JESUS had been speaking of the days when the bridegroom should be taken away from the children of the bride-chamber. This referred to His being rejected and put to death by the Jews. And this meant a great deal. The Jews were God’s chosen earthly people, a nation separated from all others, upon whom God had bestowed His choicest earthly blessings. He had given them His law, and a priesthood, and a system of sacrifices, and a temple, and every means of self-improvement, so that they might perfect themselves as men in the flesh.
Now, their rejection of Jesus proved that all this had failed. The system of Judaism did not profit them. They could observe all their religious ceremonies, and at the same time murder the Son of God. This showed that the religious system of Judaism could not make men righteous, nor make them love God. For this it was entirely worthless.
Through the death and blood shedding of Jesus God brought in another way of blessing for man—a new way altogether. The blood of Jesus which was shed made atonement for sin, and on the ground of this, God acts in grace toward man, and blesses him through faith in Jeans. In this new way of blessing, God forgives the sins of those who believe in Jesus, and brings them into the place of children, and gives them the Holy Ghost, and bestows upon them all the favor He bestows on Christ. This new thing is Christianity.
Now, Mark 2:21, 2221No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. 22And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles. (Mark 2:21‑22) shows that this new thing was like a new piece of cloth, and like new wine. And the new piece of cloth was not to be put as a patch on the old garment of Judaism, to mend that which was worthless; and it was not to be put as new wine into old bottles which were ready to burst. No, it was to be a new garment altogether, and the new wine was to be put in new bottles. Christianity was a new way of blessing, and it was not to be connected with Judaism at all. The two would not agree together, and the old bottles of Judaism could not hold such a great thing as Christianity. The bottles would burst, and the new wine would be spilled. Judaism was to be laid aside like an old worn out garment, and Christianity was to take its place.
But perhaps you are asking why the new wine would burst the old bottles. Well, there is a great deal of energy in new wine, and it expands for a time. And the bottles which the Jews used for wine were large bottles made out of goatskins. After the skin was cured, they would sew up the skin, so that it would be nearly as large as the goat from which it came, and about the same shape. Now when they put new wine into one of these new bottles, the energy of the wine would stretch the skin all that it would bear, before the wine ceased to expand. And if they took this old bottle that had been already stretched, and put new wine in it, it would not stretch any more, and the new wine would burst it. So they always put new wine in new bottles, or skins, and then both were preserved. This will help you to understand why Jesus uses this figure. Christianity in its freshness has a great deal of energy and power in it. It expands, and spreads abroad. It could not be kept inside the Jewish bottles. The grace that was in Christianity was to go out to the Samaritans, and the Gentiles, as well as the Jews. It could not be confined to the Jews.
Dear reader, have you tasted, have you drunk of, the precious wine of God’s grace which is in Christianity, which fills the heart with joy?
ML 11/11/1900