Gooding, David: 6 - On the Road with Jesus

Not all preachers are known for their realism, but, um, I better announce now that wisdom has got the better of me, and we shall not attempt to look at chapters five and six tonight. Time will fail us. And, uh, therefore, um, I've reached the point where I set homework. Some of you have so thoroughly researched, um, chapters five and six, as you will feel disappointed if I don't give you some more to do. So as preparing for perhaps the second section next week, the second part of the session, and certainly the sessions that will follow in subsequent occasions, God willing, would you consider a quite detailed reading of chapters seven, eight, nine, and ten. My own experience, and as far as I can judge it, the experience of many others, are that those chapters contain paragraphs that are perhaps the most difficult in the Gospel of John. Some paragraphs and verses that are very rarely commented upon or preached upon because of their difficulty, and therefore it would be a good thing if we could all have done some very detailed reading of chapters s- uh, seven, eight, nine, and ten before we eventually come to them. But God willing, if there is a next session, we shall have to begin with chapters five and six. and just before you come, perhaps you could brush up on all the homework that you have already done. And with that, we come to the last three stories that, according to our analysis, are left in the early chapters of John. We have already seen that the prologue, though distinct in the nature of its language, cannot be separated in thought from what follows. It is integrated into what follows. Then we have noticed that in the, uh, prelude, so-called, starting in verse nineteen onwards, we have a time series that links to all the rest of the material down to chapter two, verse eleven. Verse nineteen is day one, because verse twenty nine says, on the morrow, the next day, that will be day two. Verse thirty five says, again on the morrow, presumably the next day, again, day three. At that point, some people say, but what you call day three comprises two days. For the simple reason that verse thirty nine tells us that our Lord said to some disciples, come and you shall see. They therefore saw where he abode, and they abode with him that day. It was about the tenth hour, four o'clock in the afternoon. And therefore the question rises, did, uh, you'll see Andrew s- come to see where our Lord was staying, stay with him? It was about the tenth hour when he began to stay with him. Did he that same day go out and find Peter and bring Peter to the Lord? And the learners say probably not, so perhaps there are two days. They came and saw where the Lord dwelt about the tenth ah hour. They stayed with him because it was late. You'll see. And the next day Andrew went and found Peter and brought him to Peter. If that is so, that then is day four, isn't it? Verse forty three, on the morrow, that's the next day, will be day five. Chapter two, verse one, and the third day will be day seven, because you will remember that the ancients counted inclusively, not like we do. If today is Saturday, and I say I will come to dinner with you in three days time, you will expect me Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Yeah. But if you say that to a Greek, even to this present day, this being Saturday, and you say I'll come to dinner with you on the third day, he will expect you on Monday, because they count inclusively. Today is Saturday, that's day one then. To- tomorrow is tomorrow, but they think it's the second day, and Monday is the third day. They count inclusively. That's all say. So that would indeed, if that is true, and I don't wish to argue it, uh, uh, dogmatically, that gives us a sequence of days, it perhaps gives us seven whole days, and shows us this at least, that from nineteen onwards and through the story of the wedding at Cana, there is this chronological connection marked by the evangelist himself on the morrow, on the next day, on the next day, on the third day, and so forth. So that we are obliged to take these next three stories as being linked with what has gone before. What shall we make of them? So far we have seen there has been a chronological sequence. In the beginning, the remote absolute beginning, then creation, then the fall, then the time of the preparatory witness, the prophets, and in particular John the Baptist, the greatest of the prophets. Then the first coming, he was in the world, the world was made by him. The incarnation, properly so called, that is the word was made flesh. Then the life, he dwelled among us, and we beheld his glory. And then a prophecy of Calvary, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Moving on to a prophecy of Pentecost. This is he that baptizes in the Holy Spirit. And thus far, a chronological sequence very carefully preserved and accurate. Other gospels begin, such as Matthew and Luke, with our