So please turn with me to John chapter 2, and as you turn there, I'll give you the outline
! for this sermon that we'll be going through. So first is the conflict in verses 1 and 2.
!
And that's because it's a very good way to understand a narrative in any form.
So let's read the passage together, starting in verse 1 through verse 11.
On the third day, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of
Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said to her, woman, what does this have to do with me?
My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. Now there
were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons.
Jesus said to the servants, fill the jars with water, and they filled them up to the brim.
And he said to them, now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast. So they took it.
When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from,
though the servants who had drawn the water knew, the master of the feast called the bridegroom
and said to him, everyone serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely,
then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now. This, the first of his signs,
Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
So now that we're all familiar with the passage, let's proceed again to the beginning of the story,
beginning with the scene, verses 1 and 2. First, on the third day. If you've been tracking along with
us from previous sermons, you may remember that John really likes chronology. And I think this
third day lead-in phrase is building on a pattern that John has already set up from the back half
of chapter 1. So in the back half of chapter 1, if you'll flip over a page or just look back,
he uses a lead-in phrase very similar to this, the next day, three times.
So in verse 29, verse 35, and verse 43, each time this phrase is used, the end of that section
is a revelation of Jesus' identity being shared, declared, or confessed. So first, in verse 34,
corresponding to the next day of verse 25, John the Baptist says,
and I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. Next, looking at verse 41,
corresponding to the next day of verse 35, Andrew says to his brother Simon, about to become Peter,
we have found the Messiah. And John adds his own parenthetical clarification, which means Christ.
These are big statements to be said about a Jewish man from Nazareth, to be sure.
Third, looking at Nathaniel, says in verse 49 of chapter 1, his life-changing interaction with Jesus
turned his skepticism in verse 46 to this declaration in verse 49,
Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel. That's an absolute 180-degree turn from
can anything good come out of Nazareth, to you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.
Both here and in the second examples, we see the disciples specifically making messianic connections
to Jesus, though not with perfect understanding. These three passages have been well covered over
the last couple weeks, but I wanted to make sure that the pattern that John had set up did not fail.
Over and over, the authors of scripture use patterns so that they can be easier for us to remember,
and also to draw our attention when something changes. So here the leading phrase is similar,
on the third day, but it's not the same.
I think we would do well to expect a similar revelation as before, being about Jesus' identity,
but not quite the same.
Continuing, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee.
So a little bit about the location. The group has not traveled far in the last two days,
this being the third day. The group has not traveled far
since Philip and Nathanael began to follow Jesus.
They are still in Galilee, as they were previously in chapter 1,
and John 21, 2 identifies Nathanael as of Cana in Galilee.
So Cana was most likely Nathanael's hometown or village,
so this was likely where he encountered Jesus for the first time.
So they've been hanging out here for a couple of days now.
Perhaps these new, excited disciples had time to discuss what Philip meant in verse 45,
where he said to Nathanael,
we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote.
Certainly these men would have been eager to dive into the scriptures
to see if these things could really be true.
They may know that there is much that they do not know.
They refer to Jesus as rabbi,
understanding that they need teaching, they need instruction from him.
Undoubtedly, they do not know how much Jesus will change their paradigm
of who the Messiah will be and what he will do.
So still setting the scene,
let's talk about the people we know at this wedding.
In the back half of verse 1 through verse 2.
So first, the mother of Jesus.
This is the first mention of Mary in John's gospel.
I think it's worthwhile to briefly consider the portrait of Mary in the gospel of Luke,
as this will give us additional insight as we read this account of John.
So while pregnant with Jesus, Mary sang a song of praise in Luke 1, 46 through 55.
A beautiful song.
I'll only read the first and close of it,
so you can see Mary's reverence of and hope in the Lord.
It begins with this first sentence.
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
And it ends with this.
He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our forefathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.
There's a wealth of biblical themes
that is worth much study to unpack from this song,
but we don't have time to unpack all of it here.
