Come to the Water and Receive Wine for Free: Echoes of Isaiah in the Gospel According to John
John’s Gospel is rich with allusions to the prophecies of Isaiah
When teaching John 2–3 in the past, I overlooked some connections that I’ve recently noticed between Isaiah 55–56 and the Gospel According to John.
Water to wine in Isaiah
“Come to the water,” the prophet declares, and you will receive “wine” without paying for it because God himself has provided it (Isaiah 55:1; compare John 2:6–7). Unlike the wine that you costs you, this wine is the finest, and it is supremely satisfying (55:2; compare John 2:9–10).
Wine as a sign
God’s mighty works and generosity to those who come to him will be “an everlasting sign” (Isaiah 55:13), which is echoed in John 2:11: “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and revealed his glory. And his disciples trusted in him” (see also John 3:2).
A new temple that provides a place of prayer for all nations
The parallels continue in Isaiah 56, which declares the eschatological temple to be “house of prayer for all nations” (56:7); Jesus identifies this temple as his own body after he cleanses the temple courts in Jerusalem (John 2:13–22). His “body” will give birth to a communion that calls together those whom God has chosen from all nations.
The blindness of Israel’s leaders
The declaration that the temple is “a house of prayer for all nations” is followed in Isaiah by a lament that Israel’s leaders are blind to the truth (Isaiah 56:10), which is precisely what we see next in John’s Gospel. A leader of Israel comes to Jesus “by night” (John 3:1), and this man is spiritually blind. Thus Jesus says to him, “Unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (3:3). And yet, unlike the leaders of Israel in the time of Isaiah, Nicodemus is at least seeking God’s truth.
When I see these Spirit-structured connections between Isaiah and John, it also causes me to hear the words of Jesus to his mother—“Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come” (2:4)—somewhat differently. It’s as if Jesus is saying to Mary, “Do you think it’s already time for me to bring the prophecies to fulfillment? Not yet, dear woman, not yet.”