Our Gospel reading on Sunday was John 2:1-11: Jesus Changes Water to Wine.

The key to understanding the full significance of the miracle at the wedding in Cana is in understanding how closely it corresponds to the Torah (the five books of the Law of Moses).

John’s stated purpose for recounting his select group of Jesus’ miraculous signs was that his readers might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing they might have life in his name. (John 20:31) To achieve this purpose, John roots his gospel firmly in the Torah, while at the same time showing that Jesus is greater than Moses, and that He has come to fulfill Torah. John’s idea of fulfilling Torah, however, runs far deeper than simply the perfect keeping of the commandments. John understood (as we are prone to forget) that Torah was a covenant document, and moreover, that it was a marriage covenant document scribed by Moses according to the five-part structure of ancient covenants and marriage contracts.

Jesus’ first sign in the context of a wedding at the end of His first week of earthly ministry served, then, as the quintessential sign that He was the true Bridegroom and pointed ahead to what He would do for His bride at the end of his last week of earthly ministry.

The miracle itself, while pointing to the new marriage covenant, established on “better promises,” also manifests the glory of the Christ come to fulfill the old. It does so by profoundly capturing the themes and truths of all five books of Torah and focusing them on Jesus.

Genesis. The sign Jesus gave was an act of creation, signifying the Christ (the Messiah) was the eternal Word made flesh, the One who was in the beginning with God, and who was God. In Genesis we read that in six days God created the heavens and earth, filling them with things that were very good. In John we read that in six stone jars Jesus created, filling them with wine that was very good.

It is worth noting, here, that the one thing that was “not good,” at the beginning was that the man God created was alone—the very context in which God created woman and instituted marriage.

Exodus. The first sign that Jesus gave parallels the first sign that Moses gave when the LORD redeemed Israel out of bondage in Egypt. In Exodus we read that Moses turned water into blood. In John we read that Jesus turned water into wine.

The sign in Exodus came as the first of many signs against the gods of Egypt, to which Israel was enslaved. Exodus climaxes with the marriage of the redeemed bride at Mount Sinai, where, under the canopy of cloud, the wedding covenant vows were exchanged. I will be your God and you will be my people—I will be yours and you will be mine . . . and there shall be no other gods besides me (for as long as we both shall live.)

The sign in John came as the first of many signs that Jesus was the only true God, and furthermore indicated His purpose to redeem His bride from her bondage to sin.

Leviticus. The miracle at Cana signified the fulfillment of purification rites outlined for Israel in the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus we read prescriptions for how the priests and the people had to wash themselves to be ceremonially clean. In John we read that Jesus asked the servants to fill jars used for ceremonial washing with water, which he then changed into wine.

These jars were likely used by the bride to purify herself for her own wedding. They, of course point ahead to the purification of the Bride of Christ, washed through His own blood and cleansed through His baptism—of the Spirit.

Numbers. The creation of 150 gallons of choice wine in Cana signified the extravagant provision and grace of God, the same provision and grace which had been refused by Israel in the wilderness.

In Numbers, when the twelve went into Canaan to spy out the land, they returned with a single cluster of grapes so large that it had to be carried on a pole between two men—evidence that the land of promise was, indeed, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land in which wine would have run plentiful and sweet! But what happened? Israel refused to go in. By refusing to enter the home prepared by her husband, the bride figuratively refused to drink the “blood of the vine” offered by the Bridegroom.

That entire generation, including Moses, lost the blessing of the promised land. And yet, by God’s grace the nation was sustained in the wilderness until the next generation entered the land, led by Joshua.

So, in Numbers we read of a figurative self-inflicted lack of wine and of Joshua, the one who would take the place of Moses. In John we read that the wine had run out, but that Jesus (the true Joshua, taking the place of Moses) stepped in to supply the lack and provide an overwhelming quantity of choice wine. This miracle, of course, again pointed ahead signifying the overwhelming grace offered in the blood of the true Vine. (Sadly, Israel as a nation would again refuse.)

Deuteronomy. The sign in Cana was given in the context of a wedding feast. Deuteronomy records the covenant renewal between Yahweh and His bride as she prepares finally to leave the wilderness and enter the land of feasting.

In Deuteronomy we read: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) This was a call to renew the marriage vows made at Sinai. And while they are not stated explicitly in this text in John, marriage vows are surely implied in the context of a wedding.

Seen in light of its many correlations with Torah (of which these are but a few) the miracle of Cana rises triumphantly to its place of primacy as the first of Jesus’ signs. It declares profoundly “the glory of the One and Only, full of grace and truth.”