of His Word might not be much better than a knowledge of mathematics. An understanding of trigonometry or geometry doesn’t impress the God who established the laws of math – if the mathematician isn’t interested in the Creator of all those laws.
Take for example a knowledge of two relatively important numbers. The first is: 1 out of 10 to the 123rd power. That is the symbol ½ but with the 2 followed by 123. This is a tiny, tiny number; the sort of number only a mathematician can grasp. It is the number which Roger Penrose gave to his atheist friend, Stephen Hawking, to describe the chance of our universe being accidentally put together into the form it is today. But an even smaller number – 1 out of 10 to the 162nd power is what mathematician William Dembski says it would take a single cell organism to make a mere thousand positive mutations. To give you some perspective, it is estimated that all the atoms in the universe are not more than 10 to the 79th power.
Let’s say that the smartest man in the world can explain each of these numbers – that might prove that he’s smart, but it doesn’t make him a child of God. To help me with those three numbers, I might ask my computer for an explanation. Just because my computer might understand them, that knowledge doesn’t give it an eternal soul. “Though I gain the wisdom and pHDs of a hundred universities and don’t know the love of God, I am but a fool.”
We may catch GLIMPSES of Jehovah by studying a math textbook or a biology text. But there is only one book which goes directly to the source, revealing God and His holy, gracious nature. In other words, the Bible is unique among all books, because it provides even a child with the means of leaving the ranks of the high-IQ fools to know God. The Bible takes us behind the numbers – to the One who created those numbers and can explain them.
Among the many divisions within the Bible, the Book of John is in some ways unique. John gives us a look into the nature of the Lord JESUS – unlike any other section of the Bible. The Book of Hebrews has a special purpose, and so do Revelation, Genesis and Romans. Psalms reveals things to the Christian which he can’t get anywhere else, and so does Isaiah. But the Book of John lets us look into the heart of Christ in ways that we don’t have in any other book.
And to accomplish that, John – inspired by the Spirit – recorded a series of special events from Jesus’ life. Each one of them contained one or more important clues about the nature of the Saviour. They are like individual colors in a rainbow – or light itself – and each is incomplete without the others. For example, there are the seven great “I am” statements which Christ Jesus makes in this book: “I am the bread of life;” “I am the water of life;” and “before Abraham was I am.” These statements emphasize special things about the Lord, and declare Him to be Jehovah God. In the Old Testament Jehovah described Himself as the Great “I am.” In this book we see a few very special miracles which are not touched in the other Gospels. For example this miracle in chapter two, shows us things which are not emphasized anywhere else. God’s purpose in Cana of Galilee was not to fill the wine bowl at the marriage feast. This was an informational road-sign telling us how to find the best that eternity has to offer. Verse 11 says that this was a step to manifesting Jesus’ glory before the disciples, and before us.
We have here a revelation of the Saviour’s CREATIVE POWER.
Atheistic evolution says that all life, including human life, arose from a one-celled organism. But to get from a one celled amoeba to a human being with 37 trillion cells, there would have to be millions, if not billions, of positive changes – evolutionary steps. And remember William Dembski says it would take 1 out of 10 to the 162nd power to make a mere a thousand positive mutations. And that is ignoring the fact that nearly all cellular changes or mutations are negative and deadly.
Evolution says that the changes it imagines all occurred at random. But for them to all work together, they would have to come in the right order and at the same time. So it is not about a trillion mutations, they would have to come in sequence – or simultaneously. That increases the miracle another billion times. It doesn’t do any good to have a leg, if there isn’t a nervous system to operate that leg. As some of you know, I am in the process of relearning about human speech. In order for a word or sentence to come out correctly, there are dozens of pieces which have to work together perfectly – muscles, larynx, lungs, tongue, various valves directing air and keeping food from going down the wrong pipe, etc. And for the first word that Adam ever spoke, all those parts had to work correctly. The very first time man spoke all those parts would have to already been in place. The eye, the ear and the heart would be no good if they had to randomly mutate all their complicated parts into existence.
According to one article I read, even if we limit the number of necessary mutations to a thousand and argue that half of these mutations were all beneficial, the odds against getting them right is about 1 out of 10 to the 301st power. 10 to the 301st is a number so large according to standard evolutionary time, it would have had to take twelve quadrillion years to take place. Even if they all occurred at the smallest unit of time man has been able to calculate – Planck time – there hasn’t been enough time for all those calculations. Dr. Planck came up with the infinitesimal amount of time it takes two protons to pass each other. The blink of an eye would be like a century in comparison to a unit of Planck time. What I’m trying to say is that evolution is a mathematical impossibility. It is a joy to my heart to know that God, through Christ, personally created every aspect of this universe. This leads me to go on into the understanding that He is personally interested in the events of this world. It tells me that He has ability to accomplish anything necessary to maintain or upgrade this universe.
