Why People Drink Intoxicants

Genesis 43:34; Psalms 104:14, 15; Proverbs 31:4-7; Ecclesiastes 2:1-3, 10, 11; Isaiah 56:12; I Corinthians 10:6, 7

GOLDEN TEXT: “Wine is a mocker … And whosoever erreth thereby is not wise.”—Proverbs 20:1

THE outstanding thought conveyed in the several Scripture passages for today’s lesson is that the ancients drank wine largely for the exhilarating feelings of joy resulting therefrom. It was this viewpoint that St. Paul evidently had in mind when he wrote to the Ephesians, “Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be ye filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”—Eph. 5:18,19

The Golden Text states that “wine is a mocker,” the thought evidently being that while the drinking of it may seem to give lightness of heart and joy, yet in the end it brings suffering and sorrow—“It biteth like a serpent and stingeth like an adder.” How very true that has been in the cases of millions who have sought refuge from the woes and disappointments of life through the forgetfulness of intoxication.—Prov. 23:32

While the intemperate use of wine for beverage purposes has been destructive of happiness, yet the viewpoint of the ancients as to the joy-producing value of wine has been utilized by the Lord in His promises of the lasting joy coming to the people through the Messianic Kingdom. A sample of the use of this symbolism is the prophecy of Isaiah 25:6-9, the 6th verse reading: “And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wine on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.”

The evident thought of this promise is that the Lord will provide joy and satisfaction for the people, and that through the divine Kingdom He will fulfill His promise to bless all the families of the earth. By swallowing up death in victory, the Lord will “wipe away tears from off all faces.” What a time of genuine joy that will be! The world has been filled with woe and trouble, and it’s slight wonder that the people have sought various artificial ways and means of escaping the realities with which they have been surrounded. How glad, therefore, they will be when the symbolic wine of Kingdom joys will be so abundantly provided for them.—Revelation 21:4

The Christian at the present time should surely be temperate and encourage temperance in respect to intoxicants of every kind source of joy should be the Lord. This is why the apostle said, “Be ye filled with the Spirit” of the Lord. The Christian, like those of the world, is surrounded with trouble. He, too, experiences the groaning and travailing through which all creation is now passing. But he need not seek refuge in literal wine, for God has provided him with the joys of faith and hope, the joys that come through the precious doctrines (symbolic wine) of the truth.

As Christians we need to be on guard against intoxications besides that which is caused by literal strong drink. There are the intoxicating influences of the world, as they come to and affect us as “new creatures.” There is also an intoxication in wealth, in luxury, in ease, which tends to say to the soul, “Take thine ease”; forget your covenant of sacrifice, for there’s no joy in walking in the footsteps of Jesus and in being dead to the world.

There is also an intoxication of pleasure, of fashion, of pride and fond desire, which appeals very strongly to those who are walking in the way of sacrifice. If we permit ourselves to thus become intoxicated it will make us dull of hearing as respects spiritual things, and we will be lax in our zeal for the Lord, for the truth and for the brethren. On the other hand, such intoxication will cause us to approve the things of the world and the flesh, and we will be trying to please self and to please worldly friends and relatives rather than the Lord.

In the end, however, the Christian who becomes intoxicated in any of these ways will not find therein any lasting joy and peace. Like the literal wine which finally “mocks” the drunkard, so these worldly joys will turn to bitterness, and, if the Christian who indulges in them does finally become sober it will be by coming through “great tribulation.”

As Christians our pleasures, our intoxications, must be of the spiritual kind—joy in the Lord. We should be enthused and enraptured by the “heavenly vision.” It is our privilege to eat and drink at the Lord’s table, where there is joy and peace from being filled with the Spirit. But here again we need to he watchful lest whilst we are off guard Satan substitute some of his wine of false doctrine, and by drinking it we become intoxicated with a sense of false security, and with false hopes. The Lord will protect us if we keep close to Him, and in Him we will find joy both now and forever.

QUESTIONS:

What was the general viewpoint of the ancients as to the effect of wine upon one’s mind?

What is meant by the promise of Isaiah 25:6, where we are told that the Lord would make a feast of wine for the people?

What is the source of a Christian’s joy?

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