Let us turn to the Gospel of John—John, chapter 2.
John 2:3:
And when the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus saith unto Him, They have no wine.
And Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.
His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.
Verse 11:
This beginning of His signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed on Him.
We know that this is the miracle at Cana. Now let us turn to the last chapter of the same book, John 21.
John 21:1 says:
After these things Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberias.
Let us remember that, in the first miracle, the Holy Spirit used the phrase, “manifested His glory.” This beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory.
Now, when we read John 21:1, we find that Jesus manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. Then, in verse 3, Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will also come with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing.
But when day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them, “Children, you do not have any fish, do you?” They answered Him, “No.” And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you will find a catch.”
Then, in verse 10, Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish which you have now caught.” Verse 11 says that Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.
Now we know that this is the last miracle recorded in the Gospel of John. This miracle is for the purpose of manifesting Jesus Himself.
Between chapter 2 and chapter 21, there are eight miracles recorded in the whole Gospel of John. We know that there are roughly two hundred and thirty-two miracles recorded in the whole Bible—roughly one hundred and fifty-one in the Old Testament and eighty-one in the New Testament. Our Lord performed roughly thirty-five miracles, and eight of those are recorded in John.
Now, it is very interesting. If you go through these eight miracles, you discover that they form a very interesting structure. When the Holy Spirit recorded these eight miracles, if you go into the details, you find a very, very interesting structure there.
If we understand that structure, then we can understand a little more about the lesson behind these eight miracles. The Holy Spirit uses the word sign instead of miracle, though we know that it means miracle.
What is the meaning of a sign? A sign simply means that it is not just a miracle; it is a miracle with a lesson behind it. That is very important. All the miracles recorded in John are called signs. Therefore, behind these miracles, we ought to learn some very important lessons.
First, let us find out what the structure is behind these eight miracles. Most of you are Sunday school teachers, and by now you should know what these eight are. I do not want to embarrass you in case you forget some of them, so let me give you a review.
The first sign is the changing of water into wine. The last sign is the catch of one hundred and fifty-three fish. The first and the last are very clear.
The second sign is the healing of the nobleman’s son in John 4. That son was dying, but his father prayed to the Lord, and he died no more.
In John 5, we have the healing of the man who had been paralyzed for about thirty-eight years. He was lying beside the pool of Bethesda, expecting that the waters might be stirred and that he might be healed.
According to archaeology, there may have been a hidden spring under that pool which rose periodically. The people thought that an angel stirred the water, but the spring was intermittent. There may also have been mineral properties in the water which gave it some healing power.
The paralyzed man had been there for thirty-eight years. It was a long illness. He was willing to be healed, but he was not able to go down into the pool. Yet the Lord healed him in a wonderful way. That is the third miracle.
The fourth miracle is the feeding of the five thousand, recorded in John 6. The fifth is how our Lord walked upon the water.
If you ask some modernists, they will say that our Lord was merely walking along the seashore, where the water was shallow. Some Bible scholars have believed things like that. But I prefer to believe that the Lord did walk upon the water. That is the fifth miracle.
The sixth miracle is the healing of the man blind from birth, recorded in John 9. The seventh is the resurrection of Lazarus. The last one is the catch of one hundred and fifty-three fish.
If you go through these eight miracles, you discover a fascinating structure. The first miracle corresponds to the last one, if you read the stories carefully.
In the first miracle, they had no wine. In the last miracle, they had no fish. In the first, people gathered together for a meal, and there was a feast. In the last, the disciples gathered for breakfast.
In the first, there was no wine, but the Lord changed water into wine. In the last, they had no fish. They had caught nothing for a whole night; but when our Lord stood on the beach, with one word from Him they caught one hundred and fifty-three fish.
If you study carefully, the first miracle and the last one correspond to each other. We do not have time to go into every detail.
The second miracle and the seventh miracle also correspond to each other. The second is about the son of the nobleman; the seventh is about death and resurrection—the resurrection of Lazarus.
Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that Lazarus was sick. Jesus was not there; He was in another Bethany. There are two Bethanies in the Bible, so do not be confused. One was near Jerusalem, and the other was beyond the Jordan River.
