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Scripture Reading: Matt. 9:14-17; Luke 5:33-39
We have seen how Christ presented Himself to the people as the Bridegroom. He said, “The sons of the bridechamber cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they?” (Matt. 9:15). In these words of His we see several things: first, that He is the Bridegroom, and second, that the Bridegroom is with us. Remember that in Matthew 1 we are told that Christ was called Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” I really like these two words with us. This does not mean that we have a certain doctrine or know the teaching, nor does it mean that we keep a kind of ritual or have any forms. It means that we have His very presence with us. His being with us means everything. Hallelujah, the Bridegroom is with us! Without His presence, everything is just religious. What does it mean to be religious? To be religious means to have all the scriptural things, all the fundamental things, and yet lack the presence of the Lord.
How wonderful it is to have the presence of the Bridegroom with us! Do you need comfort? Praise the Lord, His presence is your comfort. Do you need life? Praise the Lord, His presence is your life. Do you need anything else? I tell you, His presence is everything to you. If you have His presence, you have everything. Oh, the Bridegroom is with us!
The third implication of these words of the Lord is that He as the Bridegroom is with us so that we may enjoy Him. We know this because He says, “The sons of the bridechamber cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they?” The answer is obvious: we must be joyful; we cannot be otherwise in the presence of the Bridegroom Himself.
The Lord did not stop here: He went on to amplify His statement by using some parables with much practical implication. First of all, He stated that no man puts a piece of new (lit. unfulled) cloth on an old garment. Following that, He tells us that neither do men put new wine into old wineskins. In the Gospel of Luke we have another item added: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment” (5:36). Thus, following the Lord’s words regarding Himself as the Bridegroom, He presents us with four new things. They are full of significance. First, we see the new cloth; second, the new garment; third, the new wine; and last, the new wineskin. We have, therefore, the bridegroom with four new things.
The Lord’s word is always so simple in clauses, phrases, and wording. But we must realize that the implication of the Lord’s word is marvelous and profound. The words of the Lord are not like those of philosophers: they always use words very difficult to understand, and even after you understand them you have nothing. Praise the Lord, He is different. All His words are exceedingly simple — everyone is familiar with a new cloth, a new garment, new wine, and a new wineskin. But listen, the implication and significance of His words are profound. Eternity is required to comprehend them.
Here we have four things, and each of them is something new. In the Greek, however, there are three different words used for new. The word used for the new cloth means “untreated” or “unfinished.” One version for this passage translates this word as “unshrunk.” It is cloth which has never been dealt with, which has never been worked upon. This is the meaning of the word for new in relation to the new cloth. The word used for the new garment and the new wineskin, however, means “new in nature.” In essence and in nature the garment and the wineskin are new. Last, the word used for the new wine means new in relation to time. This is wine which has just recently been made. In summary, the new cloth is cloth which is untreated and unfinished; the new garment and the new wineskin are materials which are essentially new in nature; and the new wine is something which has just been freshly brought forth. All these things are full of meaning.
Why did the Lord Jesus, after telling us that He is the Bridegroom, go on to speak of these four new things — the new cloth, the new garment, the new wine and the new wineskin? We must look deeper to discern His meaning. The Lord tells us that the Bridegroom is with us. But look at yourself — do you deserve His presence? Do you think that your real condition in the eyes of God is worthy of the presence of the Bridegroom? We must all answer, “No.” All we have and all we are does not deserve the Lord’s presence. You see, to enjoy the Lord’s presence we need certain qualifications; we need to be in a certain condition, in a certain situation. What we are by birth, what we are naturally, whatever we can do, and whatever we have do not qualify us to be in the presence of the Bridegroom. We must realize that the Bridegroom is Christ, and Christ is God Himself. Suppose that today God appeared to you. Could you just sit there? He is the holy God; He is the righteous God; such a One is the Bridegroom. Do you remember the story in Luke 15? The prodigal son came home. The father undoubtedly loved him deeply, but the son’s condition was utterly unbefitting to the presence of the father. Therefore, the father immediately told his servant to take the best robe and put it on him, thus to fit him for his presence. Our Bridegroom is God Himself. How may we, poor sinners, enjoy the presence of the heavenly King? We must remember the context of these verses in Matthew 9: the Lord Jesus was eating with tax collectors and sinners. We are the tax collectors and the sinners. We are not qualified; we need something to cover us so that we may sit in the presence of the Lord. This is why, after the Lord spoke of Himself as the Bridegroom, He told us that we need to be clothed in a new garment. When we put on the new garment, we are worthy of His presence. When the prodigal son was clothed with the best robe, he could immediately stand in the presence of his honored father. The best robe qualified him to enjoy the father’s presence. We as tax collectors and sinners need to be clothed in a new garment so that we may be worthy of the Bridegroom’s presence. But this is not all.
