I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit. “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done for it? When I looked for good grapes, why did it yield only bad? Isaiah 5: 1-4, NIV.
Loving LORD, here we are again! We love You, and we want to worship You in the beauty of holiness; so please be here with us as we study Your Word. In the holy name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Today we are going to continue with the devotional thought from yesterday. You may have noticed that in my references I included passages from other Scriptures that have to do with planting and reaping (i, e. the parable of The Sower, in Matthew 13). As we continue to study, we will incorporate, at least one other parable from Matthew 13, which is almost the identical New Testament counterpart of our parable in Isaiah 5. But before we do this, let us re-visit chapter 5 of Isaiah, keeping in mind, that besides being a love song, there are elements of indictment and judgment against the children of Israel, included in the parable.
One of the questions we will try to answer is, What made the grape juice sour to the palate of God? The answer to that question will serve as an explanation to the severity of the judgment pronounced against Israel. And of course, no study would be complete, without the mention of God’s amazing grace!
What made the grape juice sour to the palate of God? What was God expecting from His children? What would have sweetened the taste of the juice that was pressed out of the grapes? Listen to what the prophet is saying in verse 7, “Do you get it? The vineyard of God-of-the-Angel-Armies is the country of Israel. All the men and women of Judah are the garden he was so proud of. He looked for a crop of justice and saw them murdering each other. He looked for a harvest of righteousness and heard only the moans of victims” (MSG, emphasis provided).
In the twenty-first century, this indictment is sent to you and me, the children of God, who are silent in the face of evil and injustice of every sort. In case you are thinking that we, as Christians, should look the other way when we see evil doing its work of destruction, while going through the motions of being “a church member in good and regular standing,” listen to what the Word of God has to say about such a stance, “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone” (Luke 11: 42, emphasis provided).
And just in case we believe that injustice only happens in the world, God was not talking to the heathen, when this message was given; He was talking to His people! In the twenty-first century, that means you and me, members of the community of faith! God pronounced the following judgment upon Israel of old, “Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there. I will command the clouds not to rain on it” (Isaiah 5: 5, 6). To modern Israel He says the following: “If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned” (John 15: 6).
The mercy in God’s judgment is that He makes us know what we have done wrong and why we are being disciplined; by revealing to us, beforehand, what He expects of us. He offers us His strength to empower, and enable, us, to do His bidding (Philippians 4: 13)! We need not suffer the consequences of sin, when God is offering us the opportunity to become overcomers! Right now, this very moment, we can repent of our evil ways, and receive His forgiveness! He is more willing to forgive us than we are willing to be forgiven!
Dearly beloved, God’s desire is to save, not to condemn (John 3: 17). His goal is to redeem, not destroy (Ezekiel 33: 11). Therefore, His everlasting love is waiting to restore His church, today (Jeremiah 31: 3)! What more can the Lord do for you and me? Let us not allow His mercy to pass us by!
We will continue.