Grapes Into Wine

“And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

Matthew 21:44

It is better for you to fall on the stone than the stone fall on you. Jesus is here teaching a valuable lesson about breaking. Some refuse to be broken by God such as the Pharisees in Jesus’ own time. The Pharisees were the ones who rejected the cornerstone Jesus. Jesus taught that they will one day be crushed by this stone.

But for others whom God has saved and adopted into the family of God and His kingdom, these have believed in Jesus and receive the Lord’s breaking via repentance and faith in Christ. The Lord’s breaking is tender and sweet. The Lord’s breaking is the means by which He rids us of sin and impurities. Being broken into pieces is ok, because God restores us and puts us together again anew. We are in Christ, new creations. 

Oswald Chambers said that “If we are ever going to be made into wine, we will have to be crushed-we cannot drink grapes. Grapes only become wine when they are squeezed.” When the grapes are squeezed, it is similar to being broken upon the rock of Christ. The squeezing process helps to transform the grapes into wine. Likewise, the breaking process of us upon Christ helps to make us more holy by driving sin further from us. The part that hurts the most is the best part, because it produces the choicest wine. In the Christian experience, the breaking is often the darkest part of the cave, the deepest part of the ocean, and the hottest place in the furnace. But it is the closest place to Jesus! God must put you where you are totally helpless to teach you that you need Him the most.

Jesus asked the disciples, “Do you want to leave too?” To which Peter responds , “To where shall we go, You have the words of eternal life (John 6) “. David said that if he ascends to the heavens or is brought low to the depths that God was also there.  David could not escape God (Psalm 139) and David knew this and delighted in this truth.

How can we find comfort in the fact that we cannot escape God? As Corrie Ten Boom said, “I never knew that God was all I needed until God was all I had.” Are you weeping? Do you see no way out? Do you feel helpless? Hopeless? Lost? Good. This is exactly where God wants you my friend. I know because I am there with you right now. God desires for us to come to an end of ourselves, that He may become all in all to us, through us, and for us. Remember, we are crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives through us (Galatians 2:20) .

If the Lord chooses to bruise you I would suggest considering this a high blessing. He has plans to refine you as through some sort of furnace of affliction. This is the best part of sanctification! 

So what response should you have through this season of brokenness? Cry out to God. Beg for His mercy, comfort, and strength. Hebrews 4:16 is a place that I go at times in life for encouragement. “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Notice he says to draw near in confidence and not in arrogance. It is a confidence in Jesus and His ability and not in our own ability. We must come to God as the tax collector came to God and not as the Pharisee came to God. One was humble and in need of mercy, while the other was self righteous and had no need of God or of God’s mercy. We are His and He is ours. We are broken upon Christ and not crushed by Christ. We are the clay and He is the potter. And while our pieces are broken, He holds the power to put us back together in a better condition than we were previously in. The Lord is our Shepherd. He restores our soul when we rely on Him and press in to Him (Psalm 23:1,3) . Cast your cares upon Him for He cares for you and for your every need. He is our Savior!