Today let’s study Isaiah 5. Today’s message title is taken from verse 1. Isaiah preached the Word of the Lord as a prophet. Here he is using a vineyard as a metaphor for the spiritual condition of Israel. Not only that, he is not just talking, but is using the metaphor of the vineyard too. Today through this love song, let’s look at three points of how much God loves Israel.
1. Let’s look at the expectations God had for Israel.
2. Let’s look at how Israel responded to God’s expectations.
3. Let’s look at what we need to do to bear good fruit.

I. God’s expectations (vs. 1,2)
First, let’s look at the expectations God had for Israel. Let’s look at verse 1 and the beginning of verse 2.
This passage we can understand well just by reading it. There is a master who has a vineyard. He cultivated grapes. He worked hard at tilling the soil, and planted good grape seedlings. Moreover, he put a fence around them to protect them. He prepared what was needed to make wine when the grapes are harvested. This expression, “a fertile hillside”, expresses the richness of the land. Palestine has fertile hills of terra rossa, a type of red clay soil produced by the weathering of limestone. It is a popular soil type for wine production. However, this does not mean that the land as it was was a good field. To be a good field, it had to be taken good care of. Therefore, this master of the vineyard “dug it up and cleared it of stones, and planted it with the choicest of vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes.” (2)
This was extraordinary care. It is not easy to remove rocks and stones. Also, with the stones that are removed he put up a stone wall around the vineyard, and with the left over stones built a watchtower. Watching over the vineyard was a hard job too. Especially during the important harvest season they had to watch over the vineyard 24 hours a day. Also he “cut out a winepress.” (2) A wine press was actually a wine vat. The grapes were trampled and the juice flowed into the wine vat where it was retained and stored until fermentation had begun. So that it can be used for a long time, it is cut out of stone. He took good care of the vineyard. He “cut out a winepress as well.” (2) The words, “as well” express how much he worked. That is how much he worked to produce the wine.
Here the vineyard is Israel and the master who worked so hard in caring for the vineyard is God. That is how much God loved Israel. We hear often that the God of the Old Testament is a fearful God and the God of the New Testament is a loving God. However, that is not so. The God of the Bible is consistently a loving God. If we look at how God appears in this passage we can see that God is a loving God. A person who thinks that God is fearful has assumed that himself. In reality that is not so. God no matter what loves us and for Israel worked so hard to care for them and bring them up.
God loved Israel so much because “he looked for a crop of good grapes” (2) from his vineyard. He “looked for good” (4) delicious grapes. He looked forward to the crop for a long time for them. Verse 2 expresses well the feelings of the master, “he looked for a crop of good grapes.”
Someplace, I don’t remember where, but I ate at a restaurant that served prime Japanese beef. On the entrance to the restaurant was a funny notice. “This restaurant uses prime Japanese beef. Our special cows are raised listening to classical music and receiving massages daily.” This restaurant’s cows were raised listening to classical music everyday! Moreover, they get massages! Isn’t that too luxurious? Underneath the notice there was an explanation. “The meat of cows that have been raised listening to classical music is of high quality and tender.” When I saw the explanation, I wondered if it was really true or not, but more than that I felt the owner’s deep drive, motivation and enthusiasm. I thought that he went that far to get the prime meat. That is how much expectation he had for the meat.
Ephesians 1:3-6
Here it says, God “has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3) God even “chose us in him before the creation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4) This was “to the praise of his glorious grace.” (Ephesians 1:6) So that God’s glory would be praised, before we were born, “before the creation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4) God chose us to be saved. God’s thoughts and feelings are strongly communicated to us. How much are we aware of God’s thoughts and feelings? Is there a possibility that we take our salvation and or the fact that we can worship every week at church as an ordinary thing and are not answering God’s expectation?
I think that probably the Ephesians were in such a condition. The temple to Artemis was there and the town was full of magicians and heathen idols and so at best just not losing their faith was about all they could do, but in reality God had high expectations for the Ephesians. Thus that was probably why people with big names like Paul, Timothy and John were sent to this church. It is said that many of the 7 churches that appear in Revelations were born out of the evangelism of the Ephesian church. This church didn’t just stop at local evangelism and church planting, but God had high expectations for them. In the same way God has expectations for us. If you look at us, we are like the countrymen of Galilee and we may be small and you may wonder what we could ever do. However, God wants this small Galilean country church to respond to God’s commission and become a church that shoulders the responsibility of worldwide missions.
Before pro baseball Dragons team player Mr. Nakamura was famous, the manager at that time, Mr. Hoshino said to him, “I will make you the number 1 player in Japan.” At that time I don’t where or how many possibilities he found, anyway he was just burning with those words.
Mr. Nakamura thought, “Even if I’m not worthy of it, the manager said that he would make me the number 1 player in Japan. The manager expects that much from me.” When he thought about that he was so happy and he went to the ground earlier than any other player, and practiced later than any other player. Now he is famous for his enthusiasm and his fighting spirit to make a comeback after all injuries.
If you think that no one expects anything from you, then it is natural to have no ambition, but if you know that someone is expecting something from you then you feel you have to make strenuous efforts. God finds the possibilities within us, and is excitedly waiting. Let’s receive the blessing of God and rise up to meet God’s expectations.

