Isaiah 27:2 In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine
So much of what we learn today is learned artificially, although I don’t know if that is quite the right word for it. A hundred years ago many or most Americans were in farming work or farming communities. That is not the case today because farming is more productive per acre and that gives us the leeway to do other things. When you live on a farm, you learn about the generations of life, the ending of life, and everything in between that life requires.
Today, the food we have is totally disconnected from where it came from, its source. When she was a little girl, my mom used to visit her grandmom in South Dakota and they would butcher chickens to eat them. We are not accustomed to the time it takes to prepare food. We go to the grocery store and we instantly want food. We put it in the microwave and we want it instantly done. We learn, but we have to learn out of a book because so many of the things that would be just taught by life have been disconnected from us.
In the Bible we are reminded that God is the Creator of all, physically, spiritually, psychologically, economically, and in every way. There is one God and the world He has created all fits together. In the Bible you often find illustrations about the spiritual from the physical using examples from farming. Isaiah 27 is one such place. Verse 2 says, “In that day sing ye unto her [Israel], a vineyard of red wine.” What follows is a song from God about Israel. It happens “in that day,” a phrase mentioned three times in chapter 27. It means it is yet to come; it is in the future. In the song of the vineyard, we are reminded that God wishes to cultivate His fruit in our lives. We are not Israel or even a nation, but this principle is found throughout the Bible regarding individuals. God wishes to cultivate His fruit in His people. That is true in each of our lives.
Now, if you go to Isaiah 5, you find that this picture has been used before. Verse 7 says, “For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel.” So, this is a picture continued or restated in chapter 27 from earlier in the book. You can tell when a farmer is not at the farm, when he is not farming or cultivating his land. Proverbs 24:30 essentially says, “I went by the field of the slothful and it was covered with nettles. It was all grown up in weeds.” That is exactly what you would expect. God is a good farmer. He wishes to cultivate His good fruit in your life.
How does God do that? Verse 3 says that God keeps it. It says, “I the LORD do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.” God is talking about His people, specifically Israel. Again, I’m not a nation or Israel or Jewish, but I belong to God by faith in His Son Jesus Christ. Like the nation Israel and like we read of in the New Testament regarding individuals, God wishes to protect what He is trying to cultivate. He keeps it and protects it. Does that mean there is never any trial in life? No, to the contrary, God even cultivates that, but one of the ways God cultivates His fruit in our lives is to keep us and protect us. That has obviously been true in the history of Israel. There have been many trials. Israel has a bull’s eye on her back to this day, but God has His hand on this nation and a purpose for them even now.
God judges the vineyard. Verses 7-9 talks about how He has judged His people. Does God judge His people the way He would judge an intruder into His home? No, one is defense and one is correction, but He does judge. How does He do it? Verse 8 says, “In measure.” Why does He do it? Verse 9 says, “By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged.” So, God wishes to cultivate fruit in our lives and for that reason He protects us and judges us. He chastens us. Hebrews tells us, “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” God is not indifferent to His people. He judges us because He loves us.
God roots us. He rooted His people. Verse 6 says, “He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.” So, God wishes to plant us, cultivate us, and prune us.
Ultimately, God gathers. Verse 13 says, “And it shall come to pass in that day that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which are ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount of Jerusalem.” He regathered His people from Syria and Egypt.
God wishes to cultivate His fruit in your life. He does this a variety of ways. Why does He do it? It is so He can produce good fruit in your life. The fruit He produces is good, as He is. Every year we plant a garden in the spring. Weeds come automatically, but fruit does not. Next spring I anticipate I will plow all the growth under again, not because I hate my garden, but because I wish to produce good fruit in the soil that belongs to me. God wishes to do the same to you. I don’t know all that is happening in your life, whether good or bad, mysterious or known, all is a result of the fact that God wishes to cultivate His fruit in your life.