The Mercy Seat

10 “They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. 12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. 13 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 14 And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. 15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you.

17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. 20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. 21 And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. 22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel. – Exodus 25:10-22 ESV

After communicating His command that the people build a sanctuary as His dwelling place on earth, God provided detailed plans for every aspect of its construction, but He didn’t begin with the structure itself. Instead, He focused His attention on the three pieces of furniture that were to occupy the inner recesses of the tabernacle.

The very first item He described was the Ark of the Covenant. This was to be a rectangular box constructed from acacia wood and overlaid with gold. It was to be carried by two gold-covered poles that were inserted into golden rings affixed to its side. Inside this coffin-like container, Moses was to place “the testimony” or stone tablets that God would eventually give him.

But why did God begin with this particular piece of furniture? If the sanctuary was to be His dwelling place, why did He focus His attention on this ornate box? It was because the Ark of the Covenant would be the most important fixture in the entire Tabernacle.

“It was the exact place where God descended to dwell with his people, which of course was the purpose of the building. The very center of God’s presence was the ark of the covenant, which was located in the Holy of Holies – the innermost tent in the tabernacle. By starting with the ark, God was working from the inside out. He was putting first things first, beginning with the holy place of his dwelling.” – Philip Graham Ryken,  Exodus: Saved for God’s Glory

On top of the Ark of the Covenant, Moses was to place the Mercy Seat. This was to serve as the lid for the Ark but, more importantly, as a “throne” for God’s presence. God informed Moses that this “seat” would be the actual place where His presence came to dwell within the Tabernacle.

“…you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.” – Exodus 25:21-22 ESV

“The purpose of the ark was to contain the tables of the law, ‘the Testimony.’ But more than that, it represented the presence of God in a very special way. God promised that He would appear in a cloud upon the mercy seat which was on the ark in the most holy place. Into that place, ‘the Most Holy Place,’ the high priest would enter one a year to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat in order that the sins of the people might be atoned (Lev. 16).” – Maxie D. Duncan, Exodus, The Preacher’s Commentary

Little did Moses know that he was being commanded to construct a miniature replica of God’s throne in heaven. On top of the ark, he was to place two gold Cherubim or ministering angels, whose wings were to spread out over the Mercy Seat. This description matches the one provided by the apostle John in the book of Revelation when he was given a vision of God’s throne room in heaven.

…a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne. And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads. From the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God, and before the throne there was as it were a sea of glass, like crystal.

And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like an eagle in flight. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
    who was and is and is to come!” – Revelation 4:2-8 ESV

And the prophet, Ezekiel, was given a similar glimpse into God’s throne room, where he saw the same scene, complete with Cherubim spreading their wings before God’s presence.

““above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” – Ezekiel 1:26-28 ESV

The Mercy Seat was intended to be God’s throne on earth. It was there that He would come to dwell among His people, sitting above the Law He had given them. And it was there that, once a year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would come to offer a blood sacrifice for the sins of the people.

“Each year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies and sprinkled the blood of animals sacrificed for the atonement of the sins of God’s people. This blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat. The point conveyed by this imagery is that it is only through the offering of blood that the condemnation of the Law could be taken away and violations of God’s laws covered.” – gotquestions.org

The Law, holy and righteous, would condemn the people of their sins. But the blood of the sacrificed animal, when sprinkled on the Mercy Seat, would atone or pay for those sins and purchase the people’s redemption. They would receive mercy rather than wrath. They would enjoy God’s forgiveness rather than condemnation. And all of this was to point to the greater sacrifice to come: Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb of God. The apostle Paul explains how Jesus became the ultimate expression of God’s gracious gift of redemption from sin and death.

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. – Romans 3:21-26 NLT

And the author of Hebrews echoes Paul’s words when he writes of Christ’s atoning work on the cross that secured God’s mercy for sinful mankind once for all time.

So Christ has now become the High Priest over all the good things that have come. He has entered that greater, more perfect Tabernacle in heaven, which was not made by human hands and is not part of this created world. With his own blood—not the blood of goats and calves—he entered the Most Holy Place once for all time and secured our redemption forever.

Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity. Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins. That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them. For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant. – Hebrews 9:11-15 NLT

The Mercy Seat in the Tabernacle was meant to foreshadow the future sacrifice of Christ that would atone for the sins of mankind. This simple, yet ornate, piece of furniture was to illustrate the unwavering righteousness of God through the presence of the two tablets of the Law. The golden cherubim were to be a reminder of God’s holiness and His worthiness to be worshiped by all His creatures. And the Mercy Seat was to be the very place where God’s presence came to dwell among His people and where their sins would have to be atoned for each year. They were an unworthy people who were incapable of keeping God’s holy law. But, in His grace and mercy, God had provided a means of receiving atonement and forgiveness. Not only would He grace them with His presence, but He would bless them with His merciful and undeserved removal of their guilt and condemnation. And it all pointed to Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).

For Christ did not enter into a holy place made with human hands, which was only a copy of the true one in heaven. He entered into heaven itself to appear now before God on our behalf. And he did not enter heaven to offer himself again and again, like the high priest here on earth who enters the Most Holy Place year after year with the blood of an animal. If that had been necessary, Christ would have had to die again and again, ever since the world began. But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice. – Hebrews 9:24-26 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Sinfulness of Man.

1 Samuel 1-2, Romans 3

None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. – Romans 3:10-12 ESV

The Old Testament is brutally raw in how it depicts the sinfulness of man. It does not attempt to sugar coat the facts, but presents life exactly as it was, uncensored and painfully unflattering. Even the Jews, having been chosen by God and given His law, could not seem to live in faithfulness and obedience to His commands. Their incessant failure to remain faithful to God is chronicled throughout the pages of the Old Testament. Take Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, the priest of Israel. These two young men also served as priests, but the writer of 1 Samuel describes them as “worthless men” who “did not know the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:12 ESV). They were using their position as priests of God for personal gain and to satisfy their own perverse desires. “Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt” (1 Samuel 2:17 ESV). These two men glaringly illustrate the truth found in Psalm 14:1-3 and quoted by Paul in Romans 3:10-12: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” This passage is not saying that man is incapable of doing good, because we see in 1 Samuel 3 the actions of Hannah are obviously good and righteous. She makes a vow to God and keeps it. She dedicated her son to God and followed through on her commitment. But there are no actions that man may perform that will ever earn him salvation. Even on our best day, our attempts at righteousness fall woefully short. The prophet Isaiah put it this way: “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6 ESV).

What does this passage reveal about God?

Paul makes it clear that God gave the law to the people of Israel in order to reveal their sinfulness. “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law come knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20 ESV). The law required perfect obedience and adherence. James wrote concerning the law: “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it” (James 2:10 ESV). In other words, God's law required perfection. And so it regularly revealed to men their shortcomings. No one was capable of measuring up to God's righteous standards. The story of Hophne and Phinehas shows us just how bad things had gotten during the days before Israel had a king. Even the priesthood had become corrupt. They were immoral and unfaithful, showing more concern for their own personal pleasure than they did for God and His law. This vivid portrayal of the sinfulness of man provides a stark backdrop onto which will be displayed the coming of the Son of God in the New Testament. God will clearly show that man's sin was so great and his need for a source of salvation outside of himself was so necessary, that when Jesus appears on the scene, men should have flocked to His presence, begging Him to save them. Because as Paul wrote, “the whole world may be hold accountable to God” (Romans 3:19 ESV). Paul makes it clear that being made right with God is possible, but only through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross. “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:23-25 ESV). In the end, God would remain just in His treatment of man's sin. He would be perfectly within His divine rights to punish the sins of mankind. But the good news is that God is also the justifier. By sending His Son to die for the sins of man, He is able to declare “sinners to be right in his sight when they believe in Jesus” (Romans 3:26 NLT). Jesus became the only man to live in perfect obedience to the law of God, keeping each and every one of them and remaining sinless in the process. And His sinlessness made Him an acceptable sacrifice or payment for the sins of mankind.

What does this passage reveal about man?

