At the Marriage Feast
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with songs and mirth ends in weariness and disgust. But the gifts of
Jesus are ever fresh and new. The feast that He provides for the soul
never fails to give satisfaction and joy. Each new gift increases the
capacity of the receiver to appreciate and enjoy the blessings of the
Lord. He gives grace for grace. There can be no failure of supply. If
you abide in Him, the fact that you receive a rich gift today insures the
reception of a richer gift tomorrow. The words of Jesus to Nathanael
express the law of God’s dealing with the children of faith. With
every fresh revelation of His love, He declares to the receptive heart,
“Believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.”
John 1:50
.
The gift of Christ to the marriage feast was a symbol. The water
represented baptism into His death; the wine, the shedding of His
blood for the sins of the world. The water to fill the jars was brought
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by human hands, but the word of Christ alone could impart to it life-
giving virtue. So with the rites which point to the Saviour’s death. It
is only by the power of Christ, working through faith, that they have
efficacy to nourish the soul.
The word of Christ supplied ample provision for the feast. So
abundant is the provision of His grace to blot out the iniquities of men,
and to renew and sustain the soul.
At the first feast He attended with His disciples, Jesus gave them
the cup that symbolized His work for their salvation. At the last supper
He gave it again, in the institution of that sacred rite by which His
death was to be shown forth “till He come.”
1 Corinthians 11:26
. And
the sorrow of the disciples at parting from their Lord was comforted
with the promise of reunion, as He said, “I will not drink henceforth
of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in
My Father’s kingdom.”
Matthew 26:29
.
The wine which Christ provided for the feast, and that which He
gave to the disciples as a symbol of His own blood, was the pure juice
of the grape. To this the prophet Isaiah refers when he speaks of the
new wine “in the cluster,” and says, “Destroy it not; for a blessing is
in it.”
Isaiah 65:8
.
It was Christ who in the Old Testament gave the warning to Israel,
“Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived
thereby is not wise.”
Proverbs 20:1
. And He Himself provided no such
beverage. Satan tempts men to indulgence that will becloud reason
and benumb the spiritual perceptions, but Christ teaches us to bring