CHAPTER SIX

A MARRIAGE IN CANA OF GALILEE

“AND THE THIRD DAY THERE WAS A MARRIAGE IN CANA, GALILEE; AND THE MOTHER OF JESUS WAS THERE.” (John 2:1)

There are several great mysteries revealed in John Chapter Two where Jesus is invited to a marriage feast. First of all, we note that this feast was on the THIRD DAY. “AND THE THIRD DAY THERE WAS A MARRIAGE IN CANA OF GALILEE” (John 2:1) In this beautifully written story, a prophetic picture emerges that allows us, who are living in the prophetic Third Day of our Lord Jesus Christ, to enter into an experience that will forever change our lives. The first mystery I would like to look at is the event that is taking place on the Third Day. It is not a funeral, a concert, a sporting event or even a church service, but a MARRIAGE. This is significant especially for those who see themselves as the BRIDE OF CHRIST. Remember, he is coming back for a BRIDE without spot or wrinkle.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that he desired to present them to the Lord as a chaste virgin; and John, the writer of the Revelation, describes the day wherein the BRIDE has made herself ready. “LET US BE GLAD AND REJOICE, AND GIVE HONOR TO HIM: FOR THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB IS COME, AND HIS WIFE HATH MADE HERSELF READY.” (Rev. 19:7) Again, Paul called this marriage a “mystery.” “THIS IS A GREAT MYSTERY: BUT I SPEAK CONCERNING CHRIST AND THE CHURCH”. (Eph. 5:32) Paul was speaking of the marriage covenant between a man and a woman and gave the responsibilities of each one in the marriage covenant; but, at the end of his writing, he declares that his deepest intent is to address the relationship between Christ and the Church. The Third Day, in the timing of the Lord and according to his calendar, is the day wherein the marriage between Jesus Christ and his Church is to take place.

I realize that may be a hard saying, and it may even appear that we are reading into things; but I have come to know that mysteries are revealed by the Spirit. Through the Spirit of Truth, we have a witness within us that says “YES AND AMEN!” There is a marriage planned by Almighty God; and there are a people who have become that Bride, who have gone through a cleansing process, making them ready, through the finished work of Christ on the cross. It just so happens that this great event has not yet taken place, but now the Church has moved into a prophetic timeline wherein supernatural and spiritual events are about to take place and be fulfilled. The mystery is found in the simple phrase, “AND ON THE THIRD DAY THERE WAS A MARRIAGE!” (John 2:1) Here, Jesus was a guest; but at the next marriage He attends, He will be the Groom! At this marriage in Cana of Galilee, the people had come to an end of their wine; and the mother of Jesus told him so. It appears to me that the wine has run out here in the Third Day of the Lord. The banqueting feast seems to have come to an end, and the people’s merriment has worn down. At this point something has to be done! Mary looks to Jesus as if to say, “SON, THEY HAVE NO WINE. DO SOMETHING.” Jesus’ reply is somewhat shocking.

“WOMAN, WHAT HAVE I TO DO WITH THEE? MINE HOUR HAS NOT YET COME.” (John 2:4)  I have often thought of what he meant by these words and have concluded one or two possibilities. First of all, wine represents the blood. Jesus was saying that the time of shedding his blood for the nations of the earth had not yet come. It is so true that all who come to Christ can drink deeply of the wine of his blood and be made whole. A great spiritual refreshing and wondrous joy can be had for those who drink. The second consideration was at the beginning of his miracle ministry. Jesus had not yet performed any miracle, and his mother was urging him to begin. “SON, I KNOW WHO YOU ARE, AND THE TIME HAS COME FOR YOU TO DO WHAT YOU WERE SENT TO DO.” His reply seemed to say, “NO MOTHER, IT IS NOT YET TIME.” There are many in the Church today that have this attitude.

