Did Christ Drink Wine?

It is argued by some that since none of the four gospels specifically states that Christ Himself drank of the cup with His disciples, that therefore He did not drink of that cup, and in fact, never drank any wine. Here, in the interest of demonstrating how the sum of God’s Word must always be used to arrive at the Truth of any matter of scripture, are all four gospel accounts of Christ eating His last passover with His disciples.

Mat 26:20  Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.
Mat 26:21  And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.

Mat 26:26  And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body.
Mat 26:27  And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28  for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins.
Mat 26:29  But I say unto you, I shall not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.

Mar 14:22  And as they were eating, he took bread, and when he had blessed, he brake it, and gave to them, and said, Take ye: this is my body.
Mar 14:23  And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave to them: and they all drank of it.
Mar 14:24  And he said unto them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
Mar 14:25  Verily I say unto you, I shall no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.

Luk 22:15  And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer:
Luk 22:16  for I say unto you, I shall not eat it, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.
Luk 22:17  And he received a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves:
Luk 22:18  for I say unto you, I shall not drink from henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come.
Luk 22:19  And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave to them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Luk 22:20  And the cup in like manner after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, even that which is poured out for you.

Joh 13:1  Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.
Joh 13:2  And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him;
Joh 13:3  Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;
Joh 13:4  He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.
Joh 13:5  After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.

Not once in any of these four accounts are we specifically told, ‘Jesus Himself ate of the bread or drank of the wine with His disciples’. We could, and many a prohibitionist does, maintain that Christ never drank wine. But is that what the sum of God’s word teaches us? What does the sum of God’s Word say concerning Christ drinking of this cup, and eating of this bread?

Let’s just put it all together and see what we are being told. Here is what He says in Matthew: “I shall not drink henceforth.

Does not the word “henceforth” mean ‘from this time forward’? Surely no one will argue that if I tell you that I will not eat eggs from this time forward, that this means that I have never in my life eaten eggs, or that I had not eaten eggs in the past five minutes. It simply means that from this time until the appointed time in the future, I will not eat eggs. So too with Christ telling His disciples that He will ‘not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine until He drinks it anew with you in My Father’s kingdom’. That is a far cry from saying ‘I have never drunk wine’, and in is in fact, an admission that He had both eaten with and had drunk with His disciples, in the past.

Now let’s examine Mark’s account: “I shall no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” Once again, is not “I shall no more drink” an explicit admission that He had drunken with His disciples up to this time? Does not the word ‘more’ mean more of the same. If Christ had not ever drank wine with His disciples would He not have said ‘I have never drunken, and I certainly will not be found drinking in My Father’s kingdom’?

Let’s examine Luke’s account of what happened at this passover dinner: “And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: for I say unto you, I shall not eat it, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

Here we could say that Christ simply says “I shall not eat it…” except that the other gospels use the words “no more” and “henceforth”, and here in Luke He plainly states that He has desired to “eat this passover with you”. If we are going to contend that Christ did not drink because it is not specifically stated that He drank with His disciples, then we must be consistent and insist that neither did He eat the passover, because it is nowhere specifically stated that Jesus ate with His disciples.

We also need to ask the question, Does “I shall not eat it, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God” mean that Christ lived on this earth 33 years without ever eating? This really is getting absurd! Especially so in light of the rest of “the sum of God’s words” on this subject.

But before we get into that, let’s look at John’s account of Christ’s last passover with His disciples: “And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.”

If this account were all we had of the last passover, we could conceivably make the claim that Christ Himself neither ate nor drank during that passover. After all, the only thing we are specifically told is that He washed the feet of His disciples, and wiped them with a towel. But because of this sober warning we do not want to ever be guilty of either adding to or taking away from the sum of God’s Word. Let us all tremble before these words:

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

So what more does the sum of God’s Word reveal to us concerning Christ drinking wine? Here is what we are told:

Mat 11:18  For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
Mat 11:19  The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children.

Notice, they did not say, a ‘grape juice bibber’. Christ was called “a winebibber” because He “came drinking… wine”.

What did that cup of wine which Jesus insisted that all of His disciples drink, symbolize? Here are His own words:

Mat 26:28  For this [cup of wine] is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

“My blood… which is shed for many” is symbolized by a cup of wine, which Christ tells us we must drink with Him because we are also among those for whom He died, and therefore we are as guilty of His death as any:

Luk 22:20  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. 

Mar 10:38  But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
Mar 10:39  And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:

There it is in Christ’s own words! It is His own disciples who are included in those who shed His blood and He drinks of the same cup. But in the end, Christ’s blood will have covered “the sins of the whole world” because that is what His Father sent Him to accomplish. Christ came to save all men.

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

“The dream is one” and the cups are all one. They are all the same one cup from which we must all drink for simply coming from The Potter’s hand as a marred vessel of clay, created to be destroyed.

Jer 18:4  And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.

The cup from which the disciples drank was the same cup of which our Lord drank.

Mar 10:38  But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I drink? or to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
Mar 10:39  And they said unto him, We are able. And Jesus said unto them, The cup that I drink ye shall drink; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:

Joh 18:11  Jesus therefore said unto Peter, Put up the sword into the sheath: the cup which the Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?

So Christ did drink of the same cup of which the disciples drank. He did not drink it again until the kingdom of God came again within His disciples, where He even now resides, and where we are now “filling up in our bodies what is behind of the afflictions of the Christ.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ [drink the cup He drinks] in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

In conclusion, if Christ did not eat the bread He broke for His disciples as a type of His own body which was broken for us, then we do not have a Savior who died for us, and if He did not drink wine, then His blood was not shed for us and we need not fill up in our bodies what is behind of His afflictions for His body’s sake which is the church.

But the truth is:

Luk 7:34  The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!

Your brother in Christ, Mike