Isaiah mentions three different sources to slake the thirst: water, wine and milk. (Isaiah 55:1) These three are arranged in a significant order, to teach a significant lesson about three degrees of satisfying your thirst for truth.
“Come, my brethren, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come buy and eat, yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.” (2 Ne 9:50)
We pay no “price” but instead gain belief, then faith, then knowledge from Him. We accept what He freely offers. We follow Him. These things, too, are gifts. All we need to do is accept them. All of these (belief, faith and knowledge) are akin to water, wine and milk. We are powerless to create water. Water is a substance in nature, provided by God, and is free for all to enjoy. It is a gift. Wine, or any juice, comes from plant life, which is also a gift from God. We are powerless to create these plant life forms bearing fruit, but have them provided to us as a gift from a kind and loving God. So, too, comes milk.
From the symbol of the crushed grape, its blood spilled and then allowed to ferment, comes a symbol of the great work of the Lord. The grape juice changes through fermentation from something which affects the senses. As the Psalmist puts it wine gladdens the heart. Psalms 104:15. His blood was spilled and then grew into a new power intended to gladden the heart of all those who will receive it.
It is only those who will allow the Lord to inform them with “water, wine and milk” who will receive of His glory. These are people who will not set up stakes, and prevent the Lord from pouring out knowledge upon them. Such knowledge comes from revelation. And revelation comes from obedience to the commandments. The Plan of Salvation is an integrated whole. It works equally for all, without regard to family, calling, station, or position in this life. However, it requires of all a willingness to accept truth and follow it. We determine the outcome. We decide if we are willing to accept only “water” into our lives; or if we will accept both “water and wine;” or if we will accept “water, wine and milk” and receive eternal lives. It is offered to all equally. It is accepted unequally by each.
Some will accept only the “water,” which is a known symbol of baptism (3 Ne. 11: 26), and go no further. Others receive not only baptism, but wine, a symbol of being connected to the true vine (John 15: 1–6), and of the sacrament (D&C 20: 75). A few will accept not only these, but also “milk,” a symbol of a promised land (D&C 38: 18), and the sacred feminine (for milk only comes from the female). Milk suggests the sealing covenant (D&C 132:19), motherhood and fatherhood (Gen. 17: 2–4). It ties us to the family, which comes from the highest ordinances of the Gospel.
Excerpts from Eighteen Verses, by Denver Snuffer
“Then, the next thing He did is so fascinating. And it’s the only thing we’re told, it’s the first thing He did, we’re told that He went to Cana of Galilee to perform His first miracle. What did He do? He went to a what? A wedding feast! Why? There’s all kinds of discussions on the six water pots. They were stone water pots. The fact that they were stone tells us something that it was ceremonial water because stone was used for ceremonial water because it was considered impervious to putrefaction. And we know that He takes those six stone pots at a wedding feast
and turns them into wine. What in the world is that?
Well, I command the podium right now so I’m going to tell you what I think it means. Who’s the stone of Israel? Christ. Who’s the water of life? Christ. Who at the Last Supper explained that the water represents His blood? (Or excuse me, that the wine represented His blood. Sorry. Thanks for the correction.) It’s Christ. Putting that miracle together, what in the world just happened? Christ explained why He is here and why He is kicking off His ministry because He, the pure waters of life has come to the Earth to be turned into the blood of the atonement. Six water pots represented 6000 years of the history of the world, so that His children can wash their garments white in the blood of the Lamb for 6000 years so when He comes to start the 7000th year they are ready for the wedding feast, they’re ready to become the bride. So his first miracle was why He came, so that the pure waters of life to be turned into the pot of the atonement so that His children, His wife, His bride to be, can wash their garments white in the blood of the Lamb and be presented at the 7000th year as His bride-to-be. As King Benjamin said in Mosiah 5:15, “so that they may be sealed as His.” Because sometimes we forget that the marriage covenant isn’t just a husband and wife, it’s a husband and wife being sealed to Christ. And He must seal you His. We definitely forget that He’s part of the new and everlasting covenant of marriage. When Jeremiah explained the new covenant, we’re all familiar with what Jeremiah said, it’s already been read today, he says look, I’m going to just read it to you from the prophet Jeremiah starting with verse 31, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord”. (Jeremiah 31:31-32)
Excerpt from “Marriage as a Metaphor for the New Covenant” by Bob Norman, Sept 2016
Following is a translation of John 2:1-11 from Greek
On the third day of the week, there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there.
