New Wine

The other day, I was driving home from the store. It was a bright sunny Saturday, and the weather was beautiful. I decided to turn on the Christian radio station and listen to some music on the way home. I flipped on the radio, and was greeted to the sound of one of those, you-can-be-healthy infomercials that are so common any more.

I’m not one to listen to them, and was about to reach for the dial to change the station when the quick talking salesman said something that struck me. He was selling some herbal wonder pill that would (like all the rest) help you to live to 4 million years, have great skin, cure every disease known to man, and quite possibly make you more popular. Okay, so I’m exaggerating, but you get the idea.

This salesman was discussing what scientists call the “French Paradox,” a strange occurrence in which the French have a lower case of heart attack than their neighbors, in spite of their diets having such a high fat content. Scientists attribute this low occurrence of heart attack to the antioxidants found in the red wine they consume with every meal. Thus, this new wonder drug, trying to reproduce the antioxidants found naturally in French red wine.

Which brings me back to the radio announcer. He was discussing the problems in trying to create these antioxidants in the laboratory. It seems that when they would try to create them, that they ran into problems if light was introduced during the process. The light would destroy the antioxidants or cause them not to form.

And then his comment, “It’s like creating real wine, if you allow light to the wine while it is fermenting, it will turn to vinegar.”

I’ve never studied wine making, but this comment stirred something in my spirit. I had to go home and do some research. I started looking at website after website, and discovered to my surprise that there are multiple ways that wine can be turned to vinegar.

The intentional and most common way to turn wine into vinegar is to mix bacteria into a red wine, allow air to get to it and let it sit in a warm place. Wine on the other hand is created in a dark cool places with little temperature fluctuation.

Why is this important? Why did this strike my spirit, and why am I sharing this in my newsletter? Because God is a master wine maker.

No passage displays this more than in the Gospel of John. We see in chapter two that Jesus is invited to a wedding. The party is progressing well until suddenly, to the embarrassment of the family, it is discovered they are out of wine. It is then that Mary, Jesus’ mother, instigates Jesus’ first miracle in scripture. Jesus turns ordinary water into extraordinary wine. As if turning water into wine weren’t enough, the wine is so wonderful, that even the head of the feast declares that it was the best of the celebration.

From my research, I have discovered that you can go into any wine cellar around the world, and not see wine being formed. All you will find is a cool dark room with racks of bottles and wooden casks. Nothing obviously discernable will strike you that something is happening. It will be just another cool dark place.

However, inside those casks, and inside those bottles, growth and expansion is taking place. Some things are dieing, but from their death antioxidants are being created that can bring life.

And this is what struck my heart. God is not only great at turning water into wine, but turning our lives into something that is usable by Him. He at times places us into cool dark places where things never seem to change. In ourselves, we are rolling and boiling, changing and moving, but our situation stands unchanged. It seems unmovable, dark and cold.

This is the danger point. You see, wine in this same situation is expanding and pushing at the constraints of its prison. What it feels as a wall holding it in, is actually holding the air out. If the cork is removed early, and air allowed to enter, then vinegar will be formed instead of wine. Instead of sweetness, bitterness.

This occurs in our lives when we step out and try to do things before God’s timing. We step out into the light, because we are tired of being “stuck in this situation,” and try to make something happen ourselves. We burst from the darkness, only to find frustration and heartache. Bitterness follows, vinegar instead of wine.

In my spirit I feel a birthing taking place. A fresh release that is going to push out into the church and the world. People who have been put aside and kept in the dark hidden from the eyes of the church, and from the world are going to burst out from the wine cellars. God is about to pour out a new and fresh visitation. A new wine is about to be revealed that has not been seen before. This fresh outpouring will usher in the return of the King. This last miracle before His return will be much like His first. He will pour out new wine, and those who see will say with amazement, “He has saved the best for last.”

Do not force open the constraints that God has placed upon you. Do not race into the spotlight before you have matured. God is looking for wine to pour out in this last day, and bitterness just will not do.

But, know this, if you have pushed out and broken free only to find disappointment, frustration and bitterness forming. It is not too late. The same God who turned water into wine, can turn your bitter to sweet. He only requires a heart of repentance and your obedience to return to your cellar. Be patient and wait for Him to present you at the feast.

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