If I were the prodigal son, after putting on the best robe, I would be a bit concerned. I might say, “O father, the best robe satisfies you, but it does not satisfy me; I am still hungry. My outward situation now fits yours — that is fine for you. But what about me? I am hungry. I decided to come back to you, not for the best robe but for some better food. When I was in that distant country, I did not have even so much as the carob pods which the hogs were eating; so I decided to return to your house, not for this robe but for something to eat. This robe satisfies you, father, but I need to be satisfied.” Immediately, the father told the servant to slaughter the fattened calf and said, “Let us eat and be merry.” The father’s provision is not just for something without but also for something within.
Therefore, after the Lord spoke of the new garment, He immediately proceeded to speak also of new wine. The new wine is not a provision for the outward need, but for the inward need. We not only have an outward need; we also have an inward need. We need something to cover us, and we also need something to fill us. We are so poor outwardly, and we are so empty inwardly. We need the robe upon us for the Father’s sake, but we need the new wine within us for our sakes. We need not only the new garment but also the new wine.
We know that in a wedding feast, the most essential thing is the wine. Of course, when we go to the wedding, we dress in a new garment to fit the occasion. But we do not come just to sit down and look around. I do not come to look at your new garment, and you at mine, yet without anything to eat or drink. Neither do we come to display our good etiquette. Of what use is it to practice table manners yet have nothing to eat? Praise the Lord, we do have table manners, but we also need a rich table, and the Lord has provided it. The Lord is the new garment to us, and the Lord is also the new wine. Have you seen this? He is our covering, and He is also our content. He not only qualifies us, but He satisfies us as well. He is our qualification, and He is also our satisfaction; He is the provision for our outward need, and He is also the full provision for all our inward hunger and thirst.
If the Lord was not so much to us, how could we be the sons of the bridechamber, the proper guests at the wedding feast, the virgins going forth to meet the Bridegroom, and the bride herself? In order to enjoy Christ in these four ways we need something outwardly to qualify us and something inwardly to satisfy us. Now the Lord Jesus is not only the Bridegroom but also the new garment to qualify us and the new wine to satisfy us. We have something to cover us, and we have something to satisfy us. We can leap and shout Hallelujah! But do not think this is all.
The new wine requires the new wineskin. What good is the new wine if there is no proper vessel to contain it, to preserve it? In ancient times the wineskin was used as a vessel to contain the wine. Therefore, the new wineskin signifies something that contains Christ as the new wine. What is this? This is the proper church life. Christ is not only our new garment and new wine, but, being increased, He is also our new wineskin to contain the wine. He is our outward qualification, He is our inward satisfaction, and He is in a corporate way the church, the Body (1 Cor. 12:12), capable of holding the wine. He is everything. He is the Bridegroom, the new garment, the new wine, and also the corporate vessel to contain what we enjoy of Him. Christ enlarged is the new wineskin. The meaning here is indeed profound.
We have spoken of three of the new items, but we have not indicated much concerning the new cloth. What is the significance of this? The Lord Jesus, we know, is God. One day He became incarnated as a man on this earth. From His incarnation to His crucifixion there were thirty-three and a half years in which He passed through all the human living. He was at that time the new cloth, untreated, undealt with, either by man or by God. Christ incarnate, from His birth to His crucifixion, was the new cloth. Such a Christ is indeed wonderful but not adequate, however, to cover us. Such a piece of cloth is indeed new but not yet in a suitable condition for us to wear. It requires some cutting, some sewing, some work to be wrought upon it. All this was accomplished on the cross. On the cross Christ was treated. He was crucified and He was buried: He was dealt with by man and even more so by God. After this He was raised in resurrection. Now in resurrection He is the new garment. The resurrected Christ is the new garment. Before His crucifixion He was a piece of new cloth, but after His resurrection He became a new garment for us to put on.
