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Friday, February 17, 2012

Drunkenness; Beware of Strong Drink

# 693 Today's Du-votional comes from: Mr 14:23 Then He took the cup, and when He had given thanks He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 And He said to them, "This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many.

Wine was a major part of the Passover meal. It was used 4 or 5 times during the ceremony. Now Jesus lifts the cup another time and prays a similar blessing over the wine that He had prayed over the bread.

Something special was about to take place with the wine, just as it had taken place with the bread.

By the way, this WAS wine. It had been fermented and contained alcohol. But it was not your mamas glass of wine. It had about the same kick as a glass of grape juice.

The wine used at Passover was mixed with three parts water. Anything less than that ratio of mixture in biblical times was considered “strong drink,” and strong drink could lead to drunkenness.

With this diluted mixture of water and wine, and the 4 or 5 cups that were part of the ceremony, there was no chance of getting tipsy.

By the way, this explains Jesus turning the water into wine at the wedding of Cana. He was not putting His stamp of approval on getting blasted. You can be sure he did not make “strong drink” but He made a good drink, one that was exceptionally tasty even with the watered down mixture.

We could all learn from this in our alcohol crazy society. Stay away from strong drink. Prov 20:1 says: “Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise.”

Father, help us to overcome our love affair with “strong drink.” Let us learn to get high on thy Holy Spirit. As Your Word says: “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit,” (Eph 5:18)

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