The Early Ministry of Christ

Something that would be good for you to have if you're really interested in studying the life of Christ and and you want to do it in a chronological fashion and the sequence of events that occur throughout his life It would be a good a good tool for you to have would be what's called a harmony of the Gospels a Harmony of the Gospels now there are several of them put out I wish I had looked up the most familiar ones to bring you tonight the standard is A.T. Robertson it's an older work first done back in the 20s, but it has been the standard Harmony of the Gospels and what it does is it takes Takes the events of the four Gospels and puts them in order So that as we're going to see tonight you don't miss anything if you're just going through one gospel that doesn't Record everything put all four Gospels together put everything in order. That's called a harmony of the Gospels Some study Bibles also have a harmony in them The Rire study Bible has a harmony of the Gospels and there may be some others too Again, I didn't look them up to make sure before I came in tonight, but Um a good harmony of the Gospels would be a great tool to have um Gundry and Thomas I believe is another one that's more recent Stand Gundry and Robert Thomas have done a harmony of the Gospels as well So something like that would be good because what we're going to find tonight is that um if you were if you were reading like we were last week in Matthew chapter four on the temptation And you end in in verse 11 with the devil left him and angels came and attended him And then you go straight to verse 12 in Matthew four which says when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison He returned to Galilee and he began to live in Capornum verse 13 You'd think well that was the next thing right? No Actually, there are there's at least eight months in between those two verses Were it not for the gospel of John we wouldn't know anything about what happened in those eight months What we're going to see tonight the first four chapters of the gospel of John deal with a time period that's often called um The solitary year or the the silent Year the year of obscurity Some believe it may have been as long as a year other say about eight months of time That is only recorded in the gospel of John and we we typically refer to that as the early ministry of Christ And once he finishes that eight months or so then He begins what's typically called his great Galilee and ministry But this time period is only covered in John's gospel So again if you have a harmony of the gospels it kind of puts all that in order for you and helps you not to miss Anything if you're really wanting to get it in chronological order get the sequence of events in our Lord's life So what we're going to see tonight follows the temptation and comes before Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee So let's look at John's gospel we'll begin John chapter 1 and verse 19 I'm gonna put these Gonna arrange them chronologically, but also Geographically we're gonna look at them Because they are kind of put together in different geographical regions our Lord moves around some in these months of his life And he begins John begins describing events that took place near the river Jordan This is After the baptism of Christ and there are a couple of things that John records that happens Near the river Jordan. Let's take a look at the map and we'll go back and forth between the maps this evening If you're seated very far back that you may not be able to see the the words here But this is a map pretty much of the whole land of Palestine or Israel in New Testament times here's Judea Jerusalem right here Bethlehem right here idiumia which Was the region where hered the great came from And here's the Dead Sea the Jordan River leading up or coming down from the Sea of Galilee And this is Galilee the northern region of Galilee the middle region of Samaria southern region of Judea now The area where we pick up with the life of Christ tonight is probably somewhere in this area Where John was baptizing The Bible says it was on the east side or the other side of the Jordan River so probably on this side of the Jordan River Jesus has been baptized by John he has gone through the 40 days In the wilderness of temptation and now we find that John makes some declarations about Christ so John's declarations about Christ In John chapter 1 verses 29 to 34 or 19 to 34 is what we'll look at first What we're going to do is just kind of scan through Maybe read portions of this and make a few comments give you the highlights But we're not obviously going to be able to do a word for word or verse by verse study Verse 19 now this was John's testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem and priests and Levites Sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was and this is an official Delegation from the religious leaders These men are responsible to check out any religious teachers And so John's been baptizing for some time he's gained quite a following and so now the religious leaders are checking him out Who are you who are you now notice what verse 20 says he did not fail to confess But confessed freely. I am not the Christ. Now that's probably what they were asking Are you the Messiah you see there were there were many claims to Messiah in Israel Several that we know of from historical records Even during the life of Christ there were other people claiming to be Messiah um So when anybody came along and claimed to be the