I will sing for 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. Isaiah 5
In that day sing to her, “…I, the LORD, keep [her], I water [her] every moment… Fury is not in Me…Or let him take hold of My strength, That he may make peace with Me; And he shall make peace with Me.” Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and bud and fill the face of the world with fruit. (Isa. 27:1-6)
Today we sing for the one we love about a vineyard. We sing for Him the story of Israel so that we can comfort His heart and comfort His people. We tell it not to condemn or judge, but to celebrate! God has not abandoned His people and will never abandon them. We sing the vineyard song out of compassion, as did the prophets. Nothing comes from stories forgotten. But stories retold, and songs re-sung, even sad ones, can bring redemption and reconciliation. God judges the sinful kingdoms of the earth even still today, both Jewish and Gentile. Only through the blood of Yeshua can we find forgiveness and reconciliation with one another and with God. And we enter together into a life free from judgment and alive to mercy; into a future free from wrath. Come into the vineyard of the Lord’s love for the nations today, as we lift up the re-grafting of the branch of Israel.
All Sinful Kingdoms, Bearing Grapes of Wrath
As a mother, I know which stories I can tell about my children. When I tell people stories about their successes, they shine. But when I tell stories about their failures or shortcomings (which I try not to do), they get angry. Why? Because they are embarrassed. Even when I go to correct my youngest child, she hears the tone of my voice and says, “No, Mama, I don’t want to listen to this.” But I know I have to bring her sins to light so she can see that I see her and am inviting her to acknowledge her sin, find forgiveness, healing and wholeness, restoration and reconciliation. And I intend to restore her. In fact, I will not stop until she is restored, regrafted. Though she has experienced my wrath, she will be restored. My zeal for her, for my own honor, and for our family dynamic will accomplish it. We are the children here. The question is, on a personal level, will we as His children endure being offended by Him, who judges us better than a human parent, because He can see our intentions? Will we receive His correction, humble ourselves and repent? And then, will we receive the mercy of Yeshua, who took all punishment for our sins and shortcomings at the cross?
The prophets were used by God in hopes to call the children of Israel to repentance and correct the behavior of His people who were bearing bad fruit (merciless living, drunkenness, forgetting the poor, mistreating foreigners in the land, bloodshed, cries of distress, not caring for their own families). The prophet Isaiah said, the eyes of the Lord are on the sinful kingdom. They fill up the cup of wrath and then it is poured out on them. God’s eyes are on all the nations. His blessing of one nation is often the judgment of another. His judgment of one nation is often the blessing of another. Remember what was told to Abraham when He was promised Canaan:
Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there [Egypt]. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
God waits to pour out wrath until sin has reached a “fullness.” The wrath of God is described as wine. And we have all deserved His wrath according to His law.
God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. Psalm 7:11 (Lord, we know that you are a righteous judge who judges at the heart level. Who can hide from your eyes? Search us and know us. Show us our need for repentance. You know us better than we know ourselves. We ask this on a personal level and a national level. See us and call us out. Correct us. Show us how to love our neighbors and hear the cries of distress. Show us how to do justice. Show us how to love mercy. Show us how to walk humbly with you. We want to sit under your gaze and your assessment of us, not man’s.)
For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. Psalm 75:8 (Adonai, because you are a righteous judge, you will punish the wicked who do not come under your mercy in repentance. It is your duty. And you are right to judge. We do not sit in judgment of you, you alone are equipped and qualified to sit in judgment, because only you are righteous, holy, and completely good.)
The vineyard of the Lord Almighty is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the vines he delighted in. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. Isaiah 5:7 (Lord Almighty, Israel is your vineyard. You watch over them and set up the watchtowers and presses. Lord, we ask that you will let justice grow here and righteousness. We know that all of that, including mercy, comes from Yeshua, and so we ask for heart of repentance and acceptance of the truth of Messiah for all who live here in the land, and for all nations, especially the Jewish people, your special vineyard.)