They have been given the power to perform and do all that Jesus did in his earthly ministry but feel the time is not yet right for them to step out of their comfort zone into the realm of miracle-working power through the name of Jesus. However, Mary responded with a motherly insight:  “HIS MOTHER SAID UNTO THE SERVANTS, WHATSOEVER HE SAYS UNTO YOU, DO IT!” (John 2:5)  It is as though Mary would not hear the hesitation in her Son. There may be people around you who know who you are and understand what you are capable of doing. They see a need and know that you have the ability to meet it. They say to you, “DO IT!” And you say, “NO! NOT NOW!” Some form of hesitancy rises up because, after so many years of preparing, the release is almost unreal! Again I say that there are many in the Church, who have been trained up by the Spirit and have been told prophetically what they were going to do in the earth, and have enjoyed that prophetic word; but now the time is to see it in action, yet they hesitate. This is when someone must step in, ignore the hesitation and say, “DO WHAT HE SAYS!” In either case, it was time for Jesus to do something!

The need of the moment was for wine! And so it is right now that WE NEED WINE! NEW WINE! RESERVED WINE! It’s a time of celebration, and the wine is going out! In the natural, there was nothing left to do. It was time for this party to come to an end! But NO! Jesus is there! And it is at that time, the THIRD DAY, that he looks about and finds SIX EMPTY WATERPOTS! Now, the number SIX represents the number of Man according to Bible numerology, for it was on the SIXTH day that God created man. Waterpots are clay vessels into which water was poured and emptied. The prophetic picture here is that MAN is the vessel into which God will fill to the brim the knowledge of Him, and then turn that knowledge into an expression. “FILL THE WATERPOTS WITH WATER,” said Jesus, and they filled them up. The glorious reality about this Third Day event is that Jesus turns water into wine! We are looking for NEW WINE that is going to propel us into our destinies! This is seen so clearly in the prophetic writings of the prophet Joel where he declares that the “VATS SHALL OVERFLOW WITH OIL AND WINE!” (Joel 2:24) The Hebrew meaning of the word “wine” in that verse is to POSSESS IN THE PLACE OF A PREVIOUS OCCUPANT! We are talking about DELIVERANCE!

We are seeing that this NEW WINE causes the one who drinks it to be refreshed and set free! It is what I call DOMINION WINE! It is time for the Saints to take the dominion away from the Beast in this New Day and POSSESS the KINGDOM! This is the Word of God; and in a future chapter of this book, I am going to fully relate the message that is for NOW concerning this dominion! But here we see Jesus turning water into wine, performing his first miracle! So we conclude that the Third Day Church is going to begin to perform miracles, signs and wonders in the name of Jesus, doing what He did in a double-portioned way! This is what is called the DISPENSATION OF THE FULLNESS OF TIMES! It is the CHIROS MOMENT! However, we must all be very careful that this NEW WINE does not come into OLD WINESKINS! I have already witnessed OLD MOVEMENTS taking hold of the freshness of this THIRD DAY MESSAGE, and not possessing new wineskins, causing the message to become watered down and polluted in the streams through which it is now flowing. What I am saying is that this new wine MUST be put into new wineskins. The new wineskins are our concepts, ideas, and  previous ways of doing things. We must have a fresh and open mind, an open perspective about the territory we are moving into. We cannot approach such a glorious place with preconceived ideas of how it works, or what we are going to do with it, or how we can make it fit into our models and modes that have worked in the past.

I am declaring a brand new day and a requirement of approaching it in a brand new way! I am declaring that no man has gone this way before except for the Son of Man, Jesus Christ! We are the pioneers of this new day, and we have the opportunity to see what others who are living in the same day cannot see. The eyes of the world are blind and the ears dull of hearing. Let us not fall into that category ourselves, but let us have eyes that see and ears that hear what the Lord is saying to the Church today. This day demands our water of knowledge to become the wine of experience. Few have EXPERIENCED the presence of God in a supernatural way, and even fewer in this generation. I am not saying that people haven’t had some contact and experience in the realm of God in the Holiest place of all; but too often what we call experience in the Spirit is nothing but pure emotion coming out of deep religious tradition. I think we can agree that the Church has not yet been the witness she needs to be in this generation, because primarily she has become a works-oriented church who appeases her senses by doing good to others when their troubles come. However, while this sounds good and feels good, it is not the Gospel that Jesus, Paul and others preached! They all preached REPENTANCE! Unless we REPENT, we cannot have the New Wineskins for the New Wine! Repentance is all about thinking differently! We must admit that our EXPERIENCE WITH GOD HAS BEEN BUT CHILD’S PLAY, FOR THE MOST PART!