I do not like to present mere teachings and doctrines — I prefer the practice, the experience. Let me check with you: Since after His resurrection Christ became the new garment, how then can we put Him on? How do you put Him on? You should not forget Galatians 3:27: “As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” We must put on Christ. Then by what way can we put Him on? By being baptized into Christ. The way for us to put on Christ is to be baptized into Christ. How may we be baptized into Christ?
Up to this point, we are still dealing with doctrine. We need something practical. We have seen that after His resurrection Christ became a new garment, but the Bible also tells us that after His resurrection He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). If Christ were not the Spirit, how could we be baptized into Him? Have you seen the point? How can we be baptized into Christ? Because Christ became a Spirit. Christ, by being crucified, buried, and resurrected, became a life-giving pneuma, a life-giving breath, the living air. As the breath it is so easy for Him to get into us, and as the air it is so easy for us to get into Him. Christ in resurrection became a Spirit. This life-giving Spirit is the all-inclusive One. In this Spirit is all that Christ is and all that He has accomplished. This all-inclusive Spirit is the all-inclusive Christ Himself, and this Christ as the Spirit is the new garment for us to wear. You see, even this garment is the Spirit. We were baptized into Christ as the Spirit — it is thus that we put on Christ. Christ is the pneuma, the all-inclusive Spirit; when we are baptized into Him, we put Him on. Immediately, He as the Spirit becomes our clothing, our covering, and we are qualified. Hallelujah! So the new garment which we must put on is Christ Himself as the all-inclusive Spirit.
This is the meaning of the Lord’s word in Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The reality of the name is in the Spirit. To baptize people into the name means to baptize them into the Spirit. And who is the Spirit? The Spirit is just Christ as the all-inclusive pneuma. He became incarnated, He lived on this earth, He was crucified and accomplished redemption, and He was resurrected. After everything was finished, He became in His resurrection the all-inclusive pneuma. Incarnation is included in this pneuma; crucifixion and redemption are included in this pneuma; resurrection, the power of His resurrection, and the life of resurrection are all included in this pneuma. When we were baptized into Him, we were baptized into this pneuma. When we were baptized into Him, we put Him on. Hallelujah!
There is a marvelous verse in the New Testament, with words to which I am afraid you have paid little attention. It is 1 Corinthians 12:13: “In one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and were all given to drink one Spirit.” It says first that we were all baptized in the Holy Spirit, and second that we were all given to drink one Spirit. We were not only baptized into the Spirit but also given to drink the Spirit. Have you noticed these two aspects in this one verse? Suppose I have here a glass of water. To baptize my finger in this water is one thing: the finger is clothed with the water; the water is put upon the finger. But this is just an outward act: something is put on but not put in. The second aspect is that we were also given to drink the Spirit. When I drink this water in the glass, the water gets into me. To be baptized into is one thing, while to drink is another.
Many Christians today confuse these two aspects, thinking that the baptism in the Spirit is equivalent to drinking the Spirit. This concept is really not logical. When people are put into water, does that mean they are given to drink the water? If so, they will be drowned. To baptize a person is to put him into water, not to give him to drink the water. There are two aspects. The Holy Spirit upon us is one thing, while the Holy Spirit within us is another. The Lord Jesus, when speaking to His disciples concerning the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:5, 8), said that the Holy Spirit would come upon them, not into them. It was a matter of “upon,” not a matter of “in.” To be baptized in the Spirit is to put on the Spirit, to put on Christ. Christ is our righteousness; Christ is our covering; Christ is our qualification; Christ is our new garment. But this should not be a mere doctrine. You must put on this Christ, not just receive the doctrine of justification by faith. It must be an experience in the Spirit. You should be able to exclaim, “O God, Hallelujah, I am now in Christ! Christ is the all-inclusive pneuma, and I am in the all-inclusive pneuma. I am standing before You, not in myself but in Christ — not in Christ as a doctrine but in Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit.”
