The Gardener

Isaiah
{5:1} Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill
{5:2} And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
{5:3} And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
{5:4} What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
{5:5} And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; [and] break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down
{5:6} And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
{5:7} For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.


Imagine a loving person creating a beautiful vineyard, in a beautiful location. There He is putting up a protective wall around the vineyard to keep it safe. Then as any good gardener He prepares the soil by getting all the rocks out of the ground. Only when the ground is prepared does He plant the best plants He possibly can. With great hopes for His vineyard He builds a wonderful tower in the garden as the plants are growing, He even builds a winepress as He anticipates creating the best wine ever.

Then...as the time approaches to examine the grapes coming forth what does He see!? Wild grapes! He hadn't planted wild grapes, but there they are. His garden, His vineyard are ruined.

The gardener asks all those around who had been watching Him create this wonderful vineyard what He could have done more for the vineyard, didn't He do all He could to make it the most wonderful vineyard ever?

He has no choice, He has to do something with this horrible mess of a vineyard.

So He takes away the protective wall about it, it's a slow process as He lays waste to what was once was supposed to be wonderful.

The Gardener will no longer prune the vines, no longer dig at the soil to loosen it up to keep it so the water can get to the roots. He will no longer pull the weeds, the thorns, the briers. In fact there is no longer reason to water the plants they are wild and can no longer be pure and good.

What's all this mean?

As an analogy it means God lovingly created a people whom He nourished and gave all the advantages He could so that His people would flourish and become wonderful, happy, content, beautiful people. Instead, even after having all the advantages His people turn out to be spiteful, unhappy, bad. God did ALL He could do for His people. God did not leave a single thing undone and still His people turned from Him.

No true judgment but oppression.
No righteousness but a cry.

God did and does all He could and can for His people.

Free will.

The ability to choose to count on self over God.

Free will.

The ability to believe that by self you can exist and live happily, contentedly, forever.

Free will.

The ability to cut loose from the Creator and strike out on your own.

Free will.

Mankind chose to strike out on their own and as a result all they believe they can do of themselves are lies.
Man cannot save themselves. Mankind cannot live on their own- they die. A life meant to live forever was cut short because mankind with the beguiling of Satan (who had already given himself over to self) chose to live on their own power, their own steam. It's impossible for man to stay alive. From the moment of birth people are on the road to death. No one alive has ever been born, who on their own has lived forever. God's only Son became one of us, a person born to die. On His own He would be dead still. Only God's love does Jesus live. God, because His Son sacrificed Himself to save mankind- because He proved that a human being can live connected to God as intended.

We need to cling to God, He is our only hope. By the grace and mercy of Jesus alone we can do this, we can live connected to God.

It's my prayer that we grasp hold of Jesus, accept the sacrifice He's made for us; that we receive the power of the Holy Spirit sent to us so that we can be connected with God and live as God would have us live fully dependent upon Him for life.

Please Lord, hear our prayer as we cry out to You to send Your Holy Spirit to us, to guide us in Your path, to lead us in the way everlasting, in You now and forever.

Amen.