Why Did Jesus Turn Water into Wine? John 2:1-12 EXPLAINED | (un)ANSWERED

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Alcohol has been a hot topic in the American church for over a century now. Those who consider drinking alcohol to be a liberty in the

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Christian church will often blurt out to their opponent, but even Jesus made water into wine.

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Now you might be wondering where that even comes from. That comes from the second chapter of the gospel according to John.

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That passage has confused many over the years. The question is, why did

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Jesus even do that? What's the point of him making water into wine?

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So what you might consider to be unanswered, I will attempt to give an explanation now for that text.

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Now to set the stage to chapter two, at the very end of chapter one you have Jesus picking his first four disciples.

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They go north to the Galilee region and they are invited to a wedding. Now this is possibly the wedding of a kinsman or a close relative because even his mother

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Mary seems to be in charge of various aspects of the banquet. Jesus has yet to do any substantial signs and wonders and miracles in his earthly ministry, but at this point he's alerted by his own mother that they've run out of wine.

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Now in our culture that may not seem like the biggest deal, it would probably be a bigger deal to run out of food, but in that Jewish culture it was up to the groomsman and the bridegroom himself to make sure that there were ample supplies and food for the wedding feast.

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The wedding feast even then could last seven days in addition to the ceremony, so he had to make sure that there was plenty to go around.

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It would have been considered an even bigger no -no back then to run out of wine during the banquet than even now today.

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In fact it could have even opened up the bridegroom to litigation from his in -laws. So this was his responsibility, this was a big deal to make sure that there was enough wine for the wedding feast.

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So Jesus' mother tells him they've run out of wine. She looks to her oldest son as the one who could possibly solve the problem.

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Her husband is not around anymore, it's possible that Joseph was deceased at this point in time.

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She looks to Jesus to resolve the issue. Jesus responds to her saying, Woman, my hour has not yet come.

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Now Jesus is going to use that phrase several more times in the Gospels, and what he's referring to by his hour, his time, that would be the cross, the ultimate point of his ministry.

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What he's telling her is, it's not time for me to do something so miraculous, so significant enough that would expedite me to the cross.

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It is time for me to right now focus on my ministry, focus on gathering disciples and doing the works and signs and wonders to the world that I've been called to do.

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Now it's possible she knew, of course, who her son truly was. He is the

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Son of God. She understood the prophecies concerning Jesus. And that would point us to something like Amos chapter 9, verse 13 and 14 says this,

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Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when the plowman will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who sows seeds, when the mountains will drip with sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved.

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Also I will restore the captivity of my people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.

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They will also plant vineyards and drink their wine, and make gardens and eat their fruit.

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Brothers and sisters, that is the promise of the Messiah. That is the ushering in of the messianic kingdom.

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That it will flow, freely flow, with wine, messianic wine, that is.

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But Jesus knows, it's not quite yet. Before we can get to that messianic age of free flowing wine and abundance,

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He first has to shed His own blood like wine on the cross for His people.

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Nevertheless, Jesus will demonstrate in this miraculous act that He will do just that.

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Let's go to verses 6 through 8, John chapter 2. It says, Now there were six stone water pots set there for the

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Jewish custom of purification, containing twenty or thirty gallons each. Jesus said to them,

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Fill the water pots with water. So they filled them up to the brim. And He said to them,

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Draw some out now and take it to the head waiter. So they took it to him. Jesus sees that these water pots are there for the

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Jewish custom of purification. You see, in Mark chapter 7, we have moments where the disciples of Jesus Christ are eating bread without washing their hands, and the

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Pharisees and the scribes, they charge them. And they talk against them saying, Why have your disciples,

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Jesus, have not washed their hands yet? They have not done the tradition of the elders. And that's where Jesus will say statements like,

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You invalidate the word of God for the sake of your tradition. This is a tradition of the elders.

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This is not a precept or statute of the word of God. Now there are moments in the

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Levitical law that show that there was times of unclean things and clean things, purification, washing.

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But this, in particular, this hand washing and what these water pots were used for, were then a tradition of the elders.

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So then these water pots were used for purification from traditions that came from the

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Jewish elders. In other words, that means they're man -made. That's a man -made law.

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You see, these water pots represented the old. It represented the heavy laws and burden that they had to commit to, to earn

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God's favor and salvation. These water pots are a constant sign and symbol for us that no matter what we do, no matter how many times we wash our hands, we are still unclean.

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We are not truly purified. We need something that is long lasting. We need something that will purify us permanently.

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And that's what Jesus is going to show us in this moment. So the Lord makes water into wine.

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And the wine represents two things. First, something I already told you guys, this wine represents the abundance of the

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Messianic kingdom that is coming upon the people in this century and has gone until now.

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The second thing the wine represents is the blood of Christ. The water can't purify, but His blood can.

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And that's what He's going to do for us. This is a foreshadow of the cross. That is to say, water purification pots turn into cause for celebration.

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So then, the head steward of the banquet tastes the wine, he sees the water turned into wine, and he calls to the attention of the bridegroom.

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These are supposed to be the two people who understand the level of supplies that are left, the quality of supplies, and they are caught unaware.

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If we go to verse 10, it says this, Every man serves the good wine first. And when the people have drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine.

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But you have kept the good wine until now. They taste the wine and they are perplexed. The wine that they taste now is far superior than the wine, even the best wine that was given at the beginning of the wedding banquet.

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By now, the head steward's palate is likely weak. Alcohol can numb the tongue to good tasting things.

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And even so, despite all that, Jesus' wine tastes far superior, so much better than the wine that they had at the beginning of the wedding.

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So just as much as they are caught unaware, who isn't caught unaware? Jesus. And so what do we see?

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What is the point of all this? We see that Jesus is the true master of ceremonies.

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Jesus is the true bridegroom, and he's preparing for himself a bride.

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He's calling a people to himself. He's going to save these people. He's going to call them his bride.

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He's going to adorn them and make them ready one day for his wedding feast, where the messianic wine will flow freely.

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And he, my friends, is that true bridegroom. This is all about Jesus.

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Now with Jesus, the true bridegroom, in his kingdom, at his wedding feast, the wine will never run dry.

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He'll never run out. He'll never forget the supplies. They'll never go out for his people. The people who are in attendance at this wedding at Cana, they don't even realize it.

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Jesus eclipses all of those in attendance. In fact, he eclipses all people on earth.

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They don't realize it, but he is the one who is to be honored. He is to be the one in whom people give praise at the wedding feast.

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But he's humble. He's behind the scenes. He's waiting until his hour.

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He's waiting until the right time. When all people will bow, all people will see that Jesus is the

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Christ, that he is the king, and he is the one who deserves and is owed their worship.

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Brothers and sisters, the reality is, is that John has continued to show that Jesus has come to recreate.

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He's come to regenerate. He's come to make all things new. So making the water into wine is a foreshadow of that reality.

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In Christ's coming, we, us, the old person in us, the old of this world, will pass away and the new will come.

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And in that new kingdom, Isaiah 25 says this. The Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain, a banquet of aged wine, choice pieces and marrow, and refined aged wine.

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With all this in mind, with all that Jesus has done in this moment in John chapter 2, we can see the promise and foreshadow that Christ has come to drink the cup of wrath so that you and I might drink the cup of celebration.

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This my friends is more meaningful than we could have ever thought. I think we can consider this one answered.