We must now grow up into MATURE, FULL SONSHIP! Yet without REPENTANCE, we cannot and will not grow up; and each time God fills us with KNOWLEDGE of Himself (water) and turns it into EXPERIENCE (wine), we lose it! This new wine is going to cause the thanksgiving of many and redound to the GLORY OF GOD! This is the time of a great celebration for the Church; but if the Church refuses to make new wineskins, all will be lost! However, because of the timing of the Lord, I declare unto you that there will be a people in whom God will transform their water into wine! I declare unto you that all knowledge of the One True God will be turned into an experience with Him! The heavens will be opened, and the path into his presence will be clear! Are you ready for the new wine, or do you still need to be emptied out of all that has been previously served out to you? The people attending the wedding at Cana had been drinking during the party, but their wine had run out. Was that it? Not at all! NEW WINE was now being served, and those who stayed around to drink of this new wine found that it was BETTER than that which was first served, which ran contrary to popular thought at that time. Usually the best wine was served first, followed by the least; but when Jesus arrived, the best wine had already been served, and then the EVEN BETTER THAN THE BEST was served, taking that party into another dimension!

Come on Saints let’s agree that the time is now and that there is a need for wine; and the Jerusalem ABOVE who is the mother of us all (Gal.4:26) is saying, “IT IS TIME FOR NEW WINE!” Let us, the sons of God, awake to our calling and begin to do what Jesus did, experiencing the power of the First-Born Son, doing what He did and receiving the mantle which He abundantly poured out two thousand years ago in the Holy Spirit. Let us take the initiative to go forth as sent ones into the earth with renewed minds and fresh attitudes! Let us be that people who have been transformed by the renewing of our minds into the full stature of Christ Jesus, possessing the same mind that was in Him! Now, the next thing we find is that Jesus MANIFESTED FORTH HIS GLORY, AND HIS DISCIPLES BELIEVED!  This is the time for us to MANIFEST FORTH THAT SAME GLORY THAT IS IN US! As I have said earlier, it was on the SEVENTH DAY that Jesus led Peter, James and John up into a high mountain and there displayed His Glory. This was called the TRANSFIGURATION! The word actually means to OUT-RAY or DISPLAY that which is within to that which is without.

First, we must have this Glory operating within us; then we can display it to those who are destined to see it! But this is the time! Now, in the Third Day and the prophetic Seventh Day, the Glory of the Lord is to be MANIFESTED! We just heard that it was at this wedding in Cana that Jesus MANIFESTED FORTH HIS GLORY! The result was a believing church! Now is the time to let the Glory that you have been entrusted with shine forth like the NOONDAY SUN! Oh beloved, read and re-read John Chapter Two and find yourself in it! Understand and know by the spirit of wisdom and revelation that this chapter is all about a display of the Glory of God and is a call to you and me to do the same. We are to DUPLICATE WITH DOUBLE PORTION POWER EVERYTHING THAT JESUS DID! (John 14;12) Would to God that you and I, right now, would allow this glorious event to begin in our lives as we go to our marriage appointments, to those places we have been invited.

 Wherever you are and whatever you are doing, look for the opportunities to MANIFEST FORTH THE GLORY THAT IS IN YOU, for this is the Third Day, the DAY where all things are possible and all things are being fulfilled. It is the day of resurrection power, and there is a power in you to perform and do all that Jesus did. Make sure all the obstacles of sin have been removed by the blood and that you are sure that you are God’s child and that your heart is crying, “ABBA Father.”  For then, and only, then will you and I have the confidence to go forth and DO what we have been called to DO! Now, let’s move a bit further into John Chapter Two and find another Third Day mystery revealed.