Imagine for a moment that you’re the last soul remaining from the Exodus generation. All eyes rest on you. The next gen passes the time playing cards in their nearby tents snacking on their manna just waiting for you to croak. You overhear them talking about what it will be like to finally enter the Promised Land. They say they can already taste the milk and honey. They are more excited about the new thing God is about to do that no one wants to hear your stories anymore.
Calling upcoming generations the “Joshua Generation” was all the rave in Christian circles not too long ago. In some places, the trend continues. Fiery preachers retell the story of Moses and Joshua comparing the differences between our generations like their historical circumstances accurately match our modern day context.
I heard this message as a young person and would attend church obsessively because I didn’t want to miss out on the new thing God was going to do. Revival felt like my promised land.
I believed many older Christians were like old wineskins and I didn’t want to end up like them. I perceived their wisdom as legalism more often than not. I perceived my naive zeal was where Spiritually led wisdom could be found. I needed to be flexible enough for the new thing no one had ever seen before. I didn’t want to become an old wine skin that couldn’t contain what God was going to pour out in the promised land of revival.
I saw balance as complacency. I saw living a quiet life as one without passion. I drew lines between what I considered to be innocent worldly pleasures and those I considered more spiritual.
The older I got the more I wondered if my generation missed it. As the next generation comes up there are times I feel expected to humbly hand off my torch and let the more zealous younger ones lead. But I don’t want to. It’s not about who is leading or in charge, but about what is burning. I’m not willing to completely step back. There are things I’ve learned, wisdom I wish others had shared with me that I know holds great value. The idea of passing on the torch does not sit well with me. I believe this idea is saturated with false humility and, quite frankly, ignorance of God’s purpose in the Scriptures we use to support it.
As much as I feel like others look at me like an old bag of bones hindering the next move of God, I know the truth. I have been young and am growing old. God is still working on, in, and through me. I have stories to share even if I am perceived as an unbelieving Israelite destined to die in the wilderness or a legalistic Pharisee. The truth is that this old bag of bones, who greatly values rightly dividing the Scripture, still has a new wineskin. And, as I gimp along this old beaten path I know I don’t have to make my own way through the wilderness because Jesus did it for me.
When we read the accounts in the Old Testament now the bigger picture is easier to see. We honor the lives of our mothers and fathers of the faith and observe God’s faithfulness. We err, however, when we place ourselves in their stories apart from Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Using the Israelite’s accounts in history to support the next new revival has never been God’s intention for the text. It points to Christ. We can relate to them because we are all human. We all miss the mark and need a Savior.
Personally, I believe our misapplication of the text actually hinders people from entering into the rest provided in Christ this side of the cross. It places a heavy yoke on our upcoming generations and discounts the value of others.
Symbolism and metaphors burst at the seams of the Bible teaching us about the Kingdom of God. It’s irresponsible of us to make analogies that are built on anything that doesn’t build on Christ as the cornerstone. With this in mind I ask you: Can we accurately stereotype older Christians as old wineskins and label them as legalistic Pharisees today?
Where we have been mistaken is that we keep seeking a new move of God more than we seek to live simple, godly lives. We’ve neglected to teach upcoming generations how to dwell in Christ. We tend to focus on fabricating the right atmosphere for emotional encounters in our church’s altar calls than we are committed to equip people to become individual houses of prayer.
The new thing prophesied throughout Scripture is only found in Christ. Although the message about Christ seems ancient to us now, still offers new life because He is alive.
God created people to live with Him in community. It started in the garden and it is finished there, too. The big picture is that all people fall short despite their very best efforts, but God remains faithful.
Christ became the head of a new humanity when He, once and for all, conquered death. Now, it’s not just Abraham’s bloodline that gets to bear His Name. Even Gentiles (that’s us) are privileged to become children of God. Because Jesus died, rose again, and sent His Spirit, we live in the fulfillment of His promise, a new covenant that is far better than the old. Believers now wait for the Lord’s return in hope, sustained by His Spirit. The Kingdom has come and will one day be fully consummated.
Believers have become the arks of the covenant. We are the vessels chosen to house and carry His Presence. Our bodies are living sacrifices which offer praise from the altars of our hearts.
We don’t have to wander place to place looking for His Presence or the next great move. We don’t have to shout for Jericho’s walls to come down because the veil was torn at Calvary. And, returning to my main point, we have to wait for older generations to die or fade into the background to pass the torch of His Presence on. Why? Because we are one body, one people, one generation of sons and daughters, called to live in unity with one mind, the mind of Christ. Born again by blood and water from His side, we have become new creations… New wineskins. This is the Gospel.
I wonder how long we’ll contend for revival without acknowledging believers have already been vived. Before looking to the past for revival events and great moves of God, first notice and learn to appreciate the ebb and flow of His Spirit since Pentecost. Listen to the stories of those who have gone before you. Honor them for their faithfulness and give them grace for their faults. Embrace the humility of the cross knowing that now there is not Jew or Gentile, slave nor free, male or female. We are all called on deck as one.
The next generation does not need to start a new thing, they need to be welcomed into it. Let’s make room for everyone.
Hebrews 10:19-25: Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Isaiah 66: 1-2: Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be?
Has not my hand made all these things,
and so they came into being?”
declares the Lord.
“These are the ones I look on with favor:
those who are humble and contrite in spirit,
and who tremble at my word.
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