Today I want to share a couple of thoughts regarding Jesus’ first miracle, turning water into wine, as recorded in John 2. Jesus performed his first miracle at a Wedding feast even before it was his time to enter into full-time ministry. He wanted to make it very clear to the whole world the importance he placed on marriage. God cares about the needs of people who enter into the covenant of marriage together. The marriage covenant reflects and represents His Covenant with us as His bride, the Church. He viewed that moment of two precious people becoming one, as being worthy of so much respect, he performed a wonderful miracle of provision.
There are so many aspects of this passage in John Chapter 2 that I could touch on, but today I want to focus on just two. The first issue is the quantity of the miracle. John 2:9 tells us “Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from 20 to 30 gallons.”
Normal wineskins, like the ones described by Jesus in Matthew 9:17 contained approximately 1 litre of wine. Once those stone jars were filled with water and turned miraculously into wine there was the equivalent of 680 wineskins full of the finest wine! More than enough for all of the guests to really enjoy the celebration and there was plenty left over I’m sure! All a little bit like the 12 baskets left over when Jesus miraculously multiplied the fish and the bread as detailed in Matthew 14.
When God does a miracle He does it suddenly, excessively and exceedingly abundantly, above all we could even ask or think! (Eph.3:20) Then, the second issue is the quality of the miracle. The Master of the Feast said to the bridegroom, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first, and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink, but you have saved the best till now.” (John 2:10)
There are a number of factors which make up a good wine, the type of grape, the condition of the soil, the wood it is aged in but one of the main reasons wines can be very expensive is the vintage. The time it has taken to age the wine. The reason for this is that it takes both space and money to make sure that a wine is properly aged.
I’m not advocating the drinking of alcohol in this message but to give you a modern day example, one of the most expensive wines in the world, is Cheval Blanc 1947. In 2006, a three-litre bottle of this fine wine was bought at Vinfolio in San Francisco for $135,125. This bottle of wine at 59 years old was so much more valuable because of it’s quality and age. My point here is that Jesus in a moment, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye, created the finest aged best wine which would have taken years of time and effort to produce in natural terms.
When God does a miracle it is of the highest quality. It defies time, and human limitations. Water is free but God made it into the best, most expensive wine. He can make the invaluable, valuable. What a miracle working God we serve!
You may have some needs and some lack in your life today. I want to encourage you, many times it’s at the end of the feast when the wine has run out, at the last minute, the midnight hour that God shows up with His excessive, highest quality breakthroughs and miracles. God give His best to those who wait for Him to move. Today I want to encourage you to put all of your faith in Jesus, He can and He will turn your water into wine!
