Daily Devotions
John
The glory of the Messiah
Text: John 2:1-12
THE GLORY OF THE MESSIAH
There was a common belief among the Jews in Israel that God would one day send the Messiah to the nation. In their fired imagination that Person would be filled with the glory of God, for He would be the Son of David, and He would have royal blood in Him, and surely, He would manifest His powers to the nation.
Thus, when John the Baptizer came onto the scene with so much preaching power, the Jews sent priests and Levites to ask him if he was the Christ. There was an expectation that the Messiah would be filled with glory. They were not entirely wrong. He would be filled with glory, but He may not display that glory as people might have imagined.
THE “HIDDEN GLORY” OF THE MESSIAH
To those who were truly discerning, Jesus displayed the glory of God. John maintained that he saw the glory of the Christ.
“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,
and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14
John captured an example of the glory of Jesus in the first sign that He performed in His public ministry. It was indeed full of grace. Jesus did not have to turn the water into wine. It was a bad mistake on the part of the wedding organizers. They should have done their homework more carefully. They were blameworthy when the supply of wine ran out. But Jesus showed great grace when He delivered the wedding couple out of a great social embarrassment. That was grace indeed.
Jesus did not make it known to the wedding couple, nor the master of the feast, and certainly not the wedding guests, that He had performed for them a great miracle. They had tasted the best vintage wine the world would ever know. It was transformed from water! The wine was so outstanding that the master of the feast, who must have known his wine, could not help remark that he had tasted “good wine” indeed. Jesus not only gave wine to replenish the stock of wine that was exhausted. He gave good wine to the wedding guests. That too was the grace of Jesus! The “good wine” that came as a special wedding present from Jesus must have been the talk of the wedding, if the master had anything to do with it.
It was indeed common practice to serve good wine when the marriage supper began. When people had drunk their fill, they would be so satiated with food and wine, that when the quality of wine became poorer, few would notice the difference! Only a person who was a connoisseur would actually be able to spot the difference. When he complimented the bridegroom on the quality of his wine, he was in fact saying that the “good wine” served towards the end of the wedding was the best yet! What grace Jesus displayed and bestowed on the wedding couple.
Jesus told no one about this miracle. Only the observant disciples of His noted this miracle. They saw it as a “sign” that helped them further to truly believe that Jesus was indeed the Messiah!
“AND THEY BELIEVED IN HIM…” John 2:11
The small band of Disciples had in fact already begun to believe in Jesus. Andrew had already been convinced that he and John had found the Messiah. With great excitement, Andrew had gone in search of his brother. With great conviction of faith, he declared,
“We have found the Messiah.”
John 1:41
Philip had also been convinced that he too had found the Messiah. He ran to look for his good friend Nathanael and said to him,
“We have found Him of whom Moses in the law,
and also the prophets, wrote –
Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
John 1:45
Nathanael also became convinced that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. He exclaimed,
“Rabbi, you are the Son of God!
You are the King of Israel!”
John 1:49
John was tracing how he and his fellow disciples were growing in their faith in Jesus. They began with some skepticism. Then there came initial faith in Jesus. The more they listened to Jesus, and the more they observed Him, the more their faith grew.
John was not just learning more about Jesus. He was also learning much about “faith”. He was learning what it meant to truly believe in Jesus. It involved a moment of decision, where one recognized who He was. That point of recognition may be different for each individual. However, there was more to having faith in Jesus than just recognizing who He was.
Was there true faith? Then that faith must grow further. Having initial faith in Jesus wasn’t all there was to it. If that initial faith was true, then it should lead the individual to desire to follow Jesus. In the process of time, he too would discover the beauty and glory that was in Jesus! There ought to be a growing faith, a deepening faith in Jesus and He out of His great grace would manifest His glory to His disciples.
Jesus had promised that Nathanael (and his friends) would see the angels of God ascending and descending where the Messiah was. His word was truth indeed. Nathanael had seen a display of the glory of Jesus, and it was indeed full of grace and truth.
Each and every believer was meant to grow in his faith in Jesus. He was never meant to be stuck with just an initial faith in Jesus. His faith was meant to be exciting. His faith was destined to grow significantly. Have you seen your faith grow at all?