Gene’s Daily Scriptural Postings
- H Gene Lawrence
- 16 hours ago
- 6 min read
Year of Prophecy – Episode 42: When stepping back to look at a parable Jesus shared and how it is very similar to an illustration found in the writings of Isaiah, discover how two similar, illustrative vineyards can teach us how God wants us to live our lives as followers of Jesus.
Read the transcript:
As we continue looking at connections between the Old Testament and Jesus’ ministry, and before moving forward to prophecies focused on the resurrection and beyond, I thought it would be worthwhile to step back and look at a fascinating parable Jesus shared that is connected with a prophecy found in the Old Testament.
However, while pausing our journey through Jesus’ death and resurrection to focus on this parable mght seem a little strange, hinted at in the conclusion of this parable are connections and foreshadowing of the resurrection. Also tucked within this parable was foreshadowing of Jesus’ death.
With this as our foundation, let’s read this Old Testament prophecy-illustration and discover what we can learn from how Jesus takes this idea and incorporates it into His teaching. Our passage and prophecy is found in the book of Isaiah, chapter 5, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 1, Isaiah writes:
1 Let me sing now for my well-belovedA song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.2 He dug it all around, removed its stones,And planted it with the choicest vine.And He built a tower in the middle of itAnd also hewed out a wine vat in it;Then He expected it to produce good grapes,But it produced only worthless ones.
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?Why, when I expected it to produce goodgrapes did it produce worthless ones?5 “So now let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard:I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed;I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground.6 “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.”
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of IsraelAnd the men of Judah His delightful plant.Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
In this ominous illustration found in Isaiah’s writing, we see God giving His nation every possible advantage, hoping that all the attention and blessings given to them would result in a positive outcome. However, what happened instead was the opposite.
Through what would easily be a very unpopular message, God predicts the rejection of a people who He gave every advantage and blessing.
Moving forward to the New Testament, nearing the weekend He would be crucified, Jesus had the opportunity to share an illustration that also touches on the theme of a vineyard. In Matthew’s gospel, chapter 21, starting in verse 33, Matthew records Jesus teaching those present by saying:
33 “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. 35 The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. 37 But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ 39 They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. 40 Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” 41 They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the properseasons.”
Let’s stop reading here and save the rest of this event for our next episode.
I suspect that some of you, when reading Jesus’ parable about the vineyard, will easily see the connection between it and the illustration that Isaiah shared. While there are clear differences, such as the focus of Isaiah’s parable being on the grapes the vineyard produced while Jesus’ parable focused on the evil hired tenants, the gist of both these parables is on how every opportunity and advantage was provided to those involved in this vineyard. Even with everything blessing and advantage being given to the grapes and the tenants, the ultimate result was not positive.
One thing I find amazing about this parable is that with the way Jesus frames the question He ends with, it implicates those who are listening to Him. While we will focus more on this point in our next episode, it is worth pointing out that Jesus asks the question about what the vineyard owner would do, and according to Matthew’s gospel, it is those listening to Jesus who respond that the vineyard owner would deal harshly with them.
It is also amazing to point out the interesting irony that in this illustration, Jesus clearly predicts His own death at the hands of the religious leaders. While this detail is often only briefly touched on, it is amazing in my mind that if the religious leaders wanted to avoid playing into Jesus’ prophetic hand, they would have taken Jesus’ words in this parable to heart, and simply rejected Him rather than plotted for His death.
I suspect that these leaders simply did not care if something Jesus predicted would ultimately come to pass, at least at that time, because they had already written Him off as not fitting their understanding of Messianic prophecies. One could make the case that one reason Jesus died was because the religious leaders were too focused on only one way of understanding the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. An equally valid similar idea is that Jesus died because the religious leaders focused more heavily on prophecies that sounded good, while discounting prophecies that pointed towards a suffering and crucified Messiah.
However, if we take a step back and learn the lessons that the past teaches us, we can avoid making the same mistakes that those in the past made. In the case of the vineyard, we can be better than the bitter grapes that were produced by valuing the blessings God has given to us. While sometimes God’s blessings come through trials, we can know and trust that everything God allows into our lives has a purpose, and that God’s ultimate purpose is saving us for eternity.
Also, in the case of the evil tenants, we can learn from their mistake by returning to God His portion of the things He has blessed us with. While the parable ends before the actual judgment has taken place, if we are left to conclude the parable the way the crowd’s suggestion goes, then the tenants who were given every opportunity ultimately lose everything. These tenants owned nothing to begin with while they thought they could claim everything as their own, and because of this attitude, they ultimately lose more than they had to begin with.
It is the same way with each of us. We have been blessed with more than we deserve through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. We began with nothing, and were given everything. While we have the temptation to discount Jesus’ gift to us, and claim we can earn 100% of salvation on our own, if we go down this road, we will ultimately lose out on everything.
The way out of this trap is to continually acknowledge God’s blessings in our hearts, minds, and lives, and to live with an open hand towards God, allowing Him to loan things to us and being willing to return the things He has loaned when He asks. Living with a gracious, generous, open hand towards God is the way to avoid falling in the trap of the evil tenants, and it is also the way to produce a great harvest of fruit in our lives – a harvest of spiritual fruit that reflects God’s character and love.
As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:
As I always open these challenges by saying in one way or another, intentionally seek God first, in your life and choose to live in a gracious, generous way towards God for all the ways He has blessed you with.
Continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God, and purposefully orient your life towards growing closer to Him.
And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or walk away from where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!
Read this article on the web on it's official page: Lessons from Two Vineyards: Isaiah 5:1-7
Comments