The Parable of the Old Cloak and the Old Wineskin in Matthew 9:16-17

            In the parable that Jesus gives us in Matthew 9:16-17, He is saying that there is a sin God will not forgive.  This sin is often referred to as the unforgivable sin, which is blaspheme against the Holy Spirit.  Now, the fact is that this unforgivable sin was a sin committed by the Pharisees.  This sin was the sin of murder.  Now, there isn’t any way that we can possibly prove what Angels gave to the founder of the Institute, but our interpretation of this parable is that once one has taken a human life, one becomes irredeemable.  Once one has taken a human life, one cannot be made new.  Jesus is likening this to putting a new cloth onto an old cloak and putting new wine in an old wineskin.

         The Institute would interpret the words of the Angels by applying these words to the world today.  We can give weaponry to all the people of the world and then simply say to everyone that no one can take a human life.  It would be then that the words of Isaiah would come true in that all weapons would be turned into plowshares, because then there wouldn’t be any need for anyone to have a weapon if one couldn’t use it on another. 

         This is very idealistic thinking and there are those who have taken human life who wouldn’t even think twice about doing it again.  There are those who have great remorse for all their sins and their sins are as white as snow as long as they have not taken a human life.  God simply wants us to be able to live with all we do so that we would never take a human life. 

         The problem is that the thinking of Angels isn’t the way the world thinks and believes.  There are many who believe that the purpose of a weapon is to take human life when necessary.  But the Angels would say to anyone that if we knew what heaven was like we certainly wouldn’t worry about dying.  Jesus said that even the lilies of the field are arrayed much more than Solomon and then He asks the disciples whether they are more important to God than the lilies of the field.  God simply doesn’t want anyone to take a human life and once one has done so, one has lost his or her redemption for all eternity.  It would be better for a person to die at the hands of another than to take a human life and live in all eternity in eternal damnation.

         When the Angels told these things to the founder of the Institute, he didn’t believe that very many would easily accept what the Angels had told him that night.  But the fact is that the thinking of Angels isn’t the thinking of the world, but that is because the world is all most know and most would have a very difficult time accepting by faith that which is beyond their human understanding.  This is why the thinking of Angels is simply a different way to think about life, death, and eternity.  If we have not taken a human life, we are redeemed as long as we don’t do so.  But the problem is that once one has taken a human life, one has lost for all eternity his or her salvation.  This is what we know.  Peace.

Angels of Life Institute