When the need arose, the Lord was not present. In the same way, the nobleman had to go to the Lord and ask Him to come down and heal his son. In both cases, there was a distance between the need and the Lord’s physical presence.
If you compare these two stories carefully, they are very interesting. On the one hand, the Lord answered their prayers. On the other hand, He did not answer them according to their own method.
In the case of the nobleman, he said, “Please come down to our house. If You touch my son, he will be healed.” The Lord was willing to heal the son, but not according to the nobleman’s method. The Lord did not go down and touch the body of his son. He simply said, “Thy son liveth.”
The nobleman went away. That was the way of faith, because he had the word within him. When he reached the end of the road, he knew that his son really lived. He learned the very hour when the Lord had said, “Thy son liveth.”
That is the story of the nobleman: how our Lord answered his prayer without answering it in the way he expected. Sometimes we believe in the power of our Lord, but somehow we do not have faith in His wisdom. We want our way. We want the Lord not only to answer our prayer, but to answer it according to our method.
But His ways are always higher than ours, and His method is much more wonderful than ours.
The same thing is true in the story of Martha and Mary. They sent word to our Lord Jesus. The way they sent the message showed that they expected Him to come immediately. Because the Lord loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, they thought He would come back at once and do something.
But a strange thing happened. The Lord was coming to perform the miracle, yet the Bible says that because He loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, He stayed two more days.
Brother and sisters, Martha and Mary thought, “If the Lord loves us, He should come immediately.” But the Lord said, in effect, “If I love Martha and Lazarus, I will wait another two days.”
When He arrived, it seemed too late. Martha tried to prevent the tomb from being opened, reminding the Lord that Lazarus had been dead for four days. Because of the hot climate, people had to bury the dead immediately.
There was a Jewish saying at that time that within four days the soul was still hovering around, looking for an opportunity to return to the body. That was their belief. But after four days, they regarded the matter as hopeless. The man was not only dead; he was thoroughly dead.
Even today, we understand that after death the body undergoes irreversible decay. At that time, the Jewish saying was that there might be some opportunity within four days for the soul to rejoin the body. But Martha was reminding the Lord that Lazarus was beyond the point of return.
Yet at that moment, our Lord performed the miracle. He said, “Lazarus, come forth.” And Lazarus came forth.
Fortunately, our Lord did not merely say, “Come forth.” If He had said only, “Come forth,” all the dead bodies might have come forth. But He called Lazarus by name. That is a very important miracle.
Again, there is a conflict here. On the one hand, we pray and believe that the Lord can perform miracles. But hidden in our hearts, we often want Him to perform the miracle in our way and in our time.
But thank the Lord: what is a miracle? A miracle is not merely to show us the power of God. A miracle is to show us the wisdom of God.
May the Lord be merciful to us. The second miracle and the seventh miracle form another unit. The nobleman’s son died no more; and in the story of Lazarus, even though he died, the Lord raised him from the dead. Here we see life out of death.
The third pair is the healing of the paralyzed man and the healing of the man blind from birth. In both cases, there was a long illness. The blind man had been blind from birth, and the other man had been paralyzed for thirty-eight years.
There is a one-to-one correspondence. Let me give you some examples, though I know this may become a little boring.
First, the history of each man is described. The paralyzed man had been ill for thirty-eight years, while the blind man had been blind from birth.
In the second pair, the nobleman and Mary and Martha took the initiative. They prayed and sent messages to the Lord. But in the third pair, it is different. In both the healing of the paralyzed man and the healing of the blind man, the Lord took the initiative.
In the case of the paralyzed man, there was the pool of Bethesda. In the story of the blind man, the Lord told him to wash in the pool of Siloam. Thus, there is one pool in one account and another pool in the other.
Jesus healed the paralyzed man on the Sabbath. If you study the Bible carefully, you find that He also healed the blind man on the Sabbath. In both cases, the Jews accused Him of violating the Sabbath.
In the case of the paralyzed man, the Jews asked who had healed him. In the case of the blind man, the Pharisees asked how he had been healed. Again, there is a one-to-one correspondence.
The paralyzed man did not know where Jesus was, or who He was. In the case of the blind man, the man did not know where Jesus was. Then Jesus found each of them and invited each one to faith.
