Christ's Glory Revealed (John 2:1-11)

Paul Gustave Dore a Has lost his passport while traveling in Europe. The ray is a renowned artist. So this shouldn't be a problem. Right surely everyone knows who he is. As he comes to a border crossing crosses his fingers and explains his predicament to one of the guards. He gives his name hoping that he will be recognized and allowed to pass.

But the garden just shakes his head. Many people have attempted to cross the border by claiming to be who they were not he replies well. Doubles down and insists that he is the famed artist that he claims to be. Then the guard has an idea. All right, I'll give you a test. If you passed it. I'll allow you to go through. Heading of a pencil and a sheet of paper. He tells the artist to sketch several of the people standing by. Well, this is the Rays expertise. So without hesitation he grabs the paper and pencil and gets to work and he finishes so quickly and skillfully that the guard is immediately convinced that he really is this well-known artist.

We all tend to be a bit skeptical like that Garden, don't we? We tend to reserve acceptance of the truth until it's proven.

We all need proof to believe the truth. And here in John 2:1 through 11, Jesus proved that he is the Christ because his disciples needed proof to believe the truth. Just like we all do turn with me to the beginning of John chapter to where Jesus proves the truth that he is the Christ by revealing his glory. And he does this in a very humble way through the actions of others. He shows his power over creation which produces face in the disciples and facing those of us who are reading this account so many years later. Now this is a rather short story. So after we read it, we're going to zoom in and look at it frame-by-frame. We're going to see Jesus's humility as the providential problem unfold then we're going to see Jesus using others to perform this miracle in his apparently senseless solution to the problem. And then we're going to see a miracle happen as Jesus provide some wondrous wine. And we're going to see John's description of the manifested Majesty of Jesus to his disciples and all of this will show how Jesus proves that he is the Christ by revealing his glory. John 2:1 through 11 says on the third day. There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. And the mother of Jesus was there Jesus was also 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 that 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 gal. 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 why he did not know where it came from though. The servants who had wronged the water knew the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him everyone serves the good wine first and when people drink freely the pour 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 it's a siples believed in him.

So here in the first 5 verses verses 1 through 5, we have the opening frame which depicts the providential problem.

Here we see how Jesus proves he is the Christ by revealing his glory in a humble way. Jesus and his disciples go to Cana of Galilee. We might expect the first miracle of the Christ to be performed in some grandiose way. To be seen by the most amount of people.

That way Jesus ministry would start off with a surge of followers. But that's not what happened. We might expect Jesus to pick up more prominent place to perform his first miracle a place like Jerusalem. but that's thinking like Nathaniel was thinking in the previous passage. Remember he said can anything good come out of Nazareth? Because he expected the Messiah to come from a prominent place like Jerusalem. What's 3 days after after Nathaniel decided to follow Jesus they all went to Cana of Galilee? Tina was a little Backwater town near Nazareth. Not too far from the Jordan River. This was a very humble place to perform his first miracle. And then a providential problem arose. Jesus his mother. Is helping out with the wedding Feast when she discovers a problem. They ran out of wine. Now it's the bridegroom failed to adequately provide for the feast in the bride's family could actually take them to court for failing to hold up their side of the marriage contract. This was a huge problem. a breach of contract with several severe legal consequences How could this problem be fixed?

Jesus's mom could tell the master of the feast about the problem and he could send someone with money to buy more wine. But that would take way too much time. I would take the master of the feast away from entertaining the guests in the families know. She had to find another solution.

Your son Jesus is here. He can fix this problem because she knows he's the son of God. He's the creator of everything surely. He can just snap his fingers or something and everything will work out so she approaches our son and simply tells in the problem. They have no line.

This is kind of like my daughter coming up to be anything. I'm bored, or I'm thirsty. It assumes understanding of the problem and a willingness to fix it. Jesus's mother assumes his understanding of the problem and his willingness to fix it. What is answer? Actually shows a reluctance to fix this problem. He says woman, what does this have to do with you and me? This is actually a Greek idiom. That effectively distance Jesus from both his mother and the situation. This is kind of like Jesus saying you can't force me to reveal my glory just because you're my mother. You can't play the mom card here. He also shows the reason for his reluctance to help when he says right after this my hour has not yet come.

Jesus will still sort of hiding his true identity from the world.

He didn't want everyone to know that he was the Christ yet because it would hinder him from his mission. His mission was not to come in his full Glory To Rule and Reign Over the Earth. Well, yes. Is Mission at this time was to live a perfect life and to suffer and die for Sinners on the cross and then rise again to conquer sin and death. For this Mission he had to largely conceal his glory. until the right time he had to remain anonymous by ministering in Humble circumstances and only subtly revealing his True Glory. Well, I imagine is more his mother sort of talked one eyebrow and pursed her lips. She thought this problem this was a problem that still ought to be addressed by her son. I mean she knows Jesus she's known him for over 30 years. She knows he's going to help. So she turns to the servants and instructs them to do whatever he tells them to do. And what he would tell them to do with sound absolutely senseless.

