Fresh Oil and New Wine
I had a vivid dream about someone close to me who was in a lot of emotional pain. I would like to share the dream and then the revelation I received from scripture study.
I walked into this person’s home with a notebook in my hand. For some reason, I didn’t think they would be home and was headed to the kitchen table to leave it there. I was shocked to find them sitting on the floor in front of an open sliding glass door with what looked like a bible on their lap. They looked up at me with such sad, tear-full eyes and said, “I hurt. I hurt. I hurt.” I approached to put my arms around them, but they put their hand up to stop me. I then began to pray out loud, “Oh, Lord, You are the Comforter. You bind up our wounds and heal our pain. We are made whole in You.” I then woke up.
I was shaken by the “realness” of the dream and went to the Word. These are the scriptures I studied:
Job 34:6 (NIV) Although I am right, I am considered a liar; although I am guiltless, his arrow inflicts an incurable wound.’
Ps 147:3 (NLT) He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.
Lk 10:34a (NIV) He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine.
1Pet 2:24 (NLT) He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
I was intrigued with Luke’s Gospel account (10:33-34) and want to quote it fully: “But a certain Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him: and when he saw him he felt compassion. And came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him.”
What was the significance of the oil and wine?
Oil [Strong’s #1637 elanion] Olive oil. Used for lamps, for wounds and anointing the sick (Mt 6:13, James 5:14). Also mixed with spices for anointing the head and body in token of honor.
~~ Well that makes sense, to treat his wounds with oil. But wine? Maybe it’s the alcohol to clean the wound and oil to heal the wound? I was reaching for my ipad to look up the phrase, oil and wine, and thought, “Oil and wine don’t mix!” So, that was my first search and I found this from exploratorium.edu: “When you try to mix water and oil or alcohol and oil, the polar molecules stick together, keeping the oil molecules from getting between them-and the two don’t mix.”
Wine [Strong’s #3631 oinon] Wine, particularly new wine
Oil and Wine [Chabad.org] “Oil, say the Chassidic masters, represents the paradox of spirituality. The nature of oil is that when it comes in contact with something it saturates it entirely, seeping in and pervading its every part. But oil also has an opposite nature: when mixed with another liquid it remains aloof, refusing to blend. Such is the nature of the spiritual: sublime, transcendent and pure, it nevertheless pervades everything, transforming it from within…. But wine is beyond paradox. Wine has no private self and public self — only a self. Wine has no secrets: when a thing is what it is, it’s the same from the inside looking out and from the outside looking in.
John Gill’s Exposition on Luke 10:34 (my favorite)
“pouring in oil and wine:
by which, in general, may be designed, the blood of Christ, applied to the conscience of a wounded sinner; which cleanses from all sin, heals all the wounds and diseases of sin, cheers and revives fainting spirits, gives ease, peace, and pleasure, and is therefore exceeding valuable and precious: and in particular by “oil” may be meant, the grace of the Spirit of God; compared unto it, for its sweet smell, its cheering and refreshing virtue and efficacy, and its cooling, softening, supplying, and healing nature: and by “wine”, the doctrines of the Gospel; such as free justification by Christ’s righteousness, and pardon through his blood; which when applied to distressed minds, cause joy and gladness, and them to forget their sorrow, and remember their misery no more:”
There was so much more, but you get the drift of the importance of these two elements of compassion the Good Samaritan showed the man who was robbed and beaten. In the end, my summary is simply this: #1 Wine (Jesus’ precious blood) is used as a disinfectant and Oil (Holy Spirit’s saturation of our spirits) coats our wounds with Father’s love and enhances our healing. and #2 Wine denotes faith and Oil denotes love.
Application
I believe my dream was an invitation to pray for this person that the Lord would pour out His sacred oil and wine on them and that the wounds that were so very deep would be healed once and for all. At the end of it all, I found a promise scripture and quote Jeremiah 31:12 here:
“They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion, they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD — the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.”