In the case of the paralyzed man, Jesus implied a relationship between sin and suffering. In the case of the blind man, Jesus rejected sin as the explanation for the man’s suffering.
The paralyzed man went to the Jews. In the case of the blind man, the Jews cast the man out. In John 5:17, Jesus said that He must work as His Father works. In John 9:4, He said that He must work the works of Him that sent Him.
If you go through the details, you become quite certain that here is another pair: the third and the sixth miracles.
Finally, we come to the feeding of the five thousand and our Lord walking upon the sea. That is the fourth pair. I do not have time to go through all the details; otherwise, I will keep you until midnight.
But this analysis should make it clear that, in the eight miracles recorded in John, the Holy Spirit has arranged them in a wonderful way. There is a structure of one-to-one correspondence.
It is somewhat like a lampstand. This is not a perfect illustration, because the Jewish lampstand has seven lamps and seven branches. The outer branches are of similar height; then there are inner branches of another height; and finally there is the branch in the middle.
In the same way, the structure of these eight miracles is symmetrical. The first corresponds to the last. The second corresponds to the seventh. The third corresponds to the sixth. The fourth corresponds to the fifth. Thus, we find four pairs of miracles.
If you draw a line in the middle, you can see the symmetry. Let me use a simple illustration. Suppose you say, “I love Rebecca as much as Rebecca loves Isaac.” You can see the symmetry: “I,” “love,” “Rebecca,” “as much as,” “Rebecca,” “loves,” “Isaac.”
No matter which direction you read, there is correspondence. In the same way, when you study the miracles in John, you find this wonderful structure behind the eight signs.
Now we should ask: is this by accident? Of course not. There must be a message there. We have to read again and again to find the lesson behind each miracle and to see the relationship between them.
Are these messages merely scattered and fragmentary, or has the Holy Spirit correlated them into one whole? I believe they are correlated into one whole, and they give us one important revelation.
One thing impresses us very much. If you go through the whole Gospel of John, you remember how our Lord called His disciples in the first chapter: “Follow Me.”
Then, from chapter 2, we have the first miracle; and when we come to the last chapter, we have the last miracle. After that, the Lord said to Peter again, “Follow Me.”
The first calling to Peter was, “Follow Me,” and the last calling to Peter was also, “Follow Me.” Thus, as we go through the Gospel of John, we see how the disciples followed their Lord.
This way begins with a miracle and ends with a miracle. What does that mean? It means that the Christian life is a series of miracles. It is not merely one, two, or three miracles.
Finally, we discover that the Christian life is itself a miracle—not merely full of miracles. From the first miracle to the last, we find this truth.
At the beginning, there was no wine. After the disciples had followed the Lord for about three and a half years, their final lesson was that they had no fish.
At the beginning, the Lord had to intervene and change water into wine. But after they had followed Him for three and a half years, and seemed mature in the Lord, they still needed a miracle. They labored all night and caught nothing.
Then, with one word from the Lord, they caught fish. The Lord said, “Cast the net on the right-hand side of the boat.” Can you believe that these seven fishermen were experts in that area? They had labored all night. They had surely tried the left-hand side, the right-hand side, the front, and the back. Yet they caught nothing.
Then our Lord appeared on the beach. It was still dark, and the disciples thought He was perhaps one of those people who came early in the morning to sell food to fishermen returning from a night’s work.
That is why they did not recognize the Lord when He said, “Children, have ye aught to eat?” It was the kind of question commonly spoken by those who wished to sell something to the fishermen.
At first, they did not know that it was the Lord. But because of His word, they cast their net on the right-hand side. The strange thing is that Peter must have cast the net on that side the night before, but there had been no fish.
Yet with one word from God, there was a redistribution of fish in the Sea of Galilee. With one word, they caught one hundred and fifty-three fish.
Brother and sisters, we may think that when we are young in the Lord, we need miracles. But we should not forget that, even when we have become mature and have followed the Lord for many years, we still need miracles.
At the beginning, we have no wine; later, we have no fish. How can we live? We live by His word. With one word from Him, everything is changed: one hundred and fifty-three fish.
What is a miracle? Can you give a definition of a miracle? If you ask a naturalist, because he does not believe in God apart from nature, he may say that a miracle is anything against nature.
