Towns were the breeding-ground of greed and avarice, treachery and injustice, the places where men preyed on men and where corruption rose up with its ugly head and tried to swallow all that was good and decent, all that was precious and rare.”
–Jory Sherman (Death Rattle)
“The LORD within her is righteous; he does no injustice; every morning he shows forth his justice; each dawn he does not fail; but the unjust knows no shame.”
–Zephaniah 3:5 (ESV)
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“God’s threats are designed to be trumpet calls that awaken us from our spiritual stupor, to shake us free of our drunken iniquity, and to sober us up, to open our eyes to our sins so that we fall on our knees, confess those sins, and receive the never-ending mercy of God in Jesus Christ.”
–Chad Bird
I want to use the above quotation as sort of a thesis for a short study on Isaiah 5. Note, though the prophecy was for Judah, God’s Word is for all times and ages; it is eternal and pertains to all nations. It is a summary of what God is saying to all men.
Israel, the combined nation, was set apart by God, for God, to be an example to the world. Israel then, was unlike every other nation. “But her constant trouble,” states D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “arose from the fact that she never realised that truth. She always wanted to think of herself in terms of other nations.” Israel simply did not want to be different.
Isaiah 5:1-2 declares, “Let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it; then He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones.” (NASB) God was making something splendid, beautiful, and unique. The “Gardener” was God Himself. He was also the Provider and Protector and the garden (Israel) grew, but look again at the last two phrases from the NLT, “Then he waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were wild and sour.”
What more could He do, God says through Isaiah in verse 4, “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes and did it produce worthless ones?”. (NASB) The sourness of the people was appalling. They were to live to a certain standard, honor God’s law, and have fellowship with the Almighty. Instead the nation was producing nothing of ultimate value; it was a sham, with twisted ideas and morals. Literally the term, “wild grapes” means “stinking things.” The smell from the people, instead of a sweet aroma to God, had become a foul stink.
The Gardener decides. “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedges and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. I will lay it waste; it will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.” (Isaiah 5:5-6, NASB). They were to be a fruitful vine, instead, however, they produced sour, bitter grapes. Now He is going to lay it waste. With the blessings removed what will happen? The result will be destruction, chaos, waste, hopelessness…
God expected justice in the land, but instead there was bloodshed. Justice had become a mockery. He looked for righteousness, but instead He heard the howls of distress, the moans of the oppressed. God will warn them later that, “There is no peace…for the wicked.” (Isaiah 57:21, NASB) Removing the hedge of protection opens the people to evil forces and spirits (know that prophecy involves the spirit world as well as the natural). Briars and thorns symbolize anarchy and lawlessness. “All the enemies of mankind are attacking with a mighty and terrible power–the forces of evil and sin and uncleanness and suggestions and foulness.” (Lloyd-Jones) God is removing His protection because man has declared he does not need it–man is his own god.
John Winthrop declared in a sermon taken from Matthew 5:14-16, that the colony that was being established was to be a “city on a hill.” Despite its problems throughout its history, the United States has been a beacon for Christianity. It has been on the frontlines of mission work and benevolence aid. People can say bad things about the nation, but they do not realize that they are part of the problem. A city on a hill also shines its light on its own citizens, exposing their evil and sin, exposing the perversion of justice, and the mayhem on the streets. God has an expectation! He has done all He can to bring justice to the sin that besets mankind with the supreme sacrifice that was paid by His Son, Jesus Christ. However, once Christ becomes Lord, there are still expectations. We are now to work out our salvation, honoring Him, bringing glory to His name. We are not to be producing bitterness, hatred, an immoral society, and one in which justice is perverted.
I close this morning with verse 7, from the NLT. “This is the story of the LORD’s people. They are the vineyard of the LORD Almighty. Israel and Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected them to yield a crop of justice, but instead he found bloodshed. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of oppression.” Yes, there are expectations! Look in the mirror, America!