Isaiah 5
A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard
My Well Beloved has a vineyard
On a very fruitful hill,
He dug it up and cleared out its stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine.
He built a tower in its midst,
And also made a winepress in it;
So He expected it to bring forth good grapes,
But it brought forth wild grapes.
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah,
Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard,
What more could have been done to My vineyard
That I have not done in it?
Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes,
Did it bring forth wild grapes?
-Isaiah 5:3-4
How is it that is His people have become worldly or secularized? They are doing things after the world, changing their thinking because of the world. The world seems to have more influence on us than we are on it. We are secularized when we become too comfortable with the Lord that we really do not have any passion for God. Bible teaches that we should be miserable with the world, not miserable as we spread gloom where ever we go, but here’s what I am saying, as a believer, never become satisfied with the world and the way things are. We should be distasteful! But I’m sorry to say that I don’t see that often in the modern world that we live in! Something is missing! In the book of Esther, God’s people have become worldly and are worshipping pagan gods. And God turned them over to captivity, and they were taken into Babylon for 70 years. Interesting note that the captivity in Egyptian slavery is different from the Babylon captivity. In Egypt the people are starved, beaten and tortured, but notice how it became more different under the rule of king Nebuchadnezzar, the people were given status and allowed to own homes, and even allowed to hold positions, attend school with the Babylonians, have all the rights they have, only that they are considered second class. And so the people became comfortable, and they even have the protection of the Babylonians and so they had a peaceful life over there. And the people became so settled to the point that 70 years after their captivity, when they were given the opportunity to go to Jerusalem and leave Babylon, they had become so comfortable that the bible says that only a few left while a majority of the Israelites stayed. And this is a call for concern, u asked why so? The bible predicts in the last days the people in church will become too comfortable with their riches, with their goods, with their jobs, with their cars, with their positions and actually what will happen to them is that they will become too comfortable till when its time to go home, they really won’t be able to do that because they have settled in Babylon.
Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity,
And sin as if with a cart rope;
Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight!
-Isaiah 5:18.20-21
Woe to those who join house to house;
They add field to field,
Till there is no place
Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land!
In my hearing the LORD of hosts said,
“ Truly, many houses shall be desolate,
Great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath,
And a homer of seed shall yield one ephah.”
Woe to those who rise early in the morning,
That they may follow intoxicating drink;
Who continue until night, till wine inflames them!
The harp and the strings,
The tambourine and flute,
And wine are in their feasts;
But they do not regard the work of the LORD,
Nor consider the operation of His hands.
-Isaiah 5:8-12
In other words, the people are too familiarized with materialism. They laid one house and they laid another one. If they got this house they will be happy, and when they got another house, they will be happy. And they buy land because they are insecure because they are afraid they will lose it if they don’t get it. Sounds familiar to the generation we are living in? We are all working hard to accumulate more, how to get more, how to attain more. Ever do we have the time to lay them aside and say, “I want more of you!” Verse 11 is saying partying, partying, partying all the time, we are running constantly with the music, with the wine and the drink. But it’s really talking about Christians who are going from one function to another, one entertainment to another, one pleasure to another, and they never have time for the Lord!
Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.
-C.S Lewis
Some people talk as if meeting the gaze of absolute goodness would be fun. They need to think again. They are still only playing with religion. Goodness is either the great safety or the great danger — according to the way you react to it.Now is our chance to choose the right side.
God is holding back to give us that chance. It won't last forever. We must take it or leave it.
Last call.