But I'll summarize to say that Mary is clued in
to what God is doing in Israel throughout its history.
She seems to think that the Messiah's life
could not be more humble than beginning with her.
But again, that's part of her not yet perfect understanding
of who this Messiah will really be.
After Jesus' birth in Luke 2
and the visitation of the shepherds to Mary and Joseph,
there is a succinct description of Mary
in verse 19 of chapter 2 of Luke.
Mary treasured up all these things,
pondering them in her heart.
My point in going to these texts in Luke
is to illustrate that Mary believes in her son,
not merely how my mom believes in me as her special boy,
but Jesus as Messiah.
The angel told her in Luke 1, 32 and 33,
this is the angel speaking to Mary,
he will be great about Jesus,
he will be great and will be called the son of the most high.
And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever.
And of his kingdom, there will be no end.
A correct understanding that Jesus is the Messiah,
but not yet a correct understanding
of how Jesus will be the Messiah.
Mary likely, likely the same as the disciples,
has hoped and believed that this eternal reign of Jesus
that's communicated to her by the angel,
would be temporal, national,
and most importantly, start right then and there.
So let's talk about his disciples who were also here,
mentioned in verse 2.
We know by name there would be at least four
from, again, the previous chapter,
Andrew, Peter, Philip, and Nathaniel.
And as Nathan argued last week,
most likely that other disciple
that's not named in the previous chapter
that was with Philip
is most likely John the Apostle.
Let's talk about wedding.
So twice, just in these two opening verses,
John mentions the wedding in specific,
and I don't think that's an accidental repetition
by any means.
So a few points to derive from that.
First, God loves marriage, plain and simple.
The Father gave marriage to humanity
as a gift to man and woman,
so it is no surprise that the son,
who is one with the Father,
would be in supportive attendance at a wedding.
Also important to note,
this is not the only wedding
about which John writes.
This first wedding in John 2
is where Jesus begins his ministry,
as we saw in verse 11,
the first of his signs.
John writes about another wedding
on the other side of Jesus' ministry
in Revelation 19, 6 through 9.
And this is worth reading together,
so I'm going to ask you to flip over
to Revelation 19,
keep your place in John 2,
and as you get there,
I'm going to take some time
to get some water.
So this is towards the tail end
of John's life,
as well as the Revelation.
So as a kind of climax before,
the new heavens and new earth
are created.
So Revelation 19, 6 through 9,
John writes this of what he sees.
Then I heard what seemed to be
the voice of a great multitude,
like the roar of many waters,
and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder
crying out,
Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God,
the Almighty reigns.
Let us rejoice and exult
and give Him the glory.
For the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and His bride has made herself ready.
It was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure,
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds
of the saints.
And the angel said to me,
Write this,
Blessed are those who are invited
to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
And He said to me,
These are the true words of God.
At this wedding in Cana,
Jesus appears as an average guest.
We're about to see Him cause a miracle,
but it's known to few at the time,
and He does not make Himself the focus.
The marriage supper of the Lamb
will be different.
Jesus Christ will be the center.
A few weeks ago,
my wife and I had the lovely opportunity
to witness the marriage
of Gaines and Taylor Kidd.
And it was lovely.
It was so much fun,
lots of great memories,
and good times to share.
Taylor's father even made me
tear up a little bit
during his very heartfelt speech
during the reception.
Very grateful for it.
And happy month anniversary.
But it wasn't perfect,
because it's an earthly wedding.
The marriage supper of the Lamb
will far exceed all categories we have
for a glorious wedding.
And we eagerly await that day.
Come, Lord Jesus, come.
This wedding in Cana was also not perfect.
So let's turn our attention back to John 2,
continuing in verse 3,
considering the conflict.
So my first question here,
let's read verses 3 through 5 together.
When the wine ran out,
the mother of Jesus said to Him,
They have no wine.
And Jesus said to her,
Woman, what does this have to do with me?
My hour has not yet come.
His mother said to the servants,
Do whatever He tells you.
