Isaiah 4 ; Isaiah 5:1-7
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The Branch of the Lord Glorified
The Branch of the Lord Glorified
Now verse 1 is interesting, but it really typifies how people look in the wrong direction for help, for prosperity and direction, and sadly their own deliverance.
Look at verse 1
1 And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; take away our reproach.”
If you look back at chapter 3, verse 6. Just as men would take hold of another man, to make him their ruler ( their qualification in chapter 3 was he had a cloak.) Just as they did this.. so several women will seek a man, not for the true sense of marriage and the fulfillment of God’s plan.
They do so for what benefits them… They want the association of a man, the help, the avoidance of shame he and his presence can provide. They are so desperate to avoid shame and disgrace of not having a husband and children.
What is fueling their action, Pride. They want to be looked on well. So it begs the question, do we live in a prideful way. God hates the proud and a prideful attitude. Make sure every action is right.
Think of it like this, do we buy a car to have transportation or to keep up with others?
What clothes we wear, if it to reveal the pride of what we have or just the necessity of being clothed. I’ve known people who wouldn’t buy clothes from Walmart, not good enough.
We must be careful in how we life in front of others and God. God knows our heart.
Now lets’s move on...
2 In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel.
Here we start a new thought, one that is glories for it tells us about the Lord...
Where they are as a nation right then, well it wasn’t good for Judah and Benjamin. We have been talking about God’s warning for them to prepare for punishment, they have trusted everything and everyone But they have not returned to the Lord.
The brand of the Lord is a picture of what is coming, not only salvation in a future day, but restoration of the people back to their covenant land.
Isaiah says the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, he will be an eternal Davidic ruler. These words also tell us what is missing from the current leadership, ie… they are not glorious,
As we saw in chapter 3, the men are inferior leaders, the women we just looked at our proud. Zion’s future inhabitants will also see a wonderful transformation wonderful transformation in this world. God’s blessings on the land will rise up, His holy people will return.
Now lets look at verse 3-4
3 And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.
Those who are left in Zion will be transformed. They will be cleansed and be called a holy people.
Of course we are looking at a future day, because He is holy, they will be holy. Those sinful people of the past will be changed. In verse 4, He says He washed the filth of the daughters of Zion.
This is the work of a purify God, it’s not their work, It is His work. The holiness that God is referring too here is the continuation of His original work for humanity. Let me take you to Exodus 19:6
6 and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”
And I love this one phrase in verse 3… “everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem,” While we are not told a lot here, we are told that their names are written down in the book of life.
Having one’s name in this book provides assurance of who they were....
Now one other interesting phrase is at the end of verse 4.
4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.
So there is a cleansing that is taking place here, first we see how God views sin. repulsive, filth and stains of blood, But God is going to purify them. He will wash, cleanse, and the searing presence of God’s judgment and fire.
And then the last two verses of this chapter is verses 5-6
5 Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a canopy. 6 There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat, and for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
After Zion is purified, God will create something new in Zion. The idea of create is to make new, no longer marked by sinfulness, but again His pure holy presence.
And having his presence there is a wonderful mark. The cloud by day and fire by night is a picture of His past work in Israel when God took them through the desert in the book of Exodus.
This picture also reveals that by his presence, He is with them. And he will shelter them with a canopy to cover his people.
The canopy is a idea of the wedding functions, that the couple would gather under and they made their union with God. Here it is picture of His divine protection over the children of God.
When you look back to all this, God was to be the center of all things, especially the lives of the people. He will wash away sin, make it possible for us to be holy. He writes our names in HIs book and he creates a whole new order of living.
Instead of self, they will exalt the Lord their God. He will be their God and they will be His people, only given to him.
Now that brings us to the end of chapter 4 and we will start looking at chapter 5
Chapter 5
This chapter describes a time when God prospered his vineyard, but the vineyard produced worthless fruit of bloodshed and oppression. Life of the people were still seen with the same actions, the wealthy did well, practiced bribery here and there, enjoyed life but didn’t do much to help the poor.
So we see some of the same way of living as we have talked about before in the previous chapters.
So lets look at verse 1
1 Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
We see this is a song, The me, is most likely Isaiah himself, he is quoting the message of the beloved, they wrote the song if you will. but we do not know for certain here who the beloved is…it is like it is kept a secret.
And he tells us pretty quickly that the song concerns his vineyard.
So the person who wrote the song, we know loves the person or persons whom the vineyard represents. It is kind of like the Song of Solomon.
The lover is devoted to his vineyard.
And so the person, he went to no expense, he planted that vineyard on a fertile hill. He did all he could to place it in a area that would assure the best production.
Now verse 2
2 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 out a wine vat in it;
and he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
So look at what we see here. The beloved worked hard, he did all he could to set up a good vineyard.
First one, he prepared the land. He cultivated, and cleared the land of stones. He did everything to get the land ready.
Second he planted it with the choice vines, the most desirable of vines to bring about the best wine. So think of it at the best bean seeds or corn seeds to bring about your favorite vegetable.
Third - The built a watch tower, This would be a place to not only serve as observation to look over the entire vineyard to keep it safe. but it would also have storage in it.
The wine vat would be hewed out of stone, it would have two purposes, like a cave, it would have a storage area and then the very best set up for the preparation of the wine.
Fourth… then he waited and looked for a crop of grapes to come forth, he was looking for a harvest.
Every care had been taken to ensure a great harvest but the vines produced only wild grapes. Even though it was intended to do its best, it produced the worst grapes it could.
You would think that these vines had been left in the wild, that nothing had ever been done to them.
For humanities sake, it is like Israel who had experienced the very goodness of God, but did what they wanted
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 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?
Isaiah is speaking like Jesus did in the vineyard parable in Mark 12, by making his hearers both judge and jury in the matter.
You see it that Isaiah calls for the inhabitants around them, Jerusalem and men of Judah, hear and judge...
And he says in verse 4.. what more could have been done. This is really a sobering question. The beloved worked, used the best judgment and in truth spared nothing… There would be good grapes, not wild ones.
From God’s vantage point, if he has been at work, divine power and wisdom, even with his covenant love. What went wrong?
Well we know its not God nor the sake of the material the beloved. It’s the grapes, they are like men who remain unfaithful.
Now verses 5-6
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and briers and thorns shall grow up;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
The great question, if mankind is disobedient to God, what will God do..
The vineyard owner will take action, but he is not going to abandon it. He is not going to seek a better piece of ground. He is going to attack it and remove the hedge that protected it.
So He will remove its hedge. This way the animals can trample it and tear it down. The animals can eat on it like plants to be devoured.
He says in verse 6, it shall not be pruned or hoed, and the thorny bushes can grow up. He will curse it, so that no rain will fall on it .
Now this seems a little harsh, but remember he has worked and worked on it, did more than he should have and they would not respond.
God has loved and been faithful to Israel, they would not remain faithful. he will punish them for their sin.
Finally verse 7 for tonight
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry!
Here you see the Lord’s joy in loving Israel and the sorrow for their disobedience.
The vineyard is finally identified ( we knew who it was) but in case anyone wondered or wanted proof. God says it is His people.
God the beloved one, looked for expected His people to produce good, fruits of righteousness, for justice. But what he found was only bloodshed, the oppressive leaders did not act with mercy and oppressed the weak.
God’s grace for them would end and his curse would call on these oppressive people that could not demonstrate an ounce of mercy.
What we need to understand, God still expects the same justice and mercy of us. He will evaluate our actions and hold us accountable if we fail to act with goodness and mercy toward others.
Well we will stop here for the evening.