I love the book of Isaiah. I know that makes me a rare breed. The Prophets are, at times, confusing. Many believe prophecies are yet to be fulfilled, and others say they've almost all been fulfilled. The question of Israel as an ethnic group and its future is debated because of the writing of the Prophets. Those are debates that can take place in books about theology; this is a devotion about how Isaiah explains God's desire for loyalty from His people Israel. One of the names Israel is called in Isaiah is God's vineyard.
In the first five chapters, I love the back and forth of God rebuking Israel and yet wanting them to do the right thing. This shows the characteristic of longsuffering. God's patience is indeed long. I'm not sure we stop and think about how God puts up with so much of our rebellion. In the first chapter of Isaiah, we can read that he may be patient, but He does call sin out. He calls Israel "Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly."
How did the people God was using to bring forth the Messiah in their relationship with Him come to this place? This relationship began with their ancestor Abraham. In Genesis 12, God calls Abram out of his country, "Go from your country, your people, and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you..." God made a covenant or promise to Abraham and sealed that covenant with blood, Genesis 15:7-16. God also told Abraham that the people coming from him would be afflicted for 400 years. We see that come to fruition with Israel's captivity in Egypt. God promised Abraham threefold: heirs, land, and blessings.
The captivity in Egypt happened after Joseph, one of the great-grandsons of Abraham, was second in command in Egypt after being sold as a slave to Midianites (Ishmaelites), and they took him to Egypt. The Ishmaelites sold him to Potiphar, "an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard." Joseph's story is worth meditating on after a read-through or more. He goes from slave to being in charge of Potiphar's home, to prisoner, to second in command of Egypt. There is much to learn from the story of Joseph about the character of God that can offer hope to anyone in a desperate place. By the end of Joseph's story, his father and brothers move to Egypt, and his father dies. Joseph also dies. After a few years, a Pharaoh rises who does not know what Joseph did to save Egypt, and he puts the people of Israel into bondage. Remember, this was told to Abraham; the 400 years of slavery were revealed by God.
Moses would be molded to become the one God would use to lead his people out of Egypt. After their harsh bondage, they'd be led to freedom because God heard the cries of His people. He wouldn't lead them out until he destroyed the gods of Egypt, proving there is no True God besides the God of Israel. He made a covenant with the people at Mount Sinai. He says to them through Moses, "you yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priest and a holy nation." Exodus 19:4-6. This is a small synopsis of all God did in preparing for himself a people that would exemplify his goodness to the world around them.
As you read through the Old Testament, you can glean more about the relationship God set up with Israel. He sent them into the land he promised, and they rejected it the first time. Their consequence was that the generation who rebelled roamed the wilderness for 40 years, dying off. He waited patiently to offer the land again. While they wandered the wilderness, He fed them, provided water, sustained their clothes, and conquered their enemies while they faced these consequences. This is all part of God's goodness, His mercies. We need to stop here and take stock of how we see God's goodness through our lives. What do we neglect to say "thank you" for and offer God obedience to solidify our gratitude?
As we get back to Isaiah, here is how God saw Israel. You should start from chapter one, but we will look at chapter five. From Abraham to this time of rebuke in Isaiah, God summarizes what He did for them and wanted from them in this vineyard analogy. "Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed for it to yield grapes." From Abraham through the Kings, God made it possible for Israel to be fruitful. This is what we find in the Old Testament. The love story of God toward Israel as His instrument to bring the world the Messiah and bring the human race back to Him. He goes on to say, "but it yielded wild grapes." As you read the Old Testament, you will encounter all God did to care for these people. It is true; many of us read the Old Testament and wonder what was wrong with them. That is reading from hindsight because we are all as guilty as Israel.
God continues by asking, "what more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?" When I read these words, my heart is full of compassion for God. Not that He needs that from me, but if that is the feeling I get, He'd want me to respond by obeying Him, not simply feeling sympathy. That is all He wanted from Israel, obedience. It got so bad between them that he referred to them as Sodom and Gomorrah, a story that can be read in Genesis 19. Yet, with another breath, He looks to reconcile, "come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land" 1:18-19. Are you understanding the compassion and mercies of God that Jeremiah, in the book of Lamentations, tells us are new every morning, 3:22-24?
When people say the Old Testament tells us a story of a bloviating and bombastic God, they reveal they've read it with a bias toward hating God or are ignorant of what fills the pages. While God was ready to reconcile, "it takes two to make a thing go right" (Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock), "but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken." After all, God has done, He has a right to set conditions for the lives of His people and the world in general. He is The Sovereign Ruler.
Of course, reading Isaiah - Malachi, we see the outcome, Israel and Judah, in general, did not submit to their side of the Covenant God made with them. They did not obey. They worshiped false gods, they sacrificed their children to idols, they prostituted themselves with the people, and yet they offered sacrifices to the One True God. God didn't want their religious offerings. It was obvious that their hearts were far from Him. "He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry" 5:7b. I wonder what God would have against His people today?
We head to church every Sunday. Are we practicing tradition or looking forward to being a gift to our brothers and sisters in Christ?
We put in our tithe (I do not believe the NT teaches this practice under the New Covenant), but then we send the poor to be helped by the government.
We tell our children to save themselves for marriage, yet provide them with condoms and birth control.
Parents spend more time at work while their children are raised by daycare, offering opportunities to fill them with anti-Christ teachings.
These are not to set up condemnation for anyone. It is an opportunity for an examination. Israel or Judah only took time to examine themselves when they faced enemies or plagues because of their sins. God promised Solomon when they turned to Jerusalem and repented, He would hear and forgive 1 Kings 8:22-61. We are in a crisis in many of our places of worship, and our stories are long too. God has made a promise to His people today; those who are in Christ are His. "He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved Son..." Colossians 1:13. You better believe there are conditions for this relationship just as there were for Israel. Peter tells us, "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ..." we are exiles in this world. We have been separated as a holy people to God, not to be of this world though we live in it. We are called to obedience.
In Christ Jesus, God has fashioned Himself a new vineyard. The remnant of Israel and the Church are God's new vineyard, prepared for offering salt and light in the darkness. We are called to obedience, no different than in Old Testament Israel. See how much has come from simply reading a few chapters in Isaiah. The richness of God's story of patiently dealing with Israel and then promising that He would forgive is found in His story from Genesis to Malachi. They chose to continue in rebellion even after 70 years of captivity.
While He had to bring consequences, He still has not lost His patience. He continues to grow His vineyard. He has good and wild grapes growing together, waiting for His Son to judge and separate the good and productive harvest from the bitter and useless. Where will you be found? Read the stories for yourself. There is much to learn and more hope to be found than you'd ever guess in books as complicated, comforting, and captivating as Isaiah through Malachi. His vineyard is those who choose to obey His Son's teaching. He continues to be longsuffering when we stumble, ready to forgive. The book of James tells us, "We all stumble in many ways" James 3:2. Though that is not where we should remain. We should rejoice that His patience has not ended.
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