Saturday, January 19,
2013, 7:00 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with the song “Sing Praises” playing in my mind. Speak, Lord, your words to my
heart. I read Isaiah 5 (quoting vv.
1-7, 20-21, 26 in the NIV 1984):
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?
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.”
The vineyard of the
Lord Almighty
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are the garden of his delight.
And he looked for
justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of
distress…
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 clever in their own sight…
He lifts up a banner
for the distant nations,
he whistles for those at the ends of the
earth.
Here they come,
swiftly and speedily!
The Vineyard and the
Owner
Isaiah said he would sing a song for the one he loved. He
loved God, maker of heaven and earth. The vineyard was the nation of Israel;
God’s chosen people of that time. Now the chosen people of God are the body of
Christ, his temple, the true church, the saints of God. So, the vineyard and
the owner of that time were Israel and God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), and the
vineyard and the owner of today are the church and Jesus Christ - our God,
creator, Savior, Messiah and King - the Father and the Spirit. The vineyard is
symbolic of the bride of Christ, and the owner is figurative for the
bridegroom, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
The Preparation of the
Vineyard
God provided a plan of redemption to cleanse his people of
their sins. He sent his Son Jesus Christ to earth to be born as a human flesh
baby, to suffer and be tempted as we suffer and are tempted, yet without sin,
to be despised and rejected of men, to be mocked and persecuted, to be
abandoned by his closest companions, and to die a cruel death on the cross for
our sins. Then he resurrected him back to life in conquering death, hell, Satan
and sin so that you and I could be free from slavery to sin day-to-day, so we
could be delivered from eternal damnation, and so we could love and worship our
Lord in submission and obedience to his will for our lives.
Then, after he ascended to heaven, he sent his Holy Spirit
to indwell us and to serve as our counselor, guide, comforter, encourager, teacher,
and the one who confronts us with sin, and who corrects us when we are in
error. As well, he gave us the body of Christ and pastors, teachers, prophets, apostles
and evangelists to encourage us in the faith, to rebuke us when we are wrong,
to guide us, to counsel us and to teach us the truths of God’s Word.
The Crop
Before Jesus Christ left this earth, he told his disciples
to go and to make disciples (of Christ) of all nations, baptizing them and
teaching them to obey all the things Christ Jesus had taught them. He told them
that after he left he would send them a counselor, the Holy Spirit, and that
after the Spirit of God came upon them, they would be his witnesses to the ends
of the earth. He spoke often in parables when we walked the face of this earth
during his years of ministry with his disciples, and frequently he spoke of the
people of this world and his followers in terms of a field and himself as the
farmer who sows the seed in the field, or of him being the vine and his church
the branches, and the Word speaks, too, of our need to bear fruit in keeping
with repentance. The fruit we are to bear is the fruit of the Spirit (see Gal. 5:22),
our testimony and witness for Jesus Christ to others, our love for God and for
one another, and our walk of faith and obedience to our Lord Jesus, etc.
Jesus spoke much about this fruit (produce; outgrowth;
result) we are supposed to bear as his disciples. He said that bad trees will
bear bad fruit and good trees will bear good fruit. And, he said that a tree
(individual) is recognized by its fruit (product; outgrowth). Jesus said that
the Father cuts off every branch in him that bears no fruit, “while every
branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
The key, he said, to bearing good fruit is that we must remain in him, and he
would remain in us. He also said that it was to his Father’s glory that we bear
much fruit, showing ourselves to be his disciples. And, he said that he chose
us and he appointed us to go and to bear fruit that will last for eternity (see
John 15).
We are also taught in the New Testament that we died to the
law of sin through the body of Christ in order that we might bear fruit to God.
When we were controlled by the sinful nature, we bore fruit for death. And, we
learn that the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and
truth. As well, we read that we should live lives worthy of the Lord, that we
should please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in
the knowledge of God. We should continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise –
the fruit of lips that confess his name. And, we should exercise godly wisdom –
pure, peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit,
impartial and sincere.
Bad Fruit
The owner (Jesus/God) of the vineyard (the church; true
Israel) looked for a crop of good grapes from his vineyard, but it yielded only
bad fruit. Yet, God had not failed. He had done everything possible for his
vineyard, i.e. for his people, yet they continued to rebel against him and/or
to ignore him. So, he decided he was going to remove the hedge of protection
around them, and he would allow them to suffer his judgment upon them. He had
looked for justice in his vineyard, but he saw bloodshed. He had looked for
righteousness, but he heard cries of distress.
