PURCHASED FOR CLARITY: THE SOBRIETY OF A BLOOD-BOUGHT PRIESTHOOD
I. YOU ARE NOT YOUR OWN
The crisis of modern Christianity begins with a lie:
"I am free to choose."
But Scripture says:
You are not your own.
This is not poetry. This is legal reality.
Paul asks: "Know ye not?"
Your body is not your possession. Your life is not your property. Your decisions are not your prerogative.
Why?
"Ye are bought with a price."
Purchased. Owned. Claimed.
And that price was not silver or gold.
"Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot." — 1 Peter 1:18-19
Christ's blood bought you.
Every breath you take is His. Every decision you make is under His authority. Every use of your body is accountable to Him.
This is not tyranny. This is freedom—deliverance from sin's ownership into Christ's possession.
But it means you have no right to self-determination.
None.
II. PURCHASED INTO PRIESTHOOD
The blood purchase is not merely forgiveness. It is identity transformation.
Peter does not say: "You were sinners, now forgiven."
He says: "Ye are a royal priesthood."
This is covenant reality.
Israel became God's priesthood at Sinai through covenant blood:
"And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you." — Exodus 24:8
Christ's blood does the same—but better.
"Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father." — Revelation 1:5-6
The order:
1. Loved
2. Washed in blood
3. Made priests
Not achievement. Not status. Not choice.
Covenant reality.
Christ's blood made you a priest.
And that changes everything.
III. PRIESTHOOD REQUIRES CLARITY
A priest mediates holiness. Guards boundaries. Discerns clean from unclean. Teaches truth. Stands watch.
All require clarity.
Which is why God commanded Aaron:
"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: That ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean; And that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the LORD hath spoken." — Leviticus 10:9-11
Wine and strong drink—separate categories.
Wine (????? - yayin): fermented grape juice.
Strong drink (?????? - shekar): barley beer, date wine, concentrated fermentation.
Both existed. Both forbidden to priests.
Why?
Because priesthood requires:
Discernment—holy from unholy. Teaching clarity—God's statutes. Constant readiness—entrance into God's presence.
Wine obscures. Strong drink intoxicates. Both compromise judgment.
Priests cannot afford compromise.
IV. WHEN IS PRIESTLY DUTY "OFF"?
We read Leviticus 10 and think:
"Priests couldn't drink while serving. But I'm not in the tabernacle. I'm at home. I'm off duty."
But something happened at Pentecost.
Something transfigured.
Old Covenant reality:
God dwelt in a place—tabernacle, temple. Some Israelites were priests. The Spirit came upon specific people for specific tasks, temporarily.
Priests entered the tabernacle at specific times. They served. They left. They had "on duty" and "off duty."
New Covenant reality:
"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the holy Ghost?" — 1 Corinthians 6:19
"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood." — 1 Peter 2:5
God no longer dwells in a place. He dwells in persons.
All believers are priests. The Spirit indwells all believers permanently.
The tabernacle is not a place you enter.It's what you are.
Therefore "when ye go into the tabernacle" becomes "always"—because you ARE the tabernacle.
There is no "leaving" when you are the dwelling place.
The old priesthood had "on duty" and "off duty" because they entered and exited a physical structure.
The new priesthood IS the structure.
We were transfigured.
Not at a mountain with Christ. But at Pentecost with the Spirit.
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." — 2 Corinthians 5:17
We were dead. Now we're alive. We were profane. Now we're holy. We were flesh. Now we're Spirit-indwelt temples.
This is not theological adjustment. This is ontological transformation.
You are always what Christ made you.
A priest has no private life separate from priestly function.
V. WHAT SCRIPTURE ACTUALLY SHOWS
If we are priests always, what does Scripture show regarding alcohol?
Passover and covenant meals. Wine at appointed feasts before the LORD (Deuteronomy 14:26). The Lord's Supper (Matthew 26:27-29).
Wedding celebrations. Jesus at Cana—public feast, covenant establishment (John 2).
But notice: Cana happened before Pentecost.
Before the Spirit was given (John 7:39). Before disciples were indwelt. Before the Church was constituted as royal priesthood.
The ontological reality changed at Pentecost.
