Revelation 14 – Wine and Other Things
Brief Ideas: The Three Angel’s Messages speak about wine. The intoxicating effect of that wine represents how irrational people become when they are angry. So it is called “wine of wrath.” There are two types of wine. First, the world becomes angry because they are confused by the wine of Rome’s false doctrines. Last of all, the world is enraged to a mad fury as it suffers the wrath of God. Jesus suffered this wrath and drank the cup of woe.
The judgment is a bad time to be drunk – either literally or figuratively. Kings and Priests never have been permitted to drink. And as we are a royal priesthood, we should abstain from alcoholic beverages.
Wines of Wrath
Babylon in Revelation 14 (like Babylon in Daniel 5) makes all nations drink wine. The nations are drunk. And they are drunk at a very dangerous time to be drunk. They are intoxicated while their cases are heard in the court of heaven.
The metaphor of intoxication is used to describe the effect of false doctrines on the behavior of men. They adopt the most foolish plans, pursue the most hopeless ventures, and fruitlessly oppose the most sensible counsel.
Is 28:7 But 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 swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. . . .9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Is 29:9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. 10 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered. 11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: 12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: 14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
In the prophecies of Isaiah above men who are not taught doctrine by God are confused. They err “in judgment.” Their eyes have been closed. They can not understand the revelations of prophecy (and it seems that the Bible refers to the books of Daniel and Revelation) and though they claim to worship God, their worship is vain.
That makes them sound like the men that say “Lord, Lord” and who are accused of being lawless and ignorant of their Savior.
God does a “marvelous” thing to these – he deprives their thought-leaders of sense. This sounds like the sending of “strong delusion” mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2.
When Babylon makes everyone confused by her false doctrines she does it with the assistance of the civil power. She makes “all nations” drink. This manipulations of “all” people sounds like the issue over the mark of the beast in Revelation 13.
It is the justice of God that she who makes others drink will be forced to drink “the cup of the wine” of God’s fierce wrath.
Re 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
Re 16:19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
And it is a fact that when the inhabitants of the earth allow themselves to be “made drunk” with Babylon’s state-power, they doom themselves to being forced to drink down the judgments that come on that state-power.
Re 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Re 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Re 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
The wine of the wrath of God is freshly squeezed. That makes it what we would call grape juice. It is the shedding of blood and it is illustrated by a wine-press that is trodden by Jesus, staining his white garments red.
Re 14:19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Re 14:20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
Re 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
Isa 63:3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.
Wine in the Bible
Bible-believing Christians have long taught what is obvious in the passages just quoted, namely that wine in the Bible often refers to the unfermented juice of the grape.
The grape vine acts as a purifier, allowing grape juice to be a healthful source of water where other water supplies are polluted. So Paul urged Timothy to stop using the local water and to drink a little juice for his stomach’s sake.
But not all wine in scripture is pure juice. The wine of Babylon, for example, makes men “drunk.” And kings and priests are both forbidden to drink intoxicating wine for the same reason: It would compromise their ability to teach and judge correctly.
It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes strong drink: Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted. Pr 31:4-5.
Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations:10 And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean;11 And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.Le 10:9-11
Healthy living is a means to clearer perceptions of duty and morality. The sluggishness of the blood and the cloudiness of the brain have much to do with one's ability to weigh right and wrong. This is why alcoholic beverages were forbidden to kings and priests. This is why Jesus refused an intoxicating pain killer when on the cross.
They gave him vinegar to drink mingled with gall: and when he had tasted thereof, he would not drink. Mt 27:34
And as Adventists are the priests of the earth (meaning that we, like the priests of old, have been given the job of teaching God’s law to the world as in Malachi 2:7), it stands to reason that Seventh-day Adventists should not drink.
A Command to Buy Strong Drink
One passage of the Old Testament seems to unmistakably point to fermented drink. And this passage is an injunction on spending tithe money. Men were commanded to buy what they wanted and among the suggested items was alcoholic drink.
De 14:26 And thou shalt bestow that money for whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, for oxen, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatsoever thy soul desireth: and thou shalt eat there before the LORD thy God, and thou shalt rejoice, thou, and thine household,
Now be it known that the items in this list have some things in common. They were items that were to be acquired in the temple city (De 14:25) for and by those that lived a long distance from that city. More than that, these items were purchased in connection with the harvest festivals, and so by extension, with the services at the national feasts. And while some of these items were intended to be eaten as fellowship meals with the Levites (who were paid from the tithe) and with the poor, the strong drink couldn’t be for the Levites to drink.
And there is evidence[1] that it was rather intended that the tithe-purchased items would be used in the thank-offerings and sacrificial services of the sanctuary. Was strong drink used in those services? Yes, it was poured on the ground.
Num 28:6 It is a continual burnt offering, which was ordained in mount Sinai for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD. 7 And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the LORD for a drink offering. 8 And the other lamb shalt thou offer at even: as the meat offering of the morning, and as the drink offering thereof, thou shalt offer it, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
And this pouring represented the blood of Jesus bearing the sins of the world. Jesus drank the cup of the wrath of God for us. And that is why those that do not accept His gift for them have to drink it themselves.
When Israel had been some years practicing the sanctuary services en route to Canaan, they had not, during that time, been drinking strong drink. This is another evidence that the strong drink purchased in Deuteronomy 14 was not for consumption.
De 29:6 Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God.
And it is another metaphorical evidence also that the body of people preparing for Christ’s Coming and the heavenly Canaan ought not to be drinking.
Intoxication Sometimes Acceptable
I was recently out of my mind. I submitted to have a narcotic fed into my veins via an I.V. A short time later a physician and his attending nurses did a procedure that the physician assures me would have been very painful had I not been drugged.
Medicinal use of strong drink to curb terminal pain is commended in scripture. Today we use morphine or other substances not available in ancient Palestine.
Alcohol is also permitted, in scripture, to those who are depressed.
Pr 31:6 Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.
But before you go buy your self a keg of beer remember that Christians are the royal priesthood. We also have access to a Comforter. We have been granted wisdom and power so as to be able to resolve many of the issues that face, and have been given strength to bear-up under the others. Christians don’t need the escape of drink.
But neither should they refuse the privilege of using such a substance to those that know not our Savior and who thus have no real way to resolve many of their problems.
Conclusion
You don’t want to be drinking in the end of time. You don’t want to drink the wine that represents the confusion caused by the Union of Church and State, the “wine” of “fornication.” Neither do you want to drink the “wine” of the wrath of God. Neither do you want to violate your holy and peculiar responsibilities as a priest of the Most High God.
You do, however, want to take part in Communion, partaking of the “pure blood of the grape.” Deu 32:14. Such a beverage commemorates a most precious gift that still cleans the church today. It is the “new wine” that is found “in the cluster” and, according to the prophet, “a blessing is in it.” Is 65:8.
It is old fermented wine that Babylon distributes in their communion table. In light of the part Babylon plays in Revelation, that makes a lot of sense.
[1] I am not certain that I understand Deuteronomy 14 aright. It may be that the articles were for general consumption and that in view of their need for further education. But as De 29:6 in this article indicates, I do not think this is so.