Naturalists believe that the universe is eternal and infinite. They try to derive order from chaos. They say that we do not need a Creator for this universe.
I remember reading a book with a very interesting title. Christians believe that this universe is like a beautiful watch, carefully designed, and that God is the watchmaker. But some naturalists do not believe in God at all; they believe only in evolution. The title of the book was The Blind Watchmaker.
Can you believe that a watchmaker with cataracts, blind and unable to see, could make a watch? Yet they wish to tell us that order comes out of chaos—that even if the watchmaker were blind, the watch could somehow be here.
They make the universe into god. Instead of believing that God is eternal and infinite, they believe that the universe is eternal and infinite. For that reason, they do not believe in miracles.
But if we study the Bible, we know that miracles in the Bible are never against nature, because it is God who created the laws of nature. Miracles are supernatural, but they are not against nature.
Remember the story in Esther. Haman issued an order that all the Jewish people would be wiped out in one day. The law of the Persian Empire was an iron law. It could not be changed.
After Haman was hanged on the gallows, Esther sought to change that law. She wept before King Ahasuerus, but nothing could change the original decree. The law was law.
How, then, were the people of Israel saved? Under Mordecai’s influence, another law was issued. This new law gave the Jews authority to protect themselves. Through that second law, they were delivered.
This is very interesting. When God created heaven and earth, He said that everything was good. There was never any intention on God’s part to violate the laws of nature.
When a miracle happens, God has not broken His own law. Sometimes it is like another law operating alongside the first law, just as the decree associated with Mordecai operated alongside the earlier Persian decree.
The Bible gives us an interesting definition of miracle. I will not tell you exactly where to find the verse; you can go home and find it with your concordance. But the definition is this: a miracle is the finger of God.
Brother and sisters, when God moves His finger, there is a miracle.
After God created heaven and earth and pronounced everything good, the universe became, in one sense, a closed system. There are laws of conservation, momentum, energy, and many other laws that can be derived.
But after man’s fall, God had to do the work of redemption. That is why our Lord said, “My Father worketh even until now, and I work.”
God still moves His finger. In our Christian life, whenever He moves His finger, we know that a miracle has taken place.
Why does He move His finger? Not only for the work of redemption, but especially because, when we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, the Lord works in us that we may be transformed into the image of His Son.
Every day, brother and sisters, you may find a series of miracles occurring in your environment for one purpose: that you may be transformed into the image of Christ.
When we discover a miracle, perhaps after a car accident, we say, “That was a miracle.” But let me ask you: is it merely a miracle, or is it a sign? If it is a sign, there must be some lesson behind that miracle.
For us as Christians, we do not merely tell people about miracle after miracle. Yes, miracles are wonderful. But we ask, “What is the meaning behind that miracle?”
All things work together for one purpose: that we may be transformed into the image of Christ.
A miracle is something very rare. If people see the beauty, patience, and humility of Christ in me, they may say, “That is a miracle,” because those things are not naturally in me.
People know how I naturally react and how I naturally act. In everyday life, we know how to react. But sometimes, when things happen, we learn to turn the other cheek. We learn to walk another mile. Then you know that it is a miracle.
You know that it is no longer you. It must be Him. Somehow, the Lord has moved His finger in our lives. That is what we call the working of the cross.
The working of the cross is the work of the Holy Spirit today. He applies the finished work of the cross and works in us. When He moves His finger, we are transformed.
Sometimes, when I travel, I can become tense before leaving. Normally, I may be a quiet gentleman, in a good temper. But when I am preparing to travel, I may become demanding because I want everything finished and in order before I go out.
My wife is not exactly like me. She has her way of doing things, and I have my way of doing things. That is natural. If you want to know me, do not look at me now. I may be very spiritual because I am standing here. You should see me when I am preparing to leave and everything must be in its place.
My wife helps me, but sometimes I may not be happy. I may not lose my temper, but somehow you can see it on my face. That is very natural. We are natural men.
But by the mercy of the Lord, before I travel, sometimes I can be calm. I do not put pressure on my wife. Then, before I say goodbye to her, she asks, “What happened to you today?”
She says that there is a Chinese saying: if something unusual happens today, perhaps there will be sunshine tomorrow, even if it is raining today. She asks, “Are we going to have sunshine tomorrow?” In other words, something very unusual has happened.
