The Law of Conservation of Mass dates from Antoine Lavoisier's 1789 discovery that mass is neither created nor destroyed in chemical reactions. In other words, the mass of any one element at the beginning of a reaction will equal the mass of that element at the end of the reaction.
We are introduced to this Law very early in our foundation of Scientific Education & we hold these as self-evident truths — meaning that they are true always regardless of how we may individually feel about them. Scientific truths are truths regardless of individual experience because by the very definition of scientific truth, they are always examined closely making sure that these Laws of nature always & do exist through speculation & research. Therefore, time & again through the experience of observation we can always prove these Laws to be correct — they form the back-bone of the fundamentals of Nature.
Take a moment to rediscover this valuable truth — “Matter is neither created nor destroyed in chemical reactions.” It is so simple yet a valuable tool; the substances that are arranged in a reaction will always manifest themselves in such a way that no new products materialize nor the initial products lost. The initial products can be disassembled & arrayed differently in a reaction but no new substances that were not initially added, cannot be created nor formed. There are limits.
Even science, as it were, cannot impose its will upon chemical reactions — what you put in, is what will come out. The limitation is both valid & real in our material universe; in this physical reality that we currently reside. You, also inhabit that physical & material reality. You are as much matter as the reactants that are put into a chemical reaction — matter of fact, Biologists would love to illustrate the fact that the human body is composed of such complex series of chemical reactions that uphold Lavoisier’s Law of Conservation of Mass.
Thus, let us be thoroughly awed & stupefied when we read the following words —
John 2:7-10
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
Is there any scientific explanation for this? Is there anything in water that can produce wine? The Law clearly states that no new products can be created nor products destroyed from whatever that was not initially put together in a reaction. This, then is a subversion or a law-breaking reaction — a subversion of scientific fact. Yet, what Christ is doing here is not to break any laws — that’s right, NOT to break any laws — but to reveal another law at work; not to fundamentally overthrow the laws at work in Nature but to reveal the Law of Nature embodied in the Person of Jesus — The One who upholds all the laws in order to fashion order from the chaos & confusion; to allow us to find the meaning of all the symbols & metaphors of nature around us.
Eventually, following the Laws of Nature will not get us anywhere because of the inherent limitation — survival. Though fundamentally nothing changes in terms of molecules & compounds, decay & the breaking down of the reactions assumes that there will be different physical aspects of human life — life will soon cease until we return to the ground.
What is revealed in the Wine — a renewing of Life. Life from lifelessness or better still, LIFE from life. Not just a redirected life or even a repurposed life. Rather, a transformed & renewed Life — a Newness of Life. Water & Wine are not the same thing, we can all agree on that — a miracle of fantastic proportions took place at Cana. And not just any wine but the most fabulous & stupendous Wine anyone had drunk previously!
It highlights the transformation that through the process of this Newness of Life, something else that results will be perceived to be even better than the one that came before. In such a Newness of Life that results that all memory of the oject before will be forgotten because the product now transformed is so much the better. This is what the Apostle is speaking in the following words —
Colossians 3:5
5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
Colossians 3:12-14
12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
If we put to death what we currently possess in physical form, we will meet death; if we put on what we do not possess, it will be nothing more than forgery — not to the people that may see us but to the Lord, God who sees everything. You see, this is almost an exact replica of the Law of Conservation of Mass — Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. When applied to us in spiritual terms, we cannot posses compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, & most of all, love, if we do not already possess the Nature that enables such object to materialize in our person. And what is our Nature — without Christ, our nature is the Sinful Nature spelled out — sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desires, & covetousness.
Colossians 3:3
3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
But for us who are in Christ — who are saved by the Blood of Jesus; He is our Life now — the Blood that runs through us is not physical but spiritual & eternal. THAT Blood is the Wine of the Christ that have changed us into Newness of Life. Into that Blood of the Wine of the Resurrection is what we experienced at the moment of our salvation.
The result of that Newness of Life, is the death of our Mortal Self — the old self, the old nature — The Sinful Nature, died with Christ on the Cross. As it died there upon the Christ, we received the Newness of His Spirit — the Holy Spirit — that inhabits the hearts of His people enabling them to exhibit & manifest the very objects of that Newness.
Creating in us that Law in the end upholds the Law of Conservation of Mass. In Christ Jesus through His Blood & the Spirit that enables us, our New Matter can neither be created nor destroyed. Created into Newness, it cannot ever be taken from us nor abandon us. What new thing can take the place of the New Matter present upon us? And how can it revert back unto itself to the old matter? That would fundamentally undo the work & power of the Eternal Son & the Eternal Father. Created into Newness, it cannot ever be destroyed nor expunged & deleted from His memory — we are forever His & He is forever ours!
