THE BEST FOR LAST!

“‘This is wonderful stuff!’ he said. ‘You’re different from most. Usually a host uses the best wine first, and afterwards, when everyone is full and doesn’t care, then he brings out the less expensive brands. But you have kept the best for the last!’”

John 2:10 Living Bible

The first miracle that Jesus performed was at a wedding. You recall, the wine ran out and it appeared that the glad celebration would end in great embarrassment, but Jesus was there and He mastered the situation. He told the servants to fill six large containers to the brim with water, and you know, He famously turned it into wine.

The spokesman for the entire gathering then commented openly, “You have saved the best wine for the last.” And, stopping here for a moment, we point out that God always does that! He saves the best for last!

At a gathering like this it was customary to serve the best wine first, but Jesus reverses the order. And that’s what God will do—He starts with the good, then the better, and concludes with the very best. Which is, of course, the very opposite with Satan and the way he works. For there are “pleasures of sin for a season” (Hebrews 11:25). But sin “when it is finished, brings forth death” (James 1:15). Always with the kingdom of darkness the best appears first, and at the end, the very worst. 

Scripture says that we should not be ignorant of Satan’s devices. (II Corinthians 2:11) He knows how to trick people with that same old time-worn entrapment. Proverbs has that amazing line about this very thing. Life without God with trivial pleasures thrown in occasionally is his device, but be warned, “in the end it bites like a poisonous serpent; it stings like an adder.” (Proverbs 23:32, Living Bible) That’s the bitter end!

A life without God, Scripture repeatedly says, ends with death and devastation and doom. “… as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.” (Job 4:8) And, “He who sows wickedness reaps trouble” (Proverbs 22:8, NIV). And there is more, “For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind …” (Hosea 8:7) We never want to be in God’s whirlwind.

Always, all of us “reap what we sow” (Galatians 6:7), and often it comes sooner than we would expect! Always the worst, with the devil, is yet to come. We assuredly can be very confident of it!

But thankfully, with God the order is reversed, for with Him, the very best is saved for the very end. Paul spoke of never being ashamed or bitterly disappointed (Romans 5:5, 10:11). In contrast, “when I surveyed all … what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained …” (Ecclesiastes 2:11) How many times has that story been told? How many examples have we seen?

So, again we triumphantly declare, the best is yet to come and there is never a last-minute disappointment with hopes shattered with God. Jesus proves the vital point at the wedding; He teaches us truth. And yet, there is another vital element to be appreciated and appropriated in all situations we face in life. His mother, Mary, told the servants that the vital thing was this: “Whatever he tells you to do, do it.” (verse 5) It makes it clear: if we want to see miracles from God, obedience is necessary always.

A pastor in Scotland said it so well, I quote him word for word: “It is the simplest things that are most difficult to understand and accept, and one of those which seems in my experience to have been the most difficult for people to understand and accept has been the fact that the Lord demands of His servants, each and every one of them, to listen to Him only and obey His will implicitly, irrespective of what it costs.” (William Still of Aberdeen) That is priceless truth! So, they filled the water pots just as Jesus said, and the great first miracle resulted.

And if there is a need to explain why, it is this, “The fixed point in the universe, the unalterable fact, is the throne of God,” said G. Campbell Morgan. God, on His throne, has a clock, and not once has it been a second early, and never has it been late. And this is true in spite of all appearances to the contrary. The Lord God is never in a hurry, and He is there at the exact time just as Jesus was in Cana at the wedding.

Look again at the situation at that wedding, with a disaster at hand, but there was Jesus. Here is a great declaration: in life there is no situation so chaotic and out of control that God cannot, in that situation create something that is good beyond good—in fact, surpassing good, bringing the best. Notice, “the best,” said the wedding’s spokesman.

Here was the human situation and dilemma—and in that situation Jesus had the last word. Nothing in the whole world offends humans more than a God who can and, in His will, always does save His best for last. So, let’s declare it with confidence, the best is yet to come. God is the one who made promises of that—and He never out-promised Himself. One day, just like at Cana, Jesus is going to show up! He will return, bringing the kingdom with Him and He will bring a glorious reign of love and glory, righteousness and peace. And all of us will repeat, “Yes, it’s true, You have saved the best for last. The best wine is served now, the kingdom has fully come!”

Satan will be banished, we will receive rich and glorious rewards, including a new body and a new home and the amazing fact that we will be with the Lord, our God, forever. And at that time will be a mighty chorus of praise, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, because you have taken great power and have begun to reign.” (Revelation 11:17, NIV) And the picture is presented of that moment, “the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.” (Revelation 17:14, NIV) And that’s us! That’s everyone who knows the Lord! He has saved the best for last! Yes, the best is yet to be!