Post by Lee on Mar 5, 2014 2:45:44 GMT
The next thing “the Lord spake unto Aaron” suggests that strong drink may have had something to do with the rash and fatal act of Nadab and Abihu. The command was: “Do not drink wine nor strong drink, thou nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations. And that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between clean and unclean; and that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses.”
It is notorious that wine has compassed the death of thousands—nay, millions; that it obliterates the difference between holy and unholy; and that under its influence the teaching of all the statutes of God must vanish. Forbidden fruit caused the transgression in Eden; and wine deceived even Noah, Lot and Solomon. Of the first two, it is definitely written; and of the last-named, the inference seems to be a fair one from his history and writings. Again we say: “Written for our learning.” We have no authority to demand total abstinence; but look at these examples, and at the divine prohibition in connection with the service of the sanctuary in Israel of old. There is a mystical “wine” and “strong drink” that is also death-dealing and befogs the distinction between holy and unholy, and does away with the teaching of all the statutes of God. It is that spoken of by the Spirit in Rev. 17. as the wine of the great harlot’s fornication with which the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk. It is capable of very definite spiritual analysis; for which, however, this is not the time. It is Roman Catholic theology in opposition to Moses and the prophets, and Jesus and the apostles. Let none of this, in any shape or form, inebriate the antitypical “sons of Aaron.” Remember “all the statutes” by patient perseverance in daily meditation thereupon in the Holy Scriptures; and remember that the Lord our God is a jealous God; and that the High Priest of our profession, whom He has mercifully given us, attained his high estate through the perfect obedience learned through suffering, and that His rewards are all restricted to “him that overcometh.”
1902 Christadelphian p170–171.
It is notorious that wine has compassed the death of thousands—nay, millions; that it obliterates the difference between holy and unholy; and that under its influence the teaching of all the statutes of God must vanish. Forbidden fruit caused the transgression in Eden; and wine deceived even Noah, Lot and Solomon. Of the first two, it is definitely written; and of the last-named, the inference seems to be a fair one from his history and writings. Again we say: “Written for our learning.” We have no authority to demand total abstinence; but look at these examples, and at the divine prohibition in connection with the service of the sanctuary in Israel of old. There is a mystical “wine” and “strong drink” that is also death-dealing and befogs the distinction between holy and unholy, and does away with the teaching of all the statutes of God. It is that spoken of by the Spirit in Rev. 17. as the wine of the great harlot’s fornication with which the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk. It is capable of very definite spiritual analysis; for which, however, this is not the time. It is Roman Catholic theology in opposition to Moses and the prophets, and Jesus and the apostles. Let none of this, in any shape or form, inebriate the antitypical “sons of Aaron.” Remember “all the statutes” by patient perseverance in daily meditation thereupon in the Holy Scriptures; and remember that the Lord our God is a jealous God; and that the High Priest of our profession, whom He has mercifully given us, attained his high estate through the perfect obedience learned through suffering, and that His rewards are all restricted to “him that overcometh.”
1902 Christadelphian p170–171.
