SIPPING SAINTS - What Does the Bible Really Say About Alcohol?

 

Bible studies are intended to help us to dig a little deeper so we can gain an understanding of what God’s Word says and teaches.  Bible studies are to help us to become more Christlike and teach us how to live holy in an unholy world. 

Bible studies are not written to condemn the hearer but rather to admonish and teach us how to be more like Jesus.  The ways of the world are not the ways of God.  God has called us to separation and holiness. 

The Bible warns that there is a way that seems right to man but the end are the ways of destruction (Prov 14:12).  So keep an open heart and an open mind as we open God’s Word to learn what He is saying to His people. 

 

SIPPING SAINTS
What does the Bible really say about Alcohol?

 

The United States has become a sodden society where many are unable to cope with life without a drink or two to ‘get them through’.

PEOPLE TURN TO ALCOHOL to escape problems – but rather than escape problems, alcohol is a mocker and will actually cause a person to wallow in their problems even more than without it. 

Alcohol increases the risk of suicide in heavy drinkers because rather than drowning out their sorrow, it causes them to wallow and drown in their sorrow.

 

STATISTICS:

According to statistics from 2018, 14.4 million adults ages 18 and older have Alcohol Use Disorder. (9.2 million are men and 5.3 million are women)

The leading cause of preventable death in the United States each year is from tobacco related use.

480,000 deaths per year in the U.S. is from cigarette smoking.
41,000 of those deaths are from 2^nd hand smoke exposure ---- think of the kids!

The second leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. is from poor diet and lack of physical activity.

The third leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. each year is from alcohol-related causes.  Approximately 88,000 people (approximately 62,000 men and 26,000 women die from alcohol related causes annually, making alcohol the third leading preventable cause of death in the U.S.

Facts: 7.7% of deaths among men globally is alcohol attributable. 
And 2.6% of deaths among women globally are alcohol related.

CONSEQUENCES:

Affects on health - Destroyed livers, raised blood pressure, mood swings, mental, etc

Hangovers – passing out, vomiting

Loss of critical judgment and slow reactions

Birth defects in children of mothers who drink while pregnant.

We see an increase in underage drinking.  Kids will not do as you say as much as they will do what they see you do.  That’s why it is so important that we are a godly moral example to our children.

Nearly 10% of U.S. children live with a parent who has alcohol related problems. (study was from 2012 – percentage is higher now since covid hit and alcohol consumption has increased.  They knew that and is the reason they allowed liquor stores to be open yet tried to keep the doors to Churches closed tightly when that is the only place that people can find real hope!)

Children who grow up in a home where alcohol consumption is common are at a greater risk for emotional problems than children whose parents are not alcoholics. And they are 4 times more likely to become alcoholics themselves than other children. 

Most children of alcoholics have experienced some form of neglect or abuse in the home. Some suffer from the painful after effects of a parent dying from either alcohol related illness or suicide from increased alcohol consumption.

Bottom line: CHILDREN ARE THE INNOCENT VICTIMS WHO SUFFER THE MOST FROM ALCOHOL ABUSE!

~ ~ Is it any wonder the Bible warns against Alcohol consumption?! ~ ~

What does the Bible say about alcohol?

**Keep in mind: There are varying Hebrew words which were all translated to the English word ‘wine’ yet had different meanings. 

Things that meant one thing when originally translated do not have the same definition now as they did back then. 

Example: gay used to mean ‘happy’, now it describes something that is perverse

The ‘wine’ mentioned in the following verses will typically be the Hebrew word yah’-yin meaning ‘effervesce; wine as fermented, intoxication’ (H3196).

The ‘strong drink’ mentioned in the following verses will typically be the Hebrew word shay-kawr’ meaning ‘intoxicant, intensely alcoholic liquor’. (H7941)

 

Proverbs 20:1 – wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.

Proverbs 31:4 – it is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink.

          Why? Because it affects their judgment!

Isaiah 5:11 – Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!

Isaiah 5:22 – Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:

Isaiah 28:7 – They also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are wallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

God required separation from the world and Holiness!

Leviticus 10:9 – those who ministered before the Lord in the Tabernacle were not permitted to drink wine NOR strong drink.

God said if they did, they would die.  Intoxicating drinks affect their ministering. God wanted them to be holy and consecrated fully to Him, not altered or inhibited by the alcohol.

Nazarites took a vow which separated them unto God - they were not permitted to drink wine (fermented - H3196) nor strong drink (intensely alcoholic liquor – H7941) nor drink vinegar of wine nor from strong drinks (vinegar obtained from fermenting fruit juices or beer - H2558) nor were they permitted to drink any liquor of grapes nor were they permitted to eat grapes in any form (most likely to avoid any chance of alcoholic consumption) – Numbers 6:3-4 

John the Baptist’s mother was not permitted to drink wine nor strong drink while pregnant with him and John, the forerunner of Jesus who preached for everyone everywhere to repent, was not permitted to drink alcohol all his days – God didn’t want him to be influenced or inhibited against preaching the Truth of Righteousness and Holiness through the influence of alcoholic beverages.