Lord's genealogy. Matthew traces him forward from David, A- Abraham and David to his birth of Mary. Luke traces him backward through David and Abraham, of course, and right back to Adam. His physical genealogy. What John is beginning to do with you here is to give you our Lord's genealogy of the ages. In the remote beginning, he whom we call Jesus Christ, where was he? And what was he doing? And what was he doing at creation? And then, what about the fall and the long years that came between the creation and the fall and our Lord's incarnation? Was nothing happening then? Yes, John Baptist was the last of a long line of prophets, and to him give all the prophets witness. And then his incarnation, his life, his death at Calvary, and that implies his burial and ascension and the day of Pentecost, sending out the Holy Spirit. It's a genealogy of the ages. What are we going to say with these troublesome last three stories, Dulcie? What shall we make of them? Well, let it comfort our hearts. You can always start at the ground floor, can't you? Uh, the first level of meaning, who can be as grindingly historical and practical as you like, and without any fear of being fanciful at all. So let's begin there. That's a good way to begin, anyway. So, thirty five. again on the morrow, John was standing and two of his disciples. And he looked upon Jesus as he walked and says, behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Now, even there, there is an exceedingly important historical thing. That is, John had disciples. Do you get that point? That is most unusual for this time, isn't it? John was not just a a a preacher, he actually formed a movement and collected disciples around. That is why earlier in the chapter you heard the Pharisees quizzing John. They said, are you the Messiah? No. Are you, uh, Elijah? No. Um, well, are you the prophet that Moses prophesied? No. Well, why do you baptize then? For to baptize somebody was to make disciples of those people. John was the head of a very big movement. And you'll read as late as Acts chapter nineteen, there were some people in the Roman Empire that even by that time were still disciples of John. So that this verse that tells us that as John stood there saying, behold the Lamb of God, and two of his, that is John's disciples, heard him speak, and they left John and followed Christ, that is an exceedingly important juncture in the development of the story. What led them to leave John and follow the Lord Jesus? It was John's own testimony. John certainly wasn't grieved. It was looking upon Jesus as he walked, and he said to his disciples, behold the Lamb of God, John and follow Christ. And you, ladies and gentlemen, as you teach your classes and you preach, you would never think of making disciples to yourself, would you? And you certainly wouldn't be grieved if in your way you preached like John, and you said to your hearers, behold the Lamb of God. And your words were not mere words and signposts, but carried God's power of his Holy Spirit. And as people heard you speak and were directed to see the Savior, they left you and went to him. That's what preachers are for. To do themselves out of a job. But now to come back still to the brass tacks of the historical. They followed him, which is what disciples do. And you'll see we're going to now to read about some of the early disciples. They follow Jesus. Look at verse forty three. Jesus saith unto him, that's to Philip, follow me. And chapter two. on the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Jesus, verse two. and Jesus was invited and his disciples. Notice now the beginnings of this word recurring, our Lord's disciples. Well, verse thirty eight tells us, and Jesus turned and beheld them following and saith unto them, what seek you? And they said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, where do you stay? Where do you abide? He saith to them, Come and you shall see. They came therefore and saw where he abode, and they abode with him. So that's the story. Hm. How would you have me interpret it, ladies and gentlemen? You wouldn't have me be fanciful, would you? So his disciples, they said, uh, oh yes, there's the Lord Jesus, there's the Lamb of God, they said, John, and they they said to themselves, you know, be interesting, what what what hotel is he staying in? You know, uh, we'd like to see where the preacher lives and uh, and what his uh apartments are like. Eh, some people like that, you know. Don't ask me how I know. Uh. So he said, well, if you want to see where I'm lodging, come and see where I'm lodging. And they, he took them to the hotel, and they saw the room, and they was too late to go, so they stayed to dinner. And then they went home. You won't have that? Well, I'm being faithful to the text, and I'm avoiding being fanciful. You think there's more in it? Oh yes, of course there's more in it. Even at the historical level, there's more in it, you'll see. The Word was