"When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, . . . |he| called the bridegroom, And saith unto him, Every man at the beginning doth set forth good wine; and when men have well drunk, then that which is worse: but thou hast kept the good wine until now." (John 2:9-10)

The Lord Jesus performed many miracles during His brief ministry on earth, and it seems rather surprising that the beginning of miracles (John 2:11) in His earthly ministry was to transform water into wine at a wedding feast in Galilee. It was quite a large amount of wine--six large waterpots full, "containing two or three firkins apiece" (John 2:6). Since a firkin is about ten gallons, Jesus created approximately 150 gallons of wine to give to a group of celebrants who already had "well drunk" (John 2:10)--that is, literally, were drunk.

But would Jesus really do something to increase the intoxication of a crowd of people who were already drunk? Would He really disregard such Scriptures as Habakkuk 2:15: "Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, . . . and makest him drunken also" (among many others). He Himself had rebuked drunkenness (e.g., Luke 21:34), so this would be completely out of character.

But wine never becomes intoxicating until the decay process of fermentation has done its work. The wine He created was probably the same as "the fruit of the vine" that we shall drink "new" with Him in His "Father's kingdom" (Matthew 26:29). The Greek word oinos can apply either to the decayed, fermented liquid that intoxicates or to the healthful juice fresh off the grape vine, depending on context. And this wine He made was good wine, just as everything He had created was "very good" (Genesis 1:31) in that ultimate beginning of miracles when first He "created all things" (Revelation 4:11). HMM