January 30: A BLESSING IS IN IT

Thus says the LORD: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it,’ So will I do for My servants’ sake, That I may not destroy them all.” Isaiah 65:8

The presence of “My servants”, God’s true and faithful ones within the cluster (His congregation) is illustrated here. In this vineyard metaphor, the yield is predominantly wild, sour grapes (see 5:2). This is a clue that multiple generations had been negatively influenced by the tendencies of God’s people to amalgamate* the thinking and practices of the nations of the world into the thinking and practices of God’s chosen people.

From the outset, the LORD communicated with His people about the way that leads to ultimate happiness, joy, and salvation. He frequently included loving warnings about the archenemy’s intention to ‘photoshop’ himself into the picture. In order to thrive, belief and acceptance of divine instructions are essential. To cast the divine precepts aside is to open the door to disaster and tragedy. Sin is crouching at your door! (Genesis 4:7 NIV) Indeed, like a poisonous asp, it is coiled and ready to strike. But God’s way is perfect and carries amazing promises!** We are assured that obedience to Him places His people on a path to gaining mastery over the sin that so easily ensnares (Hebrews 12:1).

There have always been those among us who recognize the overpowering potential of sin. Therefore, they wholeheartedly seek the LORD’s instruction. Such are used by the LORD to provide nourishment for their fellow man. This nourishment, symbolized by new wine, is the blessing that is found in the cluster.

Jesus built upon this imagery when He indirectly pointed out the Pharisees’ need for new hearts. Their constant criticisms and their failure to recognize the Messiah were the natural culmination of their dogged adherence to their own (manmade) religious “rules”. Their hearts were like stiff, inflexible “old wineskins” (Luke 5:37) that could not handle “new wine”. However, a regenerate heart is receptive to the Lord’s original, uncorrupted doctrine: “But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved” (v.38). Indeed, the pure word of the Lord has the power to preserve for eternity! We can hardly comprehend the divine patience that is found in the next words from the lips of Jesus. He is aware of Satan’s subtle and long-term conditioning among God’s people, conditioning that results in acceptance of false doctrines. All of us have been deceived; all have sinned. We are in desperate need of acquiring a taste for new wine. This accompanies a new heart, which the Creator can create within each of us. But, like King David, we must ask for it (Psalm 51:10).

“And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’” Luke 5:39

*The two main pillars of amalgamation from pagan sources into Christianity are: 1) inherent immortality of the soul drawn from Egyptian and Greek mythologies, and 2) substitution of the pagan day of sun worship for the LORD’s seventh-day Sabbath instituted by the Roman church. These two unbiblical precepts have led to a host of other errors that have come to be cherished through the centuries.

**Deuteronomy 32:4; 2 Samuel 22:31,33; Psalm 18:30,32; 101:2,6