364. Wheat, Wine, Oil
Joel 2:24 And floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
–Wheat, wine, and oil are the agricultural symbols of material blessing, abundance of crops, and earthly wealth. The phrase is similar to the meaning of “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Material abundance and earthly blessing are common promises for the Old Testament people of God. Wealth and health are included in the promise of “corn, wine,, and oil.” The picture of earthly comforts, safety, peace and security is a dream for most people. The return to Paradise is a hope that lingers In the human heart, The hope that springs eternal is that some day life will be much better than it is now. Most humans innately know that there is another life after this one. There must be a better world in the future. The afterlife, the next life, will be abundantly blessed with many earthly comforts.
The hope that could not be crushed was that the Messiah would bring in a millennial, utopian age when He comes. Jesus appeared to offer hope that He would be that Messiah, but time of “corn, wine, and oil” did not come about. Even the disciples who believed in Jesus were still waiting for Jesus to usher in a physical, material, earthly kingdom on earth in which they would rule with Him. The disappointment of Jesus’ humiliation, suffering, and death crushed their hopes and dreams. But after Jesus’ bodily resurrection their eyes were opened as to what the God of the Bible meant for them when Messiah came: It was spiritual. It was eternal. It was real. It was present in the heart. It was eternal life. The believers in Jesus could apply material and physical blessings and promises to the spiritual and eternal realities, and life changed.
When this insight of spiritual riches and blessing dawns on us, we believe and are saved. A wonderful world is opened up to us and it lasts forever without end. This spiritual insight is a conversion experience generated and nurtured by the Spirit using the Gospel of the New Testament. We are convicted that the inner hope of a better life is real and true and present and powerful. Once sin is forgiven, the riches of the spiritual world is ours: Wheat is the Word of God, Wine is the blood of Christ, and Oil is the Holy Spirit. Believe and see.