Reflective Bible Study

As we continue moving into John’s gospel, looking at the events John included, our attention is turned onto the first miracle Jesus did. Many things about this event are fascinating, especially the faith involved in this event, but faith isn’t the only big factor that amazes me. In this miracle are several layers of foreshadowing that I suspect many people miss when they read it.

So with that said, let’s read what happened, and discover some amazing things hidden within Jesus’ first miracle. Our passage is found in John’s gospel, chapter 2, and we will read from the God’s Word translation. Starting in verse 1, John tells us that:

¹ Three days later a wedding took place in the city of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. ² Jesus and his disciples had been invited too.

³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They’re out of wine.”

⁴ Jesus said to her, “Why did you come to me? My time has not yet come.”

⁵ His mother told the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ Six stone water jars were there. They were used for Jewish purification rituals. Each jar held 18 to 27 gallons.

⁷ Jesus told the servers, “Fill the jars with water.” The servers filled the jars to the brim. ⁸ Jesus said to them, “Pour some, and take it to the person in charge.” The servers did as they were told.

⁹ The person in charge tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it had come from, although the servers who had poured the water knew. The person in charge called the groom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the best wine first. When people are drunk, the host serves cheap wine. But you have saved the best wine for now.”

¹¹ Cana in Galilee was the place where Jesus began to perform miracles. He made his glory public there, and his disciples believed in him.

¹² After this, Jesus, his mother, brothers, and disciples went to the city of Capernaum and stayed there for a few days.

Every time I read this event, I am amazed that the disciples and the servants were the only ones who knew a miracle took place. In other words, Jesus’ mother, who made the request didn’t know what happened, and the host and groom both didn’t know what happened. To the majority of the guests, this event appeared to temporarily run out of wine, but then more wine showed up. There was a problem, and the problem was resolved.

This miracle is prompted because the servants had enough faith to obey Jesus’ ridiculous sounding request to serve the host water. The servants’ faith in Jesus, not knowing who Jesus even was, opened the door for this miracle!

We could also look at the disciples and the servants and picture them as the least important people at this event. Since this was a wedding Jesus’ mother was involved in, it was likely that it was a wedding of one of Jesus’ family members. In this event, we have no idea who the bride or groom was, but they were connected in some way with Jesus’ family. This would make the only people present who were not family members Jesus’ disciples and the servants. Those outside of the family saw the miracle, while those within the family remained somewhat oblivious.

This is interesting to note, because often times we don’t see God working in our hearts or our lives, but other people do. Other people are likely to see a greater change in our lives when we come to God or begin moving towards Him than we do. This isn’t bad, it is just something we should be aware of.

Another thing that stood out to me while reading this event is that the water pots were used for purification rituals. Since John chose to include this detail, I suspect he believed it to be significant for us to know. Part of me wonders if this detail helps draw our attention onto Jesus’ gift purifying us as believers and followers of Him. When Jesus gave Himself for us, His life purifies ours and we are able to stand before God because of what Jesus accomplished for us.

This detail leads us into two amazing layers of foreshadowing I believe this miracle and event includes.

The first layer of foreshadowing is looking forward to what would happen at another significant meal Jesus and His disciples ate together. On the night Jesus was arrested leading up to His crucifixion, Jesus ate what Christians around the world call the Last Supper on Passover weekend. During this Passover meal, Jesus takes bread and wine and connects these things symbolically with His body and His blood.

Jesus’ blood, represented by the wine, represents Jesus’ life. Drawing this connection back to our event for this episode, we see that Jesus supplies His life to solve a problem we are unable to solve. The wine in this event had run out, which symbolically represents that we had done everything we knew to do without being able to solve our big problem (in this context, our biggest problem is sin). To step in with a solution, Jesus provides wine, which represents His life, and it is a wine that is better than either the host or groom had experienced before. Jesus’ life defeated sin, solving the biggest problem we face, and when we accept Jesus’ life in exchange for ours, we get to experience eternal life when we deserved eternal death because of our sin.

The second layer of foreshadowing looks towards the great “wedding” feast we will experience following Jesus’ return. After Jesus returns, we will get to enjoy the wedding supper between Jesus and His bride, which represents His church.

Whenever I see a wedding event in the Bible, I look to see if there is any connection with the wedding feast that all God’s people will experience when Jesus returns to bring us home. In this miracle, I see a profound connection. The only way this future wedding will happen is because of Jesus supplying the wine, which represents His life, for His bride. Without Jesus’ life, there would be no future wedding. The amazing, subtle foreshadowing in this first miracle is that Jesus supplies His life in order for His people to be able to experience the wedding God has been looking forward to since the beginning of time.

Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection solved the sin problem. Jesus supplied His life in exchange for ours. It is now up to us to accept Jesus’ gift and His invitation to substitute His life for ours.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, continue seeking God first in your life and choose to accept the gift He offers to you through Jesus’ life and sacrifice. Jesus supplied what we need to solve the sin problem in our own lives, and it is up to us to lean on Jesus’ life for strength to overcome sin in this life. We do this best by focusing on Jesus and intentionally growing towards Him.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to learn, grow, and mature towards God. Through prayer and Bible study, discover just how much God loves us through what Jesus did for all of us. Discover how sin is something we never asked for personally, but it is something God was willing to solve for us because He loves us more than we might realize!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

As Jesus neared the end of His famous sermon on the mount, we find another parable-illustration that Jesus uses to help us understand a key point He wanted to emphasize for the crowd. While the crowd was used to following their religious leaders, at the big high point of Jesus’ sermon, we discover a warning that is just as important for us to remember as it was for those living in the first century.