It would be easy to demonize Hophne and Phinehas. In our own self-righteousness, we could condemn them for their blatantly sinful behavior and wonder how they could have gone so bad so fast. But as the old saying goes, “But for the grace of God go I.” All of us are capable of the same degree of sins as these two young men. Their story is there to remind us of our own capacity to sin against God. One of the saddest statements of all of Scripture is the one used to describe them: “They did not know the Lord” (1 Samuel 2:12 ESV). Here were two sons of the priest of Israel, who were priests themselves and as such, offered daily sacrifices before the God of Israel. But they did not know the Lord. This does not mean they had no idea who God was, but that they didn't understand just how serious God was about His commands. They treated God's law flippantly and with disdain. The NET Bible translates verse 12 this way: “They did not recognize the Lord’s authority.” They saw God's laws as optional, obeying their own sinful desires and passions instead. And that is a risk we all face. When we disobey God it is as if we don't even know Him. As Paul said, “The Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God” (Romans 3:2 ESV), but they failed to obey those oracles. They regularly refused to do what they knew to be the non-negotiable laws of God. And in doing so, they lived no differently than the Gentiles who didn't know God at all. In fact, their guilt was even greater.

How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?

My sin is real. At one time it separated me from a relationship with God. And there was nothing I could do to earn favor with Him. I was incapable of living my life in a way that would satisfy the righteous expectations of a holy God. And while I may not have committed sins of the same caliber as Hophne and Phinehas, my guilt was just as great. And yet, God justified me “by his grace as a gift” (Romans 3:24 ESV). And all it required of me was faith in Jesus Christ as my sin substitute. I simply had to recognize my sin and my need for a Savior. I needed something or someone outside of myself to make it possible for me to be made right with God. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-25 ESV).

Father, I have no problem recognizing my own sinfulness. I even acknowledge that there are days when I live as if I don't even know you, just as Hophne and Phinehas did. I willingly ignore Your will for my life, disobeying or sometimes just ignoring Your Word. But You provided payment for my sin. You purchased my life out of slavery to sin and made it possible for me to escape the death sentence I was under. Now you see me through the righteousness of Your Son. My sins are forgiven. My future is secure. But continue to help me live in keeping with the change that has taken place in my life. May I never forget my sinfulness, but always lean on the righteousness of Christ, because apart from Him, all of my works are like filthy rags. Amen

The Providence of God.

Genesis 37-38, Matthew 19

 Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.  – Genesis 37:36 ESV

We don't always get what God is doing in and around us. Sometimes it even appears as if He is nowhere to be found. Yet the Bible is filled with timely reminders of God's sovereignty over mankind. We read account after account of His providential role in the lives of men, working behind the scenes, orchestrating events and individuals in order to accomplish His divine will. And the story of Joseph is one of the premier illustrations of God's providential participation in the affairs of men. To those who find themselves cast members of God's story, His involvement is not always apparent. Could we have talked to Joseph as he sat in the pit or while he was on his way to Egypt in chains, he probably would have told us that God had turned His back on him. But the story of Joseph's life is provided to remind us of God's unwavering, unstoppable control over the affairs of men. When it comes to His divine will and sovereign plan, there is nothing and no one who can stand in His way or prevent what He has predetermined. And while we may not understand what God is doing, we must rest in the fact that He most certainly KNOWS what He is doing at all time. God reminds us, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV).

What does this passage reveal about God?

Joseph's dreams were clearly from God. They were a glimpse into the future, providing Joseph and his family with a somewhat fuzzy view of things to come. God was providing a partial look into what was going to happen in the years to come. But we see God's plan mixed in with man's sin-prone response. Joseph's brothers can't stand him and his dreams only add fuel to the fire of their hatred and jealousy. So they concoct a plan to murder him, but calmer heads prevail, and so instead, they decide to sell him as a slave to some Midianite traders. Their goal was to get this dreamer out of their lives forever. But God had other plans. Sometimes it is hard for us to see God at work in these stories. We have to look closely at the words that are used by the author in describing the events. After covering their sin by convincing their father that Joseph had been mauled and killed by a wild animal, it would appear that the story of Joseph is over. But Moses writes, "Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard" (Genesis 37:36 ESV). God was not done and Joseph's story was far from over. He was sold as a slave, but not to just any owner. No, he was sold to an officer of Pharaoh. Joseph could have been sold to anyone, but God had something else in mind. In His providence, Joseph's destiny was irrevocably tied to that of Pharaoh.

