LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The New Wine
"I am the true vine and you are the branches; he who abides in me, and I in him; it bears much fruit" (John 15:5).
We know that the fruit of the vine is the grape; and if we are the branches of the vine, then our Lord Jesus Christ gave us a great privilege: to bear fruit. The fruits reflect the beauty of the plant. But the mysteries of the Lord are unfathomable, because although the grape is the glory of the vine, it is not the grape that makes the heart happy, but the product of the grape – the wine (Judg. 9:13).
It is true that a bunch of grapes is beautiful, but the best of the vine is the good must. And for there to be must, the grapes must be harvested at the time of maturity and taken to the press. This is how good wine is produced, and Christ is the new wine.
When Mary, his mother, told him at the wedding in Cana that the wine was lacking, he answered her: "What do you have with me, woman? My hour has not yet come" (John 2:3-4). It was not yet the time for him to go to the winepress; there was still a little time left for the new wine to flow, which is Christ himself on the cross.
Jesus said to his disciples: "And I say to you that from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in the kingdom of my Father" (Matt. 26:29). And the kingdom of his Father has already come, for today the King's throne is in the hearts of those who are his, for he came to make his home with them (John 14:23). They have the life of Christ. And Christ drinks again of the fruit of the vine together with them, but now he drinks it new, for he drinks from his beloved and she drinks from him, his Beloved.
Let us not think that the fruit will be lost when going to the wine press, for the Lord himself said that the fruit will remain; the grape will not be lost, it will only be transformed. But it is necessary that he go to the winery. It is necessary that today those who follow him take up their cross and deny themselves, so that Christ, the New Wine, appears and the hearts of God and men rejoice. Yes, that of all those who want to drink from him, for he is abundant (Eph. 2:7).
This wine now needs a wineskin to keep it in, because new wine must be kept in new wineskins (Matt. 9:17). God was pleased to prepare a vessel that could contain this wine, and that vessel is his church. The wine of God has a deposit. And in the church the life of Christ flows when those who love him also accept to be crushed in the press of trials. If we accept the operation of the cross, there will be joy in the House of God.