This morning while I was rereading Psalm 119 I was impressed to read again John chapter 2. And once started to look at chapter 3 the first few verses which I did later this morning. It is these areas that this post will cover, from the Mirror Study Bible (an in depth study of words, their meanings with use) without recap of the KJV or ESV to keep this short as possible. Picking up the follow a few days after Jesus meat Nathaniel. Like the illustration of the Cana wedding we have been pulling back the cover of religions making from the get go of this blog.
John 2:1-11, 12, 13-22, 23-3:3, 4-8, 9-15 "Three days later there was a wedding in Cana, a village in Galilee which Jesus' mother attended. Jesus and His followers were also invited. When Mary learned that they had run out of wine, she informed Jesus. He responded with, 'Well Ma'am, that's their problem - or do you want Me to steal the show here at somebody else's wedding My hour of fulfilling My mission has not yet come?' (Religion has run out of wine - Jesus lived aware of His mission which was to redeem and restore the joyous celebration of the union and Romance of the ages - marring humanity and divinity! While He is the true joy and wine of the party, He fully understood what it would cost Him to drink-in the cup of humanity's injustice and violence on the cross! Look again at John 12:27, "Now is My soul troubled. And what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour?' No! For this purpose I have come to this hour.'") Mary proceeded to line up the waiters to assist Jesus, "Do whatever he tells you to!" Now there were six empty stone water pots used for the ceremonial cleansing of the Jews. They could hold approximately twenty gallons each. Jesus asked the waiters to fill these stone jars with water, to the brim. (Nothing would be left untouched by the effect of the incarnate Word impacting human life entirely - every nook and cranny - spirit soul and body! see the note on John 1:51, also 1John 5:18 in earlier posts.) And then instructed them to immediately draw from the containers and present it to the governor of the feast; Which they did without hesitation. The host of the event tasted the water that has now become wine, but had no clue as to its vintage or origin. The servants didn't tell him a word, so he called the bridegroom. "Why would you keep the best wine for last?" Everybody serves the better wine first, so that by the time the cheaper wine is served, no-one can tell the difference - and here you surprise us all by bringing this excellent wine from your storehouse. Even though we already had much to drink, it is impossible not to tell its superiority!" (Even minds intoxicated with the inferior religious jargon can immediately tell the difference when the Holy Spirit transforms ordinary conversation into the wonderful, blissful wine of revelation and the merry celebration of new life!) In this first of the signs which Jesus performed at a wedding in Cana of Galilee, He gave everyone a foretaste of the beauty and intention of His mission. And His disciples believed into Him. (The word (G1391) doxa is often translated glory, is from (G1380) dokeo, to form an opinion, a view, an idea or intention - ideas become our eyes - the way we see things. If Jesus could do this to water - imagine how He can transform ordinary routine days into the invigorating adventure of living the new life of our original design! His 'First' miraculous sign was a change within a vessel! A jar of stone. External washing has been upgraded to internal transformation of our inner thought processes. Completely transformed to the "brim"! And, it wasn't even drinking water, but "the kind used for ceremonial washings!" There is nothing Jesus intended to leave out of His transformation of humanity. And, although it wasn't time for Jesus to give His wine that night at Cana. I believe it was no accident that it was the first miracle - Could there have been a more profound picture of His ministry and what His Wine would do in the lives of ordinary vessels? He thusly revealed His Glory!
"They have no wine!" That's all Mary says to Jesus after noticing the newlyweds' embarrassment. Could she be more indirect? Yet He knows what she wants, and He's not (sensing readiness) feeling ready. He tells her it's not time to reveal His glory and suffer the consequences. The wine He could make would be free to the guests but cost Him plenty. Mary marches right over to the serving table as if He'd said, "no problem" instead of "no way." She once said a costly yes; She's not about to take no for an answer from Him. Because they have no wine. It's human history she's talking about, life's disappointed guests milling around with empty glasses from time immemorial. She's waited long enough for the mighty to fall, for the poor to dance at the wedding, for the kingdom's elixir to flow. Persian kings (potentates) had brought three costly gifts and bent their knees to Him. Why is He still constructing cabinets in Nazareth? She wants Him out of the house. He gives in and produces liquid heaven in preposterous quantities. He squanders it on us, the undeserving who can't distinguish rotgut from Rothschild. He became the wastrel we needed Him to be - thank you Mary. Prayer; When we are reluctant to act on our calling, Oh GOD, send us a Mary to remind us, "They have no wine." Get us out of the house! Thank You LORD GOD.)
After this he joined His family and followers to go down to Capernaum and remained there for several days.