Brother and sisters, it is natural for us to show the personality of old Adam. It is very easy. When I tried to teach my daughter some lessons from the Bible, she wanted to know what Eve, our great-grandmother, looked like.
Sometimes when my daughter lost her temper, I put a mirror before her and said, “Look, that is exactly what Eve looked like.” It is so easy. You do not have to pretend, because that is within us. It is natural.
But thank God: whenever the Lord touches us with His finger, somehow the humility of Christ is produced in us, and the patience of Christ is produced in us. Then we know that it is no longer I, but Christ who liveth in me.
That is by the grace of God. Brother and sisters, what is this? This is a miracle.
The Gospel of John is especially addressed to the church of God. Therefore, these miracles must have something to do with the Christian life and the Christian walk.
When we begin this way with the Lord, it begins with a miracle, and it ends with a miracle. The problem is that we think that when we were young, we needed miracles, but when we become mature in the Lord, we have graduated from them. No.
God uses these eight miracles to remind us that it is a miracle from the very beginning, and it is a miracle that leads us to the very end. Finally, we will say that the Christian life is full of miracles.
More than that, the Christian life is itself a miracle. We can never live the Christian life unless Christ lives in us. Only when Christ lives and works in us do people see the beauty and glory of Christ in us. Then they say, “That is a miracle, because God has touched His finger.”
If you analyze the first pair of miracles, they had no wine and they had no fish. The Lord moved His finger, changing water into wine. They had no fish, yet there were one hundred and fifty-three fish.
What does that mean? It means, “Not I, but Christ.” What they had was zero wine and zero fish.
When you study your Bible, particularly Isaiah, you find that we are regarded by God not only as nothing, but as less than nothing.
What is nothing in mathematics? It is zero. But less than zero means a negative number: minus one, minus two, minus three, minus four, minus five. In ourselves, we are less than zero.
But thank God for the cross. Through the work of the cross, He lifts us up. He lifts us from a negative number to zero. That is the work of the cross.
The work of the cross always brings us to zero. Remember, we were less than zero. But by His working, by His moving of His finger, by His work of miracle, we are brought to zero. That is the goal of the work of the cross.
One day, a young brother wanted to become very spiritual. He went to an older brother and said, “Brother, please pray for me that I may be reduced to nothing.”
The older brother replied, “Son, the Lord has already answered your prayer. You are nothing. You do not need to be reduced to nothing; you are already nothing.”
Brother and sisters, this is the work of miracle. What is the purpose of the working of the cross in us? It always brings us to zero. That work is a promotion: He lifts us up to zero.
At the beginning, we have no wine. At the end of the road, we have no fish—zero again. What does that mean? All the way, this is the work of the cross: not I, but Christ who lives.
What is the Christian life? If you study the first miracle and the last one, you find the definition of Christian life: it is a life of “not I, but Christ.”
When you come to the second pair of miracles, you discover that this life is life out of death. The nobleman’s son died no more. Even when we come to the end of our natural life, we experience a life that is out of death.
When we come to the third pair, remember the story of the blind man. After his sight was restored, people said, “Is not this he that sat and begged?”
Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” The man himself said, “I am he.”
It was a miracle. Formerly, he was a beggar. Formerly, he was blind. But now his eyes were opened. He was no longer blind, and some people could not recognize him.
Brother and sisters, through the work of our Lord on the cross, He has transformed us from sinners to saints. That is all by His grace. By the grace of God, we are what we are.
The whole world discovers that we are different. We were blind, but now we see. By the grace of God, people can see the beauty and glory of Christ in us.
The world cannot recognize us anymore. But it is a miracle for us to see ourselves in our true colors. By the grace of God, the blind man could say, “I am he.”
When you come to the third pair of miracles, what is the final result? “It is I.” In the light of God, we begin to see ourselves.
That is what happened to Paul. When he wrote some of his earlier letters, he said, “I am the least of the apostles.” Later, he said that he was less than the least of all saints. Finally, in his latter letter to Timothy, he said, “I am chief of sinners.”
He did not say, “I was chief of sinners.” In Greek, he said, “I am chief of sinners.” Paul was reduced to zero. Yet he said, “I received mercy.”
