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Transcript 373B — What the Bible Says About Alcohol
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Good evening, Mr. Camping. I really appreciate your show. I was wondering if you could tonight give some Biblical guidelines for drinking alcoholic beverages.
HC: The question is raised concerning Biblical guidelines related to alcoholic beverages. Yes, I think I can do that.
First of all, the Bible of course has some good things to say about wine. It indicates that in a real sense it is a blessing of God. The Bible also has a lot of bad things to say about wine and strong drink. It says, for example, "Don't look upon wine when it's red." "Wine is a mocker and strong drink is raging." The Bible warns against drunkenness: "A drunkard shall not inherit the Kingdom of God."
Some people read the word wine in the Bible, and because they read that Jesus turned the water into wine at the wedding of Cana of Galilee, they conclude that the wine in some cases in the Bible was just grape juice. But actually, when we study the Bible very carefully and very candidly, when it says wine, it's wine. It's an alcoholic beverage.
I have found that the whole question of a Christian's relationship to wine and strong drink is stated best in Proverbs 31. After looking at everything in the Bible that relates to wine and strong drink, I find that this really cuts away all of the difficulties and lays it right on the line. It indicates why it is a blessing in certain instances, and it also indicates what a Christian's relationship ought to be.
Now in verse 6 of Proverbs 31 it says, "Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish and wine unto those that be of heavy heart. Let him drink and forget his poverty and remember his misery no more." In other words, God is indicating here that He has designed the grape so that wine can flow from this, and this would act as somewhat of a tranquilizer for unsaved man. He refuses to come to Christ, he refuses to find his rest in God, he goes his own rebellious way. But God, in His divine mercy on this creation, has provided alcoholic beverages so that man can take a highball when he comes home from work, or he can have a glass of wine with his dinner, and this takes the edge off of life. It tends to make life slightly unreal, so that he is able to get through life with a little more ease.
Now of course unsaved man will constantly and very frequently abuse this blessing, and it will become a curse, because he drinks too much, he becomes an alcoholic, he becomes a drunkard, and it begins to destroy his life. But that is typical of unsaved mankind. Any blessing that God provides very frequently becomes a curse, because it is abused.
But for believers God has a different statement to make. In Proverbs 31:4 we read, "It is not for kings to drink wine." Well, now we have to decide who are kings. Is this talking about King David, about King Solomon? Are they the ones that could not drink wine? Yes, they were kings, of course. But actually, the Bible indicates that every believer is a king. We are of royal blood. We are seated with God in heavenly places, reigning with Him, as we read in Ephesians 2:6. We reign on earth, we read in Revelation 5. We reign in life, we read in Romans 6:15, or thereabouts. We are kings because we are identified with the Lord Jesus Christ, who is King of kings and Lord of lords.
Now, "it is not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes strong drink, lest they drink and forget the law and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted." You see, we who are born again do not need a glass of wine to take the rough edge off of life. Why not? We have open access to God Himself, have we not? We can go to Him, and we can pour all of our troubles out to Him, and He will strengthen us. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." We can always keep our senses, our minds clear, absolutely clear. We don't have to have them slightly discolored by wine or strong drink.
The fact is, it warns here, "lest they drink and forget the law." Now the law is the Word of God. We would begin to put our trust in that wine rather than in the Word of God. We would begin to put our trust in the joy or the release or the security or the confidence, or whatever, we may derive from that wine, rather than in the Word of God.
Now I know many Christians who insist that it is their liberty to drink wine. It is their liberty to drink wine or occasionally have strong drink. And I must say I was brought up that way. For many years in my life I thought that that was what the Bible taught. But when I really search the scriptures, I find that no, that is not so. The world, the unsaved, God has given them the wine and the strong drink. We don't need it. We have something infinitely more wonderful, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
I hope this will help a little.
CALLER: It certainly has, and I certainly thank you.
HC: Thank you for calling. Good night.