Page 25 - The Gospel of John - Student textbook

What are the life applications that we can draw from this passage of Scripture's? It is easy for
us to spiritualize the work of Christ today and conclude that He is only in the business of saving
souls and renewing lives. But is He really interested in the common place events of my life? Is
he really interested in the simple conundrums of everyday living? The Cana story says, yes. We
can invite Christ into dilemmas that seem embarrassingly inconsequential – dilemmas that
seem ridiculously practical – and asked him to help. Another application that can be drawn
from this passage of Scripture is this. Jesus could have created wine without the assistance of the servants, but
he chose to use them. God expects us to do what we can; then God will do what only he can do.

The Significance
2:11
11 Jesus performed this first sign in Cana of Galilee. He displayed His glory, and His disciples believed in Him.

The result of this first sign was twofold. First, He displayed His glory; that is, He put His deity on display. Jesus’
signs were not simply powerful displays of compassion, but were designed to reveal who He really was, since
they unmistakably manifest God work (2:23; 3:2; 4:54; 6:2, 14)

R. C. Sproul says in his commentary that when the apostle John speaks of the miracles of Jesus, he habitually
refers to them as signs. For instance, in the passage we are considering in this chapter, he writes, this beginning
of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee (11). The Greek word translated as sign refers to a sign or token that
distinguished a person or a thing from others. Thus, John is saying that Jesus did His miracles not for their own
sake but to point the observer and the reader beyond them to something that was significant – to Himself and
the One who spoke the unvarnished word of truth. That is, the miracles represented God’s accreditation that
Jesus was sent from Him. But Jesus said that His signs pointed not only to His person, but to His work of bringing
the kingdom of God.

Warren Wiersbe states that the fact that this was the beginning of miracles automatically declares as false the
stories about the miracles performed by Jesus when he was an infant or a young child. They are nothing but
superstitious fables and ought to be rejected by anyone who accepts the authority of the Bible. Another point of
internal evidence was the fact that John admitted that he did not know his own cousin was the Messiah until
Jesus’ baptism in the desert.

Miracles represented God’s accreditation that Jesus was sent from Him

Jesus Displays His Deity
John 2:12 – 25

Jesus’ Passion for Reference
2:12 – 17
After this, He went down to Capernaum, together with His mother, His
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brothers, and His disciples, and they stayed there only a few days. The
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Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple
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complex He found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and [He also found]
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the money changers sitting there. After making a whip out of cords, He
drove everyone out of the temple complex with their sheep and oxen. He
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also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. He
told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop
turning My Father’s house into a marketplace!” And His disciples
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remembered that it is written: Zeal for Your house will consume Me.
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