The American Wisdom Series

Presents
Pamphlet 1502
John chapter2

 In this chapter we see the very first miracle of eight, performed by the Lord Jesus Christ, and recorded by John in the book of John
One thing that we must keep in mind, and that is that there is a deeper meaning to each one of them and that meaning is made visible to those with eyes to see and ears to hear, i.e. His chosen disciples.

We will read about the very first miracle performed by the Lord Jesus Christ as John continues to present Him as God in this most fascinating Gospel.

Out of all the miracles performed by Jesus, John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, records only eight of them, and these are all "signs", not "wonders" or "mighty works". Eight in Biblical Numerics denotes resurrection, regeneration;  a new beginning or commencement, as explained in appendix 10 of the Companion Bible:

"The eighth is a new first. Hence the octave in music, colour, days of the week, &c. It is the number which has to do with the Lord, Who rose on the eighth, or new 'first day'. This is, therefore, the Dominical number. By Gematria (see above), Jesus makes the numbers 888. It, or its multiple is impressed on all that has to do with the Lord's Names, the Lord's People, the Lord's Works." (Companion Bible, appendix 10.)

The Eight miracles in the Gospel of John are as follows:

1. The Marriage in Cana.
2. The Ruler's Son.
3. The Impotent Man.
4. The Feeding of the Five Thousand.
5. The Walking on the Sea.
6. The Man Born Blind.
7. The Sister's Brother.
8. The Draught of Fishes.

However, before we begin studying Christ's miracles, there is one thing that we must keep in mind, and that is that there is a deeper meaning to each one of them and that meaning is made visible to those with eyes to see and ears to hear, i.e. His chosen disciples. To others, the miracles are merely physical acts, the performing of good deeds.

Let's also look at the time frame.  It is now 400 years, precisely as prophesied, from the time of Malachi to the anointing of Messiah. And the first miracle, sign, will be performed because "They have no wine". This statement confesses the "failure" of the last 400 years, which period of time has brought forth the great synagogue and the spiritual destitution of the church. "Religion" is now in full swing as evidenced by the waterpots and the purifying of the Jews, etc. In fact, the scribes and the Pharisees have usurped the church.

"The Book of Malachi shows that the Temple-worship, with it's sacrifices, &c., had been fully restored; but the ceremonial formalism and hypocrisy, which culminated in the days of our Lord's ministry, are seen actively at work.

No sooner were the restraining influences of Ezra and Nehemiah removed, than the corruption began; and went on apace, as evidenced by Mal. 1:7,8; 3:8, &c." (Companion Bible, pg. 1296)

So by the time Jesus Christ arrived on the scene the kenites, the sons of Cain, had taken full charge of the church. That is why Jesus would make the following statement:

Matthew 23:1
Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

[2] Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

The scribes and the Pharisees now sat in the seat [authority] of Moses. In other words, they were fully in charge. In fact, Caiaphas the high priest was appointed by a Roman governor, not by Almighty God.

With that background let's move to the third day following Christ's choosing of His first disciples, Andrew, Simon, Philip, Nathanael, James, and John.

John 2:1
And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there:

Some scholars, including this one, believe that this marriage was related to the family of Joseph of Arimathaea, Jesus' Uncle, and would thus explain Mary's obvious concern for the success of this event when they ran out of wine. Joseph of Arimathaea was one of the wealthiest men of his day as he ran the shipping operations of tin and other goods between Rome and Glastonbury, England. So you can imagine that this was no small gala affair.

[2] And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

So Jesus and disciples attended this big social event. (I wonder what Peter looked like all dressed up?)

As we continue with the narrative, Jesus is about to tell His mother that this is "not His hour", i.e. this is not His wedding. That is because there is another wedding feast coming, following the hour of the spurious messiah, Satan. The parable in Mat. 22 explains it.

Matthew 22:2
The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

[3] And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.

And some will not be found worthy to attend.

Matthew 22:8
Then saith He to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy.

So if you are planning to attend the wedding at Christ's hour, you need to begin getting "dressed" now.

Here's why:

Matthew 22:11
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:

[12] And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.

[13] Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That's not good not to be properly dressed, is it?

Want to see what kind of clothes you need to have on?

Rev. 19:7
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

[8] And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

The "fine linen" is the righteousness of the saints. You begin dressing by putting on the gospel armor found in Ephesians chapter 6.

Meanwhile, back at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, the band has started playing another set and someone points out to Mary that there's a Big Problem. They are out of grape juice! (Just kidding) They have no wine!

She was obviously concerned about it and went to Jesus, Whom she knew would have a solution.

John 2:3
And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.

[4] Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.

