Advent Day 3: What Happened to the Vineyard? Isaiah 5:1-7

Wild Heart Still - Nathan Shields

(lyrics below)

Isaiah 5:1-7

I will sing for the one I love
    a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
    on a fertile hillside.
² 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.

³ “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
    judge between me and my vineyard.
⁴ 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?
⁵ 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.
⁶ 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.”

⁷ 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.

People often look at passages in the Old Testament and see a God of wrath and in the New Testament a God of love.  I disagree, but I understand why it looks that way. 

In this passage the nation of Israel is compared to a beautiful vineyard that has been planted by God with great skill and care.  But when the time for harvest came the vines did not produce grapes that were useful for making good wine. 

God had saved Israel from slavery in Egypt, planted them in the Promised Land, and expected them to be a nation that produced the beautiful and delicious fruit of righteousness, justice, mercy, and love.  Instead...

...the Israelites began to worship other gods, sometimes even sacrificing their children to the inanimate idols made of wood, bronze and gold (2 Kings 16:1-4).  With their hearts totally off track, the kings of Israel treated their people as servants, just like Pharaoh in Egypt, rather than leading with righteousness, governing justly, and caring for their people like a shepherd does his sheep.

In short, they yielded "wild grapes."

So what did God do?  He removed His "hedge" of protection.  He stopped the upkeep of the vines and the soil.  He "let them go" and eventually a foreign nation invaded, wiped them out, and sent many of the "elites" into exile.

If you were a child, what would be worse: being punished for hurting your sibling or completely losing the protection of your parents?  No discipline to correct behavior, no rules to guide you away from danger, no provision of shelter, clothes or food.  You're on your own.   

Though not necessarily children, Israel was far more child-like than they realized.  They thought they had everything figured out and didn't need God.  They wanted whatever, whenever.  They wanted gods they could control.  Gods made of wood, bronze and gold.  They didn't want a relationship with a real God that actually claimed authority over their lives!  They wanted total independence.  So God removed the "hedge" of protection.

This is why Christmas is so unbelievable.  It is totally understandable for God to let us go when we reject Him. 

Think of being in a romantic relationship.  You grow to love someone dearly and everything is great.  You spend time together "cultivating" the relationship.  But over time it seems that your beloved is slowly drifting away, more and more.  Finally, they tell you that they do not love you anymore.  In fact, they have actually been seeing other people behind your back.  Now, they finally realize that they want nothing to do with you. 

That is what Israel did to God.  And how would you respond?

But Christmas says that although God removed his "hedge" of protection from Israel, it was only for a little while.  Christmas tells us that instead of living in heaven where He could enjoy the protection, provision and all the blessings of being in a relationship with His Father, Jesus gave that up to pursue a renewed relationship with us (Phil. 2:5-11).  

At Christmas, Jesus comes and becomes the true vine of God that produces the good fruit of justice and righteousness.  By faith we can be attached to Him and once again live under the protection and care of a loving Father.  By faith in the righteous vine that is Jesus we can begin to produce good fruit again.       

Wild Heart Still - Nathan Shields

May my vineyard be fruitful Lord
You have planted me in good soil
I defy it let my wild heart roam
and in doing wander far from home
You have set me in the highest place
I deny it and I fall from grace
Lord without you I have no defense
My God lead me into righteousness

you…..save me from myself and my own thoughts
you…..gave me all I need and I still get lost

In your tower you are always watching
needn’t cower for you shield my pain
when I sour may your mercy rain
Lord I need to feel your arms again

you…..paid for me to live at the highest cost
you…..came to heal the sick and to save the lost

in gathering the seeds that were sown
may I please you in all that I do
in harvesting the love that you’ve grown
let my dead branches shed I endeavor to spread

Let my vineyard be fruitful Lord
You have planted me in good soil
I will seek you and to do your will
Lord endure me make my wild heart still