Wake yourself, wake yourself, stand up, O Jerusalem, you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath, who have drunk to the dregs the bowl, the cup of staggering. Isaiah 51:17 (Lord, comfort your people who have drunk the bottom of your wrath. Though they stagger from pain and offense of punishment, you offer them mercy. May the blindness of the veil of the law lift and may they find themselves in the presence of Yeshua, looking at them with mercy in His eyes of fire.)
A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. Revelation 14:9-12 (Lord, we ask for your people to endure and not take the mark of the beast. We ask that their trust will be in you alone. We thank you that those who obey your commands and are filled with your Spirit will endure, and will not be deceived in the last days. We hold onto the testimony of the blood of the Passover Lamb, Yeshua Messiah.
Repentance, at a national level can happen two ways that I see in scripture, either from the top down, where a government representative repents and declares a time of repentance for the whole nation (Josiah, Hezekiah). Second, it is when a wave of conviction sweeps through a nation in the individual hearts of people returning to holiness through the cross of Messiah and the filling of His Spirit (ministry of Yeshua and the Apostles, Great Awakenings of America, Global South revivals). Usually in response to a clear gospel message, people begin repenting and receiving of God’s mercy and then living lives of love-driven obedience, in an honoring awe and respect and thankfulness toward the Lord (lifestyles of worship).
The Bible tells us that Jesus took the crushing like grapes in a wine press.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed…Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Isaiah 53: 4-6, 10
The Vine Regrafted, Bearing Grapes of Mercy
Jewish and Gentile, we need the blood covering of Yeshua, like the blood of the passover lamb, over each household, over each heart, over each nation. The plan of God is our regrafting into the root and shoot of Messiah, into the vine of Yeshua (John 15-16), so that we can experience His mercy, the consequence of the cross. Without the cross, we are still under wrath. Filling up the cup, slowly slowly, a little more each day. One day, the wrath of God will be poured out over all the nations and peoples who do not come under the Messiah. This is called the great harvest of the earth (Revelation 14:14-20). Grafted into the vine, we will experience the wrath of man against Yeshua, therefore participating in His sufferings. But we will not experience the wrath of God because we will endure to the end in Yeshua, by His grace and by His Spirit in us.
The New Wine in New Wineskins
The New Wine is the wine of Mercy and the Holy Spirit that is in the blood and good news of Messiah, who was crushed like grapes and poured out for us. He was trampled in the winepress of God’s wrath FOR US. When we drink His blood in the wine of Shabbat or Communion, we take in His good wine, the sinless life, His new life into us…like sap flowing from vine to branch. When we pray in the spirit or pour out God’s word or blessings on our lips, we flow out with it–a river of life (Acts 2:13). Good fruit. Finally. Fruit of righteousness, justice, humility, peace, joy, love, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control, faithful endurance.
Good tree produces fruit (of the lips that glorify your name)—and when our hearts are bearing good fruit, we will see new artistry pouring out of us in worship like good wine. We will see the wrath of God poured out, but there will be worship in the middle of this.
Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. Through Yeshua, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Hebrews 13:15
They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
from the west they acclaim the Lord’s majesty.
15 Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord;
exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel,
in the islands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear singing:
“Glory to the Righteous One.” (Isaiah 24)
The New Wine is the wine of Mercy that is offered in the blood of Messiah, who was crushed like grapes and poured out for us. When we drink His blood in the wine of Shabbat or Communion, we take in His new life into us…like sap flowing from vine to branch. The life that was crushed by God’s wrath and now flows through our veins as a substitution for our death, and a constitution of new life in Him. We are no longer objects of wrath, but mercy, so we pour out mercy, not wrath. Why would you pour the wine of mercy into objects of wrath (old wineskins) (Matthew 9:16-17)? A new wine of mercy requires new wineskins (born-again believers, who have actually experienced God’s forgiveness and mercy Mark 2:22). All nations have been cut off, including unbelieving Israel (And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’” Luke 5:39), but HE is re-grafting those who believe back into the vine that was already crushed for us. Paul teaches that not only will Israel will be re-grafted, but will be re-grafted “readily!”