And, I believe this is where we are again today. I believe
that God has so blessed us as a people of God, he has lavished his love, mercy
and grace upon us, and yet we, as a whole, have largely ignored him and have
gone our own way. We have followed after the ways of men and after the ways of
this sinful world, and there is really not much difference between us, the
people of God, and the people outside of Christ. As well, I believe our nation
and its leaders are guilty of bloodshed of innocents throughout the world, and
that God is listening to the cries of the oppressed, and he will answer.
I see many parallels between this description of the nation
of Israel and the nation of the USA, which is where I live. I also see many
parallels here between Israel, the people of God of the Old Testament, and the
church, the people of God, in America. We are a wealthy nation filled with
self-indulgences of all kinds. We are preoccupied with self-pleasure,
entertainment, technology, socializing, food, drink, leisure activities,
sports, occupations, possessions, and the hunger for more and more of what this
world offers to the point to where most are massively in debt, including our
nation itself, and this includes the church!
We are a people, as a whole, who have lost the awe and
respect for God Almighty that he so deserves, and so we disrespect one another,
and we do not honor the elderly. We, as a whole, or certainly as a major part,
have bought into the entitlement mindset, and this even translates over into our
relationship with God to where we think God owes us his grace but nothing is
required of us in return. Thus, we are a people without understanding who show
no or little regard at all for all that Jesus Christ did for us when he died on
the cross for our sins.
Deceit and lies are no longer just a problem among the
ungodly, but it is even practiced among the leaders of our churches, along with
manipulation tactics, in order to “grow Christ’s church.” Evil and good are
confused to where we call evil what is of God and we call good what is truly of
evil, and we do this in the church in order to preserve our “kingdoms” of men.
Darkness and light are also confused as we more and more justify and
rationalize away sin, and we call “crazy” those who follow Christ in full
obedience.
Here They Come!
A lot of people believe that God will not judge his church.
They think that just because we are the church that we are a blessed people and
that nothing bad will happen to us. And, they believe that God will rapture out
his church before anything gets really bad. He may, but I don’t believe that is
what the scriptures teach, and I also believe it is arrogant of us to think we
can largely ignore God’s commands, and his teachings, and think we don’t have
to repent, that we don’t have to obey him, and that God is still pleased with
us. And, it is arrogant of us, I believe, to think that God will not judge us
for our idolatry and our spiritual adultery, and/or for us to think that God
will just rapture us out and spare us from any suffering while he judges the
world, even though we may be living just like the world.
We read in the book of Revelation a record of the judgments
of God in the last days. Has it ever occurred to anyone that this book begins
with letters to seven churches, and that contained in those letters are threats
of judgment against the church because of their sins of spiritual adultery and
idolatry? And, in those same letters are calls to repentance and to renewed
faith in Jesus Christ or face the music? And, following those letters, the Lamb
opens the scroll which contains the judgments and then we have the prophecies
concerning the judgments. I believe God intends to begin judgment with his
church – with clearing the temple – and I believe with all my heart that his
goal is revival, i.e. that the church of Jesus Christ be humbled, brought to
its knees in repentance, and that the church recommit its life to Jesus Christ
to follow him in obedience all the rest of our days.
Although this will be an act of judgment against his people
(his vineyard), it is also an act of love and mercy to the afflicted, and to
the ones who need to return to their Lord.
Sing Praises / An
Original Work / November 30, 2012
Based off Psalms 6-9
Sing praises to the
Lord!
Tell of His wondrous
works.
Afflicted, they cry
out;
The Lord will not
forget;
The needy, not desert.
The Lord’s our refuge
now;
A stronghold when we fear.
The Lord will ne’er
forsake
The ones, who Him
pursue!
Sing praises to the
Lord!
With all my heart I
sing.
I will rejoice in Him;
Sing praises to His
name;
Tell of His wondrous
works.
My shield is God Most
High.
He saves those who
believe
In Jesus Christ, God’s
Son.
His grace has pardoned
you!
The Lord accepts my
prayer!
The Lord has heard my
cries.
He is so merciful.
He heals my anguished
soul.
The Lord has made me
whole.
Give thanks unto the
Lord.
Give praise unto His
name.
Our Lord is righteousness.
Sing praises to the
Lord!
Sing praises to the
Lord!
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