Rev. Johnson V.
17th April 2011

Our study of our Lord’s parables now takes us to Luke 5:36-39.

God, through Moses, laid down various regulations for worship and life itself. Moses introduced the people to the Law, the do’s and don’ts that they had to follow, in order to please God. But when our Lord Jesus came, He came with grace and love. He did not come to abolish the Law, as He Himself states many times, but He came to give us victory in order that we may fulfill the requirements of the Law. Our Lord Jesus came to bring a change in worship and the way people lived their lives. It was in this setting that Christ spoke this parable to the people.

Our Lord Jesus was asked by the religious leaders of that day, why He and His disciples did things in a certain way, when the established practice was to do it in a different way. After He answered their questions, He clarified further with this very practical parable.

A piece of brand new cloth, is never sewn onto old fabric, because it would not match and in doing so, even the new cloth would be ruined. In the old days, they stored their water and wine in wineskins and not bottles as we have now. Wineskins were normally made of leather. Over time, the leather absorbed the alcohol and a chemical reaction took place, which left the leather hard and brittle. When a wineskin became hard, it was useless, except if it underwent an intensive process by which it was softened again. If new wine was poured into old, hard wineskins, it would surely crack, causing the wine to seep out and spill onto the floor.

Our Lord was telling the people that it is impossible to mix the old and the new. Old wineskins cannot carry new wine, unless it was treated and changed – that they cannot receive new revelations with the old mentality. He was preparing the people for His message of grace and love.

Our walk with God is a process, a journey. As soon as we are born again, we begin the process of being transformed into ‘Kingdom People’. That takes time, often a whole lifetime! It is a gradual process, accelerated only by our willingness to change and receive God’s revelations.

If we are willing to change – change our mindset, our behavior, our selves – God can work with us. When we are willing to be renewed, He will renew us. Sometimes the things that happen to us are neither the work of God or of the devil, it is a problem of an old wineskin. When we treat our wineskins in the way that God leads us, He will pour out the new wine (new anointing).