My Bible gives subtitles to sections of scripture and the
one for Isaiah 5 gives the subtitle, "The Song of the Vineyard." That song tells the story of a vineyard that
was loved by its owner. He had done
everything right to produce a bumper crop of grapes. The land had been prepared, the planting was
to perfection, a watchtower and wine press had been provided. Every detail had been properly considered and
carried out, so the vineyard owner could anticipate a huge success with his
crop of grapes.
The story continues and gives the bad news that in spite of
all the hard work in the vineyard and the high quality of the vines, bad grapes
were produced. They were terrible! So
bad was the crop of grapes the vineyard owner decided to abandon his plans for
the vineyard. He would remove the
protective hedges which surrounded the vines.
He would remove the surrounding walls which had added even more
protection, and all the vines would end in destruction. Soon the vineyard was a wasteland.
Our eyes are opened to the real sadness of the vineyard
story, when we learn it was an illustration for the dreams God had for
Israel. Verse 7 sums it up:
”The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the
people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but
saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.".
The remainder of Isaiah 5 carries another subtitle. It says "Woes and Judgments." It doesn't take a highly educated Bible
scholar to understand when the Word of God uses the word, "Woe,"
things are not going well. In this case,
where vineyards once flourished, plush homes now are desolate. God pronounces further woes on them by saying
they rise early in the morning and start drinking wine, and late at night they
are inflamed with wine. Sadness is
revealed again when God says, "They have no regard for the deeds of
the Lord, and no respect for the work of his hands." The whole chapter is filled with
additional woes, but I think you can picture the situation. It shouldn't surprise us to read the closing
words of that chapter, "If one looks at the land, he will see
darkness and distress; even the light will be darkened by the clouds."
The same dismal picture can be seen if we have no regard for
God, or no respect for the work of his hands. Yes, there is good news which
follows when God, through his love for Israel, rescues them again.
What I want you to see is God's love for you through Jesus
Christ, who says in John 15 , "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the
branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can
you unless you abide in Me. "I am the vine, you are the
branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from
Me you can do nothing."
Everything we are and hope to be, is dependent
on our relationship of abiding in Jesus.
Just like vines and branches, we draw real life-giving sustenance only
from him and apart from him we can do nothing. We are the vineyard that
produces fruit for him. He longs for a good crop, as we produce the fruit of
the Spirit.
<ronbwriting@yahoo.com>
No comments:
Post a Comment