John’s Gospel is a litany of eight signs, selected to manifest Jesus’s glory as Israel’s YHWH so that we may believe He was the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing we may have life in His name. The mysterious semeions1 follow the themes of YHWH’s eight festivals and are tokens that prove Yeshua is the Messiah. Israel’s God of the Exodus was YHWH-jireh, the God who sees and provides. The first sign, the Cana wedding feast, is a Passover typographic.

In previous blogs on Passover, I highlighted the importance the Scriptures place on being ceremonially clean and consecrated to eat the Passover meal. In the Tanakh, Israelites had to be clean to partake of the sacred Passover meal. And in the New Testament, Paul exhorted believers to examine themselves before partaking in Jesus’s body and blood at Passover. Also, Passover is a family event, a private expression of experiencing the rescue of Israelite households through the redemption of the firstborn by the lamb’s blood. Passover allowed Israel’s families to exodus from Egypt to ultimately form a covenant nation before YHWH at Sinai.

The goal of Passover, then, is dwelling with YHWH in a covenant marriage after seven Sabbaths (72, the 7-week count from wavesheaf to Shavuot) of preparation for the perfecting unto holiness of the saints. Sinai was the consummation of a betrothal at Passover. The Passover marriage proposal will be the subject of an upcoming blog.

The wedding at Cana of Galilee connects with Passover in several ways. Here are some of them:

• On the third day calls back to the third day of creation when the earth rises out of the waters to bring forth seed and the waters gather (mikveh) into seas. “On the third day” is also a term secured to Abram’s offering of Isaac, receiving him figuratively back from the dead to progenerate since God provided a substitute ram. Abram called the place YHWH-jireh.
• Cana means “zeal, jealousy, possession, redeem” (Strong’s NT 2580, OT 7069 root “to create by purchase, recover and bring forth”) as an expression of His covenant love, chesed. YHWH bought Israel with His life at Passover.
• Jesus’s mother is instrumental in rescuing the wedding party’s family, similar to Moses’s mother and Zipporah’s actions before Israel’s exodus Passover.
• The wedding feast motif is both a spring and fall harvest occurrence.
• Jesus said “Not yet is come the time of Me” (letter sum 2812, 22 × 19 × 37). John connects “time” or “hour” in his Gospel account with YHWH’s hand in action that none should perish.
• The six empty waterpots of stone, according to the Jew’s manner of purification, infers lack.
• The volume of waterpots is 2-3 firkins. Metaphorically, firkin means “to judge according to any rule or standard” and “to determine what is lacking or to measure the benefits which one confers on others” (NT 3354 Thayer’s Abridged).
• Jesus turns the water into wine, the symbol of blood, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Historically, Moses had turned water into blood, the third sign that God had sent him to deliver Israel.
• Jesus tells the servants to fill the waterpots with water, then draw it out and take it to the master of the feast, similar to Jesus feeding the multitudes through His disciples (Pentecost’s semeion).
• The semeion was private, known only to Jesus’s mother and a few servants.
• The master of the feast comments about saving the good wine until the last. Some liken “the blood of the covenant” of the Old Covenant to the first wine (Exo. 24:8) and Yeshua’s blood of the New Covenant to the good wine (Luke 22:20, Jhn. 6:54-46), filled with the spirit and the lifeblood of Yeshua that cleanses our conscience from dead works and lifeless observances to do God’s ever-living will.

John’s first sign discourse likewise holds explanatory themes of Passover: Jesus cleanses the temple, discerning the heart, a new birth, John the Baptist exalts the Bridegroom of the bride, the Samaritan woman meets her Messiah at the well, the whitened harvest, and the Savior of the World.

From these lists, it is easy to see that the scope of Passover points to Pentecost and reaches to the Eighth Day, explaining why it is connected chiastically to John’s eighth semeion.

Takeaway:
From John’s first semeion, the wedding at Cana, Jesus, in private, turned water into wine. Both water and blood are symbols of cleansing agents. His action provided deliverance for the family. Our union with Yeshua by partaking in the Passover wine, His lifeblood, is a betrothal act in preparation for resurrection and dwelling forever in His presence. Yeshua’s Passover sacrifice is the door to His family, the Kingdom of God, in the spring and later harvests of humanity.

Fun Factors:
John uses semeion 17 times in his Gospel account, with a letter sum of 1113, 3 × 7 × 53, or 3 × 371. Israel camped at Mount Sinai for 371 days, dwelling with YHWH. YHWH’s feasts, to which John’s semeions point, are holy days in His dwelling and presence. Eternal life with God is humanity’s goal. John’s Gospel answers the two disciple’s question to the Lamb of God, “Where are you living?” After Jesus said, “Come and see,” “They came and saw where He dwelt and remained with Him that day” (John 1:38-39).

YHWH-shammah, 371 letter sum, means “YHWH dwells there,” His name associated with the eighth sign and the harvesting of humanity.

John 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (12 words, sum 6307 = 17 × 371, YHWH-shammah’s (371) victory (17).

The number 17 denotes victory at God’s creating the generations of His family in perfection, so they do not die, but walk with Him forever.

In John’s first sign, Yeshua commanded, “Fill the jars with water,” sum of 2755, and “Draw out now and carry to the master of the feast,” sum of 5572. Added, 2755 + 5572 = 8327, 11 × 757 or 11(26² + 9²), numbers referencing His sacrifice, His name YHWH, and His justice. His orders produced the “good wine,” sum of 421, the 82^nd prime, 40^th Pythagorean prime, 14² + 15², marking Passover’s power to restore an exiled Israel to Himself. The 15^th centered square number is 421.

A Greek word referring to a liquid measure, each waterpot held between two or three firkins. Twenty to thirty gallons each, a firkin, metretae, letter sum 954, 3 × 318, equals the certainty (3) of “YHWH of help,” (318). Abram conquered five kings in the rescue of Lot with only 318 men, and His servant Eliezer (318) brought back Rebekah to be the wife of Isaac.