What was permissible under the old economy does not automatically transfer when the people of God are transfigured into perpetual Spirit-indwelt priests.
Medicinal use. "Use a little wine for thy stomach's sake" (1 Timothy 5:23)—measured, remedial, for specific ailment. Modern equivalent: cough mixture. Occasional. For treatment. Not lifestyle.
What Scripture never shows:
Daily casual drinking. Recreational home consumption. Wine or strong drink as relaxation. Habitual use disconnected from covenant context. "A few glasses in the evening" as normative practice.
And Scripture consistently warns against strong drink.
Modern whisky, bourbon, gin, vodka—these fall under ?????? (shekar).
Concentrated intoxicants designed for rapid effect.
Scripture's position:
"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." — Proverbs 20:1
"He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink." — Numbers 6:3
"Do not drink wine nor strong drink... lest ye die." — Leviticus 10:9
Defending bourbon as "biblical liberty" ignores Scripture's explicit warnings.
VI. SCRIPTURE'S WARNINGS ARE NOT SUGGESTIONS
"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." — Proverbs 20:1
"Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine." — Proverbs 23:29-30
"And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit." — Ephesians 5:18
Wine competes.
With Spirit-filling. With vigilance. With clarity.
"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." — 1 Peter 5:8
Sobriety enables vigilance.Vigilance enables resistance.
Anything that weakens the chain threatens the whole.
VII. LEST YE DIE: PROPHECY AS REALITY
God did not say: "Lest ye sin."
God said: "Lest ye die."
Not hyperbole. Prophetic warning.
The evidence is quantified.
2.6 million deaths annually worldwide from alcohol. 4.7% of all global deaths.
1.6 million from disease—cardiovascular, cancer, liver cirrhosis. 724,000 from injuries—crashes, suicide, violence. 284,000 from communicable disease—tuberculosis, HIV.
Cancer alone: 401,000 deaths annually.
"Wine is a mocker"—it mocks 2.6 million to death yearly.
"Strong drink is raging"—its rage kills 724,000 through violence and accidents.
Proverbs 23:29 asks: "Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath wounds without cause?"
The answer is empirically verifiable.
Here in South Africa:
62,300 deaths annually—13% of all deaths in this nation.
Between 74 and 282 adults die every single day.
75% of homicides involve alcohol. 60% of automobile accidents involve alcohol. 40% of youth transport deaths are alcohol-related.
Economic cost: R246-281 billion—10-12% of our GDP.
And we're told "most people drink responsibly."
The data: 93.9% of alcohol consumed in South Africa is consumed by heavy and binge drinkers.
There is no responsible consumption pattern. There is consumption, and there is death.
God said: "Lest ye die."
Humanity said: "We know better."
2.6 million corpses per year prove we did not.
This is not moralizing. This is prophecy validated.
God's commands reveal reality.
When God forbids, He is not limiting freedom. He is warning about consequences.
VIII. THE BURDEN OF PROOF IS BACKWARDS
Modern Christianity asks: "Where does Scripture forbid drinking?"
Wrong question.
Right question: "Where does Scripture show routine recreational consumption as normative practice?"
It doesn't.
We argue from silence—assuming permission where Scripture shows only bounded, occasional, specific-context use.
We forget:
We are not our own.
The blood-bought priest does not ask: "What am I allowed?"
The blood-bought priest asks: "What does my Master require?"
"Therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
Glorify. Not indulge.
Glorify.
IX. THE MODERATE DRINKER'S ERROR
Someone will say:
"Those statistics don't apply to me. I stay home. A few glasses in the evening. I never lose my faculties. I'm never drunk."
But you've misunderstood what priesthood requires.
The question is not: "Am I drunk?"
The question is: "Am I living as a priest?"
Leviticus 10:9 does not say: "Do not get drunk when you enter the tabernacle."
It says: "Do not drink wine nor strong drink."
Not against drunkenness. Against consumption.
Why?
Priestly function does not require the absence of drunkenness.
It requires the presence of complete clarity.
One is negative: avoid excess.
The other is positive: maintain sharpness.
You're asking: "How much can I drink without getting drunk?"
Scripture asks: "Are you as clear as your calling requires?"
Not the same question.
A priest who drinks moderately and never loses his faculties is still dulled.
