This morning there was no hot water and I checked the circuit beaker and it had been trip to off position. I turned the beaker to on position, smoke started coming from where the
main electric wire that runs down into the top of the water heater, then the water heater trip the beaker back to the off position.

Sounds like you have loose splices in the connection box, and the loose connection is causing the smoke. These connections will need to be redone.