Alcohol Facts versus Drinking Propaganda

Proverbs 21:17; 23:32; Isaiah 5:20-23; Hosea 4:11; Joel 3: 2, 3; Ephesians 5:18

GOLDEN TEXT: “If sinners entice thee, consent thou not.”—Proverbs 1:10

THE committee that arranged this lesson intended it as a temperance lesson: and undoubtedly it has in it a warning against intoxication. Nevertheless, in our judgment, the context being considered, other matters are more condemned in this lesson than intemperance. However, we can heartily endorse the thought that intemperance lies at the foundation of many woes of life, sapping the manhood, the vigor, and undermining the moral sense and general character.

The several texts of our lesson remind us that in addition to the physical intoxication resulting from intemperate use of alcohol, the Scriptures point out two kinds of symbolic or figurative intoxication. One is described in the last text of our lesson—Ephesians 5:18, a filling with the Spirit of the Lord and His joys, peace and comfort; the fruitage of the vine which the Heavenly Father planted, of which Christ is the central stalk, and of which His followers are all “branches.”

The other symbolic wine is a counterfeit, an illicit wine; it is not produced by the vine of the Father’s planting but from the grapes of the “vine of the earth.” It is with this wine that, the Lord tells us, great Babylon has made all the nations drunken—the wine of her inconsistency, of her infidelity. The mixture of truth and error has deadened the perception of multitudes of professing Christians and hindered their discernment of the true character and purposes of God as revealed in His Word.

Under present conditions men naturally look for something to exhilarate them, to revive—to counteract life’s sorrows, and burdens. Many of the dead in trespasses and sin find this release from care in various intoxicating stimulants—wine, liquor, opium, etc.; but the child of God is to look in a totally different direction for his stimulant, his exhilaration, his release from care and trouble—he is to be “filled with the spirit” of the Lord. He is not to merely have a little of it, but is to become intoxicated with it to the extent that it will change the general appearance of all his surroundings and conditions in life. And cannot each experienced Christian, filled with the Lord’s spirit, testify that this is true?—that all things are changed from this new standpoint, with new hopes, new ambitions and new relationships?

The lightness of heart of the intoxicated who are “dead in trespasses and sin” often leads to revelry and song, repulsive even to the same person when sober; but the filling of the spirit of the Lord leads to songs and rejoicing, not only with the lips but with the heart,—refreshing, comforting and uplifting, not only to the singer but also to the hearer. It is this “new song” in the heart that constitutes the Christian a peculiar and different being from all others about him. “Thou hast put a new song in my mouth, even thy lovingkindness, O Lord!” Because it is in the heart, therefore, it must be in the mouth also, and must influence all the affairs of life; for we cannot but speak of the things which have so wonderfully uplifted and refreshed our souls. And the speaking of these things is the proclamation of the Gospel—“Good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.”

In our new attitude, figuratively risen from the dead, walking in newness of life with the Lord our Redeemer and Head, all of life’s affairs have a new coloring. Not only can we sing—“Sweet prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers, have all gained new sweetness to me,” but we can glory in tribulations also and give thanks for these, as well as for life’s blessings, to the Heavenly Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus; having the assurance that life’s disciplines are working out for us a “far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”

Those who have become physically intoxicated often have an exaggerated idea of their accomplishments and importance. But those who have been filled with the Lord’s spirit are thereby made humble, so that we do not think of ourselves above what we ought to think, but think soberly. It is in view of the humility of this class that the apostle suggests that we submit ourselves one to another in the reverence of the Lord. Those who have the Lord’s spirit will have brotherly kindness, and will be quite willing to defer to each other’s preferences in many things—in all things not contrary to the principles of righteousness and in harmony with reverence to the Lord, His Word and the principles it inculcates.

Let us, dear brethren, beware of the natural wine and its drunkenness; of the cup of devils, gross sins and immoralities; let us beware of the still more deceptive wine of Babylon’s cup which produces a form of godliness, church and world in combination, and tends to stupefy and give illicit joy. Let us, however, having received of the Lord’s cup of suffering and of joy, be filled with the spirit of our Master.

QUESTIONS:

What two kinds of symbolic or figurative intoxication are referred to in the Bible?

What does it mean for a Christian to be “filled with the spirit”?

What does the Bible mean by its reference to the wine of Babylon’s fornication?

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