“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”  These are the introductory words to the Pentateuch.  They provide both instruction and insight for many around the world.  Seldom have they had so great an impact as when they were read by Frank Borman on Christmas Day as Apollo 8 looped around the moon.  An inspiring message coming from three astronauts on board a lonely spacecraft 240,000 miles away. They found immense pleasure and awe in viewing the Earth with its distinct blue color.  They had tasted of its goodness!

Earth is “The Blue Planet” and it has no equal.  Scientifically it has the largest accumulation of water. Cosmologically it has the largest accumulation of life.  The mission objective of Apollo 8 was to circle the moon and return to Earth for a water splash down of the fragile craft.  The astronaut’s objective was to reunite friendships and accept a toast of earth’s fruit in celebration of their completed space journey. Both the scientific discoveries and the cosmological gratification embodied by such adventures find their fulfillment in the depths of humanity.  The water and the “the fruit of the vine” proclaim life and love all the way back to “the beginning”.

In the second chapter of the book of John of the Holy Bible, is found the first of Jesus’ miracles where He turns water into wine at the celebration of a wedding.  Not only was this a great assistance to the wedding party to extend the length of the ceremony, it also was the first demonstration of Christ’s divine power.  When it was complete His disciples were compelled to acknowledge their belief in Jesus as He began his Earthly ministry.  It is through the record of their eyewitness accounts, recorded in scripture, that all people today can know of the deity of God’s Emmanuel, Jesus the Christ.

The chemical composition of water is H2O.   Wine is water with a high concentration of C6H12O6 sugar and an OH added to a portion of the sugar molecules to facilitate its fermentation.  Scientifically, wine is water that has been converted from an abundant inorganic fluid to a specialized organic fluid. This remarkable conversion does not require any significant change in the hydrogen to oxygen ratio but it does require a 100% increase in the carbon atoms of the sugar molecules. It is this carbon bonding that makes it organic.  This conversion only happens through the process of photosynthesis. Fermentation only happens with the passage of significant amounts of time.  The making of sugar is monumental because everything living that does not possess the ability to convert water to sugar with the assimilation of carbon dioxide mush consume a life form that does possess this ability, in order to maintain a life existence.  In other words, the plant kingdom provides the total sustenance for the animal kingdom.  Planet Earth is the only known place where this miracle takes place.

The book of John is one of the most beloved accounts of the life of Jesus as he walked this earth.  John begins his account of Jesus with the same words that the Old Testament begins with, “In the beginning. . . “  This statement establishes John as the only biblical writer who writes with authority to cover all of created time, from the beginning to the end, from Genesis to Revelation.

The marriage of Adam and Eve is physically completed in the Book of Genesis, chapter one, with the command to be “fruitful”.  The marriage is spiritually completed through God’s ordination in chapter two.  In the New Testament, the Apostle John looks at the glamour and content of a marriage, and includes how Jesus provided the remarkable “best wine” at its completion.  Note that the name of the bride and groom are not mentioned.  The institution of marriage was introduced by God in Genesis chapter 2, approved by Jesus in John chapter 2 and validated by Jesus in Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:6.  The validations of marriage include reference to “the beginning of creation” signifying that marriage is an essential ingredient of creation.  This is understandable because the procreation of human offspring was to take place through ordained marriage.  If humankind did not procreate then creation had no significance and no completion.

A deeper look at this wedding celebration brings out much symbolism that ties this miracle to the Genesis creation and ultimately to the Genesis ordination of marriage.  Jesus was at the wedding with his mother and his disciples.  He quickly establishes that He is the authority of both what He does and when He does it.  The flow of time during the wedding is not recorded.  The wedding appears to start on the third day after He called his first disciples. Jewish weddings can take several days before the groom consummates the marriage.  Toward the end of the ceremony the time “was right” that Jesus gave the command for six stone jars to be filled with water.  Because these stone jars were used for ceremonial washing, they would only be filled with pure water.  Obediently they were filled to the brim.  They were then presented to the Lord that He might proclaim what would be done next.

The filling of the six earthen jars to the brim is symbolic of the filling of the earth in six days. Each day of creation was full, nothing was left out and nothing needed to be added.  The water in Genesis chapter 1and 2 is the central element.  The Spirit hovered over it, the heavens divided it, the dry land was drawn out of it and it provided the mist and the streams so that the earth could produce “the fruit of the vine”.

The water in the ceremonial jars became the central element of the wedding as Jesus commanded that a portion of it be drawn out and taken to the “governor of the feast”.  The governor was responsible for all events leading up to and including the consummation of the marriage.  In the Genesis account God was the “governor”, assuring that those who bore His image would procreate, or His creation would be invalid.

The New Testament “governor of the feast” is the Greek word “apciTpikhinox”.  It appears only three times in scripture and is the conjunction of three Greek words.  The first word is “apxn” and is the word “beginning” as found in John 1:1 and Revelation 1:8.  It denotes primary authority.  The second word is “Tpia” and simply means three. The last word is “Klivw” and implies resting in a very relaxed position. The accepted translation is that at a Jewish wedding the “the primary authority does rest on three pillows”.  Another possible reading of this word is “three primary authorities that are very relaxed”.  This would be in complete agreement with the very first wedding that was preformed “In the beginning.”  The triune God of Creation was resting as He sealed His creation with the marriage of the first man and woman.  He blessed it and promised that the two individuals would become one flesh.  Then God announced, “It is very good”.  Jesus repeated this performance in John 2 and His Jewish disciples could not ignore God’s almighty work in their presence.

To grasp the grandeur of this miracle, the changing of water to wine, the focus is to acknowledge the changing of something inorganic to something organic.  Not a small thing!  The bonding of created carbon atoms to the existing hydrogen and oxygen atoms without the presence of either time or enzyme-catalyzing photosynthesis is the only creation “out-of-nothing” miracle that Jesus did.  All other miracles that our Emmanuel did while in the flesh were either for “restoration” as in his many healings, “multiplication” as in his feeding of the people, or “glorification” as in raising some from the dead.  No other miracle was destined to affirm His power of creation, as He had done “in the beginning”.

Creation and marriage are bound together inseparably.  These two “absolutes” of human existence are the foundation for humankind to believe in the God of all Life.  It is therefore not surprising that the Creator Himself chose the marriage of two humble servants, Mary and Joseph, to facilitate His entry into His created order that He might become the perfect redeemer of all that was created.  We celebrate this event at Christmas.  It was all done properly.  It was all done gloriously!

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