Dear
Reader, there are church charlatans seeking to be approved
of men, by fraudulently attempting miracles, wonders and signs, by
turning the
things of God into men’s party tricks.
In
attempting to be like the most high,
these same are exposed for what they are (Isaiah 14:14) … little
realising that
study to rightly divide the word, is the way to be approved of
God (2 Timothy 2:15). “Oh! But I study the word!” they say … with negligible
understanding, that the emphasis is on ‘rightly dividing’. Oh yes! They
are
studying … ‘the Greek’, their church constitutions, men’s commentaries
… not
the word, indeed the words of God, thereby becoming vain in their
imaginations
(Romans 1:21; 2 Corinthians 10:5).
It
is fitting that Christ’s
first miracle was with water.
Countless
are the mentions of water and
Christ … with Christ being the water and the water being Christ … the
two terms
being synonymous … the following are a few examples …
1.
In Christ’s creation, Christ
creates water (Genesis 1:2).
2.
Christ says for those who thirst to
come unto him (John 4:13-14).
3.
The human body can’t go without water
for more than three days … an interesting number do you think?
(Matthew
27:63)
4.
The human body is ninety-five
percent water. Man will die without the physical, and indeed, without
the
spiritual water of Christ.
5.
Christ, the water of life (Revelation
21:6), gives the water of the word (Ephesians 5:26).
6.
Christ is the Rock in the desert
out of which comes water both physical and spiritual (1 Corinthians 10:4)
7.
Christ walks on the water
(Matthew 14:25)
8.
In hell, there is no Christ but there is
immense heat and thirst (Luke 16:24)
The
significance of water into
wine at the Cana wedding.
1.
Christ
reinforces he created water, by demonstrating his power
over water (Genesis 1:2)
2.
Christ
can turn the water into the last good wine … the
physical into the spiritual.
3.
Christ
can turn water into blood (Exodus 7:19)
4.
Indeed,
to the knowledgeable at the wedding, this demonstration
would remind them that water was ‘equivalent’ to blood with the healing of
Naaman’s leprosy (2Kings 5:14). Water, wine or blood, can all
be used to
show that Christ was God manifest (1 Timothy 3:16).
5.
While
water can nourish the body and wash it, it is only ‘the
new wine’ that can cleanse from sin (1 Corinthians 11:25). The wedding
at Cana
showed the arrival and commencement, of the new dispensation from, that
of
physical washing of water to that of the spiritual washing of the
new wine.
6.
Being
hard of seeing and hearing (Mark 4:12), Christ reaches out
to Israel via their bodies, with the miracle of the physical wine
drink, in
order to get their attention. He leaves the food miracles till later
(Matthew
14:21; Matthew 15:38). We must remember Christ gave them more physical
miracles
per square foot than all the rest of the world put together.
Indeed,
he heals, feeds, clothes, raises
their dead and delivers from
devils …
all physical … to get a foot in the door, for two things … firstly, to
show
himself approved unto God, and secondly, to show himself
approved?/accepted
by men. However, material blessings never permanently assured
Israel, with
his end being the cross (Matthew 27:25)
7.
The
waterpots used to purify the flesh (John 2:6)
were now to be used by Jesus to signify the salvation of the soul,
though temporary while Christ was on earth, was only to be achieved by,
and
indeed, through him.
8.
This
good wine, the new wine, the last wine,
was only to be found in the fresh pressings (Matthew 26:29),
and was not
of the curse of the old fermented wine (Habakkuk 2:15), thereby
signifying the
purpose of Christ’s
9. Christ’s
first miracle is only mentioned in the Book of John and not the synoptic
gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. The reason being is this, that while the
other three are about the history of Christ as the Son of man and the
Son of God, John’s gospel has more of the mystery … with Christ as the
“I AM THAT I AM” (John 8:28). It is therefore appropriate to have his first
miracle introduced to the world from this aspect.
Yes, Christ showed himself approved unto God, indeed his
temporary acceptance by Israel, with this miracle … but wait … there is this
added emphasis … there is this ‘double’ quality of his eternal “I AM”-ness only
found in John’s account … a sort of double Deity as it were … “This miracle
is being performed, not only by God manifest in the flesh … it really is the “I
AM” God in the flesh!”
Harley
Hitchcock
April
2023
www.
AustralianBibleMinistries
.com
