“…thy wine [is] mixed with water.”~ Isa. 1:22
The Jews regarded wine as the most pure and valuable of liquids. But the nation which had been comparatively an honest and virtuous one, was now turned into a degenerate people; both Judah and Israel, alike. One form of this was seen in watering down their wine which they sold to others, resulting in increased profits from such delusional antics.
By diluting this originally strong, potent element; it had become flat, weak, and lost its forcefulness! In the mingling of it, it no longer had value. It lost any virtue it might have had in its beginning, and is now less extreme in its effect. It may look much the same, but the additive made it non-effectual.
Our day, like God’s people of old, is characterized by our diluting all that is good and godly! Powerfulness has been turned into powerlessness; godliness to godlessness; goodness changed into wickedness; and holiness to worldliness. There are Last Days and Latter Times, mentioned in scripture; I think the latter of the two best describes the practices and conditions that mark the days in which we live.
“That which was originally the best when corrupted becomes worse!” Mathew Henry