35. Temperance
TEMPERANCE Please comment on Christ’s miracle at Cana in turning water into wine. Was the wine fermented? Of course a question like this is difficult to answer. The only way to solve the problem is to search the Scriptures. The Bible is the Word of God and so is Christ the Word of God, and there can be no disagreement between them; therefore our Lord’s attitude toward wine must be that of the Scriptures. The Scriptures testify that “He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man. and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengthened! man’s heart” (Psalms 104:14-15); but He warns men that the gladness from the wine, the shining from the oil, and the strengthening from the bread are only temporary and cannot permanently satisfy (Isaiah 55:1-2; John 6:27).
There is nothing to satisfy man’s real longing that comes from the vine-tree of the earth, however. “From the kernels even to the husk” (Numbers 6:4). He Himself is the True Vine of Heaven (John 15:1), and “He satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness” (Psalms 107:9; Isaiah 55:1). His Word warns His people against fellowship with winebibbers and gluttons (Proverbs 23:20), and declares that “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” (Proverbs 31:4-5).
Wine may be good for medicinal purposes (Proverbs 31:6-7; 1 Timothy 5:23), but there is great danger that it may be used to excess, and it is far better to be filled with the Holy Spirit than to be drunken with what men call “ardent spirits” (Ephesians 5:18).
I do not pretend to know the nature of the wine furnished by our Lord at the wedding of Cana, but I am satisfied that there was little resemblance in it to the dhng described in the Scriptures of God as biting like a serpent and stinging like an adder (Proverbs 23:29-32). Doubtless, rather, it was like the Heavenly fruit of the vine that He will drink new with His own in His Father’s Kingdom (Matthew 26:29). No wonder the governor of the wedding feast at Cana pronounced it the best wine kept until the last. Never before had he tasted such wine, and never did he taste it again.
Why should a Christian concern himself with the enactment or enforcement of laws for the regulation or prohibition of the liquor traffic? Isn’t his citizenship in Heaven? What right has the government to interfere with one’s personal liberty in the matter of what should be eaten or drunk? The Christian is surely a citizen of Heaven, but he is also a citizen here, and he has no right to shirk the responsibility thereby involved. And he ought to thank God every day of his life for the divine gift of human government, for without it he could not long survive. Any government is better than anarchy, and “the powers that be are ordained of God” (Romans 13:1). Consider what would be the result if every Christian in the world should refuse to exercise the right of franchise or to hold public office. Even a schoolteacher is a public office-holder. What would happen to our children if every Christian schoolteacher should quit that office and turn it over to an enemy of Christ? As to your question of “personal liberty,” the answer is that no person is at liberty to do anything that threatens the well-being of society. The government certainly has a right to regulate the eating and drinking of its citizens if to do so is to help preserve the government itself from destruction. Preservation of itself is necessary to the government, so that it might function in the preservation of order. The drug traffic has long threatened the very existence of all government. And, since the Christian is a citizen and subject to the powers that be, he ought to help in every proper way to bring about the enactment and enforcement of such laws as are necessary to preserve the government and enable it to effectually function in its divinely appointed task. The Noahic Covenant of Genesis 9:1-6 has never been abrogated or modified, and is still in full force as the Magna Charta of Human Government.