To the House of Wine

To the House of Wine

“He brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me was love.” S. of Sol. 2:4.

This is amazing! He has brought me to the house of wine! Wine is a symbol of immediate joy. Ungodly people need wine to get intoxicated with joy. The God-fearing also need wine, but it is a wine, which Jesus Christ Himself blends, a heavenly wine. In 1 Thessalonians 5:16 we read, “Rejoice always.” It is impossible to do this if we are not in constant contact with the house of wine, which is Christ. Therefore we read in the next verse, “Pray without ceasing.” We also read that the joy of the Lord is our strength. Therefore, it is impossible to overcome without rejoicing in hope.

Just as the ungodly forget all their sorrows and anxieties when they are intoxicated with wine, so we will likewise forget all our sorrows and anxieties when we are filled with this heavenly wine. Besides, we have all reason to rejoice, because Christ Himself has promised to care for us, and He will give us everything we need that pertains to life and godliness. God’s kingdom consists of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. There is no true joy without the Holy Spirit. On the day of Pentecost when the disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit, there were a few outsiders who said mockingly that the disciples were full of new wine. Of course, they had never before seen anyone so filled with joy unless those same people were intoxicated with new wine. However, the joy with which the disciples were filled on that day was a joy that endured and increased for as long as they were on this earth— and it will continue throughout all eternity. On the other hand, the joy that the ungodly experience only lasts for a little while, and on the day after, they are filled with cares and sorrow and a bad conscience.

God will prepare a large banquet for His people on Mount Zion on that great Day when He comes to fetch the bride to Himself. Then He will make a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, and of old, well-refined wine. Isa. 25:6. This is something His people can look forward to with joy. This will be a feast the likes of which no one on earth has ever seen. Just imagine what it will be like when the Lord Himself gives us of His fat things full of marrow, and He Himself pours for us from His old, well-refined wine. Our joy will certainly be full when we have drunk of this wine, and our praises will resound like the noise of many waters, because His banner over us is love.