ISAIAH 5 OPENS WITH...
The PARABLE OF THE Vineyard of the LORD
Verses 1-2 tells us of the UNPRODUCTIVE vineyard
"Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: my Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes."
For those of you who do not know...a PARABLE...is a story that gives and teaches a lesson, moral, warning, consequence, and/or judgment.
The story is about a vineyard that had MANY advantages:
1. It BELONGED to a LOVING person (my Well-beloved).
2. It was PLANTED on a very FRUITFUL hill.
3. The ground was CAREFULLY PREPARED (dug it up and cleared out its stones).
4. It was planted with GOOD STOCK(planted it with the choicest vine).
5. It was PROTECTED (a tower in its midst).
6. PROVISION was made for the fruit to be PROCESSED (made a winepress in it).
CHARLES SPURGEON says of this scripture: "I have been thinking of the advantages of my own position towards the Lord, and lamenting with great shamefacedness that I am not bringing forth such fruit to him as my position demands. Considering our privileges, advantages, and opportunities, I fear that many of us have need to feel great searchings of the heart."
With ALL THESE ADVANTAGES, it is not surprising that He EXPECTED it to bring forth good grapes.
What else would be expected?
But instead it brought forth WILD GRAPES.
SO WHAT DOES "WILD GRAPES" MEAN?
Wild grapes ARE FAR WORSE...than UNFRUITFULNESS.
The New Testament also speaks of a faith that brings forth fruit, but the fruit is DEAD WORKS, which pollute the air like a cadaver.
The wolfsbane, or wild vine IN 2 Kings 4:39, TELLS US IT does bear beautiful berries, but they are bitter, foul-smelling and poisonous in nature.
WILD GRAPES is a PRECISE BIBLICAL DESCRIPTION of the SELF-WILLED & FALSE RELIGION of the unfaithful covenant people.
Wild grapes ALSO MEANS that the vineyard produced just what you would expect it to produce if NOTHING had been done to it. All the love, care, time, work, and investment resulted had NO GOOD RESULT.
Verses 3-4 tells us God asks Jerusalem and Judah to CONSIDER the story of the vineyard.
"And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?"
Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard...GOD'S QUESTION is simple. Who is TO BLAME for the harvest of only wild grapes?
Is it the fault of the OWNER of the vineyard, or is it the fault of the VINEYARD itself?
THEN AS NOW, WE KNOW THAT FARMING is a matter of cause and effect. Literally, one could NEVER "blame" a vineyard for lack of production IN THE NATURAL WORLD. IF THE VINEYARD FAILS..IT CAN BE WEATHER, PESTILENCE, AND/OR LACK OF CARE OF THE OWNER.
BUTTTTTTTTTT...in the LORD's vineyard, the WILL OF MAN IS AN ADDED FACTOR.
What more could have been done to My vineyard?
In the story, there was NOTHING LEFT UNDONE by the owner of the vineyard.
HE did ALL HE could do.
In the same way, God CAN NOT BE BLAMED at all for the wild grapes Israel brought forth. God DID ALL HE COULD DO, apart from making men robots, acting apart from or against their wills, AMEN?
CHARLES SPURGEON says of this scripture..."O you that profess to be his people, what more could Christ have done for you? What more could the Holy Spirit have done? What richer promises, what wiser precepts, what kinder providences, what more gracious patience?"
IT IS POSSIBLE for God to do a work in His people, but for His people to receive that work IN VAIN.
REMEMBER 2 CORINTHIANS 6:1, where Paul warns, "We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain."
Of course, a LITERAL vineyard doesn't "DO" anything.
But we, as GOD'S VINEYARD, are called to work with the grace of God, so that grace is not received in vain. Grace IS NOT GIVEN because of ANY OF OUR WORKS, past, present or promised; yet IT IS GIVEN TO ENCOURAGE work, not to say work is unnecessary.
IN OTHER WORDS, JESUS DOES NOT WANT US TO RECEIVE HIS GRACE AND BECOME PASSIVE.