And you decided to help despite his initial reluctance because his heavenly father had orchestrated this providential problem for a reason. So that he could prove his identity as the Christ to a select group of people his disciples.

Well, we seen the humble circumstances in which Jesus revealed his glory as the providential problem and folded now, it's like a verses 6 through 8 to see his apparently senseless solution. Here we see how Jesus proved he is the Christ by revealing his glory through others. So there is he's six water jars. used for the purification rites Is it a Jewish culture was really big on cleanliness? Especially before eating and before important ceremonies. like a wedding

I need to these six water jars could hold 20 or 30 gallons.

That's 120 280 gallons total for those who don't want to do the math. And Jesus tells the servants to fill all of these jars with water. all the way to the top that's a lot of water.

Jesus are you sure about this? I mean we need wine not water.

And we need it for drinking not washing. The solution must have sounded absolutely senseless to the servants, but they did what he told him to do anyway. Please jars needed to be completely full of water to prove that this wasn't Just an Illusion or sleight of hand. And Jesus could have found some really concentrated wine and added it to the water and to make it look like you did a miracle, but that's not what happened. Cuz he fill them all the way to the top with water.

He makes sure to eliminate that false claim even before it comes into anybody's mind. Well, then Jesus tells the servants to take some of this water to the master of the feast the guy in charge.

These servants are sure that this Jesus guy is lost it. You want us to take this wash water and give it to the bus like it's wine. This sounds more like a practical joke than a real solution. But the servants obey regardless of the apparent senselessness of the solution because Jesus's mother had told them to and if it didn't work, they could just blame Jesus or is Mom. I mean they were just following orders, right?

But Jesus did provide a real solution. He did. Provider Solutions through the servants notice that Jesus never personally interacts with the jars. or the water at least not physically he tells the servants what to do.

and the Miracles performed through the servants.

Just like Jesus included others when he perform this miracle. He also uses others. To perform the miracle of Salvation in the hearts of believers.

These servants got to participate in this miracle being done through their obedience. And when we obediently preach the gospel to the world we get to participate in the miracle of Salvation when people believe in Jesus to be saved from sin and death These servants got to witness firsthand. Jesus has power over creation and we get to witness firsthand. Jesus has power over sin and death be servants did not have any power to change the water to wine, but they are obedient anyway and experience Jesus Is Power And we do not have any power to bring people from spiritual death to life. But when we obediently preach the gospel we get to experience Jesus power as well. It might sound like a senseless solution to just tell people a simple message that Jesus died for their sins and Rose on the third day.

But that's apparently senseless solution. Has real power.

Real power because God is the one who's doing it. Not you. Not even the message itself.

Are we just saw Jesus humbly used others to reveal his glory. Now. Let's look at verses 9 and 10 to see the result of his apparently senseless solution as he miraculously provided the Wonders wine. Here we see how Jesus proved he is the Christ by revealing his glory in his power over creation. The master of the feast is given the cup full of wash water that the servants Drew from the jars. But it's not wash water anymore.

It's been turned into wondrous wine. Sometime between the drawing of the water and the cup touching the lips of the master of the feast Jesus transformed it into the very thing that was needed to fix this Providence Hill problem. I'm sure this was just a run-of-the-mill occurrence, right?

This kind of thing happens every day. No, this is huge. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Well, at least not in this generation. Something similar had happened in Israel's past. When God was freeing them from Egyptian slavery, one of the judgments was turning all the water in Egypt into blood. In Exodus chapter 7 and after God had rescued them from the Egyptian Army passing them through the Red Sea on dry land and the people were thirsty, but the only water around was bitter. unfit for drinking An exodus 15 24 and 25 it says and the people grumbled against Moses saying what shall we drink and he cried to the Lord and the Lord showed him a log and he threw it into the water and the water became sweet.

So to a Jewish audience or those familiar with the story of The Exodus this miracle that Jesus just did would have confirmed that he is God.

Because God had shown his power in this way before.

He's the creator of everything. And Jesus used his creative power to prove his deity to prove that he is the Christ. And when the master of the feast taste this wondrous wine, he makes a point of commenting on its high quality to the bridegroom. He says that usually the good wine is served at the beginning of the feast and then the cheap stuff is served after everyone is drunk when they don't care about quality anymore. Vintage wine at the beginning boxed wine at the end and it's a Frugal way to throw a party. But then he says but you have kept the good wine until now. This wondrous wine that Jesus has created from wash water is better quality than the good stuff that was served at the beginning of the feast is he when Jesus fix has a problem. He does it to perfection.

