I was asked by a sweet lady from church to expand on the Law of First Mention that I talked about earlier this week. She specifically wanted to know about wine. I had not yet looked into this fully, so I was more than happy to put this “law” to the test.
LAW OF FIRST MENTION: WINE
Noah was drunk on wine in Genesis 9:21 leading to being looked at while being naked (sexual sin) and possibly sodomized by his youngest son, Ham. Noah ended up cursing Ham’s son, Canaan. The first mention of wine shows us the dangers of getting drunk
Lot was drunk and raped (Gen 19),
Leviticus 10:9, Numbers 6:3, Deut 29:6, 32:33, Judges 13:4, 7, 14; 1 Samuel 1:14, Isaiah 5:22, Romans 14:21, Eph 5:18, 1 Tim 3:3 support not drinking wine or strong drink.
Deut 14 links wine with lust
Christ refused to drink it (Mark 15:23) opting instead for vinegar
OTHER CONTEXTS:
Washing garments (Gen. 49:11) and links WINE and BLOOD of grapes (more later)
As a drink offering (Numbers 6 and 28)
There are a lot of mentions of wine just being there or being consumed with no positive or negative connotations, but that does not negate drunken excess warned about in the first mention.
JESUS TURNS WATER INTO WINE (JOHN 2):
Was it alcoholic? Going back to Genesis 49:11, wine is the “blood of grapes.” Wine is a type of blood.
When Mary asked Jesus to make wine, he said “mine hour is not yet come.” This was a reference to Christ spilling his BLOOD.
The “blood of grapes” can be used to clean or purify clothes (Gen 49:11) Christ’s BLOOD was pure of imperfection, thus the water he turned into WINE was also pure. It was non-alcoholic and you could not get drunk from it.
BACK TO THE LAW OF FIRST MENTION:
The original, Old Testament context of wine was that it could make you drunk, leading to sexual perversion, and drinking it in excess was explicitly warned about.
The NEW context in the New Testament was given as Christ shedding his perfect blood to purify us from our sins. This is a fundamental doctrinal shift (allowing consumption of wine), but it STILL has relevance to the first mention. Wine is not to be consumed unless it cannot get you drunk (non-alcoholic). We may still use it for things, particularly in cooking where the alcohol is washed off or for cleaning purposes where it is not being consumed, but we should not drink it.
The FINAL mentions are in Revelation and are linked with the “wine of wrath” (Rev 14:8, 10; 16:19; 18:3) and “wine of fornication” (Rev 14:8, 17:2, 18:3). Therefore, coming full circle. First mention: Noah being drunk and was sexually violated (fornication) leading to his cursing of Canaan (wrath).
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