We must put on Christ as the new garment, and this new garment is the all-inclusive Spirit. Christ is no more the untreated cloth; He is now the finished garment. In this finished garment we have redemption, resurrection power, and all the divine elements of the divine person. This new garment is not just a piece of clothing but the divine pneuma, the all-inclusive Spirit, including Christ’s incarnation, His crucifixion, His redemptive work, His resurrection, and His resurrection power. We can put on such a Christ. Hallelujah!
The Lord Jesus told His disciples, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, even the Spirit of reality” (John 14:16-17). In these verses the Spirit is the treated Christ; this Spirit is the crucified and resurrected Christ. Such a Christ is the other Comforter, the Spirit of reality. “In that day,” He said, “you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (v. 20). He said in effect, “In that day you will both put Me on and receive Me into you. In that day you will be baptized into Me, and you will also drink of Me.” This is the treated Christ, the finished Christ. Christ today is no more untreated; He has been thoroughly and completely worked upon. Now He is the finished garment for us to put on, and now He is also the new wine for us to drink.
Suppose I have here an orange. Could you drink it? You could not — it is untreated; it must be dealt with first. We could not drink of Christ before His crucifixion and resurrection. On the cross He was cut and pressed by God, and now as the Spirit in resurrection we can drink of Him. We were all baptized into Christ, and we were also given to drink of Christ, because He is now the treated Christ. He said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet” (7:37-39). At that time, when the Lord spoke those words, the Spirit was not yet because Christ was not treated yet. After a short time He would be treated and then resurrected. Now, whoever thirsts may come to Him and drink. Praise the Lord! Today the Lord Jesus is no more the untreated Christ. Do you want to be baptized into Him? Do you want to drink of Him? “That day” is this day. Today you may know that you are in Him and He is in you. You may be baptized into Him and you may drink of Him. Now, by being baptized into Him, Christ becomes our outward qualification, and now, by drinking of Him, He becomes our inward satisfaction. We are clothed with Him as the Spirit of power, and we drink of Him as the Spirit of life so that we may enjoy Him as our Bridegroom.
In the first three new things — the new cloth, the new garment, and the new wine — we see Christ. Christ from His incarnation to His crucifixion is the new cloth, and Christ from His resurrection to eternity is our new garment and our new wine. The new cloth was just the material for making the new garment. Now we are daily under His covering, and we are daily satisfied by Him. He is everything to us.
Now we must see more concerning Christ as the new wineskin. Let us read 1 Corinthians 12:12: “Even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.” We read in this verse not only that the members composed together are the one Body, but that this Body is Christ. We always consider Christ as the Head; we have considered little, if at all, that Christ is also the Body. How, practically speaking, is Christ the Body? Because the Body is composed of so many members who are filled with Christ. Christ is in you, Christ is in me, Christ is in him, and Christ is in every one of us — we all have Christ within. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 1, says that Christ is not divided. The Christ in you is one with the Christ in me, and the Christ in us is one with the Christ in all other Christians. So Christ is the Body composed of so many members who are filled with Him. This is the new wineskin. The new wineskin is simply the church life to contain Christ as the new wine.
Sometimes people condemn us by saying that we speak altogether too much about the church. But I do not think that we can ever talk too much about the church. I believe we will need eternity to exhaust it. Some say that whether we have the church or not, whether we are in the church or not, we can still enjoy Christ. But I do question whether you can fully enjoy Christ without the church. Without the church you may enjoy Christ here a little and there a little, but you can never enjoy Christ in a full way; neither can you enjoy Him constantly. If you do not agree, stay away from the church for a month, and see what the result will be.
Many years ago a young brother came to me, saying, “Brother Lee, I simply do not like the church life. Look at all those elders — I don’t like them. Look at the leading sisters — I don’t like them. Look at all those brothers and sisters — I don’t like them.” I replied, “All right, brother, you don’t like the elders; neither do you like the brothers and sisters. What about yourself?” He said, “Well, I’m not so good either, but I’m a little better than they are.” He continued, “Why should I come to the church meetings — it’s just a waste of my time. It would be much better for me to stay at home to pray and read the Bible.” So I said, “All right, brother, go and try it for a while, and see what will result.” Do you know what happened? For the first two weeks he did pray and read his Bible, but after that the Bible reading stopped, though he still prayed a little. After another week the prayer ceased. Then he began attending the movies and later went even deeper into the world.
