This question is a simple one that demands a simple answer of a yes or no. I won’t leave you confused as many writers do when they are answering pertinent questions in the Bible.
Before I delve into the topic fully, let me quote Jesus directly in Luke 7:33-34…
“For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’
The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a wine bibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’”
Jesus, himself, said he ate and drank with sinners and tax collectors; in other words, the answer to the topic question is yes. Mind you, he was not referring to water as many people thought he couldn’t drink wine being the Son of God.
Actually, the Bible differentiates between strong drink and wine. Strong drink contains alcohol, which intoxicates one. Whereas, wine which Jesus drank on several occasions in the Bible was not a fermented type that can intoxicates one.
In John 2:10 (and he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”), the master of the feast related how everybody drank more than enough wine before the good wine, which Jesus provided from water, was given to them.
Had the wine been an alcoholic type; the guests would have messed up the party. Furthermore, Mary, the mother of Jesus, told Jesus to do something when the wine in the party got finished. Had the Son of God provided a non-alcoholic wine after they drank alcoholic wine, the master of the feast would have complained and vice versa.
“The Lord will answer and say to His people, “Behold, I will send you grain and new wine and oil, And you will be satisfied by them; I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations.” Joel 2:19
According to prophet Joel, the Lord promised to bless his people with grain and new wine.
God is not a wicked father as he knows exactly what to give his children at the right time. He will never give a snake when his children need a fish; neither will he give stone when his children are hungry and yearning for bread.
In John 19:28, due to the exhausting activity of bearing a weighty cross, Jesus thirsted. Immediately, the soldiers, who crucified him, gave him a sour wine to drink. When he tasted it, he rejected it and ended up saying,“it is finished.”
Apostle Paul advised Timothy to drink wine to help his stomach and infirmity. He wouldn’t have recommended it if wine was bad for a Christian.
This article is never to encourage the use of alcoholic drink. Wine — non-alcoholic — is good for the body. However, alcoholic drink is bad. Moreover, no drunkard will have a place in heaven.
