Pastor’s Bible Reading Schedule: Psalm 148-150; John 2
Devotional Thought:
Jesus told the disciples that He would go and prepare a place for them and if He goes and prepares a place for them; He will come again and receive them unto Himself, that where He is there shall they be also. (John 14:2-3) Then the apostle Paul told the Thessalonian church, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch angel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first…” (1 Thessalonians 4:16) These wonderful promises are illustrated beautifully in the Jewish marriage ceremony. The man and wife were espoused as husband and wife, and the man would go away and prepare a place for his bride then return for the marriage feast and then return to the home he had prepared with his bride and consummates the marriage. Here in John 2, we have a beautiful picture of that marriage feast. Jesus is present with His disciples and the feast is running low on fruit juice (wine). Mary goes to Jesus, knowing that He could solve the problem with a spoken word, but Jesus rebukes her for her pretentious spirit. His timing is perfect and His purpose was clear that He was to present Himself as the Messiah, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. (1:29) However, He has a perfect time and way of proving His Deity and purpose. Nonetheless, Jesus was willing to extend grace and meet the need that was present. In this story we have another principle of Scripture, God will always be faithful to do what only He can do, but He will not do what He asks us to do for us. Here Jesus tell the servants to fill the pots with water. Why? Because the servants could do that. They could not turn the water to wine, but they could fill the pots with water. I am convinced that many times we do not see God do what only He can do, because he is waiting on us to do what He has commanded us to do. There is another interesting fact in this story. When the governor of the feast tasted the wine that Jesus had produced he proclaimed, “Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now.” (vs. 10) The “good” wine carries the root of the freshest and purist. Often people take this story out of its context to justify drinking alcohol; however, the very context of the story gives credibility to the fresh fruit of the vine, not an alcoholic beverage. This chapter ends with reminding us that God’s program and specifically His place of worship is to be about the character of God not the covetousness of man.
Personal Requests:
• Lord, please help me to anticipate and long for your return. Please help me to live each day in anticipation that today could be the day you return for your bride.
• Lord, thank you for the promise of your grace. Thank you for loving us, dying for us, and guiding us every day as I learn to be conformed to your image.
• Thank you for the local church. Help us to always make it about the worship and celebration of your character and never about man. Thank you for the reminder.