When the Wine Runs Out
The enjoyment at that wedding was high; everyone was excited and happy
and there seemed to be plenty of wine. Actually nothing on earth is a
more joyous occasion than a wedding. Everyone celebrates; no one is
unhappy — it is the beginning of a new life, it is the continuation of
human existence.
Traditionally a marriage feast always has wine, lots of wine — even the
feast itself largely depends on wine. And so it was at the wedding
in Cana of Galilee to which Jesus of Nazareth was invited. They were
enjoying the wine; the future looked bright; everyone was excited and
full of joy. It seemed as though it would never end, when all of a
sudden — the wine ran out! (John 2:1-3).
The Wine of Human Enjoyment Runs Out
Today our human life is just like that wedding feast at Cana of
Galilee. There is, no doubt, some real joy in human living. We
have material things, our family and friends, and other types of pleasure.
Sometimes there is real excitement, the future may look bright, and there
seems to be plenty of "wine" to drink.
Wine, we know, comes from grapes, and grapes grow from something living.
The Bible uses wine to signify life, especially the enjoyment of life.
The "wine" or our human life, our human enjoyment is just like the wine
at the wedding feast of Cana — it runs out. There is a limited quantity.
When we reach the last drop, that is it; there is just no more.
Even on the way to death, the wine is running out. Human enjoyment is
fleeting — it is real, but it is running out. Sooner or later in every
situation, in every relationship, in every type of human pleasure, the
wine runs out. Our family, so dear to us, one day is gone. Divorce or
separation may come, and our husband or wife, once the perfect match
is no longer with us. Our friends, with whom we've shared so many enjoyable
times, slowly drift away. Our college days, so exciting, are soon ended.
Our profession, perhaps challenging and rewarding, one day, too, comes
to an end. In every human achievement, pleasure, and joy — the "wine" is
slowly running out. And eventually our own life, regardless of how successful
or joyful, is over. In this "wedding feast" which we all live in today — the
"wine" is running out.
Jesus Comes to Change Things
But Jesus was invited to this wedding. This shows us that the Lord
came into the world, into a situation where human enjoyment existed
but was not lasting. The changing of water into wine was more than
just a miracle. It was a sign showing us why Jesus came into the world.
At that wedding there were six empty waterpots (John 2:6-7) signifying man,
created on the sixth day (Gen. 1:27,31). Actually, man is just like this,
an empty vessel (2 Cor. 4:7). The Lord commanded that the waterpots be
filled with water. These pots were ordinarily used in Jewish rites of
purification, which involved an outward washing, a practice of the Jewish
religion. The Lord used these pots filled with water to show us something.
In the Bible, death is signified by water (Gen. 7:23-24; Rom. 6:3).
The six waterpots, filled with water, show how all men, though in a
situation where there is some enjoyment, are actually just vessels
slowly filling up with death.
From the beginning, God's intention was to fill man with His life (Gen. 2:9),
but sin entered into man before this could happen (Gen. 3:3, 6) and filled
man with death (Rom.5:12), just like the water that filled the six waterpots.
God never intended that man experience death. Death came as a result of sin,
but God would not allow it to occupy man forever. That is why Jesus came.
Man's dead religious practices, merely cleaning him up in an outward way,
could never change the death occupying him on the inside. Only Jesus
Himself, coming into us, could change our inward death into inward life.
As the vessels in the Gospel of John show, Jesus commanded that some of the water
in the stone pots be drawn out and brought to the ruler of the feast (John 2:8).
When the ruler tasted the water that was made wine, not knowing it had
been water, he exclaimed, "Every man serves the good wine first, and
when you have drunk freely, then that which is poorer; you have kept
the good wine until now" (John 2:10). Jesus changed the death water
into wine-something far superior to the poor wine that had run out.
Receive the Best Life
Actually, our human life is just the poor wine, inferior in quality and
quickly exhausted. We want it to fill us, but it leaves us unsatisfied.
We drink a little more, but we still feel a thirst. We long for a
sweetness, but the taste remains flat, and all the while, we see
ourselves beginning to die, as this poor wine continues to run out.
Is the new wine, the good wine, any different? The ruler just needed
to taste it to see that it was indeed different. This was the wine that
came from God. It is the best wine. It signifies the Lord's own life,
the divine and eternal life we receive in Jesus. In this life our pleasures
and enjoyments will never end. Even as the ruler of the feast discovered
that the new wine was better than the former wine, so we too shall find
that the life we receive in Jesus is much better than our natural life.
This new life is best because it is the life of God Himself. When we
receive this life, a marriage feast begins that will never end.
There is a way that your death can be changed into life. Today Jesus
is present. He is in this world, a place where human joy is quickly
fading, and He is here waiting to change your death into life. We may
think that some kind of religious practice will make us acceptable to
God. We may offer Him a cleaned up version of ourselves, but it is
still the same poor life. No, this is not the way. Regardless of what
our life may be like now, in God's eyes it is full of death and running
out. The Lord Jesus is here to change your death into life, not just a
continuation of your poor life, but new life — the best life, the life of
God Himself in Christ Jesus.
You can receive Jesus right now. He is waiting to fill you with the
life of God. Open to Him now by praying this simple prayer: "Lord Jesus,
thank You for changing death into life. Thank You for dying on the cross
for my sins and being resurrected to fill me with Your own eternal life.
I receive You into me right now. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for coming into
me to change my death into life."
"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in Him" (Psalm 34:8)
For further information —
Ministry of the Word
PO Box 48255
Spokane, WA 99228
509.466.4777 / 1.800.573.4105
ministry@thechristian.org