These words strike terror into the farmer who relies on the harvest so bills can be paid, shelter provided, and a family can be raised. Early in the season, a considerable investment has already been made. Sweat equity, some might call it. Others would undoubtedly consider the emotional equity involved. Not to mention the significant financial costs associated with tillage, seed, fertilizers, and weed control. The investment has been great.
Why would a farmer do such a thing? The answer is simple: because there is expectation that a plentiful harvest will more than compensate for the initial costs.
ANTICIPATION OF THE VINTAGE
Isaiah 5 records the thoughts of a heartbroken vineyard keeper. Initially, the prospect for a plentiful harvest was good. The perfect composition of well-drained soil, choice root stock, the seasonal rains and sunshine, and of course, nearby lodging for those who would tend and protect the crop. Not one detail was overlooked. Even a winepress was at the ready! The keeper could already anticipate the sights, sounds, tastes and glad satisfaction associated with the flow of new wine.
There is nothing more joyful and vindicating for a year’s labor than abundant fruit! So verse 2 continues: “He expected it to bring forth good grapes.” Of course he did; that’s the usual progression!
POINT OF APPLICATION
The Lord expects my life to bear fruit.
“But it brought forth wild grapes.” In other words, according to Isaiah’s metaphor, it was a total crop failure! What grew in place of the expected sweet and succulent fruit were “wild” grapes. This kind of harvest is worse than no harvest at all! The word used to describe this fruit of the vine (wild) is also used in reference to the decomposing fish in the rivers of Egypt (Ex. 7:18) and wormy manna (Ex. 16:20). Imagine a harvest that is stinky rather than sweet, disgusting to the Keeper!
POINT OF APPLICATION
It has to be His kind of fruit.
We hear the Keeper asking a question— actually two. There seems to be a measure of heartbreak and strain in his voice as he calls out to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judah: “Judge, please, between me and my vineyard. What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have not done in it?” What more? Is there a possibility that the vineyard Keeper could have overlooked a detail? Was he stingy in the materials used? Was he hasty or negligent in the preparation? Did he not adequately provide all that was necessary?
When we look beyond the metaphor, we are reminded of a loving God who meticulously and tenderly provides for His beloved people. They were His vineyard and He joyfully provided the very best to ensure their bounty and blessing: land, covenants, providential care, etc. There was nothing more He possibly could have given them. Alas, as we return to the text, the tender-hearted Keeper asks: “Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?” It seems inconceivable that the people of God, who had every reason to live for His pleasure, enjoyment and profit, should have their lives and conduct characterized as that which would be a stench to His nostrils. A crop failure of the worst kind!
Could this brief Old Testament parable have application to the Church in our generation, our assemblies, our personal lives? Has the heart of the Divine Keeper of Vines changed from then until now? Isn’t the expectation of the True Vine in John 15 that we would be joined to Him in an abundant spiritual harvest? “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (v. 5). Borrowing the words of Isaiah 5:2, it would seem that our Lord fully “expected it [us] to bring forth good grapes.”
Are we willing to apply the parable even further? Do we dare to ask what kind or quality of fruit our lives are characterized by? Have we even considered the possibility that our lives could bear similarities to the wild grapes of Isaiah 5:2? The thought is sobering, to think that our busy lives could actually bring displeasure to the heart of our Savior!
Is there anything more He could have done? Is there additional provision that our blessed Savior could have made to better ensure a more satisfactory harvest? Recall Peter’s words as he begins his second epistle: “His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue” (v. 3) We have been blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).
According to Romans 7:4, a life of fruitfulness for the Master should not be the blessed exception, but rather the expected outcome of a life united to Christ: “Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.” Peter’s second epistle agrees: “For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:8). It seems that our great God has not changed His objective. An abundant harvest produced in and through our lives remains an important priority. No surprise when we recall that the first recorded words of the Creator to His created image-bearers were these: “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28).
If a parable similar to Isaiah’s would be written today concerning the Bride of Christ in North America, how would it read? Would we hear the same heart-broken voice identifying yet another crop failure? It seems that genuine fruitfulness in our era of the Church is heralded as some type of anomaly. We’re content to watch years, decades, and generations come and go without asking the obvious question: “Where is the fruit?” Thank God for those wonderful exceptions where the vine is laden and the sweet smells of harvest permeate the air, but what about it? Where is the fruit in so many of our assemblies?
Perhaps equally as troubling as the lack of fruit is our lack of concern about the whole matter! We lack the expectancy that when the incorruptible seed of the Word of God is sown into hearts and lives, it should bear fruit. Although we tend to be articulate in the intricacies of the fruit-bearing process and in describing the fruit, sadly few of us have been actual participants in a dynamic and fruitful assembly. Before we point our index finger at the “establishment” though, let’s remember that fruitlessness is fundamentally an individual matter.
Our generation of believers, particularly in North America, have some serious spiritual housekeeping to attend to! We have adopted a mindset more akin to the rich fool of Luke 12 than that of our lowly Savior whose burden for lost souls trumped the need for life’s comforts. We have allowed our godless society to set the benchmark of “middle-class” living, and then adopted it as our own. Meanwhile we scramble, wondering how we could possibly squeeze the radical demands of being a Christ-follower and active involvement in our assembly into the remaining moments of our day. Can anyone identify?
Brothers and sisters, let us not miss the sorrow expressed in the words of Isaiah 5:4. “What more could have been done…Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?” Anyone who has invested heavily into a crop only to experience a total or partial crop failure can identify with those soul-stirring sentiments. God forbid we ever become complacent with fruitlessness! We have an inconceivably glorious God, and a remarkably beautiful Savior who deserve the sweet and fragrant aroma of an abundant harvest! Let’s go, and by the grace of God, gather in the harvest for Him!