In John Chapter two, at the wedding of Cana, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.” In light of the prophetic role of wine in the Old Testament it appears to be more of a description of the state of things in Israel than simply a statement of fact. We could discuss the Bibles condemnation of drinking “too much” wine and the exhortation to “not be drunk” with wine and other passages which express the danger of strong drink of any kind. Whereas that should not be forgotten, Wine in the Old Testament was the symbol of joy! Wine would be one of the many blessings God’s people would enjoy when they lived according to the Covenant God made with them in the Book of Deuteronomy. He said to Israel, In Deuteronomy 7:13, regarding covenant keeping people, “He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.” In Psalm 4:7, David extols the joys of living in harmony with God’s laws and says that it’s better than wine. He writes, (or sings!) “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.” Abounding wine does represent joy! Then the Psalmist clearly expresses the results of appropriate wine. In Psalm 104:14-15 he says, “You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth and wine to gladden the heart of man.” So, it’s pretty clear that wine can “gladden” the hearts of men and give them joy.

But wine is not only used as a symbol of joy in the Old Testament, it’s also used as a description of life upon the arrival of the promised Messiah. When Amos prophecies his coming he says in Amos 9:13 that, “…the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and all the hills shall flow with it.” Hosea speaks of those days as having excellent wine. Hosea 14:8 says, “They will come back to live in my shade; they will grow wheat again, they will make the vine flourish, their wine will be as famous as Lebanon’s” (See the New Jerusalem Bible for this specific translation). Jeremiah, as the Prophet of the New Covenant, expresses the joy of the coming days. In Jeremiah 31:12, he writes, “They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil…” In addition to this there are two other Jewish works that foresee the Messianic days as being the days of great joy symbolized by wine. First, The Book of Enoch 10:19 says, “And all desirable trees shall be planted on it, and they shall plant vines on it: and the vine which they plant thereon shall yield wine in abundance.” The other work is The Apocalypse of Baruch 29:5. It says, “The earth also shall yield its fruit ten thousandfold, and on one vine there shall be a thousand branches, and each branch shall produce a thousand clusters, and each cluster shall produce a thousand grapes, and each grape shall produce a cor of wine.” After discussing these two extra-biblical texts, Hall Harris (a former professor of mine), said that a “cor” of wine is equal to about 120 gallons which is about the same amount of water that Jesus turned into wine at the wedding of Cana in John 2!

The point of all this is that Jesus’ miracle had more to do with the clear demonstration that he was the Messiah promised in the Old Testament and that this “first sign,” as John calls it, was done to begin his ministry of revealing himself as the promised Messiah that would now bring a flow of “joy” to his people as promised throughout the Old Testament. That joy would not come through keeping the covenant of the law, but would come through faith alone in the one who did keep the covenant perfectly and saves us from our sins.