"Touch Not the Oil and the Wine"

Touch Not the Oil and the Wine

Christine Beadsworth

7/16/22

During the last two months before the Fall feasts; Av and Elul, one is busy tying up the loose ends for the season before 5782 ends & RH 5783 begins. Two things that happen in these 5th and 6th months, are the firstfruits offerings of the wine and the oil. We know about 7 weeks being counted from Passover to Pentecost and the wheat firstfruits offered on the 50th day, but something less well known (and recorded by the Essenes at Qumran) is that straight after that, another 7 weeks is counted before the firstfruits of the grape harvest is offered and then another 7 weeks is counted until firstfruits of oil is offered before the Lord.

Joe 2:24 And the [threshing] floors shall be full of grain and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.

According to the Essene’s comprehensive records, the new wine offering (Pentecost of Wine) was done on the 3rd Av and the Pentecost of Oil was celebrated on the 22nd Elul. These were significant markers for the farming community because until the firstfruits offering had been done, the harvests of the ripe crops in the fields were NOT ALLOWED TO BE BROUGHT IN OR CONSUMED. So, the firstfruits offering of each harvest indicated the starters gun for the rest of the crop to be brought in.

On top of that, the Book of Jubilees chapter 32 tells us that, for the priests, once firstfruits of new crop had been offered the remaining wine or oil was considered corrupted and was burnt with fire:

For in its year shall the seed be eaten till the days of the gathering of the seed of the year, and the wine till the days of the wine, and the oil till the days of its season. And all that is left thereof and becomes old, let it be regarded as polluted: let it be burnt with fire, for it is unclean. And thus let them eat it together in the sanctuary, and let them not suffer it to become old.

This is quite a significant spiritual principle – it is apparently vitally important to obtain fresh oil, oil of a new season. It will not do to keep on consuming the old wine or using the old oil.

So, just as there is a firstfruits barley company which we have often spoken about, the wine and oil firstfruits also represent spiritual truths and prophetic pictures which I have been exploring. The Book of Revelation 6:6 tells us that the angels were instructed not to hurt the oil or the wine during the rollout of judgements. Who or what do these two crops represent?

Oil and wine were applied to the wounds of the man wounded on the way to Jericho. So, they both carry within them healing and restorative properties. The Lord referred to this scene in a prophetic word received for the year 5781:

‘The man on the Jericho road is a wounded world, left to die by those who ransack the nations for their own supplies. But My oil and wine are the kind who pour themselves out for others and the Spirit of Elijah will multiply their flour barrels.’

So, it seems the oil and the wine can refer to certain groups of saints. The Word speaks of 3 separate harvests: grain, wine and oil. According to psalm 104, grain, wine and oil have different purposes - wine imparts gladness of heart; joy. Oil gives light or illuminates and glorifies, and the verse below tells us that grain made into bread strengthens the heart.

Psa 104:15 And wine that makes glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengthens man's heart.

So, the wine and oil saints have different assignments and portions in the kingdom. As we are discussing the firstfruits offerings, it indicates there are two groups brought forth, presented to the Lord and released 50 days apart during the 5th and 6th months, in order to trigger the rest of these harvests being brought in. Until these two firstfruits offerings are presented before the Lord, no new wine or fresh oil can be experienced in the rest of the Body.

I asked the Lord what the wine and oil represent, compared to the Barley firstfruits. He explained that the Barley firstfruits company are the Melchizedek priesthood, emerging in the pattern of the Firstborn from among the dead; operating both as priests and kings. When explaining what the oil and the wine represented, He said that they are two groups emerging from within the barley firstfruits company who are allocated different portions and assignments in the Kingdom. “Some are TRANSFORMED and they represent the wine firstfruits. Others are TRANSFIGURED and these are the oil firstfruits.”

Hmmm, so what is the difference? ‘Transfiguration’ does not mean the same thing as the word ‘transformation’. Transformation implies a remodelling of the nature and structure of a person or object. Transfiguration implies a revelation of the true nature within and is usually connected to glory. Jesus was revealed by displaying His true identity in Heavenly places when He was transfigured on the mountain. He became clothed in glory light.

Transform: a major change in form, nature, or function, usually into something better, but connected to the earthly realm. New wine is the contents of the solid grape released to flow and expand in a liquid state, but still remaining the blood of the grape.

Transfigure: to change something into something else, producing the image of the heavenly while still on earth. Oil is ignited and transfigured into fiery light, even while held in an earthen vessel. It becomes a completely different substance – a flame of fire. The mortal puts on immortality (1Cor 15:53).

So, the oil firstfruits are the portion of the bondslave manchild company who are caught up to the heavenly state of being, and are transfigured, receiving their immortal bodies, and returning to carry out Kingdom business, being unrestrained by earthly boundaries. They come from before the face of God as Moses did and their faces shine with the glory of God. Having borne the image of the earthly, they now bear the image of the heavenly.

Some teach that the grape harvest is only about judgment of the wicked, but it is also important to remember that Jesus called Himself the Vine and His followers the branches. Genesis 49 also tells us He binds his colt to the vine and washes His garment in wine. This word ‘garment’ used here also means ‘wife’. So wine is used to cleanse the Bridal company. And wine is poured out of a silver vessel onto the altar every day during Tabernacles. The prophetic fulfilment of Tabernacles is still to be experienced and so the grape harvest or harvest of the fruit of those who have abided in the vine is necessary for the fulfilment of Tabernacles. In fact, one of its names is ‘the season of our joy’ and wine brings joy to the heart of man!

The wine firstfruits are those abiding ones who have matured and become ready ahead of the rest of the harvest of those in the vine. They are marked, separated from the rest of the field, brought near, pressed and transformed into a different way of being, no longer the season of abiding and growing in Christ but now set apart, marked as belonging to God, empowered, changed and released to impart the essence of Christ, bringing joy to those who are in mourning (Isaiah 61). This can only be done by the empowering of the Spirit of the Lord. They are part of the Bridal Company of whom it is said ‘the roof of your mouth is like the best wine, causing the lips of those who are asleep to speak’ (Songs 7:9). They impart a quickening, an awakening, to prepare others for battle:

Psa 78:65 Then the Lord awakened as from sleep, as a strong man whose consciousness of power is heightened by wine.

Both the wine and oil firstfruits have a connection to putting off the old mantle and embracing the new.

New wine must go in a new wineskin, this involves a slaughter and preparation of a hide (which is a form of mantle or covering for the flesh of an animal), refashioned into something new. A new wineskin for new wine.

Grapes also leave behind their old mantle/skin when they are crushed and the juice released. Previously the interior was contained in set parameters inside the skins of the bunch of grapes. The destruction of old mantle brings the juice into a wide-open space, giving it ability and freedom to flow. There is a change of state from solid to liquid, and space to expand in the new wineskin

Num 13:20 …And be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes.

As the spies went into the Promised Land, it was time for the firstfruits offering of the grapes in that region. They brought back the giant cluster for the firstfruits offering.

Fresh oil saturates the torn-up mantle of an old season. Old priestly garments