(John 2:1-12.)

It was at a marriage, a union of two, a symbol of that spiritual union of man with God which the Lord Jesus Christ had come to effect, by the way of the cross, through death and resurrection. It was to unite man with God. "Married to Christ that we might bring forth fruit unto God " (Rom. 7:4). As there is no legitimate fruit to the flesh but in the married relation, so is there none in the spirit but through union with God in Christ. "Born again," "born from above," "born of God," is the fruit of this union with Christ by faith, through grace. It is not what is sometimes called conversion, which may be only man's own work ; turned about, turning over a new leaf, having been bad, and now going about to be good. This may all be of man, but "born of God " is new life by the Spirit of God. The Saviour said to the Jews, "Ye will not come to Me that ye might have life." It is this new life that unites with God, not simply to be turned about- though a true turning away from self to God always accompanies the gracious impartation from God of this new, eternal, and divine life – but "born of God," and this is always His own miraculous work. In the flesh we are in Adam, born of God we are in Christ, the head of a new race. The former is "the old man," which we have "put off," and whose deeds we are to put off practically; the latter is "the new man," whom we have "put on," and are to manifest it in all our behavior in the world.

It was "the third day. A striking indication of the fulness of divine dealing with man in love and grace. The completeness of the manifestation of God to man. It is the opening up of the new dispensation, in which, by divine power and authority, man is to be brought near to God ; nearer than ever before. It is Christ's death and resurrection symbolized, through which it is all to be accomplished. It is all of grace too, which deigned to be present at the feast which needed Him to make it truly that, not in the way His mother thought, but typically through His death.

"Six water pots." Six-Lost man's number. Stone or earthen vessels ; man come to the end of himself; helpless, hopeless, lost, as to all he can do ; and hence passive, and ready to receive the word of God. Water – the word poured into the earthen vessels by the servants, the proclaimers of His word. Man must come to the end of himself before God, the end of his own resources must be reached before he can receive Another to do for him. So is he represented by the earthen vessels. As such he is a passive receiver of the word of God. This is repentance:it is conversion, but not the new birth. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." When man thus receiving is "full to the brim," the water of the Word, by supernatural power, the power of God, is transmuted into the wine of joy and gladness, which '' cheers the heart of both God and man " ! "The love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto him." The new life has come into him; he is "born of God" and "he rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory."

The best wine last.- The last dispensation of God to man is the best of all. It is of grace, the full favor of God to man, righteously administered through the work of Jesus on the cross. It is all of God and flows from His great love to man. It is the end of the old creation "in Adam,"and the bringing in of God's new creation " in Christ."

"Manifested His glory." – How perfectly and beautifully does this first "sign," or miracle, set forth His glory ! It opens up to us this whole dispensation of God's grace, which the Lord had come to inaugurate and consummate. It is of grace; it is miraculous; it is to all who will receive; it is by the Word ; it is administered by the servants; it is by the Spirit of God; it manifests His glory., Praise His name. J. S. P.