Jesus then went up to Jerusalem in time for the Jewish Passover. When Jesus went into the temple area He was shocked to find scores of traders selling their sacrificial items, cattle, sheep, and doves. Even their money brokers were comfortably set up in the sanctuary. (The business of sin-consciousness have taken over the mindsets of religious indoctrinated peoples - until Jesus arrived.) Then with a whip that he plaited of small [1]strands, He drove everyone with their sheep and oxen out of the temple and overturned the tables of the money brokers so that their money went fling all over the place. (Jesus dramatically reveals that His Father has no delight in religious sacrificial systems and its sin-conscious currencies. [1, G4979 schoinion] σχοῖνος schoinos, perhaps from skenos, tabernacle or skin - leather thongs - a profound prophetic picture of His own broken skin that would become the whip to drive out sin-consciousness from our minds - the ultimate cleansing of the Temple - the sanctuary of GOD within us! 1Peter 1:18-19.) He also drove the dove traders out with, 'How dare you turn My Father's house into a shopping mall?' This incident reminded His disciples of the Scripture, "I am consumed with zeal for My Father's house!" (Psalm 69:9. God is ablaze with zeal for you! You are the Temple of GOD - His address - His dwelling place!) The Jews demanded to know from Jesus how, what He has just done in the temple, could possible point to the significance of His Messianic mission. "Show us a sign!" To which Jesus responded, 'The temple will be completely demolished by you and in three days I will raise it up!' (The word [1, G3089 lou, compared to G4486] lusate, to undo, demolish, is in the Aorist, Passive, imperative case; The distinction between the Aorist imperative and the present imperative is one of aspect, not necessarily tense. Thus, to get something over and done with!
Look at Matthew 12:39-40, But He answered them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; But no sign will be given to it except the sign of the Prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.'
Then look at Isaiah 7:11-14, "Ask a sign of the LORD your GOD; Let it be deep as Sheol or High as heaven. But you would not, therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Then Isaiah 9:6-7, "For unto us a child is born, to us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulders, and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty GOD, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end."
In His resurrection on the third day, GOD would co-quicken humanity and co-raise us together with Him! As found in Hosea 6:2, Ephesians 2:5. Human life will again be the tabernacle of GOD! "On the third day Ester put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, opposite the king's hall. The king was sitting on his royal Throne inside the palace opposite the entrance to the palace; And when the king saw Queen Ester standing in the court, she found favor in his sight and he held out to Ester the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Ester approached and touched the tip of the scepter top." Ester 5:1-2.
Then Luke 24:27, 32, 44-46 "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets (Gen. 3:15, 22:18, 26:4, 49:10, Num. 21:9, Deu. 18:15, Ps. 22, 132:11, Is.7:14, 9:6, 40:10, 50:6, 53, Jer. 23:5, 33:14, Ezek. 34:33, 37:25, Dan. 9:24, Mic. 7:20, Mal. 3:1, 4:2 and John 1:45), He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself....They said to each other, did not our hearts ignite within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?..... Then He said to them, these are My words which I spoke to you, while I was still with you, that everything written about Me in the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then He opened their minds to understanding the Scriptures, and said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead.' See also Ps 22 and Isaiah 53.
In Matthew 16:21 we find this; "From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and there suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third be raised.") The Jews responded with, "This temple was under construction for forty six years and you will rebuild it in just three days? Haha!" They did not understand that the temple Jesus was pointing to, was the human body. (In Him, the only true address of GOD was to be redeemed in human life in His resurrection! Look again at Hosea 6:2, "After two days He will revive us, on the third day He will raise us up!" (some preach as a future event coupled with the calling away, by missing verse 3's impact; "Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; His going out is sure as the dawn; He will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth." Also Ephesians 2:5, and 1Peter 1:3; Acts 7:47-50, For it was Solomon who built a house for Him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands; As the Prophet says, 'Heaven is My Throne, and earth My footstool. What house will you build for Me, says the LORD, or what is the place of My rest? [This seen in Gen. 2:1-3] Did not My hand make all these things?'
The word [G2411] hieros speaks of the greater temple building with all its out courts etc. whereas the word Jesus used here is (G3485) naos, referring to the inner sanctuary - this is also the word Paul uses in 1Corinthians 6:19, "Do you not realize that your body by design is the sacred shrine of the Spirit of GOD!" This is the most sacred place in the universe! There is nowhere in eternity that can match this! See John 1:14 again, "And the Word became flesh and now resides within us!" And John 14:20, "In that day you will know that I am in My Father and you in Me and I in you!")These words of Jesus as well as their significant prophetic connection with Scripture gives us such clear context to the disciples when they later, after His resurrection, recalled all these things.
Now during the Passover feast in Jerusalem, many believed in His Name - surely the signs He did confirmed His mission as the Messiah-Savior of the world? Jesus however did not make much of their apparent support - He wouldn't entrust Himself to them since He knew all things. (He knew how their own faith would fail them in the end. He did not endorse their excitement about the signs they saw as a valid basis to their belief. Signs are not the source of faith - signs follow faith! Jesus' belief in the integrity of our inner being is what saves us from the lies that we believe about ourselves.) He knew that their brief belief was simply based on the surface hype of the moment and not upon that which He was about to redeem in their innermost [1]being. He knew them better than what they knew themselves! He had no need for anyone's theory about the [2]human species to confirm what He always knew to be true about them. (Literal translation - "He had no need that any should testify concerning human life - He indeed knew what [1]was in the human being." [1, G846 autos meaning baffling wind, backward ] eimi, I am; our very origin of beingness! Which was exactly why He came, not as an example for us but as us, of us! So that we may know even as we have always been known! Matthew 13:44, 2Corinthians 4:7. The word for the [2, G444]human species, male and female is anthropos, from ana, upwards and tropos, manner of life; Character; In like manner. see John 1:51 posted elsewhere.)
I will endeavor to finish this with John 3:1-15's teaching of Nicodemus on Scripture.
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