This Samaritan came purposely to this half-dead man. When he saw the man, he was moved with compassion, and he saved him with two things. One was wine, and the other was oil. He poured out the oil and the wine, put them on the wounds, and bound up the wounds. We have to see that this is after Golgotha and after Pentecost. This is not at Bethlehem. If it were at Bethlehem, it would have been the wine on the oil. But since Jerusalem and since the house of Cornelius, it is the oil on the wine. Wine represents the work of Golgotha. Oil represents the work on the day of resurrection and the day of Pentecost. Wine is symbolized by the cup at the Lord's table. When you become sick, what the elders bring to your house is the oil. What is represented there is what is spoken of here. In other words, wine is the work of redemption, and oil is the work of fellowship. Wine symbolizes the blood of the Lord in redeeming us, and oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit applying the work of the Lord to us. This is very meaningful. If it were only the oil poured without the wine, there would be no foundation for our salvation. If there were no oil, salvation would not have any effect. Without the cross, it would have been unrighteous for God to forgive our sins. It would mean that He was dealing with our sins in a loose way. It would mean that He was glossing over our sins. But without the oil, though God may have accomplished redemption in His Son and may have solved the problem of our sins, that work could not be applied to us; we would still be wounded.

Here we see that there is oil, and there is wine. Furthermore, the oil is mentioned first. It is the Holy Spirit who has applied the work of the Lord upon us. This is the procedure of salvation. It is the oil that is mingled into the wine. The Holy Spirit does nothing other than convey the Lord's work to us. How wonderful this is! Many of our sisters are nurses. We also have two brothers here who are doctors. Do you know that the function of the wine is altogether negative? It is used as a disinfectant. This means that the redemption of the Lord is to deal with past filth and past sins. The oil is there to help the wine. Here, on the one hand, there is the removal of what was in the first Adam. On the other hand, there is the new life from the Holy Spirit. Only by this can the dying man be healed. I will speak more concerning this matter if I have an opportunity later.

After the good Samaritan bound up the wounds of the man beaten by the robbers, what happened next? He placed him on his own beast. The beast denotes traveling. With a beast, you can travel without exerting much effort. When there is a beast, I do not have to travel by my own effort; the beast will carry me. Where did the beast go? It went to the inn. This inn is the house of God. When this man is brought to God, God cares for him.