Habakkuk 2:15
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!
Woe and a curse rest on anyone who gives a neighbor intoxicating drink and makes him drunk. The condemnation falls on putting the bottle to another's lips to cause drunkenness and to expose shame and nakedness. It is a deliberate impairing of another person's judgment in order to exploit him, leaving him impaired and out of control.
The work of liquor manufacturers and sellers is pictured as robbery, because they return no equivalent for the money they take, and every dollar they gain brings a curse to the spender. Those who create or encourage drunkenness are cursed for fostering an appetite that leads to misery, crime, and disease. The seller is responsible for his destructive work and is accountable for the sins the intoxicated person is led to commit.
The warning reaches even indirect provision, for raising hops or making wine and cider for sale lends influence to providing intoxicating drink even without personally putting liquor to a neighbor's lips. Producing sweet cider for market is not harmless, because it can ferment and become hard and sour. Making or selling wine and cider for others to drink violates the law to love one's neighbor as oneself and stains the seller with the blood of souls.
Money so gained is gained by transgression and is an offense that will not be accepted even when brought to the treasury. It is no excuse that someone else would have supplied the drink and the neighbor would have become a drunkard just the same. Christians must take no part in this traffic but stand to help destroy the works of the devil. For church members to put wine or liquor to another person's lips is incompatible with the church's role, and drinking does not remain moderate or safe but leads downward.
Opposing intoxicating liquor is a good reform, but removing that harm alone does not meet the deeper need for temperance in all things. Drunkenness must be resisted through divine power available through Christ to overcome temptation. The verse belongs to the prophecy of Habakkuk 2:3-20, the prophet's message for the last days describing scenes of destruction and desolation soon to be witnessed universally. Its fulfillment will surely come soon just as described and will not tarry beyond the appointed time, as surely as the desolation of San Francisco, requiring readiness because the Son of man comes in an hour not thought.
It gives a faint description of the reality of the near end when evil springs forth, when Satan is drilling his army to develop strong parties ready for the great battle of the last great conflict. It is a time when wisdom is needed, when the work of God requires dividing and subdividing and selecting ordained caretakers to do the work. It is a time when men in high places supposing themselves wise will block the way, and when the King's highway must be cleared.