THE SOUR WINE AND THE CURSE OF MANKIND

Obliterating the curses upon humanity was an important facet of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Jesus came unto the earth realm to save mankind from condemnation. Man had been condemned by earning curses from the Almighty God. These curses are the embargo God placed upon the entire human race because of sin.

(Sin is the violation of God. What do I mean? When an individual sin, he or she has not just sinned but sinned against God. For example if a girl of five is raped she has been violated not necessarily the violation of the constitutional laws. What is the essence of the constitution without the people?
The constitution acts upon people who violate those it protects. Sin, I say, is a violation of God (His person, holiness, nobility). The law was given to protect the person of God most eminently to state. Therefore every sin is against God and thus violates Him. For this reason God hates sin and thus pledges to destroy all sin with sinners.)

When God was violated (sinned against), He perpetually cursed mankind. These curses are what license every person for eternal destruction. It is imperative that the redemption of man without the removal of these curses will be no redemption at all. Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world took away all these curses. The mystery of redemption is the blotting out of all God’s curses upon mankind. Jesus did blot out all these curses. Jesus did this by drinking sour wine. This happens to be the last activity of Jesus, which He did deliberately. “After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to his mouth. When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.” (John 19:28-30) Jesus requested for the sour wine or vinegar when He realized that all things have been accomplished. After drinking the unpleasant wine He gave up His ghost (i.e. He died). Drinking the wine is very allegoric, pointing to the verdict against an adulterous or unfaithful wife (i.e. A wife who has violated the husband by defiling her marital bed). Let us read some verses from Numbers chapter five: “ But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband: Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen. And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water: And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.” (20-24) These curses are written upon a material (most probably leather) with ink. After all the rituals have been performed the curses written with ink is dissolved with water and the guilty or alleged adulterer is made to drink. If she is guilty the consequences of rotten thigh and swollen stomach would come upon her (obviously leading to death).

This is exactly what happened to Jesus, He took our place as the adulterous violator and said “Amen” i.e. “so be it” to all the consequences thereof. He bore all our infirmities and curses in Himself. The curse of Adam was dissolved for Him to drink. You would agree with me that this is not a small burden for one person to bear. The condemnation of mankind became his inheritance. The impending chastisement of the human race was a potion given this noble man from Nazareth to drink. Not so bearable a condemnation caused the Son of David to be buried three days in the womb of hell (rotten thigh and swollen stomach). Jesus had to spend all these days in the belly of the earth combating Satan and his horde of devils. And having overcome all authority and rulers He delivered us from the curses that God has placed upon mankind. Lo He raised from the dead, Christ is risen and alive. Condemnation has been obliterated from the archives of children of Adam. Through His drinking of the sour wine He has freed us of our curses and has automatically given us access to the Father.

Related Resources

Jesus - His killers were envious of Him

3 Possible reasons why the Jewish Leaders insisted on killing Jesus

Christ in the court room (Why they killed Him)

Any reproductions from this site must include a proper acknowledgement as follows: 

By S. E. Entsua-Mensah. ©2014 Christ for Humanity Outreach 

You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in its entirety or in unaltered excerpts, as long as you do not charge a fee. For internet posting, please use only unaltered excerpts (not the content in its entirety) and provide a hyperlink to this page. Any exceptions to the above should be approved by Christ for Humanity Outreach.