The Table Is Set

There is new wine for those who thirst for the Word, and even more so, for those who are still wandering lost amid the false promises of a better world without God. There is freshly fermented wine that requires sturdy, firm new wineskins so that they do not burst and spill it. God labored over the planting in His immense vineyard, Christ harvested the vine in His heart in obedience to His Father and, as if that were not enough, paid with His life the full price of all the cultivation, giving the laborers their wages freely, though none of them deserved it. And since then, the Spirit has never tired of offering such a great benefit to humanity; these are overflowing cups of sweet must, nectar from heaven, like manna enriched by the anointing procured in the harmonious oneness of the entire Godhead. Despite all this, the created being prefers to ignore his Creator, but He prefers to keep saving the best wine for the end of the feast.

There is a needy man who, in his self-sufficiency, seeks the world’s acceptance. He is an expert at judging and trying to control his neighbor, believing that he possesses such authority. He says he feels fulfilled because of his devotion to foolishness, yet he is empty because of ungodliness. He says he has found happiness and purpose for his existence, but he wastes away while still alive because of the vice of his delusions, contrived by the prince of darkness, who promises success and prosperous times at the cost of devouring his soul. His wineskins are as old as his soul; they cannot be patched, they are worn out, and they cannot withstand the freshness of the Spirit’s anointing with His new wine, with its new purity, with the hope it brings in its texture, its fragrance, and its renewed structure of encouragement and new dreams. This man needs to be born again.

There is a divine plan for this world, but we have already come to know the Truth, and the Spirit longs for us to throw away our old wineskins so that He may pour Himself into each one of us. We cannot receive the new wine in the wineskin of our old nature (the old wineskin), because it scatters, and such a wineskin no longer exists; it is like pouring it into the void, into nothingness. And it is lost. And although the Father has vineyards that abundantly produce this wine in His heavenly orchards, we must receive it in a new wineskin because, otherwise, it is wasted beyond remedy, and there is great need.

The new wineskin (what you now are in Christ as a new creation, your new identity as a child of God) needs that new wine of the Spirit; it longs for it because you are (we are) the temple where the Spirit dwells, because we are spiritual through the new birth and through the simple and miraculous fact of having received the grace of Salvation by faith.

Do you want this new wine? Throw away your old wineskins! After all, that is the only thing you must do. Do not be like those who ask each day for a fresh anointing of the Spirit while still bound by the old ties of their old wineskins and their deadly sins, camouflaged beneath garments of holiness. No! God calls you to your senses, just as He once called me. I was thirsty, and the Spirit quenched my thirst; and although my flesh remains an enemy of God, each day I long to be more conscious of the price my Redeemer paid to place me in the seat of honor that I do not deserve. You too are in that seat. Do not forget it!

God calls the thirsty to immerse themselves in His waters. It costs you nothing; it is free. He places no conditions on you, nor does He require formal attire and sparkling sequins to impress Him. He simply invites you to drink His wine, eat His food, and sit at His table. It is free. The world ignores such a tremendous promise. The table is set, and He is already seated, waiting for you. Doesn’t that whet your appetite?

God bless you!