Isaiah 5

Bible study with Pastor Terry Gray


Isaiah 5
This is a song written by Isaiah. The main message is that God has taken great care tending to His people, and yet His people stubbornly chose to fall away. They believed that they were the ones who brought themselves success and glory, and they could do well just fine without God. God will therefore take it all away from them. He will bring judgment to Israel by bringing up powers around Israel.


Isaiah 5:1
The song starts off thanking God for all that He has done.


Isaiah 5:2-4
Isaiah compares the work of God with tending to a vineyard, which requires a lot of work. Israel is the vineyard. Yet, despite the extreme care God has put into Israel, God finds not good grapes but wild grapes. He finds willful sin, spiritual idolatry, etc.


Isaiah 5:8
People lived in excess while their fellow brothers/sisters lived in poverty


Isaiah 5:11-12
People pursue Heathenism, the pursuit of pleasure: sexual immorality, substance abuse, etc. People wake up and just drink. They willfully sin and taunt God, not believing God will judge them. They were flippant.


Isaiah 5:21
Humanism is defined as the belief of trusting their own wisdom. This is the main reason why Israel got judged--They thought they had it all and could do it all without God. Despite God's provisions, Israel still chose to stray, and they strayed because they had forgotten what God has done for them.


Time after time, God told them to REMEMBER. We should learn from the Israelites and thus never forget! We love because God loves. As the Israelites forgot, they got less and less thankful. And as they got less thankful, they started to stray.




THE CHURCH NOW BEARS THE RESPONSIBILITY TO BEAR FRUIT


Matthew 21:33-46
Jesus told a parable about a vineyard, a symbol taken from Isaiah's song. The vineyard of this parable also represents Israel. The vineyard was supposed to be fruitful but it was not. The wine dressers represent the religious leaders. They were supposed to produce fruit but they did not. The servants represent the prophets. God sent them to warn Israel against straying. However, the religious leaders not only failed to listen, they killed the prophets. The Son represents Jesus. Jesus was handed to the Romans for crucifixion, very much like what the wine dressers did to the son in the parable.


At the end of the parable, Jesus said to the religious leaders that the kingdom of God will be taken away from them, away from Israel, and it will be given to a different nation, the Gentile nation (Church) who will produce its fruit (Matthew 21:43).


1 Peter 2:9
The Church is the holy nation, a royal priesthood!


Before Christ, the people of God were the Isralites. After Christ, the "vineyard" was given to the Church. Today, we're in the Church age, producing the fruit of God's Kingdom.


Israelites were supposed to be God's representatives on Earth. It was supposed to be through them, all other nations would come to know God. However, they kept straying away from God, despite the numerous attempts God has sent forth prophets to guide them back on track. This privilege was finally taken away from the Israelites when they murdered Jesus on the Cross. When that happened, this privilege was passed on to the Gentiles.



The Church now has the responsibility to be FRUITFUL! And we can accomplish that through the following:
1. Worship God
2. Study and preach His Word
3. Pray
4. Gather in fellowship
5. Outreach


Though the Church is now representatives of God on Earth, God is not done with Israel. There are numerous prophecies in regards to Israel that have yet been fulfilled. For example, God promised that He will restore Israel. This will happen during the 2nd coming of Christ.


John 15
Jesus again used a vineyard in His teaching. Jesus is the vine, and each Christian is the branch. We are each expected to bear fruit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit, of righteousness, of a transformed life. If the individual isn't fruitful, the Church won't be fruitful! It is up to each of us to ensure the Church continues to bear fruit. How do we be fruitful? Jesus said "abide in me" (John 15:4). Six times Jesus said that, telling us to remain connected to Him in order to continue to bear fruit.