New Wine is Better

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NEW WINE IS BETTER

By Mae Shurow

OLD, earthly, natural, fleshly, carnal, corruptible, sensual, worldly, tangible, visible, outward, temporal, temporary, physical, perishing, being abolished, being done away with, dying, mortal – they all mean the same. And they are opposite of what is spiritual, intangible, invisible, inward, heavenly, incorruptible, immortal, being established, abiding, enduring, lasting, undying, continuing, eternal, NEW.

Jesus said, “Behold, I make all things NEW…” TDNT tells us that “NEW” replaces and excels the old. It is the epitome of the wholly different and miraculous. We have the promise of a NEW heart, NEW heaven and NEW earth, NEW Jerusalem, NEW wine in the Kingdom of God, NEW name, NEW song, NEW creation. TDNT goes on to say “The new aeon which has dawned with Christ, brings a new creation, the creation of a new man. Christ Himself is the new man, the initiator of the new creation of the last time. The Church is the new humanity…”

2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

We are given new spiritual senses at our birth as new creatures, but we have to learn how to use them. Just as a newborn baby we learned to use our five senses to comprehend the old, “carnal” world around us, we must learn to use our spiritual senses to comprehend and make sense of the spiritual kingdom we have been translated into.

The Lord is a good parent and coddles us along at first. Since we are spiritual babes, He teaches us patiently how to talk with Him and walk with Him – how to live and relate on the spiritual level rather than the physical level that we have been accustomed to as “old creatures.”

The old man is of the earth, of the natural. The new man in Christ is heavenly, spiritual.

1 Cor. 15:45-49 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. [46] Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. [47] The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. [48] As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. [49] And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

The pleasures that the old man enjoyed are earthly, fleshly, and fleeting; they illustrate the temporary nature of all that is flesh. It is satisfying for a little while to vent anger; to get revenge; to eat more than you should because it tastes good; to have illicit sex…all these are enjoyed for a moment, and then they are gone…Nothing that is of a fleshly nature LASTS! “Old things” will pass away if we are in Christ - the desires for the natural, the earthy, the external, the outward, the tangible. Our heart’s desires for these old, dying things must die, for flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God – a Kingdom that is not of this world! So we are new creatures, new wineskins, living on an old bottle – in the world, but not of the world. Our essence is no longer “earthy” even though the Lord has left us here. And the new cannot be mixed with the old.

· Mark 2:21-22 No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. [22] And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.

Learning to Live As New Wineskins

In the parallel passage in Luke 5, verse 39 tells us “No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new, for he saith, the old is better.” Like the Israelites who were set free from bondage, many times we crave things that satisfy our earthly appetites – leeks, onions, garlic, and meat – even though our Lord feeds us manna from heaven!

We all struggle with this. One friend, who lived alone and had recently lost several close friendships in one way or another, was feeling very lonely. She told me, “I am left without a friend, I don’t even a single person that I can go to the movies or out to eat with. The Lord keeps telling me He is always with me, and I know that’s true, but I need a friend! A real friend, one I can see, and talk to, and touch.” I said, “Do you know what you’re saying? You’re saying Yes, I know You’re my friend, Lord, but You’re not good enough. Why can’t I have a real friend?” Even though she was drinking the new wine, she still wanted the old. It didn’t seem possible to her that even the presence of Jesus Himself could fulfill her longings for a physical friend. But He did, and He does, and He will – for all of us! “Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing” (Psalm 145:16).

So many Christians today are occupied with outward things. Old wine tastes pretty good to them and going to an outward, physical place that is called “church” seems to give spiritual nourishment. We call going there “service,” and teach that we must be diligent to “attend service” whenever those physical, earthly doors are open. But going through outward motions does not establish the heart! Attending a physical service seven days a week does no good while we are occupied with the things of the earth and our hearts and minds are far from God. But by attending church we feel like we are okay with God because we have done our duty, we are “serving God” by going to a “worldly sanctuary,” even though God Himself tells us He does not dwell in temples made with hands (Acts 17:24). “Going to church” is an outward action that only has an appearance of wisdom, but is of no lasting value; actually it indulges our fleshly tendency to rely on the tangible – on the things that we can see and touch (Col. 2:23).

Because sometimes we grow dependent on what we have come to know as “church,” this outward form can replace God in our lives. One dear lady I know was able to attend church only rarely because she had to care for her elderly mother. In admonishing me for not going to church, she said, “You need to be in a good Bible-believing church.” She went on to tell me how much she missed going to church and how very dry her spiritual life had been because she had been unable to go and be fed. I said, “What are you thirsty for – God? Or the human companionship you have grown accustomed to at your church? I myself am not dry – every morning as I arise, the Lord meets me. I bask in His presence and He opens His hand and satisfies my every desire. I feel like a well-watered garden, and I have food to eat that the world knows not of.”

Even though God created the earth and all that is therein, He made them to be temporary, lasting only for a short time. The things we can see, hear, and touch, are passing away. They are “corruptible” perishing, dying. Under the law (the OLD Testament) God was worshiped with tangible things – things that could be seen and touched. But the law was old, carnal, outward, of the senses, and it waxed old and vanished away as will everything that is tangible and of this world. Only that which is spiritual will last forever. “While we look not at the things which are seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corin. 4:18). We are “born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorrruptable, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (1 Peter 1:23).