Paul knew that God gives His grace, SO WE CAN WORK HARD & SEE THE WORK OF GOD GETS DONE.
REMEMBER MATTHEW 21:33-46...EVEN JESUS used this SAME IMAGERY in His parable of the wicked tenants and the vineyard.
CHARLES SPURGEON ASKS THE QUESTION OF HIMSELF AND OF US..."Has it been so with us? Have we rewarded the Wellbeloved thus ungratefully for all his pains? Have we given him hardness of heart, instead of repentance; unbelief, instead of faith; indifference, instead of love; idleness, instead of holy industry; impurity, instead of holiness?"
ANY OF US WHO ARE HONEST WITH OURSELVES AND WITH JESUS WILL PLEAD GUILTY TO ALL CHARGES...AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER IN OUR LIVES, AMEN?
Verses 5-7 tells us of God's JUDGMENT on the UNPRODUCTIVE vineyard.
"And now, please let Me tell you what I WILL DO to My vineyard: I WILL take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I WILL lay it waste; it shall not be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I WILL also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it." For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help."
I WILL take away ITS HEDGE...All the owner of the vineyard must do is STOP PROVIDING SPECIAL PROTECTION to the vineyard, and it shall be burned … it shall be trampled down.
In a LIMITED SENSE, God has given the responsibility of "taking away hedges" TO THE CHURCH.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
When a Christian is stubbornly unrepentant, it may be the job of the church to "turn them over" to Satan, so they will feel the pain of their sin and repent as told to us IN 1 Timothy 1:20 & 1 Corinthians 5:4-5.
THE CHURCH DOES THIS by putting such ones OUTSIDE the spiritual protection found among God's people.
I WILL lay it waste; it shall not be pruned or dug...The vineyard WILL receive NOTHING FROM the LORD.
The vineyard RESISTED THE PRUNING AND DIGGING AND WATERING the owner did.
So now, the owner says, OKAY...YOU DO NOT WANT NOR APPRECIATE NOR LIKE MY TENDER LOVING PROTECTIVE CARE? HERE YOU GO...No more pruning or digging or watering. You will see for yourself if that is better. HOW IS THAT WORKING OUT FOR YOU?
MANY DISCOURAGED CHILDREN OF GOD wish the LORD would stop pruning, stop digging, stop watering. Those things may be hard, but it is even worse when the LORD stops doing them!
He looked for justice, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold, weeping...ISAIAH plays on words here. GOD FOUND THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYTHING HE WAS LOOKING FOR IN JUDAH.
ALMIGHTY GOD SAYS WOE TO THE NATION RIPE FOR JUDGMENT....AND HE SPEAKS TO THE LAND BARONS FIRST.
Verses 8-10 tells us WOE TO THE LAND BARONS...
"Woe to those who join house to house; they add field to field, till there is no place where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land! In my hearing the LORD of hosts said, "Truly, many houses shall be desolate, great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield one ephah."
Woe to those who join house to house...THIS IS A TRUE PICTURE OF GREEDY REAL ESTATE BUYING & DEVELOPMENT.
TRAPP SPEAKS VERY WELL OF THIS SCRIPTURE..."Covetous persons are of the dragon's temper, who, they say, is so thirsty, that no water can quench his thirst. Covetousness is a dry drunkenness, saith one, an insatiable dropsy, and like hell itself."
Many houses SHALL BE desolate, great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant...In judgment, their real estate DEALS WILL NOT BE SUCCESSFUL, and they will have MANY vacant and unsold houses.
CHARLES SPURGEON SAYS IT BEST..."When men are covetous after the THINGS OF THIS WORLD, God has a way of making them to be filled with disappointment and with bitterness."
Verses 11-17 tells us...Woe to those who party endlessly, and celebrate everything BUT GOD.
"Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may follow intoxicating drink; who continue until night, till wine inflames them! The harp and the strings, the tambourine and flute, and wine are in their feasts; but they do not regard the work of the LORD, nor consider the operation of His hands. Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge; their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst. Therefore Sheol has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure; their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he who is jubilant, shall descend into it. People SHALL BE brought down, each man SHALL BE humbled, and the eyes of the lofty SHALL BE humbled. But the LORD of hosts SHALL BE exalted in judgment, and God who is holy SHALL BE hallowed in righteousness. Then the lambs shall feed in their pasture, and in the waste places of the fat ones strangers shall eat."
Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may follow intoxicating drink...THIS IS A VISUAL PICTURE OF THOSE WHO ...PARTY TIL THEY DROP...LIVE FOR PARTIES...of those who "work hard" to party and endlessly celebrate. Their lives are filled with substance abuse and music - But they DO NOT REGARD the work of the LORD, nor consider the operation of His hands.
SO WHAT IS SOOOOOO WRONG ABOUT the partying and addicted to entertainment lifestyle?
IT FORGETS ABOUT GOD WHO GAVE THEM ALL THEY HAVE AND ENJOY.
Though SOME MAY CLAIM TO REMEMBER JESUS...AND GIVE HIM LIP SERVICE FOR ALL THEY HAVE, JESUS CHRIST IS NOT FOOLED NOR BLIND.
HE KNOWS AND READS THE HEART...& HE KNOWS WHO DOES AND WHO DOES NOT regard the work of the LORD, nor consider the operation of His hands.
Anyone who really does regard the work of the LORD, and really does consider the operation of His hands, will live AS IF JESUS IS REAL AND IN THEIR CONSTANT DAY TO DAY MIDST & WILL KNOW there is much more to life than partying and entertainment AMEN?
Therefore My people have gone into captivity...those who forget about God because of their partying and entertainment WILL BE judged by a captivity that will end the laughs (he who is jubilant, shall descend into it), exalt the LORD (the LORD of hosts shall be exalted in judgment), and reward the meek (the lambs shall feed in their pasture).
AS A PARENT, AND NOW A GRANDMOTHER, I DO NOT THINK THERE IS MUCH THAT CAN BREAK THE HEART FASTER, CRUELER, AND WITH MORE SURGEON'S PRECISION SKILL...THAN A THANKLESS, SELF-CENTERED CHILD.
AND AS A CHILD OF THE MOST HIGH GOD, I KNOW IN MY LIFETIME, I HAVE BROKEN THE HEART OF MY LOVING FATHER TOO MANY TIMES TO COUNT....HOW ABOUT YOU? AND AS PAUL SAID OF HIMSELF...CHIEF AMONG SINNERS, AMEN?
Verses 18-21 tells us...Woe to those who confuse moral issues, who think that they know better than God does.
"Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope; that say, "Let Him make speed and hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it." Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!"
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity...THIS MEANS THEY PULL THEIR SIN TO THEMSELVES WITH ROPES OF EMPTINESS!
POOLE, A WONDERFUL BIBLE SCHOLAR says of this scripture..."They are not only drawn to sin by the allurements of the world, or by the persuasions of wicked men, being surprised and overtaken by sin, as sometimes good men are … but are active and industrious in drawing sin to themselves, or themselves to sin; that greedily and steadily pursue sin, and the occasions of it, and are not at rest until they have overtaken it; that sin wilfully, and resolvedly, and industriously."
They say, "Let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it....In saying these HOLIER THAN THOU, PUFFED UP ON SELF EMPTY WORDS, they show their arrogant CONTEMPT of the LORD. It is as if they are saying, "Go ahead, God. DO YOUR JUDGING...DO YOUR WORST. We are ready for your judgment."
ONCE AGAIN POOLE says it all...."He (ALMIGHTY GOD) either cannot or will not do us any harm: we do not fear him, let him do his worst; let him begin as soon as he pleaseth. Not that any of the Israelites were so impudent as to use these expressions; but this was the plain language of their actions; they LIVED AS IF THEY WERE of this opinion; their presumption and security showing their desperate contempt of God, and of all his judgments."