Messiah the religious leaders were supposed to check him out That's what's happening here. So they go to John there say are you the Messiah? He says no no I am not the Messiah. Then they ask him verse 21. Who are you are you Elijah? He says I'm not You like they would ask him about Elijah because the Old Testament prophesied Elijah would come before the coming of the Lord And so um they ask him that no, I'm not Elijah It's interesting that Jesus will later say we'll get to this later Well actually we did talk about it a little bit before when we talked about John the Baptist Jesus will say he was Elijah If he had been accepted he would have he would have accomplished what Elijah was prophesied to do if His ministry had been accepted but they're asking are you the prophet are you the literally Elijah come back before the coming of Of Christ. No, I'm not him. Okay. Are you the prophet? They asking verse 21 he answered no What prophet you think they're talking about there? What proper do they asking about? Are you the prophet seems to be some specific specific prophet any idea who that might be In the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy Moses talks in in Deuteronomy chapter 18 about a prophet that will come who is like him and most Most Bible students believe that is a reference to the Messiah And so they're asking him again are you the Messiah? Are you that prophet that Moses Said would come and and John says no, I'm not so finally they asking verse 22 Well, who are you? Give us an answer Um to take back to those who sin is what do you say about yourself and John's answer is very instructive he says Verse 23 in the voice and the words of Isaiah the prophet I am the one of I am the voice of one calling in the desert Makes straight the way for the Lord in the words. I'm just preparing the way For the Lord who will come after me So verse 24 some Pharisees who had been sent questioning why then do you baptize if you're not the Christ Elijah and not the prophet John says in verse 26 I baptize with water But among you stands one you do not know he is the one who comes after me the thongs of whose sandals I'm not worthy to untie But this all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan where John was baptizing So John makes these statements about Jesus. I'm not the Christ. I'm not the Messiah There's one who's coming after me who's greater than me. I'm not even worthy to untie his sandals Okay, and you don't know yet who he is He's not yet identified himself and then verse 29 He says this The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world Now this is a very critical announcement that John makes He identifies Jesus look this is the Lamb of God Now why do you think that statement is so significant? Why does that announcement about Jesus so significant Come on class somebody knows Okay first time that this particular announcement have been given Yes it is What what is significant about the wording though that John uses The Lamb of God Okay, now for us For us Christian believers this side of the cross You know we get used to that term if you can somehow put yourself in the sandals of a Jew in the first century Hearing that announcement The Lamb of God what would you think You think Sacrifices yeah, you'd think of all the Old Testament sacrifices wouldn't you This is the Lamb of God you mean there is a specific the Lamb of God not This is the Lamb he's a man and he's called the Lamb Obviously John is saying everything we've been doing in the temple to this point has has led up to this person All the Old Testament sacrifices are fulfilled in the Lamb that God has sent He is the Lamb of God and he has come to take away the sin of the world So all that we've been doing in offering these sacrifices which Every Jew would know only covered the sins kind of put God's wrath off for a year um until the next year when the day of atonement would come around they'd offer the same sacrifice again Well all that is now being pointed toward a person the Lamb of God the Lamb sent by God Who will not just roll ahead the sins of the nation for a year But he'll take away the sins of not only the nation of Israel but the world it'll be it'll be expanded beyond Israel This is a very significant Declaration On the part of John and it begins to open up a whole new arena of God's purpose and plan Beyond the nation of Israel Beyond the Old Testament sacrifices this is the Lamb of God Who's going to take away the sin of the world and and so he further identifies him This is the one I meant when I said a man who comes after me is surpassed me because he was before me I myself did not know him But the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel We talked about this a little bit before that one of the purposes of the baptism was so that Christ might Unveil who he was he might this this is the beginning of his ministry This is this launches him into the ministry and verse 32 John further explains John gave this testimony. I saw the spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him Remember that happening at Jesus baptism Verse 33 I would not have known him except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me The man on whom you see the spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God Another very important declaration Because he identifies him not only is the Lamb the fulfillment of the Old Testament sacrifices But he also identifies him as the Son of God This is the first clear statement of the deity of Christ By someone else identifying Jesus as