Month: October 2020

“DO NOT BE DRUNK WITH WINE” Yes but…

In our current English dictionaries the word “wine” is usually defined as fermented juice. However, if we look in older dictionaries, they will also show that it can mean unfermented juice as well. In the Bible, the word “wine” can mean fermented such as in: Genesis 9:20-21, And Noah began to be a farmer, and he planted a vineyard. Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent.

Reading through Genesis 19:30-36, Said: Then Lot went up out of Zoar and dwelt in the mountains, and his two daughters were with him; for he was afraid to dwell in Zoar. And he and his two daughters dwelt in a cave. Now the firstborn said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man on the earth to come in to us as is the custom of all the earth. “Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” So they made their father drink wine that night. And the firstborn went in and lay with her father, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. It happened on the next day that the firstborn said to the younger, “Indeed I lay with my father last night; let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, that we may preserve the lineage of our father.” Then they made their father drink wine that night also. And the younger arose and lay with him, and he did not know when she lay down or when she arose. Thus both the daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

There is no doubt that both of the instances involved intoxicating wine. We can also see when it is not intoxicating: In Isaiah 16:10 Gladness is taken away, And joy from the plentiful field; In the vineyards there will be no singing, Nor will there be shouting; No treaders will tread out wine in the presses; I have made their shouting cease.

In Isaiah 65:8 Thus says the LORD: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, For a blessing is in it,’ So will I do for My servants’ sake, That I may not destroy them all. Joel 2:24 … And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil.

Obviously the wine being treaded is talking about the juice coming out of the grape and Isaiah refers to the juice inside the cluster of grapes as being wine. So, we have to consider the context to decide if the wine is fermented or unfermented.

Now, those who argue this was fermented wine at the wedding, suggest the ruler of the feast was saying the tradition was to get the people drunk on the most intoxicating wine first. Then the water turned wine should be brought out because the guest will be too drunk to notice. However, that is not what is meant by the phrase “well drunk”. It simply means the guests were full of the good wine, so it is acceptable to bring out the inferior. Now, if we say that these guests were already drunk, and that Jesus made the strongest wine yet; then we have Jesus providing a way for these people to become more drunk with the 120 to 180 gallons of wine He made.

Brethren, when you think about this, it becomes obvious that Jesus did not make fermented wine that would cause these people to become more drunk. The reason we know this is because there are many Scriptures that warn against the use of strong drink: (Proverbs 20:1 Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise). Proverbs 21:17 … He who loves wine and oil will not be rich. (Proverbs 23:21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty …)

In Proverbs 23:31-35, It reads: Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, And your heart will utter perverse things. Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying: “They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?”1 Corinthians 6:10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.

Ephesians 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,

These few verses are enough to show that Jesus would not have made fermented wine. However, we want to make one last point that will prove this beyond a shadow of a doubt.

Now, Everyone agrees that Jesus was a man without sin (Read: Hebrews. 4:15). If Jesus turned the water into fermented wine that would make people drunk, then He would have been guilty of sin.

In Habakkuk 2:15, Said: “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, Pressing him to your bottle, Even to make him drunk, That you may look on his nakedness!

R.C. Foster wrote the following in regards to the Lord’s miracles at Cana: (If Jesus made intoxicating wine here, then this is the only time He ever used His power to furnish to man that which is destructive of his nature and powers. Why, then, gratuitously accuse Jesus of this when it is not even hinted in the record? The Greek word oinos (wine) does not necessarily mean intoxicating wine. The wine of the miracle had a delightful flavor which excelled anything the ruler had experienced, judging by his emphatic comment).

So, when the master of the feast said it was the best wine, he did not mean the most intoxicating, he meant it was the best tasting. The first juice that comes out the grapes is the sweetest and best tasting, which is what Jesus had created with His miracle. Remember John said this in (verse 11, This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory; ) Again, I ask the question, do you think that Jesus would use intoxicating wine to manifest His glory. I think not!

Others have suggested the first century people did not have a way of preserving the grape juice without it is fermenting. However, this is not true. There were at least three different ways they could do this.

The first method was to boil the grapes down to a thick mixture called defrutum. They would use this to put on their bread and they would add water to it for a drink. The second method was to use wool or a similar material to filter the particles, including the yeast from the grape juice (Isa. 25:6). This would prevent it from fermenting. Pliny a first century Roman author said: (“For all the sick, the wine is most useful when its forces have been broken by the strainer.” )

Pliny teaches us that they used this filtered juice for those who were sick, which means that Paul was most likely recommending unfermented wine for Timothy’s sickness (Read: 1 Timothy. 5:23). The third method was to put the wine in a sealed container and put into a pond or a well which would keep it from fermenting. The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary describes it this way,(“If you wish to have grape juice all year, put grape juice in an amphora and seal the cork with pith; sink it in a fishpond. After 30 days, take it out. It will be grape juice for a whole year.” )

Brethren, all this evidence proves that they were able to preserve their grape juice in the first century. I have also shown from the Scriptures that Jesus did not create fermented wine with His miracle. Therefore this great miracle was not used to show that social drinking was acceptable, and it was not even used to show Jesus’ blessing of the marriage. Again, John makes it clear that the miracle was done to manifest the glory of Jesus. Making the guests happy, and this wedding feast turning out to be a hit were by products of the primary reason for the miracle of water to wine.

This is also why we use pure unfermented grape juice when we partake of the Lord’s supper in memory of our Lord and Saviour. Grape juice is a very healthy drink and red grape juice puts oxygen into the blood and gives you energy.

