Shortly after Jesus began His public ministry, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, to which He and His disciples were invited. In the course of the wedding feast the wine failed, and the mother of Jesus notified Him of the fact, and then said to the servants, "Whatsoever He says unto you, do it." (John 2:5)
The result is thus told: "And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. Jesus said unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And He said unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it. 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 said unto Him, Every man at the beginning sets forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse; but you have kept the good wine until now. This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and His disciples believed on Him." (John 2:6-11)
Christ the True Vine
The Saviour and said, "I am the true Vine, and my Father is the Husbandman. Every branch in me that bears not fruit He takes away and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me. I am the Vine, you are the branches; He that abides in me, and Iin him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without me you can do nothing." (John 15:1-5)
The miracle of turning water into wine is an object lesson reality of this statement that He is the true Vine, and that we can bear fruit through being connected with Him, as branches.
All life springs from God through Christ. He is the Creator of all things, and in Him all things are supported. (Colossians 1:16-17) It was by virtue of this power that He turned the water into wine. In that miracle He simply hastened the process.
Let us trace it. In the instance before us, Christ transformed the water instantly into wine. In the ordinary case, the moisture is absorbed by the rootlets, and is drawn up through the stock, and dispersed to the various branches, where it is stored up in the little sacs which we call grapes. The sunshine has a large part to act in the process of transformation.
No one can know how the change is effected; we only know that water, with the element which it holds in solution, is changed in the course of a few months into delicious fruit.
Men call this the working of nature and because the thing is so common they forget that it is a miracle. In the miracle which Jesus wrought at the wedding in Cana, He showed that in the ordinary process the water is not changed into wine through any inherent power in the vine, but by His own power, which works in every living thing.
This shows that it is not as a mere figure of speech that He calls himself the Vine, but that it is an actual fact. Because He is the true Vine, He could in a minute change the water into wine. He did in a minute what He ordinarily does in several months through the grape vine.
Now by the same power by which Christ changed the water into wine, and by which He makes all the fruit of earth grow, He is able to make the fruits of righteousness come to perfection in human beings. We cannot know how it is done in any case; we can only know the facts.
The Scriptures make use of the mysteries taking place all around us in "nature," to teach us to grasp the mystery of the Gospel of grace. Just as the branch bears rich clusters of grapes, through its connection with the vine, all by the power of Christ the true Vine, so we, being directly connected with Him by faith, may bear the peaceable fruits of righteousness.
Righteousness and Temperance
In the case of the water turned to wine we have the most striking lesson not only in righteousness but also in temperance. The two are combined. The question is often asked, "What kind of wine was it that Jesus made at Cana?"
Many assume that it was as a matter of course fermented, intoxicating wine, and urge that miracle as an evidence that Christ sanctioned the use of intoxicating liquor. If we study the miracle as we ought, we shall have no difficulty over this matter.
Whoever does not allow his appetite to becloud his judgment, will readily see that the miracle which Jesus wrought was the exact counterpart of the miracle which is wrought in the storing up of the sap in the grape clusters. He made just such wine as you would get if you should press the juice of the clusters of grapes into a vessel and drink it. This process is described in the dream of Pharaoh's butler: "A vine was before me; And in the vine were three branches; and it was as though it budded, and her blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes; And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand." (Genesis 40:9-11)
But there is another point, which gives us a most practical lesson in both righteousness and temperance. The wine which Jesus made on that occasion, like the clusters of grapes on the vine, was the direct product of His own life. It is not too much to say that the guests who drank that wine were drinking directly of Christ's life.
Of the Israelites who drank of the water which flowed from the rock on which Christ stood in the wilderness, it is said that they drank from Christ. "And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." (1 Corinthians 10:4)
Those who did not by faith recognize His life, did not in either instance receive any spiritual life; but the turning of water into wine did become spiritual life to Christ's disciples, for they believed on Him.
There is this difference between fermented and unfermented wine:
The unfermented wine is pure food. It is the life of the vine in the most condensed form, and is all nourishing. It tends to build up the system, and is therefore one of the best ways in which to supply nourishment to those who are ill, and who cannot receive a great quantity of food. The unfermented wine,--the juice of the grape, the true fruit of the vine,--supplies a great amount of the nourishment in a small space, and is easily assimilated.
But in fermented wine the food elements are so changed that there is scarcely any real nourishment. It is now a stimulant and an intoxicant, instead of a food. Instead of building up the system, and supplying new life and power, it simply excites the power already possessed, spurring it to action. It adds nothing to the one who takes it, but simply stimulates him to use that which he already has.