God the Son of God Okay, now remember Jesus is just now stepping out from the obscurity of Nazareth he's a 30-year-old carpenter in the city in the little town of Nazareth That's really how people know him and now he's being introduced to the world as the Lamb of God the Son of God These are huge statements and we read them and with our understanding From this side of the cross and they just kind of roll off our back You know, we don't think of but this would be this would be jaw-dropping stuff for Jews who were listening To this in Jesus day and in John's day to hear these kinds of announcements What you oh you you can't the Lamb of the Son of God You know this is jaw-dropping stuff So John's pronouncements about Jesus are very significant Okay, any any question about his declarations about Christ Yes Yeah Yeah, yes, Steve is saying is isn't this a revolutionary concept as well to them and it is it shouldn't have been They should have known enough from Old Testament messianic prophecies like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 and others That not only is the Messiah a conquering king he is also a sufferer now even the prophets themselves didn't understand how all that fit together So the Jews by the time of the life of Christ all they were thinking of you're right all they were thinking of as a political Deliverer someone that will throw off the Yoke of Rome and so they they didn't recognize him as A suffering savior So in that sense. Yes, this is a revolutionary concept to them They're just looking for a political deliverer All right any other comments or questions about this announcement Joe They did they continued to offer sacrifices in the temple until AD 70 when the Romans destroyed the temple Well most of the Jews didn't receive him that way they didn't recognize him as the Messiah Oh, not Jewish Christians. I'm sorry you asked about Jewish Christians I don't think Jewish Christians did at least there's no evidence that they did they did continue to do some of the Jewish observances But but whether or not they did the David Honement Those kinds of sacrifices is not clear. We know that Paul Paul did the the sacrifices for a release from a vow Okay, so that's a little different acts 20 But whether or not Jewish believers Jewish Christians Continued to go through the sacrificial system. I'd say it's highly doubtful There's no clear indication of that in the book of Acts that I'm aware of Yeah Yeah, other Jews obviously did continue, but Jewish Christians I think recognize that had been fulfilled But they still did some things some of the Jewish ceremonies they still were involved in to some degree and and again We have to understand that in the book of Acts there's a lot of transition going on some of them are still Kind of easing out of that because of tradition and history and all Okay, anything else All right, let's take a look at the next thing that happens in verses 35 to 51 Jesus selects his first disciples Verse 35 says the next day John was there again with two of his disciples So this is still in the same region Near where John's been baptizing and and Verse 36 when he saw Jesus passing by he said look the Lamb of God Okay, he's got two of his disciples with him And he points them to Christ and says look that's the Lamb of God now what John is doing is he's already fulfilling his role That he will identify later in chapter 3 as being the friend of the bridegroom And he's going to say it's my responsibility to point people toward the bridegroom I'm not the key person at the wedding here the bridegroom and the bride are and I'm supposed to be pointing people to him He's already doing that. He's already taking his own disciples and saying look over here Here's the Lamb of God and so notice what happens verse 37 When the two disciples heard him say this they followed Jesus Turning around Jesus saw them following that's what do you want? They said rabbi which means teacher where are you staying? You see when you followed a teacher in that day you literally stayed with that teacher It was a 24 hour day type thing and you would you would become a disciple in the sense that you would be a learner and a A follower of that person and and so they're saying well where are you staying? Verse 39 come you replied you will see so they went and saw where he was staying spent that day with him It was about the 10th hour Verse 40 identifies one of them as Andrew Andrew Simon Peter's brother was one of the two who heard what John had said and who believed would follow Jesus Now who was the other one We're not told who the other one was and for that very reason because The one writing this book the apostle John Does not ever identify himself by name in his own gospel Many suppose that it was John who was the other one Andrew was one John was the other In all likelihood it was Verse 41 the first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon Tell him we found the Messiah that is the Christ and he brought him to Jesus Jesus looked at him and said you are Simon son of John You will be called seaface which being translated as Peter Already indicating that he will he will have a new name which You know the name rock Will be his later on so they're the first Three of his disciples that are that are called Then a couple more the next day verse 43 the next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee Finding Philip he said to him follow me Philip like Andrew and Peter was from the town of Bethesda Philip found Nathaniel and told him we have found the one Moses