New Wine into Old Bottles - Luke 5:37

The beloved physician Luke shared how Jesus, “spake also a parable unto” the “scribes and Pharisees” and said, “No man puts a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new makes a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agrees not with the old”, and in chapter five and verse thirty-seven of his book Luke shares how Jesus tells a parable about putting “new wine into old bottles” where we read:

And no man puts new wine into old bottles;

else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.

The verse reads, “And no man puts new wine into old bottles;” Luke began with the words, “and no man puts new wine” or “and not one person whether male or female pours freshly made and recent wine made from the fruit of the vine” “into old bottles” which means “in ancient, no longer new, worn by use and worse for wear leather bags or bottles in which water or wine was kept”. Luke shared how Jesus referred to the way no person “pours” “freshly made wine” into “well-worn” leather “bottles”.

The verse continues, “else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.” Luke added the words, “else the new wine” which means “otherwise the freshly made and recent wine made from the fruit of the vine” “will burst the bottles” or “will rend and break asunder the leather bottles”, “and be spilled” which means “and be poured out, shed forth, gush and be distributed largely”, “and the bottles shall perish” or “and the leather bottles will be destroyed and rendered useless”. Luke shared how Jesus said the “freshly made wine” would “break and tear” the “well-worn leather bottles”, and the “freshly made wine” would gush out and “spill” everywhere.

When we consider Luke's words in this verse, we notice how both the “wine” and the “bottles” are wasted and destroyed through this process. “New wine” ferments, and as the gases expand within a “leather bottle”, if the “leather” is not “pliable”, the “leather bottle” will “break”. Then, the “new wine” spills everywhere and is wasted. “Leather bottles”, which represent people who have belonged to God's Kingdom for a long time, must be prepared to take on the “new wine” which represents those younger in God's Kingdom. People used “oil” to soften aged and worn leather bottles so they would become pliable again and able to receive wine within them. Without the “softening” of the “oil”, if wine was poured in them, they “burst” and both the “bottles” and the “new wine” were wasted. However, if the “oil” was applied (which represents the Holy Spirit of God), the “well-worn leather bottles” become as new, and the “new wine” could be poured within them. Then, both the “bottles” and the “wine” would be preserved. Let all who read these words understand that God loves both the “old” and the “new”, and His desire is to use them both in His Kingdom.

Next time Luke shares how Jesus says, “new wine must be put into new bottles”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".