This type of statement gets you nowhere in the modern English language. I tried it on my wife and it didn't work. I said "Woman, where's my supper?" That was a Big Mistake! Thank goodness we Baby Boomers perfected fast food restaurants. They cater to our compulsive, impatient personalities. When we want hamburgers, we want them right NOW! This has been the key to McDonald's success.

But actually the statement that Jesus made to His mother was one of high regard and proper respect, as you would expect from Christ, for it is a Hebrew idiom such as in II Sam. 16:10. Jesus was simply saying very courteously, "Madam, what is it to you or me?  Mine hour is not yet come."

[5] His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.

Mary knew that Jesus would handle it, though she probably didn't know or expect Him to perform a miracle. I suppose He could have sent the new disciples down to the local Package Goods store to pick up some Thunderbird [cheap wine], since a lot of people were obviously starting to slur their words.

But Jesus is about to give a physical sign of a spiritual truth to His disciples, and thus to you and me.

[6] And there were set there six waterpots of stone, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece.

Notice there were "six" waterpots of stone.  Six is the number of man and marks all the great men who have stood in defiance of God such as Goliath, Nebuchadnezzar, and the coming false-christ. And of course everyone knows what the number of the beast is; 666!

A "firkin" is about 9 gallons (see appendix 51 in the Companion Bible). So the average of the sum of these containers would be a about "120" gallons.

John 2:7
Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.

[8] And he saith unto them, Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And they bare it.

[9] 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,

No one, even the governor of this feast, knew where the wine came from. But the servants of Christ knew!

But one thing was for sure, this was best wine the ruler of the feast had ever tasted! He called the bridegroom and raved about how good it was. Of course it is man's way to bring out the best first, but His ways are not our ways.

[10] 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.

Those of you who have ever had a social life need no further explanation concerning level one of this verse. For the rest, this is how it works: You start the party with top-shelf wine, the expensive, good tasting stuff.  Then when everyone has had too much to drink and their taste buds are anesthetized, you bring out the cheap booze. Most won't know the difference, nor at that point do they care. (At least that's what I was told you do.)

And make no mistake about this fact.  Neither the language, including the definition of the words themselves, nor the context of the account, nor common sense will allow "grape juice" to be substituted here for wine, Greek oinos. Grape juice doesn't give you a "buzz" and no one really cares if you run out of it!  The word "drunk" in verse 10 has only one meaning, which is to be "intoxicated".

Note: We are not criticizing others and there is nothing wrong with substituting grape juice for wine when there is a medical reason or otherwise. But there are those among us that don't think Jesus would have or should have made the real stuff! Most of them go to church faithfully every Sunday. At least that's what it's called!

Now of course it is an unwise act to drink wine, or any other adult beverage, to the point of intoxication. Bad things tend to happen when you imbibe to the point of excess. Ask Noah.

But the making of wine itself is a natural process which we call fermentation. The way it works is that as the wine-to-be "moves" and "ferments" the impurities in the wine come to the surface and is "racked off". Thus the finished wine itself becomes a pure product, having been purified.

And so it is that this wine will become symbolic of the blood of the Lamb of God, of Whom we have been reading about. It will be that "pure" blood that will be shed for the atonement of the sins of the world.

There is one other significant point to be noted. In as much as wine is also symbolic of "truth", it would be that the best "wine" would be brought forth last, in other words in the end times, in the final generation. Remember in Daniel 12 when the angel told Daniel to seal up his words until the end and then the "wise" would understand, and knowledge [of God's Word] would be increased? Well, that time has arrived and the "new wine" is plentiful! Of course as recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, you can't put "new wine" [new truth] into old wine skins [traditional churches], for the expansion of the new wine will cause the bottles to burst!

[11] This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.

Creating the fine wine manifested Christ's glory and His disciples did indeed believe on Him.

Jesus has now performed His first miracle by turning about 120 gallons of water into pure wine. And though the guests of the party were unaware that it was the Lord who had provided for their needs, it was a miracle indeed to His servants who saw Him do it [they even had a part in it] and a momentous sign to those who know the scriptures.

So now that Christ's ministry has begun, perhaps it's time to do a little house cleaning. Here's what happens next.

John 2:12
After this He went down to Capernaum, He, and His mother, and His brethren, and His disciples: and they continued there not many days.

Capernaum means "village of Nahum or consolation" and the losers in the temple are about receive their consolation prize, the righteous indignation of the First Christian, Jesus Christ.

[13] And the Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,

Before the corruption of the last 400 years this was the Passover of Israel, one of the feasts of Yahveh, not the Passover of the Jews.

