Dear Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ, today I want to begin a short series on the Bride in the Wilderness. But first, I want to begin by looking at where Jesus began His earthly ministry, and we find the account in Johns Gospel.
John 2:10-11 And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!” This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; and His disciples believed in Him.
It is worthy of note that the first miracle of Jesus recorded for us by John is that of turning the water into wine. The occasion on which this “beginning of signs” took place is at a Wedding in Cana. What an occasion it must have been, celebration and joy as the Bride and Bridegroom join in Holy union between Husband and Wife, but at some point, it became clear that the provision of wine was not sufficient to last the duration of the feast. They had run out of wine and unless something was done quickly, the happy occasion was not going to end well. And yet, amongst the wedding guests, is none other than our Bridegroom Jesus, who when approached by His mother Mary for help, replied “Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come.” When Jesus said this, it didn’t mean that He was not ready to help, on the contrary, Jesus will never turn someone away when they come to the Him on the basis of who He is, and this is how Mary came to Jesus, she knew who He was, and that He was the one who could help. So Jesus’ comment wasn’t refusal but it was revelatory. He revealed something about who He was, that even His mother did not understand. His time had not yet come. There are different ways that we can interpret this statement, but I see this as relating to His glory. It was not yet the time for the world to see His glory.
This is seen many times throughout His earthly ministry, when Jesus did not openly reveal His glory, instead He purposefully chose to avoid such opportunities that presented themselves. He also instructed His disciples “Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.” Matt 16:20. And commanded the demons “He would not let the demons speak because they knew who he was.” (Mark 1:34) And also those He had healed “Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it.” Mark 7:36.
But in our reading, it says that this was the first time His glory was manifested. And it was at a wedding. In the same way Jesus will be glorified again, but this time at His own wedding. And whereas His time had not yet come on the first wedding, at His wedding the time will come for the whole world to see Him, behold, riding on the clouds, crowned with many crowns, the Bridegroom King. So there are degrees and different levels of manifested glory. As the Bible says, we are changed from “glory to glory”, but here’s my question: Where is it that the glory is first revealed, and where is it that it is complete? On both occasions, it is through marriage. We begin our journey of miracles with our Bridegroom, who is attendant in our lives and just like the wine, He saves “the best till last”. Do not despair, our Lord knows what we need when we need it. If you need a miracle today, He is able and He bids you Come. “He that is thirsty, let him Come. Whoever desires, let Him take the water of life, freely” Rev 22:17
When the Bride is at the Wedding feast, she will experience the manifested glory of her Bridegroom, and His love is better than any wine she has ever tasted before.
Mike @Call2Come
