14/02/11

The Wine as the Blood

Luke 22:17,18 - And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.


Today I received the same scripture to share on and would like to touch on the aspect of the wine as the Blood of Jesus Christ.

Firstly I want to make clear what Jesus and His disciples took was not wine are what we know. In other words it was not fermented wine but was fresh unfermented wine also called grape juice.

Grapes are one of the most important symbols of a Christian life and Jesus showed us this through His life on earth. To understand this you need to understand how good grapes are grown.

The grape plant being a vine does stand by its self so is supported from a frame above it. The farmer makes a high frame and hangs the vine by the frame. As the plant grows he tightens the ties thus bring its closer to the frame, he takes the branches and by a string pulls and ties it in all directions. He does not pull it too hard so as to break it but lightly so as to enable the vine to spread in all directions and hold more fruit.

Grapes are a watery fruit but are best grown in places where the climate is a little extreme and lacking water. You will find the sweetest grapes coming from these regions. People knowing to grow grapes and wanting sweet grapes will never put extra water to the plant else you land up getting watery but not so sweet grapes. Too little water is also dangerous and will not result in fruits, only a skilled husband will know according to the earth it is planted and the climate.

Grapes represent self sacrifice or discipleship and the Husbandman of the vine is Jesus' Father (Holy Spirit) who is a perfect farmer, and He will make us to be like Jesus. So we need to depend totally on the Holy Spirit standing only by His grace, reaching out to His people and in the process bearing much fruit. Not asking for prosperity of this world but living by the basic necessities, doing the Lord's work not by our strength but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When Jesus said this is my Blood poured out to you He meant His life which was poured out to us for the first instance of the word blood in Bible represents life (Genesis 4, 9). When we gather at the table of the Lord and drink the wine (grape juice) representing His Blood we are suppose to remember how Jesus sacrifices Himself for us, how He lived a selfless life of holiness for our sake so that He would be found without blemish by God the Father.

God gave life to us for the purpose to prosper us although He has the right to take it away He is not interested to see us lacking life. When man sinned and went far from God a blood offering was required so as to symbolize man surrendering his life to God. Since man could not offer his own life and still live therefore the life of an animal was done as a symbol. Jesus became the sacrificial animal and was offered on our behalf. This Blood became a covenant between God and man, a covenant of grace. This does not mean the previous covenants do not exist but all previous covenants are already in this New Covenant at the same time grace has replaced the areas of judgment.

By using grape juice as the Blood Jesus did the perfect thing for us. He not only stopped the killing of an animal or any living being once for all since He was an eternal sacrifice but also showed us how we can partake in His sacrifice by been sweet grapes and offering our fruits as a sacrifice unto God.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord Jesus, we thank You for coming as man and being a perfect and eternal sacrifice under which we can take refuge and come closer to God. Lord God, You are giver of life and by being far from You we cannot have life. Lord as we gather at your table and have the broken bread representing your Body and the grape juice representing your Blood, help us Lord to understand their meaning and implement them into our lives so that we become part and recipients of the fruit of your sacrifice...

This prayer we make in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scripture ]
Genesis 4:10-12
10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.
11 And now cursed art thou from the ground, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;
12 when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength; a fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth.

Genesis 9:4-6 [words in italics removed]
4 But flesh with the life thereof, the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.
5 And surely your blood, of your lives, will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it: and at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man's brother, will I require the life of man.
6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: For in the image of God made he man.

Genesis 3:21 [The first blood sacrifice from which Adam learnt and imitated]
21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

Genesis 49:9-12
9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

John 15:1-8
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit.
3 Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and so shall ye be my disciples.


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