So my first question here is,
why does Mary even care
that they ran out of wine?
Personally,
and you may,
this is my more laissez-faire mentality,
events run out of supplies,
it happens, you know.
To me, it's no big deal.
For example,
at my bride and I's own wedding,
just four years ago,
recently,
we kind of infamously ran out of a lot of food.
So,
we had a kind of humorous interviews being done
by some guests,
you know,
for jokes.
And one of our friend's fathers,
when asked what was his least favorite part
about the wedding,
was,
they ran out of meatballs.
It was true.
We ran out of meatballs.
Guilty as charged.
So I want to say,
it's not that big of a deal.
But,
this was not the case here
about this wine.
So looking just after our passage
in verse 12,
we can see that Jesus' brothers
were also in attendance.
So from that,
we can infer
that this may have been a relative
or at least a very close family friend.
And if that close relationship exists,
which it presumably does,
Mary may have had some organizational duties,
responsibilities.
As we will see,
she gives instructions to the servants
and they listen.
Either way,
Mary wanted to spare the wedding host
severe public embarrassment.
This is far more serious
than running out of meatballs.
This would have been a social scar
on this family
for the rest of their lives.
Possibly even with legal ramifications
against the bridegroom and his family.
So whatever the exact situation,
we can know that this is a great,
genuine need for this family.
So let's consider this section of the story,
the conflict,
with three parts.
The request,
the hour,
and the command.
So first,
the request in verse 3.
Reading the text at face value
tells us that Mary was not exaggerating.
They were out of wine.
The wedding feast was a big deal
that could be as long as a week.
We don't know.
Presumably this is day 3 of,
you know,
4, 5, 6, 7.
So to be out at this point
is a big problem.
It's also,
I'd say,
impossible to know
for sure
what Mary had in mind
when she told Jesus
that they were out of wine.
By his response,
we can know that
he inferred
that she wanted him
to fix it.
Personally,
I do not think
that Mary had an ordinary process
in mind
for how Jesus would fix this.
I think if she did,
we would have read something
about money changing hands.
You know,
if my mom asked me
to go to the store
and get something for a party,
she's probably going to give me
something to that effect.
This isn't what happens here.
And considering the previous text
that we looked at,
where we read about
Mary's belief in Jesus,
specifically the Father
working through Jesus,
I think Mary is implicitly
asking for a miracle.
So let's talk about
Jesus' answer
in verse 4.
Woman,
what does this have to do with me?
My hour has not yet come.
The first half.
Jesus' answer here
is not disrespectful,
but it is abrupt,
and it is a bit startling.
It would have been
an unusual way
to address one's mother,
and it would have certainly
caught Mary's attention.
Jesus seems to be creating
or illustrating
some distance
between himself
and his mother,
as he is about
to be more wholly
pursuing his earthly ministry.
She, too,
needs a bit of correction
with her view of the Messiah.
Now, I think it's interesting
to note that
this small,
gentle rebuke
from Jesus here of Mary
is of a very different kind
than the rebuke
that Peter receives
later whenever he is
misapplying his understanding
of the Messiah.
But what about the hour,
the end of Jesus' answer,
specifically Jesus' hour,
my hour has not yet come.
This term is used
several times
throughout the gospel,
a few times by John
as the narrator,
and a few times
where Jesus says it
explicitly about himself.
So here, of course,
he's saying it about himself.
Let's look at an example
where John uses it.
So John 7, 30,
reads as this,
So they were seeking
to arrest him,
but no one laid a hand
on him,
because his hour
had not yet come.
Importantly,
John tells us this
in the middle
of a public debate
about Jesus' identity
in Jerusalem.
Let's look at somewhere
where Jesus used it
of himself
in the high priestly prayer
in John 17,
1 through 3.
So this is right before
the betrayal
and arrest of Jesus,
and Jesus prays this,
Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your Son
that the Son may glorify you.
Since you have given him
authority over all flesh
to give eternal life
to all whom you have given him,
and this is eternal life
that they know you,
the only true God,
and Jesus Christ
whom you have sent.