Let’s read Jesus’ words as recorded in Matthew’s gospel. Our passage is found in the gospel of Matthew, chapter 7, and we will read from the God’s Word Translation. Starting in verse 15, Matthew quotes Jesus saying:

¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets. They come to you disguised as sheep, but in their hearts they are vicious wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by what they produce.

“People don’t pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles, do they? ¹⁷ In the same way every good tree produces good fruit, but a rotten tree produces bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a rotten tree cannot produce good fruit. ¹⁹ Any tree that fails to produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into a fire. ²⁰ So you will know them by what they produce.

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the person who does what my Father in heaven wants. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name? Didn’t we force out demons and do many miracles by the power and authority of your name?’ ²³ Then I will tell them publicly, ‘I’ve never known you. Get away from me, you evil people.’

²⁴ “Therefore, everyone who hears what I say and obeys it will be like a wise person who built a house on rock. ²⁵ Rain poured, and floods came. Winds blew and beat against that house. But it did not collapse, because its foundation was on rock.

²⁶ “Everyone who hears what I say but doesn’t obey it will be like a foolish person who built a house on sand. ²⁷ Rain poured, and floods came. Winds blew and struck that house. It collapsed, and the result was a total disaster.”

²⁸ When Jesus finished this speech, the crowds were amazed at his teachings. ²⁹ Unlike their experts in Moses’ Teachings, he taught them with authority.

Every time I read this passage and this event, I am amazed at the strong words Jesus used in the conclusion of this message. The illustrations Jesus uses in this passage all center around a very unpopular idea: obedience. We are warned on the front end by Jesus to pay attention to how obedient someone is and to judge their words based on their level of obedience to God’s Word.

Throughout the Bible, the idea of a prophet is simply someone who receives a message from God and then shares it with others. The Bible includes prophets who were both men and women. There is no distinction in God’s eyes when it comes to giving messages to males or females. God looks at other characteristics when deciding whether to give someone a message.

However, the Bible also warns of false prophets. These people claim to speak messages from God, but God never gave them a message to share. These people speak from their own assumptions, and they taint God’s reputation because they misrepresent Him. Obedience in one’s own life is a huge factor in whether we are accurately reflecting God.

After getting all of us agreeing on the truth that we should not expect bad trees to produce good fruit or good trees to produce bad fruit, Jesus then shifts the focus onto the fruit that we produce. If you want to know someone’s heart, look at their actions, look at where they spend their money, and look at how they treat other people. Our hearts reveal our nature through our actions.

In emphasizing His point, Jesus stresses that a lack of obedience will get people kicked out of the kingdom of heaven. The sobering truth in the center of Jesus’ conclusion is that no quantity of good deeds in the world will outweigh disobedience. Jesus calls those who are disobedient, “evil doers”. A disobedient heart is what led to Lucifer’s rebellion in heaven, and it would be crazy for God to bring disobedience into His new heaven and new earth.

However, the big parable in Jesus’ conclusion focuses in on two builders. Note the only distinction Jesus shares that separates these two people. Verse 24 quotes Jesus saying that “everyone who hears what I say and obeys it will be like a wise person”. Verse 26 contrasts this by quoting Jesus saying that “everyone who hears what I say but doesn’t obey it will be like a foolish person”.

Both the wise and the foolish individuals hear Jesus. What makes one wise is whether they obey Jesus or not. Not only is Jesus teaching and warning us about paying attention to others, Jesus is warning us about being intentional about the choices we make in our own lives.

Nowhere in this teaching do we find obedience hinted at as being the source of our salvation. Our salvation is found through faith in Jesus and trusting in His life covering our sins. The only thing obedience gains us is wisdom in this life.

However, the real teaching Jesus emphasizes in our passage is that disobedience in this life has the power to forfeit our salvation. Nothing Satan can do can steal us away from Jesus, but if we choose a life of disobedience, we are effectively choosing sin over Jesus, which not only cheapens the sacrifice He made on our behalf, we choose Satan over Christ.

Instead, Jesus challenges those in the first century, as well as us living today, to be intentional about obeying, not because we believe we can obey our way into being saved. Instead, we are challenged to obey as a way of saying thank You to God for sending Jesus, and thank You to Jesus for coming to pay the price for our sins.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open these challenges by saying, continue to intentionally seek God first and place Him first in your life. Intentionally obey God as a way of saying thank You to Him for what Jesus has done for us.

Also, as I always challenge you to do, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow closer to God each and every day. While a pastor, author, speaker, blogger, or podcaster can give you ideas to think about, never base your spiritual foundation on the ideas of others. Instead, always build your spiritual foundation on the truth found in the Bible which you learn and validate through personal Bible study.

And, as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or let Satan trick you into walking away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!