But how do I know that JESUS CHRIST is the Creator? That is no problem for anyone who believes the Bible, because it is abundantly declared. In speaking about Christ, the Bible says, “All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” “For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth.” There are a half dozen other verses, which directly and unmistakably declare that Jesus is the Creator. BUT they come primarily from later chapters in the Word of God
What about the people who were living before the New Testament was written or completed? They could have known it as easily as we can, and for some of them even more easily. The Lord Jesus proved, time and again, several wonderful things. First, He proved that He had the power and authority to make and create things. And He proved again and again, that it was His joy to create those things in order to bless us. A case in point is the miracle before us.
It is significant that the whole operation of this miracle was somewhat veiled. What was the method that Jesus used? Did He throw some herbs into the water; did He speak some significant miraculous word? Did He breathe on the water, spit into the water or pray over the water? Did He squeeze a grape over the bowl of water? It appears that He did none of these things. The servants simply dipped their ladles into water, and when they came out there was wine in the bowl. This tells us there were NO external means employed by the Saviour. At other times, other miracles involved tools and substances, even as lowly as spittle and mud. But not in this case. This miracle simply illustrates deity in motion.
And that leads us to the question: What exactly is a miracle? Isn’t a miracle the divine interruption of established natural laws. It is not a miracle to catch a fish. But it MIGHT be a miracle to catch a fish with a piece of money in its mouth. The laws of probability for such a thing tell us that we will never see that no matter how long we fish. A trout might see a silver coin falling through the water and chomp on it as if it was a fishing lure. That is not particularly miraculous, but it would be exceedingly rare. The miracle is that the fish didn’t swallow that coin. And in Peter’s case he caught it at precisely the place and time that the Creator told him. It is a miracle when a disease, which is almost always fatal, is instantaneously healed. It is a miracle when bones and muscles which haven’t worked in decades are able to instantly function as if they had been exercised by an athlete every day for years. It is a miracle that some man could command the wind to stop blowing, and have those winds obey. And if a miracle is the interruption of natural, common laws, then what is CREATION but a extraordinary miracle? Creation is God doing something which only He can do; ie. to bring something out of nothing. It is beyond OUR ability to make an apple into an orange, which is not really creating anything anyway. And not even Satan can change a cat into a cow. But to take plain water and instantly have its essence change into the fruit of the grape is a miracle.
This wasn’t perhaps a purely a CREATION miracle, but it most definitely something only God could do. It would have been more an act of creation, if the Lord produced wine in a barrel when it was empty. But on this occasion there was water, then as someone said years ago: “The water blushed at the presence of its God.” Only the power of deity could do such a thing as this. At the time, a small corner of world was forced to look upon this as a sign of the Creator – Jesus Christ is the Creator.
We also have here a revelation of a WONDERFUL HEART – Jesus wanted to be a blessing to these people.
There were a lot of preconceived Jewish ideas about the Messiah as He first came on the scene. For example, many expected that He’d be a king with a military background. It was expected that He’d be full of vengeance toward the enemies of Israel. They expect the Son of David to be a man, like David – with blood on his hands. Yet toward Israel, the Messiah would be regal and respectable – full of pomp and glory. So those who followed John Baptist were confused because Jesus was not more than John’s cousin. The unbelieving Jews pointed to Christ, noting that He took meals and had fellowship with sinners. Comparing Jesus with Jeremiah or Elijah made Him look out of place in their opinion. And now, here was the God of universe, the Messiah, visiting a common wedding.
There are as many foolish notions about Christ today as there were 2,000 years ago. Look at the popularity of the “Book of Mormon” or the so-called “Gospel of Judas.” Among the foolish ideas is the one that the God of the Bible knows nothing about LOVE and has no consideration for the AGONY of man. The truth is Jesus cares more about your pain than your mother or your spouse is capable of caring. Because, the Son of God knows that sorrow and suffering can be traced back to sin. And He was around before the existence of sin. The first sin was an attack upon Him. Furthermore, your mother and spouse are as much sinners as you are, and therefore their perspective of the effects of sin is entirely different from Christ’s.
But then, positively, the God who gave man the complicated series of muscles necessary to smile…. The Creator who gave us the ability to laugh, thus making us different from the animal world…. Jesus Christ, came into this world that we might have His joy and His peace. You can be absolutely sure that this God is very interested in whether or not you have that joy. And He who instituted marriage in the beginning, is definitely NOT out of place at a wedding. The Creator of joy is at home in the most joyful house in town. It is not unworthy of God to want to share in the rejoicing of His creatures. There is no finer place to begin Jesus’ ministry than at the marriage of this unnamed Jewish couple.
