But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink, and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not. Amos 2:12
A cousin of mine was telling about a wedding that he attended for a young couple who, as far as he knew, were Christians. To his surprise, wine was served to the guests at their tables during the wedding reception. When the waiters arrived at his table with the bottles of wine, my cousin informed them that there would be no wine at that table. He was disappointed that some of his friends at other tables did not make a similar prohibition. And he remarked to me that there seems to be a breakdown in the attitudes among professing Christians about the social drinking of wine. Sadly, I have heard rumours of the same among some of our Assemblies in certain areas. This should not be; it is just as wrong as it was for the Nazarites in Amos’s day.
Amos was prophesying against the attitudes in Israel, as that nation had turned its back on God and His law. Nazarites were to abstain wholly from wine as part of their vow of separation to God. These Nazarites, instead of being taught to fulfil their vow, were being provided with the very thing that would break the vow. They were apparently being told that the wine was harmless and the restriction against it was no longer valid. Perhaps they were told that the restriction was unfair to them. But in drinking the wine, the Nazarites lost their status of separation to God, just as Christians today who drink wine and other alcoholic beverages lost their testimony for God. There is a reason why God forbade the Nazarites from drinking wine, just as there is a reason why the Word of God prohibits its use among Christians today.
You and I are not Nazarites – that was an institution that applied only to the Israelites. And we do not prohibit the use of wine on the basis of the Nazarite vow. But the reason for the prohibition today is the same as it was for the Nazarite. It is because of our separation to God. The world has no problem with drinking, and with many other destructive things as well. But the same world places a high expectation on Christians, and it loves to make a big deal of the indiscretions that it sees among those who name the name of Christ. A Christian who drinks is a bad testimony, not just because of the appearance before the world but because of the destructive results of such behaviour. Christians who drink are an encouragement to their children, and other young people, to drink as well, leading them down a path of destruction. It is just like the people in Israel giving the Nazarites wine to drink.
No Christian would drink if they considered the harm it can do and the total lack of good that it does. -Jim MacIntosh