New Wine, New Wineskins

For the past few weeks the first thing on my mind when I wake, and the last thing before I sleep has been 'new wine, new wineskins'. Its constant, Holy Spirit on repeat, awakening my spirit to a mystery yet to be fully understood. It has preoccupied my mind space more than anything else between the seams of isolation and discovery.

The themes of new wine and new wineskins are far from an original revelation, many would agree right now we are primed for that very purpose. I feel the pressing of Holy Spirit, that now is the time to focus in on what this really means for the body, and for the world.

There is an abundance of belief, prophetic words and expectation about the next great move of God being upon us, but where I can see our gaps at times with this, is in our understanding and partnering with Him in its expression. While He does move sovereignly, I feel a sobering call for the bride's alignment individually and corporately in partnership with Him and what He is doing, rather than what we think we should be doing in His name.

Unprecedented, seems to be the word of the hour within this pandemic, something we have not seen before. And unprecedented, I believe, is what God is about to do - we have not seen it yet, and I wonder often if we the church are really ready for this? But ready or not, here He comes.

What is the new wine, and where does it come from, and for what purpose?

Many times in the bible where you find a reference to new wine, you will also find it alongside grain and (olive) oil. These three represent the promises and blessings of the Lord that come from covenant and communion with Him. The grain representative of personal harvest and the harvest of souls through Christ, our bread of life. The oil for anointing, anointing that Holy Spirit empowers to break the yokes of burden, bondage and grief, to empower with authority, glory and commissioning. The wine representing the blood of Christ's sacrifice for us to enter into new life, cleansed of sin, transformation, celebration, infilling and outpouring of Holy Spirit, intimacy and communion with God, harvest, and promised land/promises being fulfilled. In reference to the promised land, it is mentioned in Exodus 3:8 as a "land flowing with milk and honey", the honey in the verse was not likely the product from bees which we are familiar with. In fact it was more of a syrup made from the 'must', which is the juice of grapes, by boiling it down into a concentrate called debash.

In the case of all these three: grain, oil and wine - they must all go through a process of harvesting and separation or breaking apart. Wheat must be threshed to be able to gather the grain, olives must be crushed in an oil press to obtain the oil and remove the bitterness, and grapes must be trodden or crushed in the winepress to obtain the wine. All three a product that requires separation from their previous state.