made flesh, and he dwelled with us. And coming to realize dimly who he was, they followed him, and where he stayed, they wanted to say, where he dwelled, they would dwell with him. That's history too, isn't it? How would you have me apply it? How would you have me preach it? Is there not another level? Well, you will shout at me, yes, there is, sir, in our personal experience, there is. And this is the marvel of it. Oh, let me tell you a wonderful story. In the beginning was the Word. And where was he then? Then He he was... was wi- with the Father in unimaginable glory. See this. There came a time when the Word was made flesh and tabernacled among us. Eskenesen. Lived in a tent. This is the story of how God went camping. It was amazing humility, wasn't it, of God? When in the exodus of Israel, he didn't say to them, now look, uh, there's the promised land, you're redeemed. You do your best to arrive, and if you arrive, I'll meet you there. God came down, and he dwelled among them. The Word was made flesh, and tabernacled, dwelled in a tent among us, and we saw his glory. Is there anything beyond that, ladies and gentlemen? Oh, sure there is. The superlative possibility and privilege that we can dwell with him. Not enough now the story of his incarnation, how he came to dwell with us. To this very present, we have the possibility, don't we, of dwelling with him. Where do you stay, the word is? It's a different word from this one. This, he lived in a tent. This is where he stayed. Where stay? Where abide? They came and saw where he abode, and they They abode abode. with him. We'll probably remember who it's talking about. It's talking about him who in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. How do we abide with him? Well, let's go back to history. The one of those that heard him speak and saw where he stayed, Dulcy, uh, was uh, uh, Andrew. And he first findeth his own brother Simon and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted Christ. He brought him unto Jesus, and Jesus looked upon him and said, Thou art Simon the son of John. Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation Peter. So there's a conversion for you. It actually happened. I must start at the basic level, mustn't I? History. A man called Peter walked on two feet round Palestine. He was brought to the Lord Jesus and, uh, came to trust him. And when he trusted the Lord Jesus and came to the Lord Jesus, the Lord transformed him. Before he was simply Simon, son of John, our Lord said, you shall be called Peter, Cephas, which is Aramaic for the Greek Petros, which is Peter. Good. Well, how will you have me interpret that? I mustn't be fanciful, must I? I- I- last thing on earth I must do to be fanciful, you'll see, so I must be historical. Uh, Peter came to the Lord Jesus. Now let me tell you about Peter. He was a nice fellow, but he was all impetuous, you know, all ready to fly off at the handle, to make unfortunate suggestions, to rush in where angels fear to tread. He was a temperamental and somewhat volatile personality when he first came to the Lord Jesus, and the Lord looked upon him and said, you are Simon, but I'd better do something about your personality. So he called him a stone and made him one. And stones don't, uh, fly about the place, or they shouldn't at any rate. They keep still and are solid kind of characters. And if you come to Christ, uh, Christ can do the same for you. That would be a good sermon, wouldn't it? That's the end of it? Well, hardly. Even at the historical level, because if you should have happened to have read Matthew, or read a further account of this matter, subsequent in his life, our Lord said to Peter, whom do men say that I am? And they answered this, that, and the other, and he said, who do you say that I am? And Peter said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And our Lord said, thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church. You're all ears, aren't you, to hear whom I can say the rock is. Well, I'm not going to say it. Just say, I'm simply going to say that our Lord said, uh, that he was going to build his church, you'll see. And it goes back to Peter's subsequent confession of the Lord, doesn't it? I can tell you upon whom the church is built. Says Ephesians chapter three, it's built upon the foundation of the holy apostles and prophets, is it not? And I take Peter to be among the holy apostles and prophets. That's all historical. He came from the mansions of glory, and for a while he lived in a tent. But now ascended, he has poured forth his Holy Spirit and baptized believers into one body. And from the apostles onward. He's built his church, and there he abides too, doesn't he? And as further warrant for it, let me read you what Peter wrote to, uh, some Christians. He hadn't seen them as far as we know. It is one Peter chapter two. He talks like this, one Peter two three, if you have tasted that the Lord is gracious, unto whom