NO MIX OF OLD WITH NEW

Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?" And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?" Luke 5:33-34

These verses show that Jesus, who is the bridegroom, entered this earth to introduce a new way of life. His thoughts about fasting were not the thoughts of the Pharisees. In Luke 5:27-32, Jesus shows that He had come to introduce a new way of relating to sinners. In Luke 6:1-11, Jesus introduces a new way to treat the Sabbath. He permitted his disciples to gather corn on the Sabbath. He healed a man on the Sabbath.

With His illustrations in Luke 5:36-39 of not using new material to patch old material and new wine with old wineskins, Jesus again teaches the same message. He is laying the groundwork for the introduction of a New Covenant. In Hebrews 8:13, the author writes about the Old Covenant, "In that He says, 'A New Covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." The Book of Hebrews is about the New Covenant.

In 2 Corinthians 3:5-6, Paul writes, "… our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." The entire third chapter of 2 Corinthians 3 contrasts the old covenant with the new.

In Luke 5:39, Jesus says, "And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.' Does this not show the hesitation of those who have lived under the Old Covenant for years to turn to the New Covenant.

We live under the New Covenant when we live out our union with Christ.

- David Kuykendall

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