Jesus and his followers were invited guests at the marriage.
And when the wedding party wanted more wine, his mother said to him, They have run out of wine.
Jesus replied, Mother, why are you talking to me about it? The time for me to provide sacramental wine has not yet arrived.
But his mother instructed the servants, Whatever he tells you to do, follow through with it.
There were six waterpots made of stone that were used for ceremonial purification in religious observances, each containing twenty to thirty gallons.
Jesus instructed the servants, Fill the waterpots with water. And they filled them up to the brim.
And he said, Now remove some and take it to the host. And they took it to him.
When the host of the wedding tasted the ceremonial water, it had been converted to wine. But he did not know the source that converted the water, unlike the servants who recognized the Source.
The host of the feast called for the bridegroom, and praised him using a proverb, saying, Careful men introduce their plans using the best wine, and later, when their followers are drunk, then their worst — but you have brought us better wine than at the start.
This was a sign confirming his role as the Messiah that was performed by Jesus in Cana of Galilee. It was a demonstration of authority over both the elements and ordinances of salvation. Those who recognized this as a sign of his authority were awed as they considered it was him present among them.
by John F. Hall, professor of Classical Languages and Ancient History at Brigham Young University
The Lord was confronted by devout Jews who questioned His failure to respect the existing religious conventions. They thought He disrespected the law and authorities. They could not understand that He was sent to replace the existing order with something new. For them, anything that failed to conform to the existing pattern was to be condemned. They knew their traditions were true, they were God’s chosen people, and God had spoken through Moses and the prophets to them. Therefore, Christ’s failure to fall into strict conformity with the existing religious traditions seemed to them proof of His heresy.
Christ explained the change of direction His ministry would cause in these words: “No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.” (Mark 2:21-22.)
[What is new wine? It is grape juice that hasn’t been fermented yet. The process of fermentation happens in the bottles, over time.]
Excerpt from blogpost, Every Word of God
In John 15:5 Jesus states, “I am the true vine and my Father is the husbandman.” He uses the figure of the living vine to remind us that we have to connect to the living vine, and He’s the vine. We connect to Him and get life through that connection. What does it mean to be connected up with the vine and to derive sustenance from it? You have to be alive, which is not inert or an object that you move from there to there. If it’s alive it’s going to grow, it’s going to increase, it’s going to improve. It’s going to have connection with. Christ was extraordinary in His selection of the things that He wanted to use to communicate to us what He intended the gospel to be.
Excerpt from Talk, The Road to Emmaus
In D&C 133:46-52 there is a significant reference to his use of grapes/wine associated with His atonement:
And it shall be said, Who is this that comes down from God in Heaven with dyed garments, yea, from the regions which are not known, clothed in his glorious apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? And he shall say, I am he who spoke in righteousness, mighty to save. And the Lord shall be red in his apparel, and his garments like him that treads in the winevat, and so great shall be the glory of his presence that the sun shall hide his face in shame, and the moon shall be blown out, and the stars shall be hurled from their place. And his voice shall be heard: I have trodden the winepress alone, and have brought judgment upon all people, and none were with me, and I have trampled them in my fury and I did tread upon them in my anger, and their blood have I sprinkled upon my garments and have stained all my raiment, for this was the day of vengeance which was in my heart, and now the year of my redeemed is come. And they shall mention the loving kindness of their Lord and all that he has bestowed upon them, according to his goodness and according to his loving kindness, for ever and ever.
Who is this He’s trampled? The bitter fruit (see also the allegory of the vineyard in Jacob) who would not connect to the living vine.