wrote about in the law Ah, there's that again that prophet that Moses talked about in did run me 18 The one about whom the prophets also wrote Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph And noticed Nathaniel's response in verse 46 Nazareth Can anything good come from there? Nathaniel asked It's stopped right there. Why do you think Nathaniel who's also named Bartholomew If you remember your 12 disciples from Sunday school He's also called Bartholomew Why do you think you asked that can any good thing come out of Nazareth? I'm I'm asking the same question. Why do you think why do you think you said that? It did have a bad reputation Lot of rebellion yeah It was a It was a Roman outpost it was a military town and in those days that was not a good thing for an occupying army a foreign army To have a post in in a town there usually meant a lot of hardship a lot of a lot of mistreatment A lot of immorality And so Nazareth was known as that kind of town But there was another reason why he would ask that particularly if he's if he's just been Introduced to one who is supposed to be the Messiah the one that the Moses and the prophets wrote about and he's from Nazareth Does that Sound funny to someone who might be familiar with the Old Testament Where's Supposed to come from Bethlehem, isn't he yeah? Mike at chapter five one of the prophets and the Samuel probably is a pretty good Old Testament student Most Jews would be they would be familiar with these kinds of things. Mike has said that the The Messiah is going to be from Bethlehem and so it may not just be Nazareth is such a wicked place Surely the Messiah didn't come from Nazareth But it may it there may have been a little more than that. He may have been saying Wait a second the Messiah can't come from a place like Nazareth Supposed to come from Bethlehem I'm sure Jesus straightened him out on that later But anyway, what does Philip say come and see said Philip verse 47 When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching he said of him here is a true israelite in whom is nothing You know How do you know me in the than you last? Jesus answered I saw you while you were still into the fig tree before Philip called you whoa Um now in the than you'll recognize this is not This is not your ordinary person so notice his response in verse 49 the thing you'll declared Rabbi you are the son of God you are the king of Israel. Wow. What a statement and Jesus himself says in verse 50 Jesus said you believe because I told you I saw you into the fig tree I think what he's saying there is You know it is amazing your faith is amazing based on what you've just heard on the one statement That I saw you into the fig tree you have already concluded that I am both the son of God and the king of Israel He's ready to make that Declaration that you are the son of God. You're not just a mere man and you are the Messiah And Jesus says you will see greater things than that He then added I tell you the truth you should see heaven open the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man There's a lot going on there First of all the significance of the fig tree um fig tree was typically a place of meditation It was a place where people would go to think meditate maybe have their devotions, you know something like that study the Bible um Because most Jewish homes were pretty much inside at least one large room It would be a flat roof with stairs leading up on the outside where you could get away from Other people for a while um, I'm thinking of a couple of verses in proverbs that I probably shouldn't reference but Some of you know where I'm headed with that Better to dwell in the corner of a house top then anyway, you know how that goes um So that was kind of the way the house of that a fig tree was considered a place where if you wanted to get away From the hustle and bustle the household you'd just kind of go sit under the fig tree and and meditate or read your Bible or think you know Whatever Didn't really have a copy of the Bible, but you know they'd think about what they heard in the synagogue um It's it's quite possible all it's hard to say it's quite possible that Nathaniel was meditating on Genesis 28 Where Jacob leaving the land of Israel remember sees the latter in his dream with angels ascending and descending Okay, it's quite possible he was That's the reason Jesus references that and he says you're going to see greater things than what I've just told you That I saw you under the fig tree you're going to see greater evidence That I am the son of God and the king of Israel and that greater evidence is you're going to understand that I am the link between heaven and earth You're gonna I tell you the truth you will see heaven open and the angels of God ascending and descending on the son of man You will see things that I will do that will show you I've come down from heaven And you're going to see the power of heaven angels ascending and descending the reason he uses that terminology may be because that was what in the thing you've been meditating on thinking on Can't say for sure, but it's good likelihood of that anyway with quite an interesting interaction here you've got four Uh, actually five early disciples and maybe a sixth one there are many who feel that if If Andrew got his brother Peter then John who's not mentioned probably also recruited his brother James The next time we see them they are called together to follow Jesus So it's possible you we have five mentioned here maybe six Disciples that are are recruited