coming a living stone, rejected indeed of men, but with God elect precious, you also as living stones are built up a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Christ was the great foundation stone. Peter came to him and was turned into a living stone, Petros. And you too, coming to Christ, are built up as a spiritual house, as living stone. Master, where do you dwell? He said, come and see. The Lord fill our hearts with a sense of the wonder and the glory, both of the individual that we can dwell with the Lord Jesus from day to day, and publicly, in the sheer wonder that we come in church to form the blessed Lord's dwelling place by the Spirit. And there we find him and dwell with him, who of old dwelt in the bosom of the Father, and once lived in the tent of a body on the plains of Galilee, and now dwells with his people in the church and in our hearts. The number one thing of discipleship, according to these verses, then. John said, behold the Lamb of God, as the Lamb of God walked the countryside. They followed him and said, Lord, where do you dwell? My brothers, my sisters, if we have any concept of who it is of whom we speak, we shall not be content to know the historical fact that the Word was made flesh and dwelled amongst us. We shall follow him closely, and when he turns to say, what do you seek? We shall say, Lord, where do you dwell? John will have some more to say about us as he records our Lord's farewell ministry. If anyone loved me, he will keep my commandment, and we will love him, and we will come and make our abode with him. What next then? Well, the next day he would go forth into Galilee, and the commentators disagree amongst themselves, don't they? Who is the he that was minded to go forth into Galilee? Some people say it was the Lord Jesus. Other people say it was Peter, perhaps, or his brother Andrew that went forth to Galilee and found Philip, uh, do you see? And then Jesus said to Philip, follow me. But now here's the story of another conversion, and just as Andrew found his brother, uh, Simon Peter, so now Philip finds Nathaniel, you see, and starts, like all true Christians do, with a concern for personal working, starts his best to convert, uh, Nathaniel and to lead him to Christ, you see, and led him to Christ. And I have to repeat, it actually happened. This was an actual conversion, and it happened before Calvary even. Yes, I haven't forgotten the historical level. I am so afeared you're going to tell me I'm fanciful presently, you see. I have to keep saying that. Sorry to bore you. You'll say, yes. He found Nathaniel, you'll say. It's a conversion. But, um, not all conversions are the same, are they? Wouldn't it be lovely if we had the time tonight to go around each one of you and say, what led you to Christ, and what was it in Christ that attracted you? And, and you, madam, what, what was it in Christ that attracted you? What a story we should have if we could hear it from all the saints, as one day we shall hear it in glory, do you see? We find all sorts of different things that led us to Christ, surely. And Nathaniel came, and his conversion was very different from Peter's. For when Nathaniel came, our Lord didn't say to Nathaniel, thou art Nathaniel, and thou shalt be called Peter as well and be turned into a stone. Of course not. He had a different angle on things, didn't he? And he said, behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. So we must now ferret out what the point of this man's conversion was. And we notice, first of all, Josie, the, um, preparatory witness, don't we? The preparatory witness. And you will have carefully noted how that this is different from the otherwise similar verse. You'll see verse forty one, Andrew finds Simon and says, we have found the Messiah, but that's all he said. He didn't say anything about Moses and the prophets. You notice that, don't you? We found the Messiah, and John translates it for you, which is interpreted Christ. But now in verse forty five, when Philip finds Nathaniel and saith unto him, we have found him, now he quotes the preparatory witness, doesn't he? We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. Oh, look at those preparatory witnesses. Hey, what? There was John, the voice in the wilderness, you'll see. And then there was here, are you Elijah? Are you the prophet? Are you, who are you? And John says, no, I'm the voice of one preparing the way. Now over here, the preparatory witness of Moses, past prophets. And Philip, being a good Jew, wishing to witness to a Jew, knows the value of being able to cite Moses and the prophets, and we do need to know it, don't we, if we're going to witness to Jews, we need to know our, our, our Moses and the prophets in order to present the Lord Jesus as the one to whom they witnessed. It'd been a little bit better, and it's not for me to criticize Philip, is it, because he was a better evangelist than I shall ever be. It'd have been a bit better, perhaps, if he'd had managed to get over his excitement and get the thing quite straight. Fancy going to Nathaniel, that sedate Jew, and saying, we found him of whom Moses and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth. You might know what, what Nathaniel would say, there's another excited evangelical for you. Come to Christ. Do you see? Mm-hmm. And then getting the facts all muddled up. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth, said he. Why didn't poor old Philip say, come, you know, come and we found the Christ of whom Moses and the prophets did write, Jesus of Bethlehem. You know, Micah five and all that, Nathaniel, my boy. Out of, out of Nathan- out of Bethlehem shall come. And that would have been true, wouldn't it? Pity he put an unnecessary difficulty in the man's way, do you see, in his evangelism. Because we're all guilty of it on times, aren't we, you'll see. Son of Joseph. Well, okay, that was the way people were referred to, and Joseph was our Lord's legal father. It might have been better if he'd have said born of a virgin. What? Never mind. There was the preparatory witness of Moses and the prophets, but Moses and the prophets are one thing. And Nathaniel, though he felt there were certain mistakes here and he didn't like the enthusiasm, um, now there was an honest kind of a chat, wasn't he? So when he started to argue, Peter's, uh, Philip said, well, all I can say is come and see. And he gets full marks, doesn't he? For when he came, the Lord said, truly an Israelite. There's no guile in him. He speaks his mind. He's honest. He wasn't hiding behind his difficulties, was he? He would come and see. I've noticed in your work with folks, haven't you, that, um, you get a man who's an atheist, and you've got him nearly to the point of seeing that Jesus might well be the Christ, when the atheist suddenly develops an interest in missionary. What about the heathen, says he? And I hope you haven't got any answer about the heathen, because it's a nice difficulty to hide behind. Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Well, come and see. And he was man enough and honest enough to get up and come and investigate. And oh, what he found. You see, the witness of the prophets and Moses is one thing, but the witness of Christ himself is far superior, isn't it? And Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said, Behold, truly, this is a truly an Israelite indeed in whom is no guile. And Nathanael, startled, said, How did you know me? And he said, before that Philip called thee, whilst thou was under the fig tree, I saw thee. And Nathaniel was made aware that he had stepped into the presence of somebody that knew him. There was no hiding now. He knew him. Knew him through and through. We'll see. The light lightens. Every man. And And when when Nathaniel came to Christ, the next bit of e- e- e- convincing evidence was that Christ knew him. While he was under the shade of his fig tree, Christ saw him. Known, that's the light doing its work. Whereupon Nathaniel said to him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. What did he mean? Well, let's look at a passage in Old Testament, if you allow me to quote it to you. This is Zephaniah, he comes before Haggai, and it's he. Verse 13, the remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity nor speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid. Sing, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel, be glad and rejoice with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments. He has cast out thine enemy. The king of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee. Thou shalt not fear anymore. He shall take away lies, take away all deceits, give absolute reality. Rejoice, Israel, your king is among you. And here comes the Israelite in whom there was no guile and no deceit. He said what he thought. He becomes aware of the Lord's penetrating light, confesses him as Son of God, King of Israel. Those words, of course, mean a lot to us, but they would have meant a lot more to Nathaniel as a Jew, wouldn't they? The great difference between Judaism and Christianity is precisely this, that we Christians confess Jesus to be the Son of God, and Jews deny it. It is the crucial thing between being a Jew and becoming a Christian. Thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. But it didn't end there. Our Lord said, because, uh, I said, I saw thee before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, do you believe? Is that the reason why you believe? Oh, Nathaniel, he said, you shall see greater things than these. You shall see, all of you shall see, it's in the plural, you shall see the heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. And now we have to try and make something out of that, don't we? What is it? Allusion, isn't it? Allusion to what? Jacob, of course. It's an allusion to Jacob. Poor old Jacob, when he started his life, was bung full of