Now Christ's life is food, and not a stimulant. He did not come to earth to incite men to put into operation power that they already had, but which lay dormant, but to give them power, of which they were destitute. "For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ diedfor the ungodly." (Romans 5:6)
There is in men no power whatever to do right. "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." (Romans 8:7-8)
Anyone would say that it is an act of cruelty to beat a poor, lame horse that is almost ready to die, in order to make him work. He has no work in him, and neither whip nor spur can put it into him. The whip or spur may incite a strong animal to use its strength, but they cannot put strength into one that has none. So it would be wicked to try to force a palsied man to work. He has no power to work. There are men who are wicked enough to do such things, but they are moved by the spirit of Satan.
For the work of the devil is to make men think that they can manufacture strength out of nothing. So he induces them to drink alcoholic liquors, and tea, etc., in order to get strength for work, when there is nothing in those substances to supply strength. Taken in certain quantities they only stimulate a man, and cause him to put forth and use up the physical strength that he has. In larger quantities they stupefy and intoxicate.
Thus he literally induces them to spend money for that which is not bread, and their labor for that would satisfies not. (Isaiah 55:2) By the use of those substances people use up the strength they have, and become prematurely old.
In the same line of work the devil causes people to think that they have in themselves all the power that is necessary for doing right. So he stimulates them with false hopes and promises. He gets them to punish themselves in various ways, for their failures, and to spur themselves up to bring forth the good which they are persuaded is latent in them.
And when the individual effort fails, he induces the nation to pass laws with the object of compelling people to be religious. The idea is that they have goodness in them, but that they have to be spurred by the law, and by fear of punishment, in order to bring it out. That is the devil's way. The end, of course, is increased sin, and death.
Christ's way is different. He knows that in man "dwells no good thing," (Romans 7:18) and therefore He does not give him a stimulant, which would do no good, but which would tend only to excite and wear him out. On the contrary, He feeds man with His own life, which contains all the elements necessary to perfect growth. In Him "all fullness" dwells, (Colossians 1:19) and we are made complete in Him. (Colossians 2:10) "[We are] saved by His life." (Romans 5:10)
And so from the miracle of changing water into wine we learn an important lesson in righteousness, and temperance, and the judgment to come, because it is the life of Christ that is to be the standard in the judgment.
That which Christ gives to us, is His life, which is real nourishment. His life in the heart produces righteous acts. And so for our physical sustenance He gives us that which is wholesome and nourishing, and not that which adds no real strength, but which dissipates the energy we already have. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance." (Galatians 5:22-23)
Slain, Yet Living
Jesus says, "I am He that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore." (Revelation 1:18) "[He is] the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." (Revelation 13:8) "[He is] the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29)
For this cause all who believed in Christ as the Saviour of sinners were taught from the beginning to offer a lamb as a sacrifice, in token of their faith. The blood was shed, and the flesh was consumed. Cain, who had no faith, brought the fruit of the ground, while Abel brought from the best of the flock. "By faith Abel offered unto God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous." (Hebrews 11:4)
The Passover lamb also represented Christ. Its blood sprinkled upon the door posts caused the destroying angel to pass over the house. Those who offered it, especially the first time, in Egypt, did so in direct recognition of Christ, whose blood cleanses from sin, and who was delivering them from bondage. "Christ our Passover, is sacrificed for us." (1 Corinthians 5:7)
But at the Passover immediately preceding His crucifixion, Christ gave His disciples another memorial of himself. "Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink you all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:26-28)
It was directly after this, that same evening, that Jesus said to His disciples, "I am the true Vine." (John 15:1)
Hitherto men had shown their faith in the power of His blood to cleanse from sin, by shedding the blood of a lamb. But now the real Lamb was about to shed His own blood. Those lambs that had been slain had utterly ceased to live; but as surely as the Lamb of God was slain He was to live again.
It would manifestly be out of place to go on taking the life of beasts in remembrance of Christ after He had died and risen again. And therefore henceforth His disciples were to commemorate the fact that life is obtained through His blood, by taking the fruit of the vine, which sheds its blood for the life of men, and still continue to live.
Manifesting the Glory
"This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory." (John 2:11)
Yet the person of Jesus did not shine with any such splendor as when He was on the mount of transfiguration. There was no more beauty in Him, that men should desire Him on that occasion, than on any other; yet He at that time manifested forth His glory. This shows that His glory is in His works. It is by His life that all things on earth exist, and therefore it is that "the whole earth is full of His glory." (Isaiah 6:3) "And the glory which You gave me, I have given them," (John 17:22)
This is what Christ said of His disciples, in His prayer to the Father. He has given us His life, and His works, in which we may triumph; and as we yield to Him to become His workmanship, His glory is stored up in us, to be revealed at His coming.
The goodness which He has wrought out and laid up for them that trust Him, is the glory which He imparts to men. Looking at Him, they are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, or goodness to goodness. Therefore, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)
These are some of the lessons to be learned from that first miracle in Christ's earthly ministry. There was a wonderful fitness in the performance of such a miracle at the beginning of His work. It set forth the whole of the Gospel. "And His disciples believed on Him. Let us be among the number." (John 2:11)--Present Truth, April 26, 1894.