Even in the story of Judah, recorded in chapter 38, we see the hand of God. It is hidden from plain sight, but it's there. Once again, we get a view of the sinfulness of man. Judah, the brother who came up with the idea to sell Joseph as a slave, gets special emphasis from Moses in chapter 38. The story of Joseph is interrupted by the somewhat sad and depressing account of Judah and Tamar, his daughter-in-law. It is a story filled with sin and shame, immorality and human depravity. God is hardly even mentioned, except in two cases where He put to death two of the sons of Judah because of their extreme wickedness. The entire story revolves around Judah's unfair treatment of his daughter-in-law and culminates is her deceptive plan to force Judah to give her what she wants. It all ends up in the two of them having sexual relations together and the births of two sons.

And yet, God was there. In spite of the immorality and depravity, God was going to use their sinful, selfish acts to accomplish His will for mankind. And we see it in the birth of the two sons, Zerah and Perez. You have to go all the way to the gospel of Matthew to find out how God was at work in this story. There you will find the name of Perez listed in the lineage of Jesus. "Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron…" (Matthew 1:2-3 ESV). Just a few verses later we read, "…and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ" (Matthew 1:16 ESV). God would use one of the sons born from this illicit, immoral relationship to bring about the birth of Mary, the mother of Jesus. God was in control all the time – in the life of Joseph and in the life of Judah. Even the sins of man cannot stop the sovereign will of God.

What does this passage reveal about man?

Apart from God, we are sin-prone and destined to destroy what God has given us. Given enough time, man has a unique knack for destroying not only creation, but virtually every relationship in his life. Left to his own devices, man would make a mess out of just about everything. But thankfully, God is still in control. He has given us a degree of autonomy and freedom, but never completely takes His hands off the wheel. He allows us to believe we are in control, running the affairs of our own lives and determining our own destinies. But God is in full control. Joseph's brothers fully thought they were taking matters into their own hands. Judah was under the false impression that he was large and in charge of the affairs of his life. You can see these men acting as if God does not exist, and in some cases, acting as if they are God themselves. They attempt to determine the fate of others, making decisions that are not theirs to make. They don't consult God. They don't even act as if He exists, showing no remorse or regret for their actions.

Only in the life of Joseph do we see someone who seems to have a right relationship with God. He appears to walk with God and clearly has the blessing of God on his life. Everywhere he goes, regardless of the circumstance, God's hand is on him. God prospers him. Joseph does his part, working hard and remaining faithful to God, regardless of what kinds of circumstances happen to him. Joseph stands out as an anomaly. He is not the norm. He breaks the pattern of sin and selfishness that has been set by his peers. And God has great plans for him. God can and does use the Judahs and the Josephs of the world. He is not limited by man's faithfulness or faithlessness.

How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?

Through Perez would come the Messiah, Jesus Christ. God would ultimately redeem the sinful affairs of men to accomplish His righteous will for mankind. When I read the stories of Jacob, Joseph, and Judah, it can be so easy to lose heart, thinking that mankind is beyond saving. We are too far gone. I find myself asking the same question the disciples did of Jesus, "Who then can be saved?" (Matthew 19:24 ESV). And Jesus lovingly reminds me as He did them, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26 ESV). God is the God of the impossible. He provided a way for sinful man to made right with Him. He did for us what we could not do for ourselves. He miraculously sent His Son, born into a family line marred by sin, but born without sin. God made the impossible possible. He redeems and restores. He uses our worst to accomplish His best for us. He used the hatred of the Jews and their ultimate murder of His Son to accomplish His will regarding the salvation of mankind. And ultimately, all the stories recorded in Scripture are about that one divine act: the salvation and redemption of man. The story of Joseph is a small chapter in the bigger story of Jesus and His coming to earth as the Savior of the world. I have to constantly remind myself that my story and the events of my life are only significant in that they are part of a much greater, more important story of God's ultimate restoration of all things. Nothing is impossible for Him.

Father, thank You for being the God of the impossible. You did for me what I could never have done for myself. Your plan is perfect and You are working it to perfection. Help me rest in that reality each and every day of my life. Amen.

New Wine.