deceit, wasn't he? But Jacob got turned into Israel by God's grace, and there was no more deceits eventually to be left in Israel, says the prophet Zephaniah. This takes us all the way back to Jacob and his vision of the house of God and the very gate of heaven. And because that is so, we better go back and look at it, hadn't we? Because these Old Testament allusions are not there just to decorate the cake, they are there to form thought models so that we can understand what the New Testament is saying. And the story of Jacob and his vision is given us, as you know, in chapter twenty eight of the book of Genesis, verse twelve: And he dreamed, and behold, a ladder set up on earth, and the top of it reached to heaven, and behold, the angels of God ascending and descending. Now, the first thing to notice, ascending and descending on it. I hope your English translation says it. That's how surely it should be. The angels of God were ascending and descending on it, that is, on the ladder or the stairway. It was a noble stairway that Ja- Ja- Jacob saw. Why do I mention that? Let's clear that up at this moment, because there are some who would say it's not descending on it, it's descending on him. That the angels of God were ascending and descending on Jacob. Well, I hope they weren't. I would hope that Jacob wasn't the center of the civil service of heaven, because the tricks he might have got up to with that power at his, at his elbow. Uh, no, no, no, no, surely. The angels were ascending, not on Jacob, they were ascending on the stairway, and they were descending on the stairway. That's going to become important, because our Lord is going to say, you shall see greater things than these, you shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on... on Jacob? Was Jacob a picture of the Son of Man? Surely not. No, you shall see the angels of God ascending and descending, not on Jacob, on the Son of Man. Ah, but what else did he see? And behold, the Lord stood, verse thirteen. Where did the Lord stand? Here again, the scholars are divided as to where the Lord stood, we'll say. Because the Hebrew word is capable of two translations. It is alav, and alav can mean, and the Lord, that is God, stood above the ladder, right at the top. Can you imagine this great royal staircase? It wasn't, uh, let down from heaven with the bottom almost reaching earth, was it? It was set up on earth, and the top was almost reaching heaven. It was going that way. And because it was going that way, the angels of God were ascending on it and descending on it. And where was God? Well, you could translate it, God was on top of it. God was above it, and many English translations translate it so. But the Hebrew could mean equally well by the side of it or over him. And most modern commentators prefer it that way, and they're surely right. God wasn't at the top of the ladder in heaven. That would have been no news to Jacob. Jacob had always believed God was in heaven. He was pretty glad he was too on times, particularly when he was cheating his brother Esau. God was a long way off in his heaven. What Jacob discovered that night was God was not only in heaven, but to his amazement, says he, as he woke up from his dream, God is in this place. God was at the bottom of the ladder, leaning over Jacob as Jacob slept on his pillow of stone and talking to Jacob. God at the bottom of the ladder, at Jacob's elbow, watching over him. And God said to Jacob, look, Jacob, get hold of this. I'm not merely in my heaven, I am with you, Jacob. Well, he said, if you will be with me, then and go with me, then you'll be my guard, and I'll give a tenth of any business deals I make to you. Guard in this place. And of course, the angels were ascending, for the angels go out from the divine presence, and they return and fold their wings when their task is done in the presence of the Lord. And Jacob had this tremendous vision, God in this place, forming the very gate into heaven. Gate into heaven? We evangelicals would read it as though Jacob had listened to his first gospel message. You know, there's a door open into heaven, and Jacob was advised to get in as quickly as he could. Well, he wasn't, was he? For isn't perhaps thinking of entering the gateway into heaven to be saved. It's gate in the Old Testament sense of the word. The gate of a city was the place where the rulers sat. That's why the great heavenly Jerusalem has not only twelve foundations, it will have twelve gates. That's where the government and the administration of a city takes place. And what Jacob was given to see was that God was by the side of Jacob, that God was possessed of this vast heavenly civil service to do his bidding. And here was the very presence and house of God. Here was the very gate of heaven. Here was the center of heaven's administration on earth. That's what Jacob saw. And went his way believing it. That he went to get his daily bread and earn a living and get married and