As the Children of God, we should be separated completely and wholly from the world so that no one can accuse us of any unholy actions.

 

ALCOHOL AND ITS INFLUENCE
Have you ever seen someone under the influence of alcohol? They’ll say and do the craziest things that they are later embarrassed about.

è Have you ever stopped to think about why liquor stores have the word “spirits” connected to it? Drinking can put you under the influence of spirits that are not of God.  That’s why the Word of God and Pastors warn against it!

The most dangerous thing about alcohol is that a person cannot shut down a craving for it without the help of the Lord.  Alcohol enslaves, inflames, and renders powerless all who surrender to it.

But there is hope through Jesus Christ! By Him, we are made overcomers! James 4:7

          *Submit to God
          *Resist the devil
          *and he WILL FLEE from you

I’m sure we all have at least one family member who has been affected by alcohol addiction.

My great uncle drank himself to death.

My dad’s brother just passed in March 2020 from alcohol intoxication. So many times they found him in a drunken stuper face down in the snow suffering from frostbite – yet he still would return to the bottle after he was released from the hospital.

His daughter would post about how she was trying to drink her sorrow away, yet her posts revealed the alcohol was just taking her deeper into depression. The alcohol was not helping alleviate the sorrow.  Instead, it was intensifying it.

I deal with calls and texts often concerning my dad and his addiction to alcohol as well as calls concerning other family members.

Alcoholism doesn’t just affect the person who is drinking.  They don’t think or realize how it affects the ones who love them.

 

Biblical example…

Lot (nephew to Abraham) moved close to the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and eventually moved his family INTO the city. Those cities were so wicked and perverse in their ways and it began to affect his children and wife.

The wickedness was so great that God said He was going to destroy them.  Bur first, God sent angels to deliver Lot, his wife, and 2 daughters out of the cities before they were destroyed. 

They were told not to look back upon that sinful place but Lot’s wife did and she turned to a pillar of salt.  Lot and his daughters kept going and eventually found shelter in the mountains. 

The mountains were just a resting place, not a final destination but his daughters thought they would forever be without a husband and children.  So that night, his daughters, who had learned the wicked ways of those perverse cities, decided to get their father drunk. 

Lot was so drunk with alcohol and sorrow that he did not recognize that he was being promiscuous with his own daughters. That was considered wickedness before the Lord.

Those daughters each bore a son who became enemies that vexed the Israelites (Abraham’s descendants) – they were the Moabites and the Ammonites. 

Sin can have long lasting consequences. 

Some say:

BUT JESUS APPROVED OF DRINKING WINE….

Did He really?

People like to use the example of when Jesus turned water to wine at the wedding in Cana.

The wedding had been going on for 3 days. If they were drinking intoxicating drink, they would have been too drunk to know the difference once Jesus arrived. 

Keep in mind: not all wine is alcoholic any more than all cider is hard.  The word ‘wine’ did not mean back then what we take it to mean now.   It was the word used to describe the juice from the fruit. 

The intoxication came the longer the wine (juice) set and fermented into decayed wine. But this was new wine – new fruit juice.

The wine served at the wedding was a sweet fruit juice. How could Jesus and why would Jesus approve of serving something that His Word expressly speaks against?!  He didn’t!

Remember Jesus served His disciples ‘wine’ and bread at the last supper.  That ‘wine’ was symbolic of the Blood that He was about to shed for our sins.

There is no way that ‘wine’ was fermented and intoxicating because Jesus’ body never saw decay. Intoxicating wine is made from decaying and fermenting juice. 

It is revealed through Scripture that it was the ‘fruit of the vine’ that was in that cup. (Matt 26:27-29) supporting that it was not alcoholic wine.

Jesus is the Creator and Giver of Life, not of death.

Jesus exampled the refusal of taking intoxicating drink into the body even while in excruciating pain at the point of death when He refused to drink wine mingled with myrrh that was offered to Him to help numb the pain He was experiencing while on the Cross.

Jesus could not and would not partake of something that His Word warned against!  It would be contrary to His sinless character.

Some try to use the Scripture where Luke admonished Timothy to drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities. (1 Tim 5:23)

The point of Luke’s admonition is found within this verse.  It appears Timothy was having some trouble with his stomach and bowels.  Luke was a physician.  As a physician, he was not promoting consumption of alcoholic beverages.  He was prescribing a medical treatment for Timothy’s often infirmities. 

 

We can see not only is there Scripture after Scripture that warns against drinking alcoholic beverages but statistics as well as medical evidence reveal that intoxicating drinks are not healthy or wise to ingest.

God, by His direct act, does not make alcohol.  The laws of nature, if left to themselves, do not produce it. Grapes ripen, and if not eaten, they then rot and decompose but do not become wine. The manufacture of alcohol is wholly man’s device.  It is man who created intoxicating alcohol, not God.

God would not created intoxicating beverage and then warn time after time in His Word not to drink it. 

God’s Word will never contradict itself.  We have to follow what God says, not what man thinks on this subject.

God’s Word warns against it for our own good! And the good of our family!