New Covenant Ways – BT7:  New Wine can’t be put into old wineskins or both are ruined

 

 

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Even the context of the “New things” (a) of God passages in New Covenant Ways – BT2 indicate how “completely-different-in-kind” they are from the palaios “old in time, antiquated, worn-out, weak, worthless,” because God really wants to make sure that we do NOT even try to mix them!  Oil can’t mix with water no matter how much you try!  And if we keep insisting on putting “New wine into old wineskins, the wine will burst the skins – and the wine will actually, ongoingly be spilled out [onto the ground] and/coupled the wineskins shall actually, absolutely, apollumi be-permanently destroyed.  But New (a) wine is for New (a) [plural] wineskins” (b). From Luke 1:15, John 19:30, and Ephesians 5:18 we can see the association of “wine” with the Holy Spirit.  We also see “wine” referred to as the “blood of grapes” (c), and human blood associated to the imagery of “wine” (d). <Notes> a) chadash, kainos: fresh, completely-different-in-kind, unprecedented, sharing nothing with its predecessors, unique, and superior, b) Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37-38, c) Genesis 49:11; Deuteronomy 32:14, d) Isaiah 49:26; Revelation 14:20.

 

All this imagery prepares us for the 4 Passover cups of wine that Jews are commanded in the Mishnah oral Law to drink to express the 4 deliverances promised by God in Exodus 6:6-7.  But these were all “shadows and copies” (a) to prepare the Jews for what Jesus would say on the last Passover before His death:  “This cup that is poured out for you [is] the completely-different-in-kind New (b) Covenant in/by-the-means-of/with the blood of/belonging-to Me” (c).  <Notes> a) Hebrews 8:5, 10:1; Colossians 2:17, b) a) chadash, kainos: fresh, completely-different-in-kind, unprecedented, sharing nothing with its predecessors, unique, and superior, c) Luke 22:20; 1 Corinthians 11:25.

 

Thus it is clear that when Jesus referred to the “New wine” He was referring to “My blood of the completely-different-in-kind New Covenant.”  Now in the context of the “wineskin” passages above (a), the “New wine” is certainly superior to the “old wine” that is meant only for “old wineskins” – remember that palaios means “old in time, antiquated, worn-out, weak, worthless.”  Hebrews 12:24 refers to “Jesus, the mediator of a completely-different-in-kind New Covenant and/coupled ‘the sprinkled blood’ that speaks superior things (b) than the blood of Abel” (c).  <Notes> a) Matthew 9:17; Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37-38, b) kreitton:  better, more useful, serviceable, or helpful, c) “life for a life” justice of the Law.

 

The “sprinkled blood” of the New Covenant is superior to what Moses did over the people as they came under the old covenant Law (a) and the Law’s sacrificial “shedding of blood that is required for forgiveness of sins” (b), exactly because “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (c).  No, the New Covenant’s “sprinkled blood” is superior to the Law’s blood, for it is the “obedience of Jesus Christ . . . sprinkling with His blood” (d) under the completely-different-in-kind New Covenant that takes away the sins of the world, and not just for Jews (e).  We have to remember concerning the OT: “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance/reality belongs to Christ” (f).  <Notes> a) Exodus 24:8; Hebrews 9:19, b) Hebrews 9:22, c) Hebrews 10:4, d) 1 Peter 1:2, e) Matthew 26:28; Romans 3:25, 5:9; Hebrews 10:19; 1 John 1:7; Revelation 1:5, f) Colossians 2:17.

 

OT sacrificial “blood” atonement symbolized by “old wine” is inferior to the New Covenant’s sacrificial blood atonement or “New wine” of Jesus.  The “old wine” was the sacrificial blood atonement that cries out for justice based on the Mosaic Law of God.  The “old wineskins” that symbolically held or contained this “old wine” of “sacrificial blood rituals for atonement of sin to satisfy the Law’s justice of God” are clearly the old covenant Law of commandments contained in the gramma writings collected into graphe scripture.  The “old wineskins” of gramma writings of 613 commandments that dictate how to satisfy God’s justice for the “old wine” of “sacrificial blood rituals for atonement of sin” are absolutely inferior to the completely-different-in-kind “New wineskins” that contain the completely-different-in-kind “New wine” of Christ’s universal and perfect “sacrificial blood for atonement of sin.”

 

One ritual replaced ALL rituals!  Well, we know the “New wine” is Christ’s perfect atoning blood, but what are the “New [plural] wineskins” that contain the “New wine” that Jesus was referring to?  “The cup” that holds physical wine was symbolic of Christ’s body that was holding His blood of the New Covenant!  What are the [plural] things (commandments) that make up “the completely-different-in-kind New Covenant in My blood?”

 

Reflection:

 

 

As Christian musicians, we need to be careful to not try and put the completely-different-in-kind New Wine of Christ’s atoning blood into the “old in time, antiquated, worn-out, weak, worthless, shadows and copies” of the OT with its 613 commandments and many rituals.  If we try to mix the 2, both will be ruined.  This “borrowing” from the old and mixing with the New is exactly what builds The Great Wall quenching the Holy Spirit in the Church.

 

Prayer:

 

 

Lord, help us to never mix the superiority of the completely-different-in-kind New Covenant in Your blood with anything that came before it.

 

 

 

 

 

Spiritual Education, New wine of Christ’s holy blood bursts the Old wineskins of the Old Covenant holiness, Blood of Abel and Old Testament cries out for justice, Blood of Christ cries out of Mercy, Christ’s blood atonement replaced all Old Testament holiness, New Wine of the New Spirit for holiness ruins the Old Testament wineskins