And by Jesus’ presence there, He put His stamp of approval on the beginning of a new home and family. He didn’t lead in the ceremony, because the people in charge were ignorant of His true nature. But by His attendance He intimated His joy in the proceedings. This is exactly the opposite to what Jesus did in the temple just a few verses later. The Lord approves of proper human joy, but He hates human corruption and sin.
So Jesus approved of these people’s happiness, and He also sanctified it. Christ came into this world for the specific purpose of rescuing sinful people – like that couple. Humanity is not just an higher aspect of the animal world or ordinary creation. Despite some of the insane fictions that have been around for three hundred years, the Lord Jesus’ relationship to the animal was never like it was toward humanity. Yes, he sanctified the donkey, by permitting it once to carry Him into Jerusalem. But that animal was a servant to its Master, never a brother or equal.
Despite being the holy God, we see in this miracle the Master becoming a kind of servant to the sinner. Christ came to elevate and cleanse the sinful and vulgar out of its wickedness and banality. He hallowed every corner of human life, except that which has been completely destroyed by sin. I know that it sounds stupid even to say it, but this was not a homosexual couple. The Lord would have never entered that house if that were the case. He never condones or approves of that which He and His Father have already thoroughly condemned. But even though the pair being married, and their parents, and all the guests were sinners, what they were doing was proper and Biblical. And by His presence Christ Jesus approved the festivities and He sanctified the marriage.
We have in this miracle a revelation of JESUS’ GLORY.
How uniquely appropriate are John’s words in chapter one, in the light of this miracle. He said, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
When the average Christian pictures the glory of Christ he often thinks of the transfiguration of the Lord. But Christ was, is, glorified in a multitude of other ways beyond that special meeting with Moses and Elijah. There is the glory of the Creator in the brilliance of the sun in the Spring and the snow in the Winter. There’s glory to Christ in all the marvelous pictures being collected by the Webb Space Telescope. The Lord is glorified by our praise; He is glorified in our service. And He is made glorious in bringing beauty and joy to the lives of others.
Wine, especially as seen in the Old Testament, is a symbol of gladness and blessing. When the grape crop failed or enemies plundered it, Israel considered it to be the judgment of God. But an abundant fruit crop marked the special blessing of the Lord. So when Christ multiplied the “oinos,” it was considered to be a symbol of His pleasure in that wedding.
But wine is also a symbol of His shed blood. That is not my idea. We find it in the revelation of God which we call the Bible. Mark 14:22-25 – “And as they did eat, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take, eat: this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them: and they all drank of it. And he said unto them, This is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many. Verily I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” There has never been a greater gift given by God than Christ Jesus’ saving blood. If you have never been washed by that sacred blood, then you are among all God’s creatures most miserable. You are worse off than a gazelle slaughtered by a lion; a squirrel plucked from a branch by an owl. You are worse off than any animal, because when they are dead, they are dead. You, on the other hand, are an eternal soul that will spend eternity in Hell if you are without the Lord.
It is interesting to note that verse 11 says that this was the “BEGINNING of Jesus miracles.” The wine of the blood of Christ is the starting point for all the other eternal blessings of God. In no other way is He been glorified any higher than through the salvation of a sinful soul.
Finally this morning, here is also a sign of Christ’s ABILITY TO SUPPLY.
Mary, Jesus’ mother, spoke to the Lord and said, “They have no wine.” No matter how well people plan and prepare, the world cannot supply all our needs. No matter how well you build your house, it will not be your residence in eternity. No matter how much money you invest for retirement, it will not buy your way into Heaven. And even when you and I go from week to week, trying to plan and prepare, we often end up in confusion.
But when all the world fails and falls apart, Christ is ever there. He is the Christ eternal. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.” What Jesus did in Cana two thousand years ago He can still do today and even a thousand times greater. He has all authority. “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.’ “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.” His word is sure. “Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” This globe continues to exist by Christ’s sustaining hand. No matter what need you might have, Christ can supply what you lack.
The governor of the feast was amazed that the best was saved until last. The world usually serves the best at first and then things deteriorate, until it finds itself in Hell. But Christ makes life better and better and better. The longer we serve him the sweeter we know Him to be.
Have you ever seen Jesus as John chapter 2 describes Him? Look at His love and care for those people. See him as the Creator, the One who hallows that which is lowly and common. And then look beyond these few words and see Him as the Saviour of sinners like us. This miracle proves His ability to do great things, and even greater things than these. And in His crucifixion we see His ability and authority to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
The purpose of recording this miracle was not to offer you a free-flowing spigot of divine blessing. It was to reveal the perfections of Christ Jesus, leading up to the perfection of His sacrifice for our sins. We, as sinners, need this all-powerful Saviour. We must – we must – bow in humble repentance before this powerful God. And we must, according to the command of the gospel, put our faith in His sacrifice for our sin. Will you do that this morning? Will you trust Christ as your Lord and Saviour?