In the Last Supper and communion, wine symbolizes the blood of Jesus. Receiving it in faith proclaims the Lord’s death as a propitiation for our sins. We thus identify with Christ on the cross.
Why wine? Wine is the result of fermentation that converts grape juice, transforming sugar into alcohol and also creating various other chemicals that give wine aroma, sweetness, body, acidity, tannin, and so forth. The complexity of this process and its product dimly symbolize the work of Christ in our lives — our spiritual development in unseen dimensions. The richness of this spiritual life makes us a sweet aroma to God (Ephesians 5:2). Alcohol inhibits the transmission of electrical impulses in neurons between cells, impairing, memory, judgment, and pain. Through the blood of Jesus, God foregoes judgment and forgets our sins, and delivers us from the pain of this memory and the judgment we deserve.
Changing the subject, Let’s Obfuscate Simple Economics. Inflation is the inevitable result of too much money chasing too few goods. Putting more stimulus cash in the hands of consumers, while at the same time supply chain obstructions reduce the total inventory available produces these conditions. This may be unavoidable but we should not be surprised. The heady wine of political power deadens memory and judgment. Some of us remember the futility of Richard Nixon’s price controls in the 1970’s. Expecting “quantitative easing” that frees up cash for stimulus payments that will be primarily used for goods and services to not contribute to these conditions displays the quality of judgment of these politicians. Worldly power is bad wine.
If this were the only example of impaired judgment we could muddle through. But we see society crumbling, not just due to economic stupidity and the pandemic. The social consensus surrounding virtually every facet of traditional norms has moved beyond challenge, beyond rejection, to demanding acceptance and praise of the opposite of tradition. This moral compromise evidences intoxication with the wine of the world. (Revelation 17:2)
Thus, wine symbolizes the stark contrast between the blood of Christ and the intoxicating counterfeit (im)morality of the great Babylon, the world system. Once upon a time, leaders ruled in fear of God, accepting the responsibility of their position as a holy calling before Him. No longer! Liberty and grace have morphed into license and celebration of sin. Whether or not the return of Christ is near, real effects of this binge on bad wine will inevitably result from its causes. (Revelation 18:1-24)