This hour,
Jesus' hour,
is a recurring theme
throughout the gospel of John,
and it is referring
to Christ's crucifixion
being handed over
to lawless men.
This is how the apostle Peter
says it in Acts 2,
23 and 24.
This Jesus,
delivered up
according to the definite plan
and foreknowledge of God,
you crucified,
speaking to the Jews
in Jerusalem,
and killed by the hands
of lawless men,
God raised him up,
loosing the pangs of death,
because it was not possible
for him to be held by it.
Jesus is working on
the divine timetable here.
He knows his mission.
He knew he was walking
a long road
to the cross
for his beloved,
and he knew that
here at the wedding
in Cana.
Moving to the command
in verse 5,
Mary takes this,
turns to the servants,
and says,
do whatever he tells you.
Mary trusts that Jesus
will do something.
Perhaps she thought
this would have been
a great time
for Jesus to publicly
show his power.
A few days ago,
the new prophet
on the block,
John the Baptist,
said that the Messiah
was coming
and announced Jesus
as the Son of God.
Instead,
she calls the wedding
servants over
and trusts that Jesus
will do something,
even if it's not
maybe what she had
in mind.
But laser focused
on his mission,
the hour.
Jesus does not publicly
reveal himself here
as the Messiah,
but he does take
the servants with him.
This is a marvelously
compassionate action
toward the wedding
families and Mary.
And that takes us
to point number three,
the solution
in verses six through eight.
Now there were six
stone water jars there
for the Jewish rites
of purification,
each holding
twenty or thirty gallons.
Jesus said to the servants,
fill the jars with water.
And they filled them
up to the brim.
And he said to them,
now draw some out
and take it to the
master of the feast.
So they took it.
So I want to make
two observations
about this solution
of what Jesus does here.
First, it's out of focus.
These water jars
would have likely been
off to the side
in a storage room,
certainly not
in the feast area
with everyone else.
And Jesus does not
make a show of this miracle
by trotting out
the new wine
to the master
of the feast himself.
Instead,
he sends the servant
to deliver it
as if they found
new ordinary stores.
Now you may be wondering
why it was so important
that Jesus does
this miracle privately.
We've already talked
about the hour
and that certainly
is a part of this.
Later in John,
we can see two different
groups of people
that create problems
when Jesus does work
public miracles.
First, the crowds.
After Jesus feeds
the thousands in John 6,
John records this
in verse 15.
Perceiving then
that they were about
to come and take him
by force to make him king,
Jesus withdrew again
to the mountain
by himself.
This was not the mission
that Jesus came to do
at the time.
He did not come
to be a revolutionary
leader against Rome.
Second,
after the final
of the seven miraculous signs
that John records,
the raising of Lazarus,
the Pharisees gathered
their council
and John gives
this conclusion
of their meeting.
So from that day on,
they made plans
to put him to death.
Jesus, therefore,
no longer walked openly
among the Jews
but went from there
to the region
near the wilderness.
The hour was coming closer
but not quite yet.
So Jesus pulled back
his public appearances.
All this is to be done,
all this is done
to be perfectly in step
with God's plan,
including the timing,
for Jesus.
Second observation
about the solution.
Faithful servants.
Mary gave the servants
a command to do
whatever Jesus says.
And here,
Jesus then gives them
two separate instructions
and they do it.
No questions asked,
no deviation,
or half-heartedness.
The first command,
fill the jars with water
and their action
and they filled them up
to the brim.
I don't know about you
but I do not know
if I'd be so inclined
to do this unquestioningly
after the preparation
leading up to this wedding feast,
the grueling work
of serving for probably
a couple days at this point.
But they do it.
John says that the jars
are 20 to 30 gallons
so let's just take the middle
and say 25.
So that's about 200 pounds
of water per jar
and there are six jars
so that's over 1,000 pounds
of water
that they are drawing
and filling up
and carrying.
That's already a lot
of serious work.