And if you think about it a poor product would actually undermine his glory.

The glory he was manifesting to his disciples to prove. He is the Christ. And Jesus, he really does love people. So would have been completely out of character to fix this problem. with a shotty provision

in fact I would bet that this wonders wine. Is better than any wine? That has ever been produced in history.

Why do I say that lets because this wine has not gone through the normal process.

It's not been subject to the curse of futility. Back in Genesis 3 when God dealt the consequences for Adam sin. He curse the ground and its produce. But this wondrous wine came directly from God. Not from the cursed ground. And it's the same wonders wine that we will enjoy one day at the marriage Feast of the Lamb.

The Jesus humbly answered this providential problem by using others in an apparently senseless solution to miraculously provide wonderous wine in a display of his power over creation. Now in verse 11 John the author gives us a summary of the effect this miracle had on the disciples as they experienced. Jesus has manifested Majesty here. We see how Jesus proves he is the Christ by revealing his glory to produce faith.

This miracle happened at Cana of Galilee. John is already told us. This is the beginning of this scene, but he repeats this information here because it's important.

It's important to remember that this first miracle was performed in a humble way. So that Jesus his glory would be revealed only to a select few instead of the whole world. And this miracle truly manifested Jesus his glory. It may not have displayed it very broadly. But it displayed the true depth of his glory as the Christ the son of God.

It displayed his power over creation that had only ever been seen before in the power of God both in judgment and in Mercy. God's judgement to Egypt turning all the water to blood so they couldn't drink it. And God's mercy to Israel turning the bitter water sweet so they could drink it. This miracle also manifested Jesus his glory because it showed his compassion for people.

He had such compassion for these people that he fix their problem in a way that brought them a whole lot of happiness. 180 gallons of perfect wine uncorrupted by the curse of the Fall

But this humble miracle that truly manifested the glory of Christ had a purpose. a goal not goal was to produce faith in the hearts of Jesus's disciples. And ultimately to produce faith in the hearts of those of us. Who read this gospel account?

The disciples had heard the testimony of John the Baptist and the other disciples that Jesus is the Christ just like we read that testimony back in chapter 1 But the servants they got to experience Jesus's Miracle first hand. They have not heard that testimony. So we read nothing. about any of them believing in Jesus easy faith is produced by the combination of Truth and proof. Salvation by repentant Faith only comes when the truth of the Gospel is combined with the Holy Spirit to prove that truth to the heart. Truth alone does not penetrate the heart. A miraculous proof alone has nothing with which to penetrate the heart.

Other miraculous proof that I'm talking about here is not some physical sign. Though that is what happened with the disciples, but I'm talking about is the miracle of regeneration. The miracle that we were once spiritually blind, but now we can see. The miracle that we were once spiritually dead. But now we're alive. This whole account showed how Jesus manifested his glory to his disciples to produce faith in him because we all need proof to believe the truth that Jesus is the Christ.

And Jesus may have had a humble beginning to his ministry. But seeing the truth of his glory prove like this.

I know we've got to worship and glorify him. First compassion is goodness his power. His sovereignty is Providence and his humble example. When we realize that it took them a miraculous proof of the holy spirit in our hearts to believe the truth of the Gospel.

And that should take any thought of our own wise choice of following Jesus is Chuck it out the window. God gets all the glory for his Miracle of salvation.

not for those of you who may not yet believe

you've heard the truth.

Jesus is the Christ who came to die in your place and Rise Again to save you from sin and death and now you must believe it and confess it. If you believe the truth of the gospel and submit to Jesus as your lord and savior than the Holy Spirit has already performed a miracle. Improving the truth of this good news to your heart. You have Supernatural proof. The Bible says in Romans 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth. The Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved. So if you believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead.

thinking process tell God that you believe that Jesus died for you. And he was raised to save you from sin and death. Tell us if you believe tell the world that you believe. Because this truth that you believe by the spirits proof. is world-changing

we all need proof to believe the truth.

Father. Thank you for your word. I thank you for this proof that we have that Jesus your son. He is the Christ he is who he says he is.

We rest all of our Hope on that truth that you have proven to us through your Holy Spirit.

I pray Lord that we would remember this throughout the week. everyday Jesus is the Christ and he loves us and he died for us.

any sadness any Temptations to send

Can just fall by the wayside?

Because the love of Christ drowns them all out when we really focus on your love for us. All other things get drowned out. I pray Lord that you would help us to remember that to flood our minds with the love of Christ With Your Love.