In his early greetings, Paul would say, “Grace and peace be with you.” But when he became older and more mature before the Lord, he added one more word: “Grace, mercy, and peace.”
What is the difference between mercy and grace? If I give money to my brother, that is grace. If I give money to a beggar on the street, that is mercy.
This is the work of miracles in us: one day we will say, “It is I.” We will see our true colors, and yet we will say that we have received mercy.
I know a brother in this country. When he was invited to speak somewhere, the organizers asked him to send a recent photograph and a résumé so that they could introduce him in the newspaper or on television.
The brother said, “Please do not do that. If you have to say something, just put one line in the newspaper or on television.” What was that line? “A sinner saved by grace.”
He said, “Just tell the people that a sinner saved by grace is going to preach at a certain time.”
May the Lord be merciful to us. If we know that our Christian life is not merely full of miracles, but is also a miracle, then we understand the working of the cross in us. It shows us our true colors, and we can say, “It is I; yet I have received mercy.”
When we come to the last pair, we find something very interesting. When our Lord was walking on the sea and the disciples were in the boat, this was almost the only miracle performed for His disciples alone.
Many miracles were performed publicly. But this miracle was seen only by the disciples, because our Lord was going to reveal Himself.
After the excitement of the feeding of the five thousand, the Lord sent the disciples away because the people wanted to make Him king. The disciples could not understand. They thought that this was the place where they had received blessing and the moment when the Lord might become Messiah.
They thought that, if He became Messiah, they would sit at His right hand or His left hand. They waited for this wonderful moment, but they did not understand why the Lord sent them away.
That night there was a storm. They were rowing against the wind. The easiest thing would have been to return to the place from which they came, allowing the wind to carry them back. But they had to work very hard.
Why? Because the Lord was going to show them something very precious. He was going to tell them what a miracle is.
There, our Lord said, “It is I.” In the third pair, the healed blind man said, “It is I.” In the fourth pair, our Lord Himself said, “It is I.”
When you study the Bible, you can classify all kinds of miracles. But when you come to our Lord, you do not know where to place Him, because our Lord Himself is the miracle. He is the greatest miracle in the universe.
He forms His own class. That is why His virgin birth, His death and resurrection, and His ascension are the greatest miracles.
Only when we see Him as the King of kings and the Lord of lords do we know that this is the greatest miracle on earth. To live that life in us is a miracle.
When we come to the fourth pair of miracles, we begin to understand that the greatest miracle in the universe is Christ Himself.
One day in South America, there was a region full of disease. The government tried to burn the whole area. Everything was destroyed; there were no plants at all. After two years, the land had become ashes. It seemed that everything there was dead.
But after two years, they discovered a plant with a very beautiful flower. They tried to classify it, but they had never seen anything like it: life out of death.
Finally, they did not know how to classify that plant. They decided that it formed its own class and could not be placed with any other plants.
Brother and sisters, this illustrates our Lord Jesus. He Himself is the miracle. No wonder that when His life lives in us and through us, our lives become miracles from the beginning to the end of the Christian life.
I know that I have only a few minutes left. We cannot cover all eight miracles at this time, so I want to cover one miracle tonight and one miracle tomorrow morning.
We must come back to the first miracle, because it is very important. If a careful writer introduces a new term in a thesis, he will explain it when it first appears. He will give the definition.
When you read a thesis and cannot understand a term, you go back to see where it first appeared. There you find its interpretation or meaning. This is called the law of first mention.
The law of first mention is very important when we seek to understand the Word of God. Whenever the Bible speaks of something for the first time, it often gives us a definition.
For example, can you define love? If you go to your Bible, you discover that the first time love is mentioned, it says that Abraham loved Isaac. That is the love of the father. The second time love is mentioned, in Genesis 24, Isaac loved Rebekah. Then you begin to understand something of love.
In the same way, if we want to know what a miracle is—especially the miracles of our Lord—we should remember the first miracle He performed: He changed water into wine.
This is a very important miracle for us. If we understand what it means, we begin to understand the Christian life and how to walk with our Lord.
Some people try to explain how our Lord changed water into wine. They say that the Lord was a chemist, and that He somehow did something to the water and it became wine.