But on top of that,
this is not our modern day
with spigots
from the city reservoir.
They were most likely
drawing this water
out of a nearby well.
So they're lifting
all of this water
a few times over.
This is some serious faithfulness.
And no matter how close
the well was,
there's still a lot of work
tied up in that phrase
and they filled it up
to the brim.
That's a lot.
It would have been
very understandable
to me
to fill those jars
mostly full,
maybe three quarters,
save yourself
a couple hundred pounds
and a lot of work.
But no,
they filled them up
to the brim.
These are faithful servants.
As servants of Christ
ourselves,
we ought to work
diligently.
For those of us
in Christ,
all we do
is for the Lord
and deserves to be done
with earnestness,
no corner cutting.
It's also good
to note the generosity
of Jesus here.
Using the average,
this would have been
150 gallons of wine
for the rest
of the feast.
This was an enormous,
plentiful amount
for more than the rest
of the feast.
We see the same abundance
when Jesus feeds
the thousands.
Seven and twelve
large baskets
full of leftovers
there.
Similarly here,
this is not merely
a sufficient,
scraping by miracle.
It is an abundant
blessing.
The second command
from Jesus,
draw some out
and take it
to the master
of their feast.
And their simple action,
so they took it.
Certainly this command
was not as much
physical work,
but it took some boldness
and some belief.
It is not evident
in the text
the exact moment
when the water
became wine.
The most we can
narrow it down
is somewhere between
when the cup is filled
and when the master
of the feast
takes a sip.
No matter the exact moment,
it would be understandable
for the servants
to let some doubt
slip in.
Maybe on the way
over to the master,
they began to smell
an aroma from the cup.
Even if they could
smell it themselves,
they could doubt
that it was really
the wine
and maybe it was
their tired mind
and body
playing tricks on them.
If they brought
the master
of the feast water,
it would not end
well for them.
Can't imagine so.
It would mean
embarrassment for them,
maybe even punishment.
But despite any fear
and doubt,
they went.
They carried this gift
of Jesus
from Jesus
to someone
who had no idea
what it cost.
They do not do
the miraculous
transforming work,
but they play
a vital role
and Jesus chose
to work alongside
their effort.
And what did
that effort bring?
Let's look at the result
in verses 9 through 11.
When the master
of the feast
tasted the water
now become wine
and did not know
where it came from,
though the servants
who had drawn
the water knew,
the master of the feast
called the bridegroom
and said to him,
Everyone serves
the good wine first
and when people
have drunk freely,
then the poor wine.
But you have kept
the good wine
until now.
This,
the first of his signs,
Jesus did at Cana
in Galilee
and manifested
his glory
and his disciples
believed in him.
So first,
let's talk about
who this master
of the feast
most likely was.
This was the servant
or employee
overseeing the feast,
specifically in charge
of arranging the tables,
tasting the food
and the drink
before it was served.
A couple of English
translations that made
this idea a little bit
more clear in my mind
was table master
or head waiter.
This is the guy.
Let's talk about
the miracle
of the water
into wine.
So as before,
Jesus does not make
a big show
or do a special dance
for this.
Rather,
he has such power
as the creator
to simply do it.
Yahweh creates
the world
in Genesis 1
and he does so
by his word.
Let there be light
and there was light.
Now,
the word become flesh
is here
at this wedding
in Cana
and he says,
draw some out.
When I was younger,
I played football.
I was very engaged
in the sport.
I'd go to football practice
sometimes twice a day.
Dad,
don't know how
you let me do that.
I watched football games,
listened to football analysis,
played football video games,
probably too many of those.
And one of the things
I learned during that time
is that coaches
didn't have much tolerance
for the gap
between what they would
say and instruct
to the players
and what actually happened
on the field.
On one of my teams,
we had a reverse play,
which means
everybody goes one way,
they give the ball
and somebody else
reverses going the other way.
Ideally,
the defense is so confused
that he,
the reversing player,
just walks all the way
to the end zone
and scores a touchdown.