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil...JUST AS SATAN WAS CLEVER IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN WITH EVE, CLEVERLY TWISTING & USING DECEPTIVE WORDS AND REASONINGS...they do so now to BLUR MORAL ISSUES & EXCUSE THEIR SIN. They look at their own evil and call it good, and they look at the good of others and call it evil. Isaiah is describing a deep state of moral confusion & intentional blindness.
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes...They are full of pride, and reject the wisdom and standards of God.
WE HAVE HEARD THE CRITICS SPOUT SUCH THINGS AS: "The Bible? It's so judgmental. Judge not lest you be judged. It's all how you interpret it. You have your interpretation and I have mine."
ALL THIS THINKING exalts the wisdom of man over the Word of Almighty God, the Triune God, the CREATOR of us all, AMEN?
Verses 22-23 tells us of the woe to the corrupt, who place greater value on drinking than on fairness and justice.
"Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man!"
Woe to the men mighty at drinking..this means THESE MEN ARE MEN OF accomplishment, of high achievement - IN SIN!
TRAPP...A GREAT BIBLE SCHOLAR/HISTORIAN says of this scripture..."The prophet inveighth against this vice a second time, because it was grown so common. Drunkards also are a sottish kind of creatures, and had therefore more than need to be double dealt with … Many of these sots take it for a great glory that they are mighty to drink wine."
AND DID YOU KNOW....KING ALPHONUS SAID..."When one was commended to King Alphonsus for a great drinker, and able to bear it, he answered that that was a good praise in a sponge, but not in a prince."
Who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man...These are men who care ONLY for their own pleasure and entertainment, and care nothing for others.
Verses 24-30 tells us The LORD promises a sure and complete judgment.
"Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, and the flame consumes the chaff, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom will ascend like dust; because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the anger of the LORD is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them and stricken them, and the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, and will whistle to them from the end of the earth; surely they shall come with speed, swiftly. No one will be weary or stumble among them, no one will slumber or sleep; nor will the belt on their loins be loosed, nor the strap of their sandals be broken; whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hooves will seem like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. Their roaring will be like a lion, they will roar like young lions; yes, they will roar and lay hold of the prey; they will carry it away safely, and no one will deliver. In that day they will roar against them like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and sorrow; and the light is darkened by the clouds."
As the fire devours the stubble, as the flame consumes the chaff... Stubble and chaff are both VERY AND EASILY FLAMMABLE. God is warning of sudden, complete, and severe judgment.
Because they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel...Every one of Judah's sins could be TRACED BACK to a rejection and despising of what God says.
Man's opinion was FAR MORE IMPORTANT to them than God's word.
He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, and will whistle to them from the end of the earth...God will call foreign nations to come and invade Judah, making them instruments of His judgment upon them.
They shall come with speed, swiftly … No one will be weary or stumble among them … Nor will the belt on their loins be loosed … Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent...the armies God will call against Judah are ALL BUSINESS. They are totally focused, prepared, and readied - while the strong men of Judah use their strength for drinking contests! This would be a great mismatch, and a soft, drunk, and flabby Judah will certainly fall against such DEDICATED, HIGHLY TRAINED & DISCIPLINED enemies.
If we will not be strong for our own sakes, or even for the sake of the LORD, should we not at least be strong for the sake of our enemies? If they are strong and focused against us, should we not be strong in the LORD, and focused on the LORD, to overcome such strong enemies?
Behold, darkness and sorrow; and the light is darkened by the clouds... This is a DISTRESSING place to be in.
WHYYYYYYYYY would the LORD put Judah in such a place? Because He loves them. These words are harsh, but merciful; the words are a slap in the face to prevent total and eternal destruction. The only question is, "Will we listen to God's warning?"
AND CHARLES SPURGEON REMINDER SAYS IT BEST..."God's woes ARE FAR BETTER than the devil's welcomes."