Bursting wine skins

Have you been passionately seeking God? Have you been given a deeper revelation of Truth from Him that you couldn’t wait to share with a fellow brother or sister in Christ? When you finally were able to share it, did they refuse to receive it from you? Even if you felt like the revelation was an amazing cup of new wine, it might not have been meant for anyone but you. God might have simply been rewarding your seeking with an experience of Him in a new way to be enjoyed by yourself until He makes a way for you to share that new wine with others who have been seeking Him as earnestly as you. He will send you to believers who already have new wine skins as you do, or they will at least want new wine skins. They will desire at any cost to drink of the new wine you are sharing with them.

I have been praying and asking the Father about all the division in the Body of Christ lately. The enemy has always sought to divide the church from the very beginning, but lately his efforts seem to have increased exponentially. It does not take someone much time to search on the internet in order to find believers speaking ill of each other, attacking each other’s theologies or paradigms, or spreading rumors about the Body of Christ as a whole. I have written about it in great length in the past year or two, but the other day, I received a revelation from the Father that I have never understood until now. I believe He was showing me one of the reasons there is so much division in His church, and one reason why the enemy has been so successful at driving a wedge between brothers and sisters in Christ. I also believe He was showing me a way to help avoid some of the divisive conflicts that might occur between believers in the Church.

In Luke 5, Jesus is confronted by the Pharisees about His behavior of eating with tax collectors. Jesus responded in 5:31-32 by saying, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.” They continue to question Him by asking why He didn’t force His disciples to fast like the disciples of the Pharisees. Jesus said in Luke 5: 34, “You cannot MAKE the attendants of the groom fast while the groom is WITH THEM, can you? But the days will come; and when the groom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” Jesus goes on to tell them a parable. He said, “…no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one, after drinking old wine wants new; for he says, ‘The old is fine.’” I have read this parable many times in the past, but the Father revealed something to me this time I have not seen before now.

I have always thought that Jesus was telling the Pharisees that in order to receive His gospel, you must first give up your old self or wine skin, so you can receive His new life or new wine. While this is true, it was not all He was saying in this chapter. Jesus told them He came to call the sinner to repentance, not the righteous. His message of salvation was not for the righteous because the righteous did not need to repent. They were content in their righteousness. Jesus came to bring the sinner back to the Father. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” This was one of the core messages He taught His followers. Most people today who would call themselves disciples of Christ would agree with this point. Sinners must come to Jesus to be restored to the Father. All of those who believe in Jesus and receive His gift of salvation will be saved. They have tasted of the fruit of the vine at that point, and they have been restored to the Father. If they live in the righteousness that His life brings by His indwelling Spirit, they are His. Those who are righteous in Christ are not the lost sinners that need the gospel of Jesus. He already saved them.

Jesus said in Luke 5:34, “You cannot MAKE the attendants of the groom fast…” Fasting brings us into a deeper revelation and understanding of God. Simply put, fasting is a form of seeking God in a deeper way by denying our flesh, so our spirit might be elevated in Him. When we receive those deeper and more intimate revelations from the Father, we cannot assume that we can make any of our fellow attendants receive or live the same revelations as ourselves. When the Holy Spirit moves on their heart as well, they will fast and seek Him to receive His deeper revelation of Truth. It is the Holy Spirit who reveals the Father and Son to man. Man does not reveal God to other men. We merely plant the seed and let the Holy Spirit grow it in them. We live as an example of what it means to be a follower of Christ, but we cannot make someone follow Christ as we do.

The Father wanted me to understand something more about the parable of the new and old wine skins though. If we force new wine into old wine skins, we can burst the skins and lose the new wine as well as the skin. In this parable, the old wine and the old wine skins represent believers in Christ who have tasted of the Spirit of Christ but have grown old in that experience. Have you ever heard another believer speak about how great the last move of the Holy Spirit was in a way that almost sounds like they wish they were back in it again? It sounds as if they were content in their past experience, and they are not wanting to seek Him for something new now. Jesus said that they would say, “The old wine is fine.” They might even be content in their salvation experience alone. They might not be willing to change their ways, paradigms, theologies, or old wine skins in order to taste the new wine. The new wine is the new revelation of the Spirit of Christ that brings conformity to the Word and transforms us into the image of Christ. I believe that Jesus was saying that the righteous are those who have tasted of the fruit of the vine or the old wine but do not desire the new. If the new wine is forced into their old wine skins, there is a high risk of bursting their belief or faith while losing both the old and new wine and the skins that hold it.

Jesus realized this truth, so He took His new wine to the sinner who had no knowledge of wine skins and wine. Remember in Matthew 11:25 when Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.” Jesus wanted to give His new revelation to those who would appreciate it because they needed it and desire it while being willing to give up everything to have it. He also did not want to lose anyone living in righteousness by forcing them to drink the new wine of His Spirit. We should also be careful that we do not cause the old wine skins of believers who want nothing more than their salvation or past experiences with God to burst and spill out the old wine that they do have. If they are already righteous in Christ, we should focus our efforts on sinners who have no knowledge or understanding of the newness Jesus offers. The Father will reveal Himself to those who are seeking Him, and He will find ways to draw those who are not seeking Him to the Son. It is not our responsibility to “save” our fellow believers. That is a job best held by God Himself. He appoints leaders in the Body of Christ to shepherd His flock or bring prophetic guidance, but unless we are specifically called to that position, we do not want to be responsible for causing someone’s old wine skin to burst.

The Holy Spirit has been rewarding believers throughout history with new wine as they diligently seek Him and His glory. He will continue to do so until Jesus returns to the earth when we will all partake in His new wine together with Him. Until He returns, He gives us a church to be unified with and share in the wine of the Spirit. We are the Body of Christ, and if we are in a congregation that is not partaking in the age of wine that we are content drinking, He provides other congregations where He might lead us according to our faith in order that we might drink of His Spirit there. He wants us to be at peace in Him and with others. He will place us in a community of believers with similar wine skins for the time being, but very soon, the Spirit of Christ will begin moving throughout the earth with His new wine, and He will trade out old wine skins for new ones. This will happen one day for all of us who believe in Him because we will all have the fullness of Christ living in us. It is up to the Spirit of Jesus Christ to serve His new wine to those who believe in Him because they will not be able to refuse Him if they love Him. It is promised in His word.

You can read more about this and other truths by obtaining a copy of “Prodigal to Prince” by Beau Walsh at BarnesandNoble.com or Amazon.com.