Tasting New Wine

“Know and understand this: From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.” 

- Daniel 9: 25-27

Daniel lived during the time of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II; 600+ years before Christ, receiving word from Above regarding the matters in the preceding passage.

The Hebrews were held in Babylonian captivity for 70 years until a new king, Cyrus, sent them back to Judea.

A 'seven' could mean a week and/or a year.

As for measuring time and timeline, when considering what “seven 'sevens'” means, we are looking at either seven weeks, seventy weeks, seven years or seventy years.

The same with the sixty-two 'sevens.'

The temple was continuously built, stopping at times, and restored up until Rome removed Greece, with it eventually being destroyed in 70 A.D..

The closing of a prior age, the prior covenant, is predicted in this passage, as well as the dawn of a new age, a new covenant, being established by the Anointed One.

War and rebellion continued until the Jews were outlawed from residing in Jerusalem by the Roman state.

The end of Judea and, of Jewish identity and influence in what is today called Palestine, came to an end in year 135 A.D. when a Roman massacre killed nearly the entire Jewish population.

What then replaced the prior covenant and previous order as God established?

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 

- Matthew 5: 17-18

The entire new testament testifies to the completion and fulfillment of the prior covenant's prophecies, with Yeshua / Jesus / Isa having perfectly obeyed the 600+ laws and requirements of the Mosaic law.

Having obeyed them all perfectly He thus fulfilled them.

“No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” 

- Matthew 9: 16-17

This is one of the most beautifully put phrases which distinguish the old order from the new order.

While they were eating, Yeshua took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and gave it to His disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.” 

Then He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying,“Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” 

- Matthew 26: 26-29

The prior entirety of temple worship, of incense burning, of ritual upon ritual, was fulfilled, and a simple and intimate ritual was introduced; breaking bread with the family of believers in memory of God's love in Christ.

So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 

- 2 Corinthians 5: 16-21

Under the Mosaic law, the prior covenant, animal sacrifice was a requirement to provide forgiveness of sin.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through your faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. 

- Colossians 2: 9-15

Since all men fall short of God's glory, are fallible and continuously miss the mark of perfection, all have become indebted to God due to this shortcoming.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. 

- Romans 13: 8-10

But God had a Way and plan for those who would come to faith!