But if we want to understand this miracle, we must allow the Word of God to interpret the Word of God. When you read the whole Gospel of John, you find the key to this first miracle.
We may try to use our own wisdom or even scientific methods to explain the miracle. But the Holy Spirit has already given us the clue and the key.
What is the key? It is given in John 15:1:
I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.
If you know what the Lord meant when He said, “I am the true vine,” then you understand why He performed the first miracle.
The word true in Greek does not mean merely the opposite of false. It does not mean that all other vines are false. Rather, it means reality.
When the Lord said, “I am the true vine,” He meant that He is the model, the reality. When He created all the vines on earth, they were created according to that pattern and model.
Thus, all the stories of the vine are supposed to tell us the story of the true Vine. That is the meaning of, “I am the true vine.”
If you go to a vineyard, you see what happens with a vine. The vine absorbs water from the air and from the soil. After many months, grapes are produced.
Then the grapes go through the winepress. After several months, the vine has, in effect, changed water into wine.
That happens in God’s nature and in this universe. The vine was created according to that pattern.
When the true Vine came to earth and was at the feast in Cana, what was He doing? He truly changed water into wine.
But there was one difference: He reversed the time scale. In nature, in God’s creation, it takes months for water to become wine through the vine. But at Cana, it happened in less than one second.
Our Lord Jesus brings us back to eternity. It is as if time is frozen. Then we discover that He is indeed the Creator of the universe.
He did not break any law of nature. No. He simply performed in less than one second what ordinarily takes months. That is the first miracle performed in Cana.
This miracle tells us that He is indeed the Creator. But the story does not end there. Remember what He said to His mother:
Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come.
If we do not understand the whole Gospel of John, we do not understand this miracle. Why did our Lord say to His mother, “Mine hour is not yet come”?
It simply means that our Lord is the true Vine. He would go through the winepress for us. He would change water into wine, but that was not yet the time.
He did not perform the miracle merely because His mother suggested it. Sooner or later, the whole world would cry, “We have no wine. We need wine.”
Only when that time came would the Lord go through the winepress, which is the cross. Then He would truly change water into wine.
Let us read John 12. John 12:20-21 says:
Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast:
these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
These Greeks were disciples of the great philosophers. They came and said, “Sir, we would see Jesus.”
For several hundred years, the world had been under Greek influence. The Greeks gave the world philosophy, the Olympic games, and their ideas of perfection. Even their gods were created in the image of man. Everything had to be perfect.
When the Greeks came and said, “We would see Jesus,” it was as if they were saying that their world had come to its end. After many years, they were saying, “We have no wine.”
This was the moment when the Lord was going to change water into wine. How do we know? Read John 12:23:
And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
This means that it was time for Him to go to the cross. When the world, represented by the Greeks, was saying, “We have no wine,” the hour had come.
Our Lord would go through the winepress, which is the cross. When He died for us on the cross, He kept the best wine for us.
When we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior, we receive the best wine. The experience of Christ’s salvation is the first miracle of our Lord in our lives.
Every one of us can testify to the world that there is natural wine in every family. But sooner or later, people say, “We have no wine.”
In this world there is natural love, yes. But that love remains at the natural level. Sooner or later, there is a cry: “We have no wine.”
What is the solution? Only when people invite our Lord Jesus into their lives and into their families can He change water into wine.
Sometimes I make observations, especially in this country. If I want to know whether a couple has been married for ten years or is still on their honeymoon, I imagine the husband behind the wheel and the wife sitting beside him.
You only need one ruler to know how long they have been married. If, from behind, you see two hands becoming one, the distance is zero. Then you know they are on their honeymoon.
But if you see one hand by one window and the other hand by the other window, then you know they have probably been married ten years.
Why? Because sooner or later they may say, “We have no wine.” That is why we need the finger of God.
How many broken families have been healed when they invited Jesus Christ into their homes and into themselves? Brother and sisters, this is indeed the first miracle that happens in our Christian life.
But do not forget that the Lord said:
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.
This speaks of Himself and of how He died for us on the cross.
Then, in John 12:26, He said:
If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be.
If you study the Bible carefully, you remember that one day our Lord was on Mount Hermon. According to all that He had accomplished before the Father, He could have ascended to heaven at that moment.
