Turning Water Into Wine

Jesus, His mother, and His disciples were invited to a wedding at Cana of Galilee. The bride and the groom are unknown characters of the Bible, but something life-changing happened here. Jesus did something miraculous at this wedding: He turned six stone water jugs into six stone jugs of wine, filled to the brim.


The transformation of water into wine points to Jesus as being the Source of all the blessings of God’s future. When Jesus turned water into wine, it was the first sign that the Messianic times had finally begun.

Jesus performed the first sign in Cana of Galilee, in front of His mother, His disciples, and a village full of people. He displayed his glory, and His disciples believed in Him. (John 2:11 HCSB)

So, on the third day, Jesus, His mother, and His disciples attended a wedding in Cana of Galilee. The moment the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother told Him, “They don’t have any wine.”

“What has this concern of yours to do with Me, woman?” Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.” That sounds like pretty abrupt language coming from the Son of God. But what Jesus means is that it was not yet His time to provide for all the people through His sacrificial death.

“Do whatever He tells you,” Mary told the servants. And of course they did as they were told. There were six stone water jars set aside for Jewish purification, each containing between 20 or 30 gallons.

“Fill the jars with water,” Jesus ordered. The servants filled the jars to the brim, and then He said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the chief servant.” So they took some water out of the jar and brought it to the chief.

The chief servant tasted the water, after it had become wine. At first he was confused, because he had no idea where it had come from. But the servants who filled the water to the brim and brought it to him knew exactly from where it had come.

The chief servant called the groom and told him, “Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people have drunk freely, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.” (John 2:1-11)

I know it must not make much sense, because Jesus Christ just created over a hundred gallons of wine for a wedding, which would create a lot of drunkenness. However, in this time period of history, weddings usually lasted a week, and consisted of the entire village.

Who was John the Baptist?

Welcome to our new blog! This is the first post (May 2, 2010). It is about someone who Jesus described as "among those born of women there has not risen one greater" (Matthew 11:11). Can you guess who it is?

     John the Baptist is mentioned throughout the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. He is the forerunner of Jesus Christ; he is a relative of Jesus. John the Baptist is important to Christians because he is the one God sent to baptize Jesus and preach repentance to the Jews. He was telling the Jews not only to repent, but that the Messiah was coming. He was sent to prepare the way of the Lord, as it says in the Book of Isaiah:
     “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God’” (Isaiah 40:3; cf. Malachi 3:1 NKJV). “Look, I am sending My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way. A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way for the Lord; make His paths straight!’” (Mark 1:2-3 HCSB)
     John the Baptist is a different man from John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” However, John the Apostle might have been a disciple of John the Baptist before meeting Jesus. Andrew was also another disciple of John the Baptist. In fact, John the Apostle and Andrew became the Master’s original disciples.  John the Baptist was many times mistaken as the Messiah, or a reincarnated Elijah. There is a story about John the Baptist written in the Book of John (John 1:21—27 HCSB):

     “What then?” they asked him. “Are you Elijah?”
     “I am not,” he said.
     “Are you the Prophet?”
     “No,” he answered.
     “Who are you, then?” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?”
     He said,” I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord—just as Isaiah the prophet said.”
     Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”
     “I baptize with water,” John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know Him. He is the One coming after me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.”

     In Mark 1:7, John said, “Someone more powerful than I will come after me.” There is a large gap in time (approximately 30 years) between the months prior to the birth of John the Baptist, where an elderly couple gave birth to him, and when he baptized Jesus.
     In the Book of Luke, John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, was told by the angel Gabriel that he would soon have a son named John. Zechariah did not believe him, so Gabriel made Zechariah become mute until the eighth day after John had been born, when it was time for the baby to be circumcised and named.
     The same angel visited Mary, who was a relative of Elizabeth, John’s mother. Gabriel was the angel that told Mary, a virgin, that she would give birth to the Son of God. Mary even lived with Elizabeth and Zechariah while John and Jesus were still in the womb.
     John the Baptist became a large man dressed in camel’s hair with a large leather strap around his waist. John’s diet consisted of locusts and wild honey. It is untold why John lived in the wilderness, but it is believed that Herod the Great killed Zechariah, and Elizabeth fled into the wilderness with John.
     John the Baptist is most remembered as the Baptizer of Jesus Christ. He baptized Jesus in the Jordan River, just as he had baptized many other people. John was confused, because he thought that it was Jesus that was supposed to baptize him, not the other way around.
     “Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfill all righteousness,” is what Jesus said to John the Baptist right before His baptism (Matthew 3:15 HCSB). While He was praying, Heaven opened up, and immediately when Jesus came out of the water the Spirit of God descended on Him like a dove. A voice came from Heaven, “This is My beloved Son. I take delight in Him!” (Matthew 3:16-17; Mark 1:10-11; Luke 3:21-22 HCSB)
     John the Baptist was arrested not long after the baptism. You see, Herod had John arrested, chained, and put in prison because Herod married his brother’s wife. “It is not lawful for you to have her!” John the Baptist said to him. Herod wanted to have him killed, but he feared the crowds, since they regarded him as a prophet, as it says in Matthew 14:1-6 (HCSB).
     During Herod’s birthday celebration, Herodias’s daughter delighted Herod because she danced before him and his guests. Herod promised her that he would give her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, Herodias asked, “Give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter!” The king regretted this, but he had it done. Then his disciples came and removed the corpse, buried it, and went and reported to Jesus (Matthew 14:6-13 HCSB)
     Sometime between John’s arrest and his death, John the Baptist sent a message to Jesus, saying “Are you the One who is to come, or should we look for someone else?” (Luke 7:19-20)
By this message, it tells us that perhaps John the Baptist had changed his mind about Jesus, because earlier John claimed that Jesus was the Messiah, (Matthew 3:14; John 1:32-34 HCSB). It is not surprising that John would become doubtful, because he was sent to prison based on the teachings of Jesus, but the ministry of Jesus was not turning out the way John expected.
     Soon after Jesus replied to John’s message, He began teaching the crowds about John the Baptist. “I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John, but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (Luke 7:28; cf. Matthew 11:11)
     Because Jesus’ name was becoming so well known, some thought that He was actually John the Baptist raised from the dead. John is a very important person who is referred to in the Old Testament and all four gospels of the New Testament. Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Malachi both predicted the coming of John the Baptist as the forerunner to the Son of God. When John said “Someone more powerful than I will come after me” (Mark 1:7), he was referring to God Himself. John was sent to make the paths of the Lord straight, and he continued to worship Him until he was beheaded in prison.