[14] And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:

Well what do you know, the kenites have got a retail merchandising outlet and a foreign exchange bank right inside the church. I wonder what percentage they charged to convert one currency into another? Our local bank charges 2% to convert Canadian dollars into U.S. dollars.

And just look how easy they have made it to give a sacrifice unto the Lord. Just go to the temple, buy a sick "dove" and offer it unto God. I'm sure He is well pleased with that! Not.

And it's not much different today, is it?  People show up at church, sing a few songs, and throw some loose change into the collection plate, and they think they've done what "god" wants them to, so they can leave with a clear conscience, saying "What a good Christian am I!"

So much for religion!

Perhaps we shouldn't be critical of others. Perhaps we should just be tolerant of what goes on in the churches and not speak out. Perhaps we should just let the trinket merchandising and "preaching for dollars" continue on without saying a word about it!

Well, let's see how our leader, Jesus Christ, handled the scam going on in the temple.

John 2:15
And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables;

Jesus made Himself a whip and drove the whole bunch out of the temple. He was very angry.

Was He a little hard on the "good religious people"?  Well, I'm sure He didn't hit anyone as He cracked the whip, but you'll see in the next verse He gave them a piece of His mind!

[16] And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.

And here is another example Jesus set forth. He quoted a few choice and appropriate scriptures to them to illustrate His point. The following words of Christ are a composite from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11.

Matthew 21:13
And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Note: Here's an interesting FACT. The four Gospels contain 3920 verses. 1865 of them, that's 48%, are quotations from Jesus. Of His quoted conversation, 179 verses are literal Old Testament words. That's almost 10% of everything He said.

So what do we say then?  Many of today's Christian churches are doing the very same thing, i.e. ripping off our people. When you see them making merchandise does it bother you at all or bring to mind any scriptures?  Christ quoted from Jeremiah so let's start there too.

Jeremiah 23:16
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.

Don't listen to preachers who speak "visions" of their own hearts. They speak the traditions of men (call it churchianity) and NOT out of the mouth of the LORD, which is the Word of God.

[18] For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?

Do the preachers teach our people the Word of God line by line and verse by verse? They do not! Do the people mark [study] His word? Very few!

[19] Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.

[20] The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.

We better consider it real good in these LATTER DAYS. Why? Because the 1st "sign" that Christ said in Mat. 24 and Mark 13 that would mark this generation before His return is that MANY would come in His name [as Christ's ministers] and deceive MANY. How? Through the perpetuating of the traditions of men, through speaking their own minds and not the mind of Christ, which is His Written Word.

[21] I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

God didn't send them nor did He speak to them and tell them that someone's back aches out there in TV land. Yet they prophesy and tell the people to call and the operators are standing by [to take their credit card number].

[22] But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

But if these preachers had stood in the Word of God, and caused His people to hear HIS WORDS, then they should have turned this nation from the evil direction in which it is going!

And because they HAVEN'T and DON'T speak the Word of the Lord, our people are starving to death, and we are now in the midst of the great famine of the end time which Christ also foretold of in Mat. 24 and Mark 13. Except the famine isn't for food, don't you know?  Hear ye the Word of God:

Amos 8:11
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

There's your famine of the end time!

Here's more of what our Father has to say to false preachers.

Ezekiel 13:2
Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say thou unto them that prophesy out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the LORD;

This is what the Lord God has to say to the preachers of this day. Verse 5 will document it!

[3] Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

The "spirit" speaks to them all right, but it isn't the Holy Spirit.

[4] O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.

A bunch of sneaks seeking whom they may devour.

[5] Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

The preachers have not made an hedge, i.e. prepared our people so that they are protected with the Gospel armor, to stand in the BATTLE in the day of the LORD, which is right around the corner. So our people are defenseless because they know not the Word of God and will certainly worship the spurious messiah, believing he is Jesus. Most are told not to worry anyway, because they will fly away in some "Rapture" while the remainder of us poor suckers suffer a great tribulation, but it's just a man made theory like evolution!

[6] They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.

Exactly! They are liars and they give FALSE hope to our people.

[7] Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith it; albeit I have not spoken?

Hmmmm? Do they not say the Lord told me? God said He didn't say it! Who you gonna believe?

But guess what? It is not only obvious but it is scriptural that our people love to be "soothsayered" and lied to by these clowns! Do you mind if we quote Jeremiah again?

Jeremiah 5:27
As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

I'll take a small liberty and paraphrase this verse in modern English: These preachers have "caged" a whole bunch of "bird brains" with their deceits and lined their pockets in doing so.

[28] They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

They are in it for the money! Of course they overlook the deeds of the wicked, i.e. they aren't going to tell people of their rotten sins and confront them and tell them "Thus saith the Lord, Repent!" They might lose some members [read dollars]!