Without the wineskin, how can you keep the wine? Do not consider that you yourself as an individual are the vessel. No, you are just a part of the vessel. How can a glass contain water if it is cut into pieces? How can the pieces contain the water? It is impossible. Do not consider that you are somebody. You are nobody. You are just a member of the Body; you are just a minute part of the Body. It is true, some amount of blood is in my little finger, but this little finger is just a part of the entire body. If you sever it from the body, the flow of blood in the finger immediately ceases. Instead of containing the blood, the finger will lose the blood. From the day you leave the church life, you begin to lose Christ; the new wine starts to run out. Check with your experience.
In so saying, I do not infer that every meeting of the church life is so marvelous. Sometimes the church meetings are not so high. But even the experience of some low meetings is good for you. Whether a glass is held as high as the ceiling or as low as the floor, it is still a vessel. Whether it is up or down, it remains a container. The Lord Jesus always goes with this glass: when the glass goes higher, the Lord Jesus goes higher. When the church meetings go down, sorry to say, the Lord Jesus goes down with them. He must go with us, because He is in us. Nothing but the church life can contain the very Christ you enjoy. Do not think the church is a small thing.
Some who are reading this book are in places where there is as yet no church life. I believe that your experience, though it be on the negative side, will support my word. I fully sympathize with you. No doubt many of you are greatly concerned that there is no container, no wineskin, in your locality. You see, we need the new wine, and we also need the new wineskin.
We must also realize that the wineskin is not only the container of the wine but also the means for us to drink the wine. Many of us can testify that whenever we came into the church meeting, we discovered that that was really the place where we could drink Christ. It was there that we began to drink the Lord as never before. The church life is not just a container but a vessel from which we may drink. Praise the Lord, we have the church life.
The church life is not us; the church life is the corporate Christ. If I come here and leave my Christ at home, and if you come here just by yourself, that is not the church life; that is a kind of social club. Anything without Christ in it is not the church. However, if you come with Christ and I come with Christ, immediately this very Christ is the corporate container to contain Himself and dispense Himself for our enjoyment. The church life is not a religion or a set of teachings, forms, and rituals, but Christ lived out from you and me.
Most all of us come from a background of Christianity, where we learned that Christians need to have certain kinds of Christian meetings called services. According to this concept everyone must enter the “sanctuary” quietly and reverently and seat himself properly and in order. Some dear ones who have attended our meetings have been exceedingly disturbed by the shouting and the praises. Let me say a word regarding them: they are unconsciously influenced by their background of Christianity. Suppose there are a number of Christians meeting together, everyone dressed nicely, and everyone behaving quietly and properly. Suppose that in the same place there is another group of Christians not dressed so well, not behaving so orderly, but shouting and praising Christ. If you were Christ — be fair and honest — which group would you really appreciate? I do not mean which is right or wrong — I do not care for this, and I do not believe the Lord Jesus would care for this either. It is not a matter of being right or wrong, good or bad — it is a matter of life. Religion says the first group is good, but Christ says it is not good because it has no life. The first group is an insult to Christ. Christ is life, and Christ has conquered and subdued death. Christ would say to the first group, “Why is death so prevailing among you? Surely this is not like My church; this is like a cemetery.” The most quiet and orderly place is the cemetery — there is no confusion there, because everyone is dead and properly buried. So many so-called Christian churches today are just like that: everyone in them is nicely, properly, and beautifully “buried.” Brothers and sisters, that is not the new wineskin. The living church is where Christ is; it is the church composed of living members, making living noise. This is the new wineskin. We need such a wineskin.
On one hand, we have the old wineskin, and on the other hand, we have the new. Do not put the new wine into the old wineskin. Some indeed have received the new wine, but they have attempted to bring the new wine back and pour it into the old wineskin. I have been witnessing this kind of folly for almost forty years. Many people have come to the local church and drunk the new wine. They have said, “This is really wonderful — this is just what ‘my church’ needs.” So they have tried to bring this new wine back to that old wineskin. Do you know what happened? The old wineskins burst, and the new wine was spilled. If we put the new wine into the new wineskin, however, the Lord Jesus said that both are preserved.