here to follow Jesus now. This is not This is not the leave everything and come follow me as a vocation yet This is the time when they're first introduced to Christ Little bit later he will find them again by their nets Simon and Andrew and Peter and James and John Uh, fishing and he will call them to follow him as a vocation to leave everything and stay with me now That'll happen later and even later than that He will choose 12 of of many of his followers. He'll choose 12 of them to be his apostles So there's kind of a step by step process of these men being called to follow Jesus But here is their initial introduction to him at least five maybe six of them are Initially introduced to him here in John chapter one Okay Okay comments questions about that the initial the first disciples Oh If John's trying to get the heath off Over there Yeah Exactly, I think that's exactly what's happening because now the religious leaders have sent an official delegation to John To ask him who he is their suspecting are you claiming to be the Messiah and I think you're exactly right John I think John is purposely deflecting the attention to Jesus No, no, no, no, that's not my purpose. I'm here to prepare the way for the Messiah There's the Messiah over there Yeah, and and he's purposely deflecting them to Jesus this will continue right on it through chapter three Where even some of John's disciples you know Are are questioning him about this this other person that he baptized and John saying oh wait a second He's the one you're supposed to follow not me Yes Yes, yes It's it's not it's not very big. It's not it's not as wide as new river it'd be More like Bluestone river As far as the width of the Jordan now at flood stage it will it will overflow its banks and be you know, maybe a hundred feet wide but Typically it's 15 20 feet wide Yeah Yeah, it's not a it's you know the songs about the mighty Jordan rolling are a little bit exaggerated Now it was a formidable obstacle at flood stage and that's what that's what happened you know The Bible tells us when the Israelites crossed it in the book of Joshua it was at flood stage and so it was out of its banks and would have been You know very formidable to cross especially with belongings and animals and children and old people you know Okay All right, let's look at Jesus next in Galilee and The next thing that happens in chapter two is Jesus performs his first miracle chapter two Let's take a look at the map of Galilee This is a little uh zoom in on the map we had earlier to the actual section of Galilee here's the Sea of Galilee Here's Nazareth where Jesus uh grew up and is the carpenter the first event that John records is in Cana Okay, and you can see some other places you're familiar with the cities around the Sea of Galilee where Jesus will spend much of his time during his great Galilee and ministry But the first event that's recorded um in Galilee is in Cana and so let's take a look at that in John 2 verses 1 through 11 On the third day and you can see that John is is moving us chronologically here um verse 29 he has said the next day verse 35 the next day verse 43 the next day and then chapter two verse one on the third day probably the third day after Jesus uh was back in Galilee a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee Jesus mother was there Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding Okay, so they're invited to this wedding Cana's maybe what eight miles away from Nazareth something like that And so they go up to the wedding a wedding was more than a two hour event in the first century in in um is real The the wedding itself uh Ceremony itself would would maybe last that long but then there was a Often a seven-day wedding feast These These people knew how to party and they would have a lay they would have an extended wedding feast And it was a great time of celebration I mean if you know anything about Jewish culture it's still that way today They celebrate if you if you've ever seen fit around the roof That is a typical Jewish Community and Jewish type of celebration of life and these folks really knew how to celebrate well verse three When the wine was gone Jesus mother said to him they have no more wine This would be a terrible embarrassment for the host At a feast where you're responsible basically for entertaining people for several days Terrible embarrassment Now notice Jesus interesting reply verse four dear woman why do you involve me Jesus replied My time has not yet come Now this this response has puzzled people um Since the time it was spoken um Did anyone have the King James here? What is that to you or something does it say what does that to me what what does it say what does the King James say Trying to remember Okay, what about to do with the yeah, yeah That uh that expression has caused great concern. I mean what what do I have to do with you I mean it sounds disrespectful to his mother doesn't it well first of all let me say The word dear woman he doesn't call her mother the word woman was an affectionate term in that day It was not a disrespectful term it was not like what we would think well You woman over there. It's it's not disrespectful It's a it's a very respectful endearing term So Jesus was not being disrespectful in that way, but when he says what do I have to do with you literally the grief says What is this between you and me or actually literally it's uh to me and to you it's that kind of thing It was it was a typical Jewish expression of a parting of the ways Okay What Jesus is doing