The Book of John - 16

Introduction - We will be finishing up the first half of chapter 12 and will begin to look at the second half of John chapter 2.

In our outline, we are in between the witnesses of Nathaniel and Nicodemus, we find these two events.

We have, in the first 12 verses the Lord Jesus Christ’s first miracle at a wedding feast.

The in the latter 12 verses we will read about the Passover in Jerusalem.

Concerning the wedding feast, we have:

The introduction of the event. v1

The invitation to the event. v2

The issue at the event. v3

The intimation at the event. v3-4

5. The instructions from Mary’s understanding. v5

6. The immensity of the miracle. v6

7. The challenging instructions from the Lord. v7

8. The instruction in the miracle. v8-11

9. The importance of this miracle. v11-12

I would like to just make a few more observations concerning this first miracle.

In God’s economy, the best is yet to come.

The world gives you the best up front, only to leave you empty in the end.

The Devil gives you the best up front, only to leave you empty in the end.

The Lord however, shows us the whole trajectory of God’s work, “The best is yet to come.”

Notice with me in verses 9 and 10 of John 2, “When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and knew not whence it was: (but the servants which drew the water knew;) the governor of the feast called the bridegroom, 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.”

This governor of the feast rightly spoke about the common and accepted way in which the world operates. He rightly stated the norm of this life; to give the best up front, and then comes that which is worse.

The governor was shocked by this uncommon gracious blessing.

We discover contrary to the World’s ways, that God’s ways always lead to that which just gets better and better.

Salvation is the beginning of the Christian life. It is made possible because of the Lord Jesus Christ.

When someone receives Jesus Christ as their Saviour, they by God’s grace are headed on an upward trajectory.

And the end of that road, we will be better in place than where we are today.

The Bible says in Romans 8:18 “18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

In II Corinthians 4:16-18 we read these words, “16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Without the miracle of God’s Salvation everything is empty.

There is no context or purpose for life, without Christ.

It’s all empty, useless and vain.

Solomon had it right when He penned the words, “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Ecclesiastes 1:14

Our hearts can be seen in those waterpots. Without Christ, they are hard and empty.

They require the “washing of water by the word...” (Titus 3:5-6 “5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; 6 Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;” ; John 17:17 “17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”)

Christ’s miracle came after the identification of a need.

Salvation is entered into by repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ after they realize by God’s revealing they have a need.

For the Christian likewise, blessedness in the Christian life comes in our dependence upon God.

Remember the words of our Lord that stated,

“Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” this speaks to those who recognize their spiritual poverty.

“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” - this speaks to those who recognize their need to be sustained by God’s through His ways.

Charles Spurgeon said it this way, “It is good to run short that we may be driven to the Lord by our necessity, for he will more than supply it. If we have no need, Christ will not come to us. But if we are in dire necessity, his hands will stretch out to us. If our needs stand before us like huge empty water pots, or if our souls are as full of grief as those same pots were filled with water up to the brim, Jesus can, by his sweet will, turn all the water into wine—the sighing into singing. We should be glad to be weak so the power of God may rest on us.” Spurgeon, The Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1423.

Paul declared in II Corinthians 12:9-10 “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.”

No man can solve man’s problems except the God-man.

The ultimate problem that man faces can only be solved in totality by the Lord. We look at this life and believe somehow we can use technology to deal with man’s problems. We look to medicines to try to stem off sicknesses and illnesses. We turn attention to governments and place our believe in the machinery of men that they will somehow address the issues of life. And perhaps we have made some temporary fixes. We have addressed problems with food shortages, but worldwide there is still hunger. We have a higher average age of living but yet people still die. We’ve tackled all kinds of sicknesses with medicines and vaccines and yet there are still sicknesses that we cannot win against. We have crime stricken streets so we legislate more laws and add more police officers…yet for all of this folks are still stealing, murdering, and committing all manner of trespasses against fellow men. We have to have armed militaries just to prevent nations from warring against nations…Economic collapses, failing systems of monies… the threat of natural catastrophic events all speak to the brokenness of man and the cursed state of creation… None of this can be completely dealt with except by the Lord Himself.

This wedding catastrophe speaks toward the inability of man to address man’s problems sufficiently.

The only sufficient answer is the Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (John 14:6)

The character of Jesus’ ministry brings joy.

When we look at the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, we understand looking backward at the cross all that Christ would do.

We understand the necessity of His death, burial and resurrection.

We understand that without the shedding of blood, Christs’ blood, there would be no remission of sins.

We understand that He would come up alive forevermore from the grave.

We are blessed to be able to look backwards toward the cross that as He declared on the cross “It is finished” and truly it is.

But as we would think about all that is yet to happen in the lives of these involved in the text, they would need to understand that “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:” (Luke 24:46)

It is a tremendous reminder to you and I that the work of the Lord brings joy into our lives.

“The ceremonial washing of hands for which these jars had always been used was put aside and replaced with something new. The Lamb came to fulfill the Mosaic Law and exchange it for higher law—the law of grace. He would fulfill ceremonial cleansing with complete, spiritual, and eternal cleansing of his own blood on the cross.”

Kenneth O. Gangel, John, vol. 4, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 32.

Sometimes it may not seem that joy and goodness is coming in the circumstances of this life, but we have the record before and the multitude of testimony before us of the goodness of God.

Think of the path these followers of Christ would walk. Think of all that would go through their hearts and minds as the Lord’s ministry unfolded.

In just a few chapters, the Lord will be dealing with the Samaritan women, and I reminded of no doubt the difficulty the disciples had in understanding the Lord’s purposes.

I think about their dashed hopes when would see the Lord Jesus Christ tried and turned over for crucifixion.

All of these tremendous points and themes will be developed as we progress through this gospel record.

John 2:12 “12 After this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren, and his disciples: and they continued there not many days.”

We see in this brief verse, not only the place but also the company that travelled with the Lord.

The usage of the word “and” provides emphasis on all the individuals that accompanied the Lord.

The technical term for this is Polysyndeton.

poly—syn—den-ton

Polysyndeton is a list or series of words, phrases, or clauses that is connected with the repeated use of the same conjunction.

“This brief stay (not many days, οὐ πολλας ἡμερας [ou pollas hēmeras]) in this important city (Tell Hum) on the north shore of Galilee was with Christ’s mother, brothers (apparently friendly at first) and the six disciples, all in the fresh glow of the glory manifested at Cana. Surely Mary’s heart was full.”

A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Jn 2:12.

This place of Capernaum seems to be the base of operation for the Lord in Galilee.

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