It is fitting that Jesus turns water into wine for His first sign as Messiah. The signs are intended to demonstrate Him as Messiah and the disciples knew that the miracle had been performed by Him, and they believed in Him (John 2:11-12). This sign symbolizes the joy provided to believers by Messiah’s victory over death, the subsequent penance made for sin on our behalf, through the joy the wedding party experienced at the arrival of good wine. And it also pictures the first event that scripture details will take place once the Millennial Kingdom, Christ’s thousand year reign on earth, is ushered in.

In order to better understand the timeline of events we have to turn to scripture to understand what God has in store. Biblically, at an unknown time, the church will be raptured (1 Cor. 15:22), ushering in the time of tribulation (Matthew 24: 21-22), followed by Christ’s victory (Isaiah 63:1), and the ushering in of the millennial kingdom. Isaiah writes in 25:6-8, “and in this mountain The LORD will make for all people A feast of choice pieces, A feast of wines on the lees, Of fat things full of marrow, Of well-refined wines on the lees. 7. And He will destroy on this mountain The surface of the covering cast over all people, And the veil that is spread over all nations. 8. He will swallow up death forever, And the LORD GOD will wipe away tears from all faces; The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken.”

The wedding feast in Isaiah prophetically pictures the coming unity and reconciliation that we will one day experience as a result of Christ’s death and resurrection, the payment for sin made on our behalf. This transaction was agreed upon before the foundations of the earth were laid. John writes in Revelation, “all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (13:8). John MacArthur comments on this verse, “The Lord Jesus who died to purchase the salvation of those whom God had chosen was fulfilling an eternal plan. According to God’s eternal, electing purpose before creation, the death of Christ seals the redemption of the elect forever. By accepting salvation in Christ your seat at the wedding feast of the Lamb is secure.

When Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding offers joy and celebration for the wedding guests and hosts it is a picture of the joy and celebration that will one day take place, as Isaiah prophetically describes. The birth of Christ was the activation of a plan secured before the creation of the earth. This Christmas celebrate, joyously, the place at the table secured for you by Christ, activated by His birth, and paid in full by His death.