and he he adds to this says my time has not yet come That's going to be a familiar refrain in the book of John especially John uses it several times To indicate that Jesus was operating on a divine timetable He was on the he was on the father's clock now Okay, he's operating on on God the father's clock his timetable And that expression always refers to the fact that Jesus is now operating according to what the father tells him to do Actually what Jesus is saying here is mom You need to understand um because He's 30 years old and he's been in her household for 30 years And what he's saying basically is there's there's a parting of the ways here I'm no longer in subjection to you. I'm operating on my father's timetable He was not being disrespectful He was very gently telling her that I'm I'm embarking on my ministry now And so I'm going to fulfill your request, but only because it is that my father's In my father's will it's only at his behest that I'm going to do this not at yours Okay So that's what's happening here. He's not being disrespectful at all, but he is letting her know I am no longer at home I'm no longer The son who's who's in charge of the household at home. I'm now on on the father's clock Wow, it's really a great statement of a parting of the ways or his embarking on his ministry And notice Mary accepts this remember last week we talked about the fact not last week a couple weeks ago Maybe it was Sunday night who knows it may have been in a dream of what I did this But anyway, at some point we talked about Mary pondering and treasuring up these things in her heart and I think that everything that's happening Mary is thinking about And and this is no doubt one of those times and so she accepts what he says and she turns to the servants in verse five and says do whatever he tells you Okay, she doesn't correct him. She doesn't say anything to him about what he's just said or I think she she's thinking about it She probably is grasping more of it than what we would have on our first reading because of the cultural Idiom that we don't really pick up on Yes, it would have It would it would have been Jesus' responsibility to take care of the family and No doubt that would now to some degree pass to some of his younger brothers But remember Jesus still felt this responsibility didn't they even at the cross When he entrusted the care of his mother to John You know, he's still responsible for her and it's such a touching picture at the cross where Jesus is suffering unbelievably And yet he still Transfers the care of his mother over to to John and so Yes as the the oldest male in the family he is responsible and this is going to leave a big hole For him to to now be gone from the household Now there will still be a lot of contact As we will see as we continue to follow the the gospel records But not the same and Jesus is making it clear. It's not going to be the same as it has been mom for 30 years It's I'm on the father's time clock now I've got three and a half years left He didn't say all that but it's implied in that statement I'm on the father's clock now I got three and a half years to do my ministry And that's where I'm focusing Yeah, she must have sensed okay now's the time You know you wonder Ah so many things we wonder right I mean when he was 26 years old Did they sit down after dinner one night and talk about these kind of things? Did he tell her some day you know Who knows I don't know Well, we're six nearby stood six stone water jars the kind used by the Jews for ceremony of washing each holding from 20 to 30 gallons Jesus said to the servants Fill the jars with water so they filled them to the brim then he told them now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet They did so and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine He did not realize where to come from though the servants had drawn Who had drawn the water knew Then he called the bridegroom aside and said everyone brings out the choice wine first And then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much drink, but you have saved the best till now Which says a lot doesn't it? This is this you know Jesus never does anything halfway This is if he's going to turn water into wine. It's going to be the very best wine and The master of ceremonies if you will what we would probably call him today Recognizes and he's surprised the bridegroom has done things differently than what's normally done Verse 11 John summarizes it This the first of his miraculous signs this is the first miracle Jesus did Which by the way tells us that all the fake gospels Are untrue that that talk about Jesus doing miracles when he was a child Okay, you know turning you know making clay pigeons and then breathing life into him and they fly away Okay, they're there spurious gospels that claim those kinds of things of the childhood of Jesus This is the first of his miraculous signs And He performed it at Canaan Gowdy he thus revealed his glory and his disciples put their faith in him a couple of interesting statements there This is where he begins to display his glory. This is where he begins to step out and show who he is He hasn't done this kind of stuff as a carpenter He's made furniture. He's repaired stuff for people Yeah, he hasn't done miracles now he's showing who he really is So he's did he's demonstrating his glory He's showing by his miraculous works that he is the Messiah. He is the Son of God He is the Savior the Lamb of God. He's demonstrating who he is now and that's that's what it means by