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!”
Jesus of Nazareth
This miracle Jesus and Father did together, we are told, is the beginning of signs which they did. It is appropriate that this miracle contained a very strong message about the superior and more excellent covenant of Grace.
Our Father at the beginning set out the inferior covenant which never satisfied anyone’s spiritual taste rather it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth and heart. Do this, do that and you shall be blessed…..but do this and do that…and you shall be cursed! The Old Covenant which man could not keep is totally inferior to the New Covenant God has made with Jesus Christ.
The New Covenant is the “good wine” seen in the miracle at Cana. God by His power is able to transform a person’s heart into another form…as we saw with the water being turned into wine. It was God’s doing and totally impossible for man.
That’s the point you see…it is impossible to please God without faith. And not just any old faith…not your faith…but THE faith of the Son of God. It is the Faith of Jesus alone that pleases Father. And Jesus gives us Himself along with His faith(relationship with Father)so that we walk with God in a blameless way.
The Old Covenant was inferior because it depended upon mankind to do his part perfectly..a thing that we could never do. It also required that we have a mindset of separation.
What is that?
A divided mind… A mind that imagines ‘I am here’ and ‘God is up there’.
Such an idea of being a separate entity apart from God is nonsense. Paul speaking by the Spirit said that “in Him we live and move and exist”. We are not separate from God! We are inside of God. The notion of a separate self outside of and separate from God is a vain imagination which belongs to the Serpent’s mind.
Such a mind is at enmity with God for it imagines itself to be it’s own source…ie, it’s own God! It boasts– “I can obey you God.” “I will serve you God!” “I will follow you Jesus!” The old covenant was given so that that mind –the mind of the flesh–would be exposed as deficient–inferior—useless!
For all those who come to the place where Paul came to in Romans 7–declaring in desperation–Who will deliver me from this body of death!!??– We have come to the inner knowing that the old man, the separated mind, cannot ever please God.
It is then that Father is able to show us a better way. A more excellent way. A superior way….That way is THE WAY...Jesus Christ The truth, The Way and The Life.
Jesus alive inside your heart, two persons sharing the same form–you. Jesus and you together, ONE Spirit. When once we begin to grasp that we are totally one with Jesus Christ and Father inside of ourselves, then we begin to rest in this amazing grace and union.
The Good wine is also the Good Shepherd who gives His life for the sheep. Jesus is always giving His life in and through and as His people. He is laying down His life for His friends. Jesus is the good wine. Jesus lives as you!! You are that good wine that people are tasting. You are that savour of the Lord Jesus full of good fruit and flavour. You are the Good Wine that He has set out last…bathed in His grace and propelled forward and carried all by Him.
The Good Wine is good because it is not tampered with by the separated mind–the old man. The old man with his religious zeal attempts to do many good things for God. But those good things, which come forth out of the separated mindset — I will serve the Lord — only sully and sour and cloud the wine.
When we have “well drunk” the inferior wine….that is, when we have tried and tried to keep the law, be good Christians, stop sinning, follow Jesus more….when we have drunk of that wine fully we will hopefully desire the new wine which Jesus offers us.
The Old Covenant with it’s dependence upon mankind to keep his side of the bargain is meant to lead us to repentance so that we will crave the grace filled Jesus Christ wine.
Heb 8:6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.
Letter to the Hebrews
Heb 8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.
Heb 8:8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH—
Heb 8:9 NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; BECAUSE THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DISREGARDED THEM, SAYS THE LORD.
Heb 8:10 FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
Heb 8:11 NONE OF THEM SHALL TEACH HIS NEIGHBOR, AND NONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL SHALL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM TO THE GREATEST OF THEM.
Heb 8:12 FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”
Heb 8:13 In that He says, “A NEW COVENANT,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Lest anyone surmise that the new covenant is only for Israel…
Those who believe into Jesus Christ the TRUE King of Judah and TRUE King of Israel HAVE BECOME TRUE JEWS AND TRUE ISRAELITES. Thus this prophecy is fulfilled in all who have come into Jesus through repentance and faith.
We are sharers in the divine nature and the promises of God are ours through faith in Jesus Christ. The new wine of the new covenant is ours to drink and enjoy.