If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, 18 do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. 22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. 23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree! (Romans 11)
If we choose to put our trust in Yeshua, whether Jew or Gentile, we are brought into the vine of Messiah, and though we will be persecuted by man, but NOT be crushed by God’s wrath. We are made new in Yeshua, objects of mercy and not wrath. And this is for all who believe from all nations! The fruit of the good vine. The good grapes, not because of our own goodness, but the goodness of our root, which is Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah.
The life that was crushed by God’s wrath and now flows through our veins as a substitution for our death, and a constitution of new life in Him. We are no longer objects of wrath, but mercy.
We can do NOTHING without Him, led by His Spirit. We bear good fruit now. When crushed, we drip with mercy, the new wine that flows through us in His blood. And we offer that wine of our poured out lives to the Lord and to our neighbors in pure absolute love. We are forgiven and free from wrath–forgiven to forgive, shown mercy to show mercy, and so it will ever be in the land of the Kingdom. We have it now in jars of clay, but one day, in resurrected bodies of everlasting, new life.
Let’s Pray
Lord we ask that you would make us bearers of the cup of mercy in Messiah’s blood, that our nations would repent of our sin and the things that make you indignant, as a people. We want to enter into your mercy, because Yeshua was crushed for us.
Abba, you invited us to “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” Isaiah 55:1
Yes Lord, we BUY IT! Not with money but with open hearts, with nothing to give but our love. With our praise and thankful hearts, WE RECEIVE YOUR MERCY!
I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 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.
3 “Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 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?
5 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.
6 I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.”
7 The vineyard of the Lord Almighty
is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. Isaiah 5
LORD IN OUR DAY, MAY YOU RAISE UP AND BLESS A MERCIFUL AND JUST JEWISH NATION, ATTENTIVE TO THE DISTRESS CRY, TRULY RIGHTEOUS. SHAKE EVERYTHING THAT CAN BE SHAKEN SO THAT WE BUILD OUR HOPE ON YOU. DELIVER US. YOU ARE OUR SHIELD AND STRENGTH. LET US BE THE GENERATION WHO WILL PUT OUR TRUST IN YOU. AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE WE WILL SERVE YOU.
I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:
“Strike the tops of the pillars
so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads of all the people;
those who are left I will kill with the sword.
Not one will get away,
none will escape.
2 Though they dig down to the depths below,
from there my hand will take them.
Though they climb up to the heavens above,
from there I will bring them down.
3 Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
there I will hunt them down and seize them.
Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent to bite them.
4 Though they are driven into exile by their enemies,
there I will command the sword to slay them.
“I will keep my eye on them
for harm and not for good.”
5 The Lord, the Lord Almighty—
he touches the earth and it melts,
and all who live in it mourn;
the whole land rises like the Nile,
then sinks like the river of Egypt;
6 he builds his lofty palace in the heavens
and sets its foundation on the earth;
he calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land—
the Lord is his name.
7 “Are not you Israelites
the same to me as the Cushites?”
declares the Lord.
“Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
the Philistines from Caphtor
and the Arameans from Kir?
8 “Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord
are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy it
from the face of the earth.
Yet I will not totally destroy
the descendants of Jacob,”
declares the Lord.
9 “For I will give the command,
and I will shake the people of Israel
among all the nations
as grain is shaken in a sieve,
and not a pebble will reach the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people
will die by the sword,
all those who say,
‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’
11 “In that day
“I will restore David’s fallen shelter—
I will repair its broken walls
and restore its ruins—
and will rebuild it as it used to be,
12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations that bear my name,”
declares the Lord, who will do these things.
13 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
and flow from all the hills, and I will bring my people Israel back from exile.
“They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant Israel in their own land,
never again to be uprooted
from the land I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.
Amos 9
On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
7 And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.
9 It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.” Isaiah 25
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Colossians 3:1-17
And also….because I cannot resist one of my favs of all times.
