New is not Improved! The Kingdom Key of Old & New

BY REV. DORAL PULLEY, Today’s Church Tampa Bay

READ | Matthew 5:14-17

“It shall come to pass that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the Lord. (Joel 3:18).” 

One of the major processes of biblical times was making wine. First, the grapes were crushed in the winepress to produce grape juice. Secondly, the grape juice was mixed with a yeast-like substance for fermenting. Thirdly, the mixture was placed into an animal skin bottle which had already been through its own process of tanning, curing, and sewing. Finally, as the grape juice transformed into wine, the animal wine skin expanded to full capacity indicating that fermentation was complete.

Putting a new batch of the grape juice yeast mixture into an old wineskin that had already been used for fermenting was unproductive because the wineskin had already reached its capacity. Therefore, if a person put the new mixture into an old wineskin, then the wineskin was only going to burst, and the wine wasted. When the old wineskins were stretched to full capacity; it was necessary to replace them with new wineskins.

Jesus was teaching his listeners about a new relationship with God that was based on love, but they were unable to embrace this new wine with the old wineskin of legalism. Our minds are like wineskins, capable of stretching and growing. The process of changing skins is about changing our minds. We cannot place new ideas into an old consciousness. Just as the old wine was for the old wineskins, the new wine was for new wineskins. Jesus was not trying to improve the old law; he was offering a new law of loving God, loving yourself, and loving everyone else (Matthew 22:34-40).

Rev. Doral Pulley is the senior pastor of Today’s Church Tampa Bay, 940 5th Ave. S, St. Petersburg (Staybridge Suites) and 5107 North Central Ave., Tampa.