Judgment slightly slower. Perception slightly hazier. Vigilance slightly reduced.
Not enough to be called "drunk."
But enough to no longer be called "sober."
Scripture does not command avoidance of drunkenness alone.
It commands sobriety.
"Be sober, be vigilant."
Sobriety is not measured by what you avoid. It's measured by what you maintain.
The moderate drinker treats alcohol as neutral until excessive.
Scripture treats alcohol as active from the first drink.
"Wine is a mocker"—not "wine becomes a mocker at the third glass."
It mocks from the beginning.
And here's the distinction:
Sleep deprivation happens despite our efforts. Creaturely limitation.
Heavy meals serve nutrition, though we should exercise temperance.
Medicinal alcohol serves remedial function for specific ailment.
Recreational alcohol is voluntary alteration chosen for the purpose of alteration.
The moderate drinker with "a few glasses in the evening" is not treating an ailment. He's not addressing stomach problems with measured doses.
He's consuming alcohol because it does something to his consciousness that he desires.
That effect—relaxation, loosening, mild euphoria—is the point.
That's categorically different from unavoidable limitation or necessary consumption.
Deeper issue: You're treating your body as though you have the right to manage it.
You don't.
"Ye are not your own. Ye are bought with a price."
The moderate drinker says: "I'm responsible. I know my limits."
The blood-bought priest says: "This body is not mine to manage. It belongs to Another."
The Holy Spirit dwells in you.
Would you offer Him a temple hazed by moderate consumption?
Would you say: "I haven't made You drunk, so You should be satisfied"?
Or: "I will give You the clearest, sharpest, most vigilant dwelling I can maintain"?
Moderate drinking is not neutrality.
It is compromise dressed as responsibility.
Asking: "How close can I come to the line?"
Instead of: "How far can I stand from danger?"
The Levitical priest did not ask: "How much can I drink before I'm too drunk to serve?"
He asked nothing.
The command was clear: None.
You are that priest now.
Not by achievement. By blood-purchase. By transfiguration.
The question is not whether you can drink moderately without consequence.
The question is whether you will honor the One who bought you by living as what He made you.
A royal priesthood does not negotiate with clarity.
It maintains it.
X. WHAT DOES A BLOOD-BOUGHT PRIESTHOOD LOOK LIKE?
Households that ask:
Does this strengthen clarity? Protect love? Guard discernment? Honor the price paid for us?
Men and women who understand:
Christ did not die to give us permission.Christ died to give us identity.
And that identity is not negotiable.
Joy that does not require intoxication.
Celebration that does not compromise judgment.
Rest that does not dull vigilance.
Feasting that honors covenant context.
Homes where children see parents who live as though they belong to Another.
Because they do.
XI. A CONFESSION
I need to tell you plainly:
I have walked in compromise.
I defended cultural permission as biblical liberty.
I argued from silence instead of listening to what Scripture shows.
I treated my body as though the choice were mine.
I ignored the warnings.
I rationalized the statistics.
I participated in the very pattern that kills 62,300 of our people every year.
But by the grace of God, my eyes have been opened.
Not by superior holiness. By grace alone.
And by the strength of the Holy Spirit, I will walk differently.
Not perfectly. But obediently.
I am not my own.
I was bought with a price.
I was transfigured by His blood and His Spirit.
If Christ made me a priest, I will live as a priest—or confess I am not yet willing to honor the purchase price paid for me.
I speak not from arrival, but from fresh conviction.
The Spirit is sanctifying me now.
And I call you to the same:
Examine your life in light of the blood that bought you.
In light of the transfiguration that made you what you are.
XII. CALLED OUT OF DARKNESS INTO LIGHT
We were called "out of darkness into his marvellous light."
Darkness obscures. Light clarifies.
A royal priesthood does not live in haze.
And here is the glory:
You did not make yourself this.
You were bought. Washed. Consecrated. Claimed. Transfigured.
Not by your decision. By Christ's blood.
Sobriety is not legalism—it is fidelity.
Abstinence is not fear—it is stewardship.
Clarity is not restriction—it is alignment with covenant reality.
You are not your own.
You were bought with a price.
You were changed at Pentecost.
Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit—
which are God's.
Live as what you are.
A blood-bought priest.