[29] Shall I not visit for these things? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

What's God supposed to do? Just let it go?

[30] A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;

"Wonderful" doesn't mean this is great. It means it's a bewilderment full of wonder and horror!

[31] The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?

The preachers lie to them, and spiritually starve them, and oppress them in various ways, and THEY LOVE IT! They send them money and letters, etc., etc.

Let's return to the Book of John.

So the disciples saw Christ take some action and purify the temple a little by "racking off" some of the scum, a purification process kind of like making wine, isn't it?

John 2:17
And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.

Now there's a common trait among the servants of God. They see something happen and it immediately calls to their remembrance scriptures from the Word of God. Just like Peter on Pentecost Day when the true tongue was spoken that goes forth and is understood by everyone present, and Peter stood up and said, "Hey, this is an example of what Joel the Prophet spoke of that will happen in the last days". It was written and Peter knew it.

So Christ cleans out the temple with "vigor" and the disciples REMEMBERED the Word of God, this time from Psalm 69:9.

Psalm 69:9
For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.

Of course nothing came to the mind of the Jews except that their rip-off scam was exposed and they wanted to see some credentials.

John 2:18 Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things?

The question was, "What sign shewest thou to us [that Thou art the Messiah], seeing that Thou doest these things?"

"What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" (NIV)

[19] Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

Well that statement went right over their heads, didn't it? But later they would remember it and twist His words as they always do and use them against Jesus before His crucifixion.

Mark 14:57
And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying,

[58] We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands.

Of course it was His body that would become the Temple of God. He would go into the tomb for three days and three nights, the sign of Jonas, and be raised up again.

(Remember this the next time your church teaches that Christ was crucified on Friday and arose from the dead on Sunday) That didn't add up to three day and three nights when I went to school! Nor did it 2000 years ago!

John 2:20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?

They just didn't get it! They still don't!

[21] But he spake of the temple of his body.

[22] When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.

When you know the words of the God beforehand and you actually SEE them come to pass, then it increases your faith and you grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, as Peter instructed us to do in his epistles.

And the events transpiring today and tomorrow and in the very near future have ALREADY BEEN RECORDED and are written to those who take the time to seek Him and rightly divide His Word.

Or you can wait around and see if the cage full of birds really flies away.

John 2:23
Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.

Many today say to themselves,
"Why doesn't God show Himself and perform a miracle for me,
or talk to me like He apparently does to those TV evangelists (which He doesn't),
and then I will believe more.

Just show me a sign!

Of course if it takes a miracle for you to believe in God then you are in trouble indeed.

But if you know the scriptures, then you have not only seen signs but they are happening almost daily.

You see, a sign is only a sign if the giver of the sign has coordinated the meaning of the sign with the receiver of the sign. (Whew!) Here's an example:

Suppose the year was 1776 and you lived in the town of Lexington. One evening you were outside sitting on your porch steps listening to the crickets crick and you just happened to look up at the tower of the Old North Church when you noticed there was a single light shining in the tower.

"Hmmm", you say to yourself, "I wonder what someone is doing at this hour in the tower? Maybe they are looking for something or just making some repairs. Probably a couple of kids."

The point is, you are totally clueless that a "sign" was just given that would ultimately save your hide from the British Redcoats. Thank God for Paul Revere, because he "knew the scripture", so to speak, and knew what "signs" to look for AHEAD OF TIME; "One if by land and two if by sea".  And when he saw the sign he immediately took action and road through the town WARNING the people that the British were coming.

Well, there is nothing new under the sun. Today many Christians are "sitting on their laurels" and are seeing sign after sign after sign being given by our Father, exactly as they are written, and yet they are clueless as to what the signs mean. Why? They are not familiar with the scriptures.  But the wise of this generation, those who do know the scriptures, know AHEAD of TIME what to look for and they see sign after sign after sign and are now riding through the towns sounding the alarm, "The locusts are coming, the locusts are coming".

Note: If that last statement doesn't make any sense to you, then get up off your porch steps and start studying the Book of Revelation, written by the same author as the Gospel of John. Then you will know the signs!

[24] But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men,

[25] And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.

Jesus did not commit Himself unto them because He knew what was in their hearts. And He obviously didn't need anyone to tell Him what was in their hearts either.

So what's in your heart.

Do you sometimes wish you could see a miracle or a sign from God to strengthen your belief in Him?

They [signs and wonders] are happening almost every day,
exactly as they are written!

All you have to do is read His Word?

So go for it!

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To study the Bible is the noblest of all pursuits; to understand it, the highest of all goals.
We pray that with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, you accomplish both.

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