The Burning Question
Opening Prayer
Savior King, I praise You that Your anger does not last forever, but that Your mercy comes swiftly to heal and restore.
Read Isaiah 5:1–7
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
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.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
This passage is written in dark days; Jesus was born in dark times. Yet, all through history God had a plan of salvation. Praise God!The first hearers of Isaiah’s love song would have enjoyed how special the opening made them feel (1,2a). Once the tune starts to change from verse 2b onwards, you can almost imagine their eyes shifting from side to side. And what was their reaction when they heard the destruction foretold in verses 5 and 6? Alarm? Anger? Denial?
It might seem strange to call this a love song. Sure, Isaiah loves God (1) and God “delighted in” Israel and Judah (7). But is “delighted in” past tense because God has stopped loving them? No. This is a song about covenant love. God’s powerful agreement with them had a flipside (e.g., Deut. 28:15). If they cheated on him there were consequences—designed to bring them back, not push them away.
If Isaiah’s song had made it to the Jerusalem Top 40 and people’s hearts changed, the impact could have been powerful. How often does our biblical Top 40 focus only on the “songs” we want to hear? How much airtime do we give to Jesus’ difficult calls to holiness? God had a plan even in this, to bring his people not only back to himself, but to open a whole new world of forgiveness for all humankind.
Apply
On this most special of days, make a covenant with the Lord. Give him the gift of your life—heart, mind, body and soul.
Closing prayer
Lord, thank You for sending the babe Jesus to create a new covenant and to take the consequences of my sinful choices.
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