he's now showing his glory And it says his disciples put their faith in him. It's an interesting statement It's not that they didn't believe in him already because Nathaniel's already said you know you're the Son of God You're the King of Israel, but their faith is growing as they get more information Isn't that true of even us today? You know they had they had limited information They trusted based on what they knew but the more they know the greater their faith grows and they're They're putting their faith in him more now than what they did a few days ago when they were first asked to following Are there any questions about the changing of the water to wine? You Yeah You're right at this first miracle does demonstrate that God is concerned about Even the little things things that we you know this is not this is not Healing someone from cancer. Okay. This is Providing wine for a wedding feast. So the host will not be embarrassed He is concerned about those even those things Yeah There's there's certainly parallel there Vicki is asking you if the the the the best wine coming last is is also showing that God saved the best for last Which would be a reference to his son? He sent the prophets but his son comes last there's certainly a parallel there I don't I don't know that the miracle was intended to teach that in its setting, but it certainly is a parallel there. Yes It's consistent with the way God works that God sends uh sends those who will prepare the way and then he sends his best kind of a Hebrews one thing God and Past times spoken many ways through various means through the prophets and so forth, but in these last days he spoke of to us and he's son That's the capstone sure All right You mean no one's gonna ask if this was real wine? I thought for sure we're getting a good discussion about that Sid you're gonna ask that okay? Yes, it was real wine You know lots of ink has been spilled over that issue I remember hearing a sermon one time by a fiery preacher and the title of the sermon was My Jesus was not a bartender and And his whole point was this was not real wine. Don't there tell me Jesus would give people alcoholic beverage to drink Well, it's simply a failure to understand the culture of the day wine was the common table drink It was heavily diluted with water many scholars say 20 parts to one because the water was dangerous to drink And so they basically Mixed it with wine and use this as a common table drink And that's why you have Different levels of of wine here, but the typical drink of the day would not be enough unless you just You know saturated yourself with it to become an ebriated So Yeah, you made quite a bit didn't he yeah Yes, six up so That's It's pretty big wedding feast I'd say a lot of people um But okay, we're not talking about Logan David down at the store over here. Okay. We're not talking about that kind of wine It's it was the common table drink of the day. It was more diluted than what we would think of today But it was wine. Yes A wedding was typically everybody. I mean everybody in the community would come and so it was not just relatives It was a celebration because most of these communities were small and everybody knew everybody and a wedding was a celebration for the whole Whole town, you know So there were probably it was a big deal. Yeah, probably a lot of people there Okay Okay All right Jesus pays his first visit to Capernum and then we'll we'll we'll stop first 12 After this he went down to Capernum with his mother and brothers and his disciples there they stayed for a few days Uh, apparently he's not making his home there yet. He will later on later on Capernum will become his home base for his Galilee and ministries great Galilee and ministry, but he's he's not Uh, not there yet As far as staying there they stay there a few days on this occasion the interesting thing to be about this versus it talks about his brothers are with him Well later in John's gospel in chapter 7 and this is toward the more toward the end of Jesus uh ministry even though it's chapter 7 You have to understand that from chapter 11 on you're within the last week or so of Jesus life in John's gospel But in chapter 7 it says his brothers didn't believe in him And so you're What are they doing with him here? You know there they're still this is still very early and They probably don't really understand yet what Jesus is doing Um, it's interesting that they're they're hanging with him to this point, but it won't be long They'll slide away Zoned brothers half brothers Okay Yeah, it's you know, it's fascinating to me that they probably saw um Other miracles will see as we continue on that he did he did other miracles In Jerusalem Early on now whether or not they went to Jerusalem with him we don't know but the fact that uh, they would not accept him is is really It's intriguing. I'll put it that way it's intriguing Okay, time's up. So we need to stop let's have prayer Father, thank you for the opportunity to to study to reflect To think about the life of our Lord And we pray that our our time in the word would not be just to satisfy our curiosity Help us to have that eagerness and desire and zeal to know more of your word That's a good thing Lord we believe but But may it be more than just to satisfy our curiosity it may be so that we know him better And we can we can understand Who your son is better so that we might Understand who we should be better That we might desire to be more like him May this be our goal aren't end of our study we ask in Jesus name amen