Fruit Expected But Not Forced
“I will sing to 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 briars 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. – Isaiah 5:1-7 NIV
We don’t know if Isaiah could sing well, but in chapter five of his prophetic book we find his “song of the vineyard.” It has three stanzas – verses 1-2, 3-6, and 7. Some translations put spaces between the stanzas. Notice that in stanza two (3-6) the song moves from the third person (He) to the first person (I) as God speaks directly to the nation of Judah. What did God want to communicate to Judah in this song of the vineyard?
It’s obvious that this song is actually a parable. In it God planted a vineyard and it’s clear from verse 7 that it represented Israel, and specifically the Kingdom of Judah. But God was not pleased with the results of His vineyard, and both Israel and Judah were denounced for their failure to bring forth fruit. When Isaiah wrote this inspired parable, Israel and Judah had been separate nations for about 200 years. After King Solomon’s reign the united monarchy split into the northern kingdom of Israel with Samaria as its capital, and the southern kingdom of Judah with Jerusalem as its capital.
Both kingdoms had turned away from the Lord without producing much spiritual fruit. The northern kingdom of Israel had even set up two idolatrous golden calf shrines. Although the southern kingdom of Judah continued to worship the Lord at the temple in Jerusalem, much of it was mere ritual without repentance, and little spiritual fruit.
Expected To Produce
God expects His people to produce fruit. In the parable, God did everything possible to help His vineyard produce. Verse 2 says that He expected it to produce “good grapes.” He chose fertile soil on a hillside with plenty of sunshine and rainfall. He removed the stones, which is no small task in Israel! He placed Israel in its own land, and promised to clear the land of pagan influence if they would trust Him and remove the pagan inhabitants.
The Lord planted His vineyard with the choicest vine of Abraham and the patriarchs. For protection and security, He planted a hedge and built a wall around the vineyard, and a watchtower. In addition, He hewed a winepress and vat out of the bedrock, anticipating a bountiful harvest. The Lord promised Israel abundant blessing if they would follow and serve Him only. But good grapes never appeared! God gave them opportunity to produce good fruit, but they produced only worthless wild grapes.
As the song continues, the results of Israel’s worthless fruit were made known to God’s people. Disappointed, the keeper decided to turn from His vineyard, letting it go to waste. He would no longer care for it and it would overgrow with briars and thorns. This part of Isaiah’s song was a prediction of what lay ahead for the Judah. God would remove His hand of protection from the nation, and allow thorns to overtake the land when His people were killed or taken into captivity by the Babylonian Empire.
There are several other “vineyard passages” in the Old Testament. Israel is likened to a vineyard in Psalm 80:8-19, Jeremiah 2:21,12:10; Ezekiel 15 and Hosea 10:1. In every passage God’s people were expected to produce fruit. In fact, Ezekiel belabored the point that producing fruit is the only purpose for a vine! A vine is not good for lumber or even pegs or firewood. It’s only good for producing fruit – and it’s expected to bear good fruit!
God expects His people today to bear good fruit. In John 15 Jesus said, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. If any man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing ... This is for My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit” (15:5,8). Are we meeting God’s expectations and bringing Him glory, or are we disappointing Him by just existing as dormant fruitless vines? God expects His people to bear fruit!
Not Forced To Produce
God will not force us to produce fruit. The Lord did everything possible to prepare and help the vineyards of Israel and Judah to produce spiritual fruit. Fertile soil, choice starter vines, protection, cultivation, etc. What more could they have asked for? But God did not force them to produce fruit. Producing good fruit was a matter of Israel’s will, and they willfully made bad decisions and sinful choices.
Verse 7 uses a powerful play on words to emphasize the contrast between the fruit God was seeking and the worthless fruit He found. Our English text says that God looked for justice but saw oppression or bloodshed, and for righteousness but heard cries of distress. In Hebrew, the words for “justice” and “bloodshed” sound very similar, and the words for “righteousness” and “cries of distress” do as well. To capture this play on words in English, one commentator translated this verse as follows: “God waited for equity but behold inequity. He waited for right, but behold riot!” God expected His people of Israel and Judah to produce fruit, but He did not force them, and the same is true today. In John 15 we read that God will prune and protect His branches, but will not manipulate them against their will. God will not force His people to bear fruit!
What About Us?
What more can the Lord do for us? In Isaiah’s song, God’s vineyard willfully produced only wild, worthless fruit – in spite of the fact that God did everything He could to help them produce a glorious harvest. What does the fruit in our lives look like? We should make frequent checks of the harvest we’re producing for God. Are we producing good grapes or wild grapes? If we answer “worthless grapes,” whose fault is it – God’s or ours? If we’re honest, we must admit that our poor harvest is our fault – it’s because of our bad decisions and wrong choices.
God has provided us with everything we need to produce good fruit for His glory. He starts us with new life attached to the choicest vine, His Son. He nourishes us as we live in relationship with Christ. The Holy Spirit protects, prunes, warns, counsels and encourages us through His Word and godly mentors – and much, much more. God does everything possible to help us produce a glorious harvest of good fruit in our lives! Yet, in spite of this, so often we choose to please our sinful natures. As a result we produce wild grapes of selfishness, pride, jealousy, ambition, criticism, greed, discontent, bitterness, anger and worse. Is it possible for us to produce these sad, ugly and ungodly fruits in our lives? Unfortunately, yes. Just look at Galatians 5:17-21 and Colossians 3:5-9.
We may say we would certainly produce more fruit if God were to change our circumstances, but think about it. Do we really believe we would produce more pleasing fruit for God if He were to give us a better church or more money, or a different boss, or a more loving family, or a bigger home, or more free time? No! God has already provided us with everything we need for good fruit production (2 Pet. 1:3).
God knows what’s best for each one of us. He places us and nurtures us in the situations and circumstances which will bring forth the best harvest of fruit in us. It’s up to us to choose to grow and produce good fruit by His Spirit.
“His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us ... So make every effort to add to your faith, goodness; and to your goodness, knowledge; and to your knowledge, self-control; and to your self-control, perseverance; and to your perseverance, godliness; and to your godliness, brotherly kindness; and to your brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive” (2 Pet. 1:3,5-8).
Think about it. What more can God do for you than He has already done?
By David R. Reid