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. (Isaiah:5:7)
This chapter is referred as "the Song of the Vineyard". When we read the verses from 1-6 it narrates about how GOD goes to great lengths to cultivate a vineyard expecting good grapes in return. But all He got in return was only bad fruits. In verse 4, He says "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?". The Lord did everything He could but still didn't get the expected results from the vineyard.
We see that the vineyard here represents the people of Israel (v.7). The good grapes that the Lord was looking for was mentioned in verse 7 - justice and righteousness, which the people of Israel failed to produce. Now, how this verse is relevant to us today? GOD has planted each one of us in his vineyard (the Kingdom of GOD on earth) and expects us to produce justice and righteousness. One of the things that the Bible refers to as justice can be found in Ephesians:6:1 "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is just and right. As individuals are we obeying our parents? As a church, are we obeying our elders? As an employee, are we obeying those who are above us at work? Any disobedient behavior is what GOD refers to as bad fruit.
The second part, "righteousness" is what GOD was looking for but what He got was "cries of distress". The reason can be found in the following verse "Woe to those who join house to house and join field to field [to increase their holdings by depriving others], Until there is no more room [for others],So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land! (Isaiah:5:8) The people of Israel were taking advantage of the poor among them by abducting their lands and houses, which caused the poor to make that call of distress. Even today, some of us are taking advantage of innocent and ignorant people around us. We are sitting on their blessings claiming it to be ours. We have robbed their time, space, peace and wealth and yet calling ourselves believers and justifying our actions. That's a bad fruit in the eyes of the Lord. Let's repent and return back those that are not rightfully ours.
Blessings!
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. (Isaiah:5:7)
This chapter is referred as "the Song of the Vineyard". When we read the verses from 1-6 it narrates about how GOD goes to great lengths to cultivate a vineyard expecting good grapes in return. But all He got in return was only bad fruits. In verse 4, He says "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?". The Lord did everything He could but still didn't get the expected results from the vineyard.
We see that the vineyard here represents the people of Israel (v.7). The good grapes that the Lord was looking for was mentioned in verse 7 - justice and righteousness, which the people of Israel failed to produce. Now, how this verse is relevant to us today? GOD has planted each one of us in his vineyard (the Kingdom of GOD on earth) and expects us to produce justice and righteousness. One of the things that the Bible refers to as justice can be found in Ephesians:6:1 "Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is just and right. As individuals are we obeying our parents? As a church, are we obeying our elders? As an employee, are we obeying those who are above us at work? Any disobedient behavior is what GOD refers to as bad fruit.
The second part, "righteousness" is what GOD was looking for but what He got was "cries of distress". The reason can be found in the following verse "Woe to those who join house to house and join field to field [to increase their holdings by depriving others], Until there is no more room [for others],So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land! (Isaiah:5:8) The people of Israel were taking advantage of the poor among them by abducting their lands and houses, which caused the poor to make that call of distress. Even today, some of us are taking advantage of innocent and ignorant people around us. We are sitting on their blessings claiming it to be ours. We have robbed their time, space, peace and wealth and yet calling ourselves believers and justifying our actions. That's a bad fruit in the eyes of the Lord. Let's repent and return back those that are not rightfully ours.
Blessings!
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