Our Lord did not tell us to seek the tangible, but rather to seek ye [the intangible things of] the kingdom of God. Seeking outward things – things that we can see, touch, taste - what we shall eat and what we shall drink, are dangerous. Esau, “for a morsel of meat sold his birthright” (Heb. 12:17). He was more concerned with filling his physical belly than eating from the spiritual table that the Lord sets before us. In the same way, the Israelites ate and drank the spiritual meat and drink that is Christ but still lusted after the things of the world to satisfy earthly cravings (1 Corin. 10:3-6).

“For all these things do the nations of the world seek after” (Luke 12:30). Our Father knows we have need of these tangible things that sustain our earthly bodies. But, seek ye the Kingdom of God, the intangible, and the Lord will take care of you, for “it is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (v32). Those who let their natural desires rule them, who want earthly sustenance, whose “god is their belly…who mind earthly things,” will end in destruction (Phil. 3:19). “Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats; but God shall destroy both it and them…” (1 Corin. 6:13). Both our natural bodies and the things we seek after to satiate our natural appetites (what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink) will all vanish away – they are temporal and will be destroyed. The heart, however, is not established with meats, but with grace. Earthly sustenance is of no lasting value and has not profited them that have been occupied therein! But we have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle (Heb. 13:9-10). Serving the tabernacle, being occupied with the outward, busily partaking of earthly sustenance, does us no good!

Hebrews 8:9 says, “The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as yet the first tabernacle was yet standing.” And then Hebrews 10:9 says that Jesus came to do the Father’s will “…He taketh away the first that He may establish the second.” THIS IS THE PROCESS THAT IS TAKING PLACE IN US! The first tabernacle was worldly, tangible, just as “The first man is of the earth, earthy, the second man is the Lord from heaven…As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Corin. 15:47-49). Christ takes away our love and dependence on the first, the earthy, that He may establish the second. While the first tabernacle (our dependence on the world of the senses) is still standing, the way into the holiest of all cannot yet be seen. There is a veil of flesh on our heart that consists of our love of concrete, tangible, outward things – the world of the senses (2 Corin. 3:15). While that veil is in place, we must remain in the outer courts and cannot enter into the Holy of Holies. That veil is not taken away in outward things like carnal commandments, Sabbath-keeping, or a worldly sanctuary. The veil of the fleshly, worldly way to serve God is taken away in Christ; it is ripped from top to bottom. He takes away the first, earthy man, to establish the second, the heavenly. Christ rips the veil that is of our love for the tangible, the outward, from top to bottom – manifesting the way into the holiest of all! Oh, glory!

As new wineskins, we can’t be preoccupied with the tangible; with what is growing old, waxing away, vanishing, corruptible, perishing (Matt. 6:19-20; Luke 12:33). Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not…neither moth corrupteth” (Luke 12:33). Seek instead the intangible things of the kingdom of heaven, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also”

(v. 34). Truly, set your affection on things above, and not on things on the earth (Col. 3:2). The Lord keeps drawing us to Himself and away from the things of this world – things that distract us from that eternal Kingdom that comes down from above. Sometimes it is painful because we yearn for fulfillment of our earthly desires. But oh how wonderful when the way into the holiest of all is made manifest!

Longing For New Jerusalem

Mark 2:19-22 says that as NEW wineskins, we fast and mourn when our Bridegroom is no longer with us.

· Mark 2:19-22 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. [20] But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. No man seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.

When we first tasted of the new wine, we thought the old tasted better. Our old appetites and desires kept drawing us back into the world of the senses. But as we journeyed closer and deep called unto deep – the Kingdom within us – we lost our taste for the old and drank ever more deeply of the new until it became part of our very essence. Still, the new wine of the Kingdom that is within us is constrained in an old earthy container. Trapped! What is timeless remains in time; what transcends place is fixed by distance until the fulfillment of the Kingdom. As the lusts of the flesh once tugged at the strings of our heart, so now the depths of our beings cry out for that which is eternal. We are creatures between worlds – our bodies are here, our affection on things above, our treasures in heaven.

We fast and mourn for our Bridegroom to return and to live as we will one day live in His Kingdom. We, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan along with creation for the day when all creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption (death). We grieve because we are new wineskins that cannot be patched onto the old earth – new cloth that must still live attached to an old garment – a dying earth. In this present evil world, we walk in the valley of the shadow of death; in darkness. But one day Light will abolish the darkness! The King of Glory will come conquering; and all that seems so insurmountable to us will fold together like a scroll…crumpled up like so much dried paper under His mighty power. He will speak, and it will be done. The walls of the mighty fortresses of sin will be broken down and defeated! Sin, evil, and death will be unable to stand, they will fold over – be wadded up and thrown away! Those who have been overtaken with evil will be conquered as well – Oh, to their shame, they at last will have to acknowledge that they have called evil good!

Jesus said, “Behold, I make all things NEW…” As new creatures, we fast and mourn until our Bridegroom comes. We long for that new bottle, that new garment, new Jerusalem – the city whose Builder and Maker is God! Oh, how I do yearn for that City, for His Kingdom, His rule and reign, when all is restored to His will! Oh, how I look forward to the day when our Bridegroom comes and makes ALL THINGS NEW!

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Written April, 2007
*All emphasis mine.