So, let us stand in awe of the first miracle that Jesus did and see it as beginning of His miracles and not read into things that were not intended such as justification for social drinking. Thank you I hope this has helped you understand you should not get drunk.

GOD BLESS YOU !

“THE LEPER”

By Robert Brown / about our church

Jesus never would turn anyone away that came to Him in the way this leper did. Paul teaches us the same thing about coming before God in prayer: Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;

When we pray, we may not get the answer that we are looking for, but we must put our trust in God’s will. James says: James 4:13-15 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”

We must also have the same trust that the leper had because he said: You can make me clean. In the same way you and I should have confidence in God’s ability to answer our prayers and make things happen even if it’s not what we expected.

This study of the miracles of Jesus is a study on the power of God. While the age of the miraculous is over, shouldn’t we still stand in awe of our Lord’s power? We do not need the miraculous to cause us to believe in the power of God: Psalm 19:1-2 The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge.

I am still amazed at the power of God when I hear a newborn baby cry, when the earth brings forth its fruit, or when I see a beautiful sunset. It just blows my mind that the same God who made everything that we can see with or without our eyes cares for me (1 Peter. 5:7). Do you trust in the Lord’s power, as did this leper?

Notice Jesus’ response: In Mark 1 verse 41-42, Then Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” As soon as He had spoken, immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.

You see, we find Jesus doing what He usually does, which is reaching out to someone in need. He was doing something others would not do, which was to touch someone with leprosy. Jesus knew what He was doing because He knew that He had the power over leprosy. As soon as He touched him, his leprosy was gone. I know that none of us have had leprosy, but imagine one of your worst sicknesses you have had and then having someone touch you and immediately you were healed. Think about how that would make you feel because that is what the leper was experiencing.

As we think about leprosy typifying sin, think about how it just as contagious as leprosy if not more. As Christians, we must be careful with those that we hang around. Paul said:1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”

Now this does not mean that we are to avoid all sinners all the time because we cannot be taken out of the world and it is our Christian duty to reach out to the lost. Jesus ate with sinners and got to know them, but He never became like them. We must always be watchful of ourselves to make sure that we don’t allow ourselves to get involved in sinful activities. Instead, our goal should be to influence others and to bring them to Christ so they can be cleansed from the sins.

There is no cure for sin on this earth. Man cannot save himself by himself. We must all come before God and humbly submit ourselves before Him. When we obey God’s will by believing in Jesus, repenting, confessing Him as Lord and by being baptized for the forgiveness of our sins, then we too can be instantly cured from our sins, which is far worse than leprosy or any other disease. The diseases we have on this earth including Covid 19 can bring you misery and death, but sin will bring you eternal misery and eternal separation from God.

Notice what happens next: In Mark 1:43-45, And He strictly warned him and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” However, he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the matter, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city, but was outside in deserted places; and they came to Him from every direction.

While Jesus’ miracles primary purpose was to manifest His glory, He did not use His miracles to show off and show how great He was. Also, every person He healed told people what He did, it would become very difficult for Him to be able to preach the message He wants to be heard because the people would press Him wanting a cure instead of listening to what He had to say, which would bring about an eternal cure for sin.

If you want to know the details of what the priest had to do in determining leprosy, and the procedure for those pronounced clean after having leprosy read Leviticus 13 and 14. There was a quite a bit they had to do.

Even though Jesus warned this man not to tell others about what He did for him, we learn that he did not keep his mouth shut, and because of what he did, Jesus could not enter the city anymore because of the hoards of people. Even though he stayed out in remote locations the people still came to Him.

You might be thinking, how could this man not keep his mouth shut after what Jesus did for him? You are right, he should have, but at the same time I can understand how hard it would be for this man who was once full of leprosy and is now completely cured. Imagine how hard it would be to keep from telling people about the great thing that happened to you because of Jesus. This man wasn’t the only one that had this problem because several of those that Jesus healed that were told to keep quiet couldn’t help but spread the good news.

Imagine yourself being on death bed and then someone healed you. Then people saw you just a few days before, seen you after you were healed. What are you going to tell them? Do you think they are going to let you get away without answering them? If you could keep it quiet, but it would be really hard to do.

While this leper was suppose to be quiet about what Jesus had done for him, it’s just the opposite when it comes to what Jesus has done for us. Paul is a great example of this. After Paul’s encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Ananias comes to him and says: Acts 22:16 ‘And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

Then we read in: Acts 9:18-22 … and he arose and was baptized. So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God. Then all who heard were amazed, and said, “Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem, and has come here for that purpose, so that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that this Jesus is the Christ.

When we obey the gospel and get cured from our sin, we are not supposed to keep it quite. Instead, like Paul, we should go tell people about what Jesus did for us through His sacrifice and how wonderful we feel about being healed from sin.

So, let us take what we have learned from this great miracle of Jesus and the attitude of the leper and be people that approach God with reverence and be thankful for what He has made possible for us through His Son. We have been given complete access to the throne of God: Hebrews 4:15-16, For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Yes, we are to be confident that God will hear our prayers, but let us never become arrogant thinking that God owes us anything. Let us be the kind of Christians that says your will God not mine. Let us do our best to share what Jesus has done for us with the masses so that they too might be cured from their sins. Let’s be proud to reach out and help those who are treating everyone like lepers these days and let’s show them that there is nothing to fear when we put our trust in God.

Yes, it is true people will die of all kinds of things including Covid 19 but what is more important is our eternal destination which is heaven itself because eternity is for ever and we need to be on the right side when we breathe our last. So let’s put our trust in God and do good (Psalms 37:1)

GOD BLESS YOU !