That doesn't always happen.
So,
on my team,
the player that needed
to give the ball
to the reversing player
was a little uncomfortable
with a handoff,
just handing the ball to him,
but preferred
to do a little toss.
The reversing player
also preferred
to get a little toss
than have it handed to him,
just made them more comfortable.
But the coach said
over and over in practice,
don't toss it,
hand it to him.
So,
one game,
coach calls a timeout,
we need a big play,
everybody's on the sideline
and he calls
the reverse play
and he reiterates,
don't toss it,
hand it to him.
So,
we go out there,
everybody's going
to the right
and then the ball
is pitched up,
hits the reversing player
in the face mask,
the ball's lost.
The coach was fuming mad
and he wasn't mad
because he didn't know
what to do,
he was mad
that he didn't have
the authority
to carry it out,
to make the players
do it.
There is no gap
between what Jesus says
and what he has
the power to do.
When he told the servants
to draw the water,
he was not fretting
about the water
not transforming into wine.
There was no chance
that it was going to
not transform into wine.
The God-man,
Jesus Christ,
wielded his enormous
creative power
to transform the water
into wine
and he used the servants
to be the vehicle
of delivery.
And because this is done
by the almighty power of God,
it is really wine,
good wine,
nothing watered down.
Both from John's account
in verse 9
and from the table master's
reaction in verse 10,
we can see that this is wine.
John speaks to
the transformation
and the table master
speaks to the quality.
So first,
let's now look at
the table master.
The table master
calls over the bridegroom
and he sets the expectation.
He's telling him
what normally happens.
Everyone serves
the good wine first
and when the people
have drunk freely,
then the poor wine.
In other words,
at this point
in the celebration,
most people dial back
the quality of the wine.
This would have been
a gentleman
that's been to many,
many weddings,
served at many,
many weddings.
But then he gives
the bridegroom
this surprise.
But you have kept
the good wine
until now.
The bridegroom
was most assuredly
surprised and grateful
to hear this
and continue
the celebration
of his marriage.
A brief note
on good wine.
Before,
I had noted
Jesus' generosity
in the volume
of the wine
that he was creating.
Here,
it is worthwhile
to note
Jesus' generosity
in the quality.
From the table master's
comments,
it is clear
that this new wine
is of a higher quality
than what was expected
to be the good wine
at this wedding.
What an unexpected
blessing this must have
been for the bridegroom.
He thought that they
had already brought
the top shelf stuff out,
but yet,
this new wine
was even better
than what came before.
So not only did they
suddenly have a vast
store of wine,
but it was even better
than what they had before.
So continuing
with the result,
let's consider
what else came
from this miracle,
looking at the first
half of verse 11.
This,
the first of his signs,
Jesus did at Cana
in Galilee
and manifested
his glory.
We see that
through this sign,
Jesus manifested
his glory.
John records
seven specific signs
throughout the first
half of his gospel.
After this sign,
they're healing
the official son
in chapter 2,
healing the invalid
in chapter 5,
feeding the multitude
in chapter 6,
walking on water
in chapter 6,
healing the man
born blind
in chapter 9,
and finally,
raising Lazarus
from the dead
in chapter 11.
though this miracle,
this sign,
was intentionally seen
by fewer people
at the time,
it does show
Jesus as the
sovereign creator
of the universe
with the authority
to transform
and the power
to really do it.
Let's consider
the disciples' faith
and his disciples
believed in him
at the end of verse 11.
The disciples
that are here,
we already talked
about who they are,
are presumably
the same group
that were called
in the last chapter,
and we're calling him
Messiah,
the king of Israel,
the son of God.
So why does John
record here
at the end of verse 11
that the disciples
believed in him?
First,
I'd like to say
this phrase
does not necessitate
that previously
none of the disciples
really believed in Jesus.
It could just as well
be the case
that the disciples
previously
thought he was the Christ,
the son of God.
In John 1.50,
Jesus says to Nathanael,
because I said to you,
I saw you under the fig tree,
do you believe?