bring up a family. God was in this place. God there to be with him. God in charge of all the administration of the eternal world brought down to earth. So much for Jacob's vision. It was a prototype, wasn't it? A foreview of something, by definition, immensely bigger. You believe because I said, uh, I saw you under your fig tree, and I've shown you that I know you through and through, Nathaniel. I know exactly where you were. Yes, he did, didn't he? He knew every sparrow that fell. He counted every hair upon the heads of his disciples. He knew where Nicodemus was, knew his heart, knew him through and through. And here's Nicodemus comes out into the light that lights and lights every man coming into the world. Our Lord promises even greater. Thou shall see greater things than these. You shall see heaven opened. And the angels of God ascending and descending. As once they ascended and descended upon God at the bottom of the ladder. So you'll see the angels of God ascend on the Son of Man. When? I'd like to put it in a question, but I haven't the time. Has there been a time ever when you have seen heaven opened? And the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man? You say, surely, Mr. Preacher, that's a, that's a, how would you put it? That's a kind of a, well, a spiritual way of talking, you know, you know. I mean, when the Lord, for instance, in the very next story, turned the water into wine, his disciples saw heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending. Well, if they did, they don't tell us about it. It may be that in the visions of the night, or as you read scripture, it will seem to you as heaven is opened, and the angel of the Lord stands by your side. It can happen, can it not? It happened to Peter on the deck of a storm-tossed ship in the middle of the Mediterranean. The angel of the Lord, whom I am and whom I serve, stood with me last night. It can happen. But heaven opened? You say it's a reference to the baptism. No, it can't be, can it? Because it happened after the baptism. You say it's a reference to, um, the Transfiguration Mountain. Well, we're not told that the heaven was opened there, and anyway, Nathaniel wasn't there either. When shall Nathaniel see the heaven open? Oh, my dear brothers and sisters, for me, it's primary prophes- the primary reference of the prophecy is to that glorious day. There'll be no doubt about it then. As John himself tells us in his famous chapter, uh, uh nineteen, and I saw heaven open, and the rider on the great white horse came out. Oh, I shall see it. I shall see it. I shall see him descending the sky, coming for me, for me, coming to reign as the glorified Lord. I shall see him at the bottom of the ladder too, for the world hasn't seen the last of him yet, and he who left by Olivet will return to Olivet. He shall yet reign from shore to shore. Ah, what a day it will be when the politicians of last have learned to tell no lies. Cor, I learned a little bit more of it now, that would be more like a paradise, wouldn't it? And there'll be no lies in the government anymore. The angels of God shall ascend and descend upon the Son of Man, and he shall rule, and he shall reign. Tell you what's going to happen. Our Lord said, all Israel shall be saved, won't they? They shall look on him whom they pierced, and they shall say, Rabbi, thou art. After all the long centuries of our denial and our despising, can any good thing come out of Nazareth? They shall say at last, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God. Thou art the King of Israel. It will be like life from the very dead. That's number three. Yes, um, uh, no- number two, sorry, that's number two. And the third story, on the third day, that's the last day, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Let me do my best at the first level, you'll see, and that is there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee. And, uh, you know, weddings could last a whole week, and it was the responsibility of the bridegroom to provide the wine to, uh, for the joy of the company and the celebrations, you'll see. Uh-huh. And our Lord was invited, and his mother and his, his disciples to this wedding, and at last the wine gave out, which would have been a hideous shame and disgrace upon the bridegroom in an ancient Galilean city for that to happen, you'll see. And our Lord in his mercy came to the rescue and made the water into wine, and they all had a very happy time of fellowship. So, well, it was a miracle, yes, and that is the message. Any application? Well, let me stick to the real let middle. And you, my dear sir, when you get married, and you, madam, when you get married, be sure you invite the Lord Jesus to the wedding. And if you lack any... Well, I better not say that. Well, if you lack anything, he will provide it. You couldn't, you, now you're saying no. And why won't that content you? Well, you'll say, my dear good preacher, have a heart do. Oh, that's a nice message to give at, uh, you know, Sunday afternoon, uh, session or something, or to on a wedding speech if you can't think of anything else to say at the wedding breakfast, but not in this context. Whatever this means, there's got to be something big enough, isn't it, to fill fill fill that last slot. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. And this third story, the wedding in Cana of Galilee, ends. He manifested his glory. So how shall we proceed? If this were the story of the feeding of the five thousand, I should have no difficulty because chapter six will tell me how to apply it. Having gave the, given the people bread and fish to eat and fed them physically, he presented himself as the one who could feed them spiritually. And if it were the miracle with the blind man, I had no difficulty to apply it. They gave the man physical sight, and he's able to give you spiritual sight. If I were to pursue that line with this, it would be he gave them literal wine, and it was a picture of? A sign of? Let me quote you just one passage out of many. This is the prophecy of Isaiah, and it's chapter twenty five. Chapter twenty five, a- and verse six. And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering that is cast over all peoples and the veil that is spread over all nations. He has swallowed up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces, and the reproach of his people shall he take away from off the all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it. There's the prophetic use of wine as a symbol of what God is going to do. Ah, for it is true anyway. He who turned water into wine at the wedding of Cana of Galilee, one day he's going to put on a feast, a feast of fat things on the wi- on on wi- wine on the lees well refined, shall wipe away all tears and all sorrow. Death itself shall be swallowed up. It is what the theologians call the Messianic banquet. Yes? And it was a wedding at which he did it. Wedding in Cana of Galilee. How would you apply the notion of a wedding figuratively? Well, our Lord uses it, doesn't he? Twice over in his parables of the time when the king made a wedding for his son, and the king came in to see the guests, and it is a prophecy of the coming kingdom of God. Oh, why do I need to belabor the point? I must take courage in both hands and confess to you what I believe. Wedding of Cana of Galilee, in which he turned the water to wine, is a foreview of the great and coming marriage supper of the Lamb. Oh, sure it is. Under the great messianic age, and debt itself shall be destroyed, and tears will be a thing of the past, and all shall be flooded with eternal joy. The um... The master of ceremonies, M of C, knew not whence it was. Ha. All they saw was the wine. The servants knew where it came from. Do you see that series? He was in the world, and the world was made by him. They had the external evidence. They knew him not. John, the great prophet, knew him not until he was given officially the sign of ascending like a dove. For Christ to the two, you wouldn't have known from looking at him that he was the Son of God. That was the external. And John himself had to be given a sign to know who was who. And the wine, the master of ceremonies knew not. To him it was wine, a marvelous wine, but that's all he saw. Alas, he knew not its source, nor sought to find it. But he said a lovely thing, didn't he, nonetheless. He said, well, I don't know about this. It's normal custom, he said to the bridegroom, to give men the good wine at the beginning, and when they're well drunken, to put on the, the, the less wine, he said, but you have kept the best wine until now. This beginning of Jesus, miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee and, uh, manifested his glory. Yes. It's been a long story tonight, hasn't it? And you're all weary and wanted to go to bed. Never mind, you'll recover. In the beginning, this beginning. Do you know what weddings are? Well, of course you do. They are continuation of the old, aren't they? And yet they are a new beginning. We started in the remote beginning, before there was a universe, and came through creation and the fall and the age of the prophets and the first coming and the incarnation and the life and the death at Calvary and the ascension of the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the formation of the dwelling place of Christ now, and the eventual conversion of Israel and heaven opened and the coming of the Lord to reign. And all, my dear fellow believer, it's not the end now. Doesn't end with an end. God never ends with an end. God ends with a new beginning. And the day shall dawn when this world, bright and glorious but racked with sorrow, shall be changed. There shall come a new beginning. The marriage supper of the Lamb shall banish all our pains. And when it happens, they shall say in their gratitude to God, thou hast kept the best wine until now. The Lord bless his word.