Matthew 9:14-17; Mark 2:18-22; Luke 5:33-39

"New wine must be stored in new wineskins. But no one who drinks the old wine seems to want the new wine. ‘The old is just fine,’ they say.” – Luke 5:38-39 NLT

When it comes to reading, studying and understanding the Scriptures, context is everything. In other words, it is critical that we always look for what is going on in and around a particular passage. Lifting verses out of context is a recipe for disaster. It allows us to twist and manipulate the intended meaning to fit our own preconceived notions. So discovering the immediate context of a passage is essential to understanding what the author intended. And the greatest context we must always keep in mind when approaching the Word of God is that of God's holiness and man's sinfulness. From beginning to end, the Bible records for us this tension and how mankind has attempted to resolve it. The Bible makes it clear that God is holy and that man is completely sinful. And yet God commands man to be holy as He is holy. He even provides mankind with a set of divine rules and regulations that clearly articulate His expectations. But man is sinful and incapable of living righteously and holy as God demands. And the penalty for man's unrighteousness? Death. That is the context of Scripture. God is a holy God and He has holy expectations of man. Man is unholy and he has a serious problem. So as we read through the Scriptures, we see men attempting to find ways to somehow solve their problem and satisfy the just demands of a holy God.

When Jesus appears on the scene, the context is no different. In fact, it had only worsened with time. And it was particularly bad among the Israelites, who He had chosen as His own people. He had hand picked them and then given them His Law to keep. Their keeping of His law would have set them apart from all the other nations. But they had failed. They were still trying when Jesus came along, but there track record was not exactly stellar. So when the disciples of John approach Jesus and ask why His disciples didn't fast in the same way they and the Pharisees did, Jesus gives them an interesting and somewhat confusing answer – unless we remember the context. The fact that these men ask, "Why don't your disciples fast like John's disciples and the Pharisees do?" (Mark 2:18 NLT), reveals that this fasting was ritualistic in nature and tied to one of the many man-made laws that had been added to the Law of God. The fasting was tied to a form of righteousness based on human effort. Their fasting was performance-based and designed to bring them into good standing with God. So they can't understand why Jesus' disciples (and Jesus as well) are not doing the same thing. Didn't they want to keep God happy and satisfied. Were they "too good" to do what even the Pharisees did to stay right with God?

But Jesus, knowing the greater context, tells them that they are missing the point. And He does so by using some very interesting metaphors. He compares the activities of His disciples to those of wedding guests celebrating with the groom at his wedding. That's not a time for fasting, but for feasting and festivities. Jesus' very arrival on to the scene in Israel had changed the rules of the game. The groom had come. This was not a time for fasting. It was a time of celebration. He then uses the imagery of a new patch being sewed on to a piece of old clothing. Once washed, the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old clothing, leaving it destroyed and useless. Jesus is trying to convey that He had come to bring a new way of solving man's age-old problem of his sinfulness and God's holiness. But this new way wasn't going to be an add-on to the old way of doing things. It wasn't going to be based on merit, earning, performance, or rule-keeping anymore. Fasting as a form of self-righteousness was not the way to a right relationship with God. Jesus came to bring something completely new. It wasn't going to be about works or self-effort anymore, because that way didn't work.

Jesus' last metaphor seals the deal. He says, "no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the new wine would burst the wineskins, spilling the wine and ruining the skins" (Luke 5:37 NLT). Jesus came to do something new. He came to present a new way to righteousness and a restored relationship with God. And that new way was not going to play well with the old way. The Pharisees, like old wineskins, were rigid and set in their ways. They couldn't handle the new way Jesus came to offer. His message of grace, mercy, and repentance didn't set well with them. They were satisfied with the old way, the old wine. They didn't want what Jesus came to offer. "'The old is just fine,' they say." (Luke 5:39 NLT). So Jesus says, "New wine must be stored in new wineskins" (Luke 5:38 NLT). In other words, His new message was going to require new hearts, and new lives transformed by the power of God. This was not going to be more of the same old thing, but something new altogether. Jesus was doing away with the old works-righteousness methodology and replacing it with something completely new that was going to work. Paul described it this way, "Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy" (Ephesians 4:21-24 NLT). New wine in new wineskins. The work of God, not man.

Father, mankind has suffered from the same old problem for centuries. And our solution has always been the same. We just keep trying to do good and live our lives in such a way that we might somehow please You enough to satisfy You and make You happy with us. But that was the old way and it never worked and it never will. So You came up with a new way, make possible through Your Son. You didn't change the context, You just came up with a new solution to the same old problem. Thank You! Amen.