The Bible & Alcohol Use Volume 1 | Page 7

Page6 being unfermented . It is our conclusion that this was the rare case due to the direct implications pointing forward to our Savior whose life on earth was typified by unleavened bread and unfermented wine .

God used the life of Abraham to define the Two Covenants . At his best , Abraham typifies all that is well in the New Covenant experience : “ He believed in the Lord ; and He counted it to him for righteousness .” [ Gen 15:6 ] Nowhere in the gospel does salvation get any simpler or purer than this declaration . At his worst , Abraham typifies Old Testament living which was rife with polygamy , divorce , slavery , prostitution , an eye for an eye , murders , and stoning for sinners . As difficult as it is for modern Christians to understand , the Israelite lifestyle was conservative compared to the undisciplined heathen nations surrounding them . Drinking alcohol became a way of life for God ‟ s chosen people . Winepresses abounded , and often the primary determination of Israel appeared to be the harvest of a good crop of grapes for wine making . God ‟ s people resorted to drinking mixed wines and strong drink to ease the burden of life . There appears to be no abstainers among the patriarchs , other than those who took a vow of abstinence or who were in mourning . In the many situations of Scripture where fermented alcohol is involved - rare is a positive result . Unsanctified living was never God „ s final plan . Hard-hearted Old Covenant followers were tolerant of alcohol and many other sins . Old Covenant lifestyles are not time sensitive divided neatly by the Cross . Unfortunately , there are legions of Old Covenant believers wandering around today , bottle in hand , with much sin resulting . “ But where sin abounded , grace did much more abound … What shall we say then ? Shall we continue in sin , that grace may abound ? God forbid .”
[ Rom 5:20 ; 6:1 , 2 ]
LOT IN SODOM
Lot ‟ s peril was due to his selfishness in formerly choosing the best land for himself when he “ pitched his tent towards Sodom .” [ Gen 13:12 ] Rescued once from his experience in Sodom , Lot returns to the most sinful city in the world .
Like so many modern cities , Sodom was rife with mirth and revelry , feasting and drunkenness . The vilest and most brutal passions were unrestrained . The inhabitants of Sodom had passed the limits of divine forbearance and the fires of God ‟ s vengeance were about to be kindled in the vale of Siddim . Jesus summed up the fate of Sodom with those who perished in the flood in these few words : “ Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot ; they did eat , they drank .” [ Lk 17:28 ] Men marvel at the immorality flaunted in today ‟ s society . Look no further than the influence of alcoholic beverages . It loosens men ‟ s morals to less than those of brute beasts . The end result of the sinful Sodomites parallels that class of wine bibbers living in our day oblivious to the signs of the times all around them . “ It rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all . Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed .”
[ Lk 17 : 29,30 ] “ And Lot went up out of Zoar , and dwelt in the mountain , and his two daughters with him . And the firstborn said unto the younger , Our father is old , and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth : Come let us make our father drink wine [ yayin - fermented ], and we will lie with him , that we may preserve seed of our father .”
[ Gen 19:30-38 ]
By the days of Abraham ‟ s nephew Lot , alcohol was so common that his daughters simply had to persuade their father to drink existing wine stocks . How drunk must Lot have been to not recognize his own daughters ( we give him the benefit of the doubt ) throw all decency to the wind and engage in an immoral act ? Two sons born through this debauchery formed two