Some dear ones have come to appreciate pray-reading; so they have tried to bring pray-reading into their old meetings. They killed their meetings. The new wine simply does not fit in the old wineskins. The new wine requires the new wineskin.
We need Christ as the new garment, we need Christ as the new wine, and we also need Christ in a corporate way as the new wineskin. We need the church life. We do not care for any doctrine, teaching, or form, but just for Christ in you and Christ in me. This is the new wineskin.
Out of these four new things, four kinds of so-called Christians have come into existence. The first kind is called Christians, but they are not really Christians. They only take Christ as the new cloth: they do not believe in the Lord’s crucifixion or the Lord’s redemption but only appreciate the Lord while He was on this earth. They say, “Look how Jesus lived: He was so full of love and self-sacrifice. We must imitate Him; we must follow Him.” But to do this is just to cut out a piece of new cloth with which to patch an old garment. These are the so-called modernists. They do not believe that Christ is God; neither do they believe that Christ died for our sins on the cross. They say that Christ died as a kind of martyr, not for our redemption but to give us an example. We must imitate Him in certain aspects, they say, to patch up our holes. This is their teaching and practice.
Then there is another kind of Christians, a better kind, whom you may call fundamentalists. They believe that Christ is God, that Christ is our Redeemer, and that Christ died on the cross for our sins and was resurrected. They take Christ not as a piece of new cloth but as the new garment. They are redeemed, they are real Christians, but they only believe that Christ has accomplished redemption and that now they are saved and will go someday to heaven.
Then there is another group which is further improved. Some Christians have seen that they need not only the redemption of Christ but also the life of Christ. They have realized something concerning the inner life, so they take Christ not only as the new garment but also as the new wine. You may call them “inner-life Christians.” They are indeed an improvement over the previous two groups. You may say that they are the best — they are not modernists, and they are more than fundamentalists. You may even call them spiritual people. But I am sorry to say, good as they are, they lack one thing — the wineskin, the church life.
In the last days the Lord is recovering not only the new garment — this He recovered through Martin Luther in the matter of justification by faith. Neither is the Lord only recovering the inner life — this He accomplished through Madame Guyon, Andrew Murray, Jessie Penn-Lewis, and others. We thank the Lord for all these recoveries. However, at the end of this age the Lord is recovering the last and ultimate item, the church life. You may call this group the church people. Praise the Lord!
Have you ever noticed today that in the local churches, among the so-called church people, the new garment has been recovered, the new wine has been recovered, and the new wineskin has also been recovered? I do not believe the friends who criticize us for talking so much about the church are fair. We also speak very much concerning the new garment and even more about the inner life. Look into our writings — they are full of messages concerning the inner life. But we have not stopped there; we have also covered the church life. If you read all the books and papers we have published, you will discover that we are not occupied with the new cloth — that is over. But we do have the new garment, the new wine, and the new wineskin. We have Christ as our righteousness, we have Christ as our life, and we have Christ in a corporate way as our church life. Did the Lord stop with the new garment? No. Did the Lord stop with the new wine? No. The Lord went on from the Bridegroom to the new cloth, from the new cloth to the new garment, from the new garment to the new wine, and from the new wine to the new wineskin. Is there anything more? No. After the wineskin, after the church, there is nothing more. The church is God’s ultimate goal. When we arrive at the church, we are in the ultimate consummation of God’s purpose. Thus, after the wineskin, the Lord mentioned nothing else.
Praise the Lord! We have the Bridegroom, we have the new cloth made into the new garment, we have the new garment, we have the new wine, and we have the new wineskin. So we are not only fully qualified, not only fully satisfied, but also fully positioned to enjoy our Bridegroom. If we have experienced all these things, we are short of nothing. How wonderful to have the Bridegroom upon us as the new garment and within us as the new wine. This new wine is in the church life, the new wineskin. Thus, day by day we have the full enjoyment of Him as the Bridegroom.
Is this religion? No. Is this Christianity? No. Is this a kind of new sect? No. Then what is this? It is the church life. Hallelujah! How wonderful to have it and be in it!
