RUSSELL SANDERS
7-3-2025
JONADAB: THE RECHABITES

In Jeremiah 35:14-29 we read of Jonadab, the son of Rechab. He commanded his sons in verse 14, “not to drink wine [alcohol]…unto this day they drink none.”

Verse 18 says, “Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab [to abstain from alcohol], (therefore), Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want [lack] a man to stand before me [ the LORD] for ever.”

The Rechabites all abstained from drinking any alcohol, and God blessed them for it throughout their generations. Doesn’t that tell you something of how God feels about alcohol consumption? He does not look approvingly upon it.

Although there are many professing Christians who do drink some alcohol, I do not know of born again and Holy Ghost filled believers who consume it. The late pastor Karl Strader, quite renown, stated that he had never known any Spirit-filled believers to be drinkers of alcohol. Alcohol consumption influences a person in such a manner as to open a window or gate to allow other spirits to influence that person. In fact, that is the very reason why alcohol is commonly called “spirits.”

God blessed the Rechabites for being “teetotalers.” We learn this from scripture and not from man’s reasonings or from cultural mores. Shouldn’t we base our values and behavior upon scripture?

God blessed the Rechabites throughout their generations because of their abstinence from alcohol. Also, the Nazarite vow unto God prohibited the consumption of alcohol. So why do many professing Christians drink alcohol when God clearly frowns on it?

When Jesus turned the water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana, he made the “new wine,” the fresh grape juice called “the best” by the governor of the feast. It was not the “old wine” that was fermented [alcoholic].

Yes, fermentation is the “rotting process” that converts sugar into alcohol, but it is filtered to remove the particulate matter to produce a clear drink. Alcohol not only alters your mood, it also alters the physical responses of your body, and not in a good way.

God blessed the Rechabites for their legacy of abstention, and He will also bless you if you abstain from alcohol.