Introduction
There’s a wonderful day coming for Israel. Zechariah identifies it as a day of spiritual cleansing. He says, “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (Zech. 13:1).
A. The Patience of the Redeemer
Isaiah 5 tells us why Israel needs to be cleansed.
1. His people
In verse 1 the Lord refers to Israel as a vineyard: “Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill.” God (the “well beloved”) planted a vineyard (Israel) on “a very fruitful hill” (Canaan).
2. His preparation
Verse 2 says, “He dug it, and gathered out the stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress in it; and he looked for it to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild [inedible] grapes.” God prepared a place for His people in Canaan, waiting for them to become what He desired. But instead they became useless as wild grapes.
3. His perplexity
In verses 3-7 God says, “Inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? And now, I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge [protection], and it shall be eaten up; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. And I will lay it waste; it shall not be pruned, nor digged, but there shall come up briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant; and he looked for justice, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.”
When the vineyard God planted rebelled and brought forth wild grapes, He promised to judge it by removing His protection and care. and withholding His blessing. God promised to judge Israel because of their unbelief and rebellion.
B. The Parable of Rejection
Jesus tells a similar tragic parable in Matthew 21.
1. The rejected servants
Verse 33 says, “There was a certain householder, who planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and leased it to tenant farmers, and went into a far country.” The householder is God. The vineyard is His Kingdom. The farmers are the religious leaders of Israel, who were entrusted with the responsibility of teaching His truth.
Verses 34-36 say that “when the time of the fruit drew near, [the householder] sent his servants to the farmers, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the farmers took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first; and they did the same unto them.” The servants are the prophets that Israel refused to listen to. Jesus said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou … killest the prophets, and stonest them who are sent unto thee” (Matt. 23:37).
2. The rejected son
Verses 37-39 say, “But last of all he sent them his son, saying, They will reverence my son. But when the farmers saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him and let us seize on his inheritance. And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.” Jesus then asked the religious leaders, “When the lord, therefore, of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those farmers?” (v. 40). They answered, “He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will lease his vineyard unto other farmers, who will render him the fruits in their seasons” (v. 41).
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
