The Gospel of John opens by presenting the Person of Jesus as the eternal Word, existing before time, and the Creator of all things. Becoming flesh to secure the counsels of the Father, the incarnate Word is contemplated by His disciples in the glory of an only-begotten with a Father, being, indeed, the Only-begotten Son who ever dwells in the Father’s bosom. The witness of John Baptist occupies a prominent place in chapter 1, being first noticed in verse 6–8, then again from verse 19. John witnesses to Jesus as the Lamb of God (v. 29), as the One who received the Holy Spirit (v. 32), and as the Son of God (v. 34). This witness results in attaching two of John’s disciples to Jesus, who form the nucleus of that favoured company that witnessed the grace, the power, and the glory of the Son of God. Jesus is then seen gathering more of His disciples around Him, and He speaks of the glory belonging to Him as Son of Man.
Chapter 2 opens with the words, “And on the third day a marriage took place in Cana of Galilee.” The first day seems to refer to the day of John’s testimony to Jesus as the Lamb of God; the second day is the morrow of verse 43, which gives the testimony of the Lord Himself; and this third day gives the first of the signs of Jesus. There appears to be a dispensational picture in these three days. The first day portrays the present period when testimony is borne to Jesus as the Lamb of God and the Son of God, and this results in a company being gathered around the Person of the Lord, a company bearing the same spiritual features as Peter, of whom the Lord said, “Thou shalt be called Cephas (which interpreted is stone)”. Of these, Peter speaks in his First Epistle, saying, “To whom coming…yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house.” So that the first day would be for the gathering of the Christian company of the present time.
The second day would seem to be occupied with the gathering of a remnant of Israel, who will confess Him like Philip, who said, “We have found Him of whom Moses wrote in the law, and the prophets, Jesus”; and who will say with Nathaniel, “Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel.” The third day introduces the fulness of Millennial blessing for the nation of Israel, when the glory of the Lord will be displayed. But before Israel can be fully blessed there must be the cleansing of the temple; all inconsistent with the Name and the glory of His Father must be removed. All this involved the death and resurrection of the Lord, so that we hear Him say, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
At the wedding feast Jesus and His disciples are guests, which is in marked contrast to His reception in John 1:11, where it is written, “He came to His own, and His own received Him not.” In the coming day, Messiah will be gladly received by His own, and first of all by the godly remnant prefigured by those who, in this chapter, invite the Lord to the feast. The mother of Jesus is specially mentioned, to show that the feast is connected with Israel, Christ’s kindred according to the flesh, and to bring out that, for the present, His relations with Israel are broken, till the hour of His glory shall come.
The break with Israel opens the way for the blessing of those outside of Israel’s fold, for “whosoever believes” on Him. In chapter 4 the Samaritans say, “We have heard Him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the world;” and in chapter 10, the Lord declares, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one flock, and one Shepherd.” And after He rises from among the dead, Jesus sends a message by Mary Magdalene, saying, “Go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” Here were new relationships far surpassing in nearness and blessing anything that Israel knew. Throughout John’s Gospel the Lord calls attention to His relationship with the Father, not to His relationships with Mary and Israel, and this in preparation for the wonderful revelations to be made known after His resurrection.
But if Israel’s joys run out, like the wine at the feast, how blessed for them that the Lord brings to them, from His own resources, something better than they ever enjoyed before. Such it will be for them during the Millennium, when Christ has His true place among His earthly people. Under the new covenant, Israel will have a new and pure joy; the water of purification, the word of Jehovah their God, will bring to them rich and abiding blessings with their unfading joys.
What is true of Israel is also true of mankind: the joys of nature at their best – for human joy is seen in its supremacy at the marriage feast – are evanescent, and sooner or later are proved to be deficient. Even where nature’s joys have been tasted in their purity and sweetness, the cares and sorrows of life so easily affect them. Natural affections may deepen in human relationships in the progress of an intimacy that shares earth’s joys and sorrows, but something more is needed to sustain us when we meet spiritual trials, and when the soul is faced with eternal issues. The joys and affections of nature have been provided by God in His goodness and wisdom for man, but satisfaction cannot be found in the things of nature, it can only be found in the Christ of God.
Into the scene of man’s fading joys the Son of God has brought an entirely new kind of joy; and happy indeed it is for the bridegroom and bride that can drink with their guests of the wine that Christ supplies. This joy belongs to another world: it is the joy of Christ, that of which He spoke to His disciples, when He said, “These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.” It is the joy in the Holy Spirit that belongs to those who have been brought, by the new birth, into the kingdom of God; a joy in which we can “Rejoice in the Lord always,” whatever the circumstances of life may be.
When the Lord Jesus was rejected by Israel, the nation which He had come to bless refusing all that He had brought to them from God, it was written concerning Him, “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight” (Luke 10:21). His joy was entirely independent of the circumstances through which He was passing: His joy was in His Father, and in the knowledge of His good pleasure. Paul and Silas knew of this joy, when their feet were fast in the stocks, and their backs sore with stripes, for “At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God.”
The vessels used by the Lord to bring the wine of joy to the wedding guests were sanctified vessels; their special purpose being to hold water for purification. The privilege of being of use to the Lord belongs to each saint of God today. Each one may be “a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21). The capacity of the vessels may vary, as did the vessels holding two or three firkins apiece: it is the state of the vessels, their moral condition, that determines whether the Master will use them. If they are vessels that can be used for purifying, they can be used in the ministry of joy for God’s people. And it is that which purifies which is used to minister joy. Water cleanses and refreshes, but under the hand of the Lord, it can produce a holy, heavenly joy.
O that we were vessels filled to the brim with the water of the word! Do we not see the practical expression of this in Colossians 3:16-17? First, we read, “Let the word of the Christ dwell in you richly;” which speaks to us of vessels filled to the brim with water. Secondly, we learn of the purifying effect of the water on others, where it is written, “In all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another.” Lastly, there is the expression of joy “In psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God…giving thanks to God the Father by Him.”
What an occasion this was for the manifestation of the glory of Jesus! The glory of Israel’s Messiah is seen in His providing a new source of joy for His earthly people, after they have proved the inadequacy of their own resources. The glory of the Son of God is revealed in His bringing into the world the joys of heaven for those that the Father had given to Him. It is a divine glory that shines out in the power that supplies that which is better than anything man can produce, and that enables faith to perceive in the Son the Sent One of the Father.
This was the beginning of the signs of Jesus, recorded in John’s Gospel; signs that found their completion, so far as His testimony to this world is concerned, in the resurrection of Lazarus, and of which the Lord said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” How blessed it is for us to realise that the Son of God has come to make Himself indispensable to us in every circumstance of life, evinced in the time of supreme natural joy, as in the marriage feast at Cana, or in the time of greatest grief and deepest sorrow, as is found at the grave of Lazarus. He has come to bring us into the enjoyment of His own things; giving us His own joy; and in our sorrows making known to us His own thoughts of love, ministering His own divine comfort, and leading our spirits into that blessed realm where we can be occupied with Himself and His glory, as knowing Him as the Resurrection and the Life.
R. 14.7.47 Revised 17.2.62 The joy of the Father’s right hand