He was the only One who truly pleased God, the only Man who never failed God. He was the Man according to God’s heart. He could have ascended to heaven from there.
That is why He discussed His exodus with Moses and Elijah. Yet He could not ascend to heaven there. For Himself, He could have done so; but if He had ascended then, there would have been no salvation for us.
In Himself, He was ripe and rich in life. He could ascend to heaven. When Peter said, “It is good for us to be here,” and spoke about three tabernacles, it was near the Feast of Tabernacles.
That was the season when grapes went through the winepress and olives went through the oil press. These things remind us of the same story.
For Himself, our Lord could have ascended to heaven. But in order to give us life and distribute more life to us, He had to come down from Mount Hermon and finally die for us on Mount Calvary.
From Mount Hermon to Mount Calvary—that is the way of the cross.
This way is especially described in the Gospel of Luke. From Luke 9 through Luke 17, if I am not mistaken, there is a long journey from Mount Hermon to Mount Calvary.
Our Lord was not walking alone. He took His disciples with Him and said, “Let us go to Jerusalem.” This journey took only about six months, but it was the way of the cross.
The way means that the vine must go through the winepress. Therefore, when the Lord said, “Let us go to Jerusalem,” we begin to understand the way of the cross.
The way of the cross means that we are going to experience more and more of the first miracle. Sometimes we suffer. We are ill-treated. We are persecuted. People do injustice to us. We say, “This is wrong. This is not what we deserve.”
It is true that some suffering is deserved suffering, like the suffering of Jacob. Jacob sinned against God, and there were consequences.
But often, when we love the Lord and are mature before Him, we experience another kind of suffering: undeserved suffering, like the suffering of Job. It is very different from the suffering of Jacob.
Why does undeserved suffering come? It comes for one purpose: to give out the life that has been deposited within us.
We may think that fruit is the goal of the life of the vine. But actually, wine is the final goal. That is why our Lord said that He would no longer drink of the fruit of the vine.
He did not merely say, “I will no longer drink wine,” because wine is the fruit of the vine. How can He drink the fruit of the vine unless the grapes go through the winepress?
If we argue with the Lord and ask, “What did we do to deserve all this suffering?” the answer may be that, by the grace of God, we are rich in the Lord. The life cannot remain contained within ourselves.
When we go through the winepress, life is distributed. The life is given out. When we receive our Lord Jesus and desire to follow Him, the way of the cross is that the life of Christ may be given to others.
It is like a mother who goes through suffering so that a baby may be born. She suffers, not because she has committed sin, but because she desires to distribute her life to her child.
Brother and sisters, that is the meaning of the way of the cross, and that is the meaning of the first miracle.
That is why our Lord said:
If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be.
The Bible tells us how we may be partakers and have fellowship in the sufferings of our Lord. What does that mean? Somehow, the Lord moves His finger, and a miracle is performed.
Then the meaning of the miracle becomes real in our lives. This is a very important lesson.
When we go through all these eight miracles, we see one message as a whole. It tells us of the process by which God trains us through the working of the cross.
It takes us from one level to another level, from one state to another state, until we mature in Christ.
When we mature in Christ, we say that we bear fruit—not only fruit, but much fruit. We think that we have reached the goal.
But in winter, many poor people in that land want to drink the fruit of the vine. If we keep ourselves whole and keep all the life to ourselves, saying, “Our life is rich; we are like grapes; we want to remain whole,” then the world can never receive life from us.
During the winter, when Jewish families drink the fruit of the vine, where is the vine? The vine is in the vineyard. The vine has gone through the terrible winter. It has no leaves, no beauty, nothing at all. It has been stripped of everything.
Does the vine refuse to produce life because it has been stripped? No. When spring comes, it brings forth life again.
Then, the next summer and autumn, beautiful grapes appear. Again, they go through the winepress. Again, there is loss. Again, there is decrease. Many poor people drink the wine and receive life from that vine.
Then the vine goes through another lonely winter. Brother and sisters, that is the story of the vine, and that is the story of the first miracle.
We can never live such a life by ourselves. No one can do it. But if somehow the Lord moves His finger, a miracle can be produced.
May the Lord be merciful to us and bring us into this reality. By His finger, He will transform us into the image of Christ. May the Lord truly speak to our hearts.