In this message we will consider the aspects of the experience and enjoyment of Christ revealed in chapters two and three of John.
In John 2 Christ is presented as the Life-changer and as the temple.
In verses 1 through 11 we see that Christ is the Life-changer.
Christ, the Life-changer, is the One who Himself is life. This is clearly revealed by the word of the Lord Jesus in 11:25a: “I am the resurrection and the life.”
For Christ to be the Life-changer means that He changes the fallen man’s death into the divine life. This is indicated by Paul’s word in 2 Timothy 1:10b, where he tells us that our Savior Jesus Christ “nullified death and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel.” Life here is the eternal life of God, which is given to all believers in Christ (1 Tim. 1:16) and which is the main element of the divine grace given to us (Rom. 5:17, 21). This life has conquered death (Acts 2:24) and will swallow up death (2 Cor. 5:4).
Christ’s being the Life-changer is indicated in John 2:1-11 by the sign of His changing water into wine at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. In this portion of the Word, wine, the life-juice of the grape, signifies life. When the Lord Jesus learned that the wine had run out, He told the servants to take the six stone waterpots that were lying there and to fill them with water. The number six represents the created man, for it was on the sixth day that man was created (Gen. 1:27, 31). Thus, the six stone waterpots signify the natural man who was created on the sixth day. Furthermore, water here signifies death (cf. 1:2, 6; Exo. 14:21; Matt. 3:16). The fact that all six of the stone waterpots were full of water signifies that all humanity is naturally full of death. Just as the waterpots were filled to the brim with water, so we were filled with death. According to John 2:8-9 the Lord Jesus marvelously changed the death water into wine. This miracle shows that, as the Life-changer, the Lord Jesus can change our death into life.
Today we may experience and enjoy Christ as the Life-changer. The genuine Christian life is a life of having our water changed into wine, of having our death changed into life. The Christian life is not a character-changing life nor a behavior-improving life. The Christian life is altogether a matter of the Lord’s changing our death into life.
John 2:19-22 reveals that Christ is the temple.
The body of Jesus, the temple, was destroyed and then raised up in resurrection. In verse 19a the Lord Jesus said to the Jews, “Destroy this temple.” As verse 21 makes clear, He was speaking of “the temple of His body.” When Christ became flesh, He took on a physical body. John 1:14 tells us that His physical body was a tabernacle. According to chapter two of John, His physical body was also the temple. Hence, when Jesus Christ was in the flesh, His body was the tabernacle and the temple of God, both of which are God’s dwelling place. Realizing this, Satan did his best to destroy the Lord’s physical body, and he did destroy it on the cross through the Jews.