You will see
greater things
than these.
And I will say,
this is a greater thing
that they have seen.
But I think looking
at the rest of verse 11
can help us
better understand
what to make
of this phrase
at the end of it.
His disciples
believed in him.
Specifically,
Jesus manifested
his glory.
Let's consider
that word glory
for a second.
Let's look at
where this was previously
and the only time
it's used before this
in the gospel of John.
in chapter 1,
verse 14,
John writes,
And the word became flesh
and dwelt among us,
and we have seen
his glory,
glory as of the only son
from the Father,
full of grace
and truth.
Jesus speaks
several times
in John 17
about glory.
And verse 5
gives us
succinct insight
into this term
in chapter 2.
This is what Jesus
prays to the Father.
And now,
Father,
glorify me
in your own presence
with the glory
that I had with you
before the world
existed.
That is the glory
that Jesus
is manifesting,
making visible
to the disciples.
The glory
that he had
with the Father
before the world
existed.
The glory
not just of
a righteous man
or great leader,
but the glory
of God.
The glory
of the transcendent
creator and king
of the universe,
is made visible
in part
to these disciples.
What else
could they do
but believe?
So,
a few closing
applications
for us today.
Application number one,
see Jesus'
glory as God.
This is the first
of the signs
that John records
for us,
but no sign
is greater
than the resurrection.
God raised him up,
loosing the pangs
of death,
because it was
not possible
for him
to be held
by it.
It is not
possible
for the glory
of God
to be held
by death.
Here,
on this
third day,
Jesus manifests
his glory
by transforming
this water
into wine.
His glory
by resurrecting
Jesus
at the empty tomb.
Our second
point of application
is to believe
in Jesus
as king.
You've heard
today
part of
Jesus'
the account
of Jesus'
life.
I pray
that there
is clarity
in what I've
said
and what I've
read,
that Jesus
is the second
person of the
trinity,
the word,
the logos
of God,
who became
flesh to show
the glory
of God
to us
and conquer
death.
The battle
is over.
The victor
has won,
and the right
response
is to kneel
before the
king,
Jesus.
Our sin,
our flesh,
will be repulsed
at giving up
idols and
submitting to
God.
Idols that
we made,
that we found,
that we coveted
from others.
So pray to God
that he will
give you grace.
Pray that he
would credit
the perfect
righteousness of
Christ to
your account
and receive
Jesus'
substitutionary
death,
which was the
wages,
consequences,
of all of
our sin.
And let's
not lose
sight of
the explicit
purpose that
John gives
us in
recording these
signs in
John 20,
30,
and 31.
Now Jesus
did many
other signs
in the
presence of
the disciples,
which are
not written
in this
book,
but these
are written
so that
you may
believe that
Jesus is
the Christ,
the Son
of God,
and that
by believing
you may
have life
in his
name.
Third
point of
application,
fully and
faithfully
obey.
This life
often feels
long and
we are
often tired.
I'm sure
I'm about
to learn
a new
level of
tired as
we're expecting
our firstborn
in just a
month or
so.
So let
us be
constantly
refocusing
our efforts
to diligently
serve our
King,
not for our
own glory,
but for
his,
to make
him known
to the
people that
do not
yet know
him,
and to
bring him
to remembrance,
bring him
to mind
among the
people that
do know
him.
As we
go,
remember the
glory of
God that
we have
experienced
through the
partaking of
the word
in the
Lord's
Supper,
the singing
of the
word,
the preaching
of the
word,
and the
hearing of
the word.
Jesus was
supremely
focused on
his mission
to fulfill
God's plan.
He did not
seek to glorify
himself at
the improper
time.
He did not
reach out and
take what would
seem good in
many human
eyes.
He chose
to use
humble,
ordinary,
obedient people
for his
miraculous,
transforming work.
And all
these signs
are written
so that you
would believe
that Jesus
is the
Messiah,
the Son of
God,
and that by
believing,
you may have
life in
his name.
Join me in
prayer.