NEW WINE SKINS NEEDED

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He wants to reveal new applications of His unchanging Word for our times.

“Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved” (Matt. 9:17)

This parable was Jesus’ response to the scribes and Pharisees and the question from John’s disciples about why Jesus wasn’t acting according to their religious traditions and expectations. It shows that Jesus came to do something new that would not mix with the Old Covenant ways. I like the way Andrew Wommack explains the parable: “The Old Testament laws could never stretch enough to accommodate the New Testament truths of mercy and grace. Jesus set us free from the judgment of the Old Testament laws.”

An adaptation of the parable can be used today. The old has a lot to do with religious tradition that isn’t necessarily Biblical. God’s Word never changes, but it’s application for a time or a season is often revealed, and people make it doctrine even though it was only for that time. That’s how many denominations and movements got started, originally inspired by Holy Spirit for the season, but then made into tradition by men and fixed in place.

If we stay tuned to the Holy Spirit, we will find that things we once thought important are not, in God’s eyes, and He wants to reveal new applications of the Word for our times. Remember, we are close to the end, things in the spirit are accelerating, so let us be quick to respond. Remember also that it isn’t man’s good ideas but the revelation of the Spirit of Truth that teaches us how to pray in God’s current priorities and how to let Him live through us to touch the world.

(Written and first posted April 3, 2013).