This requirement of abstinence was given so the ministering priest would be able to distinguish between the holy and the unholy, between the clean and the unclean, and so he could be a teacher of all the statutes of God. As such we should always give our best and be at our best in His service. We believe the standard of abstinence demanded of the Old Testament priest should be the standard of every Christian today. We too must distinguish between right and wrong. We must be Spirit-led teachers in a society that greatly needs divine instruction and godly example.
Secular leaders are also to abstain from alcohol.
If the prohibition is absolutely essential for spiritual and secular leaders, it is certainly essential for every believer. By medical definition, alcohol is a drug. The moderate drinker is naive if he does not recognize the peril of eventually becoming addicted himself. The individual who refuses to have anything to do with such a dangerous taskmaster is wise indeed. And no individual who persistently refused to take the first drink ever became an alcoholic.