II. God’s despair (vs.2-4)
Let’s look at how Israel responded to God’s expectations. Please look at verses 2 to 4.
Contrary to God’s high expectations, the vineyard only yielded bad grapes. The grapes failed to mature and they spoiled. Even though the master took such good care of the vineyard and had expected good grapes, they were bad grapes. The words of the master, “but it yield only bad fruit.” (2) reveals the regret and mortification of the master.
Therefore, the Lord asks the people of Jerusalem and Judah to stand as a judge between God and his vineyard, Israel.
Verses 3,4
Even though the master did more than what anyone could say was necessary, he asked, “why were the grapes it yielded so bad that they couldn’t be used for food? Did I do something wrong? Is there something that I didn’t do? If there is something please tell me.” Of course the answer is No. There is nothing. The way God related to Israel was perfect. He took good care of the vineyard. He wasn’t lacking in anyway. If so, then why were the grapes bad? The answer is in verse 7.
Here it says, “He looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.” (7) These words “justice” and “bloodshed” and “righteousness” and “distress” are not necessarily contradictory words. Isaiah is using a play on words to make his point. The words for “justice” and “bloodshed” (mishpat and mispah) sound alike. So do those for “righteousness” (sedaqah) and “distress” (seagah). They sound alike, but their meanings are completely different. In other words, even though they look like what God was expecting, their insides were completely different. This was the problem. In reality they weren’t like God’s expectations, but they looked like they were. This was the problem.
There is a person that I know well, Maruya Sensei who wrote the book, “What a healthy faith is”. In this book he explains why this type of things happens. He explains this by using the word “Acting Spiritual”. Even though the person is not really spiritual, he thinks of himself as spiritual and acts that way. To be spiritual is to do the will of God. Even though he is not doing the will of God and is in reality separated from the will of God, he has a preconceived idea and image of what spirituality is so he has a misunderstanding of spirituality. Then such spiritual acting becomes habitual and unconscious and he lives a life of faith by the understanding of his own gospel. Like this it is difficult for him to mature. There is also the possibility that he will fall to spiritual decay. He is in the same condition of being on the surface like a good grape, but the inside is bad.
Israel became unable to bear good fruit. They thought they were receiving the grace of God and shut themselves up into consciousness of elite grace and while receiving grace they left such a walk. Then they bore only bad grapes. No matter how much effort you make in your own strength, you can’t bear the “justice” and “righteousness” that God expects.
The master of the vineyard is expecting good grapes. He desired good grapes. That is what he expected from the vineyard. This is the meaning of the vineyard’s existence.

III. The true vine (vs. 5,6)
Let’s look at how we can bear good grapes. Look at verses 5 and 6.
Here the conclusion of the master of the vineyard is stated. “Now I will tell you” (5) God had asked if there was anything that he had failed to do, but there is nothing so next God says that he will tell them what he is going to do. “I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.” (5) This means that outside enemies will come. They were protected because of God’s protection. Even so they did not recognize that and did things that denied God so there was no reason to have a vineyard. Therefore, God says, “I will take away its hedge and it will be destroyed. I will break down its wall and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there.” (5,6) Therefore, we won’t be able to walk there. Even though because God cultivates we are able to live contentedly, God won’t do that anymore. More terrible is “I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” (6) Rain is a symbol of life. The sun rising and the rain falling is necessary for us to be able to feel comfortable. If there is no rain, then plants can’t grow and live. This rain will not fall. We will face God’s judgment like this.
Incidentally, this parable of the vineyard Jesus talked about to the Jewish leaders. Please open your Bibles to Matthew 21:33-44. When the Jewish leader heard this parable they must have known clearly that this was the contents of the Old Testament in Isaiah 5. They knew that the farmers were themselves and the servants were the prophets. When the landowner sent the servants to the farmers, they beat the servants and killed them. When the Jewish leaders heard this, their faces darkened with hostility and anger. Then in verses 37-39 the landowner sends his son and the farmers kill him. When the leaders hear this they couldn’t take it.
Because of what has happened, the landowner “will bring those wretches to a wretched end.” (Matthew 21:41) This is what is written in Isaiah 5. Then what God will do is written in verse 43. “Therefore, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”
If Israel does not meet God’s expectations and produce only bad grapes then God would remove the kingdom of God from them and give the kingdom of God to a people that will bear fruit. Those people are the Gentiles. The Jews weren’t able to believe in God easily so God took away his grace and gave it to the Gentiles. As a result God’s kingdom has now come to us. This means that in order for us to produce the fruit that God expects, we need to believe in Jesus Christ, accept him and walk following the Word of God.
John 15:5
Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. Just as the branch must remain in the vine in order to bear fruit, we too must remain in the vine, Christ, or else we can’t bear fruit. No matter how much we try, we can’t please God. On the contrary we do what mustn’t do. For such people like us, the vine, Jesus, died on the cross. The vine, Jesus, was cut. Then the place where we were cut off at is grafted into Jesus, the trunk, in the place where Jesus was cut off at. The life of Jesus began flowing into us. By this life, we can grow lots of fruit. In other words, only by the living fellowship of Jesus, can we produce fruit.
What a wonderful promise! Even though by our own strength we can only produce bad fruit, by fellowshipping with Jesus, by the life of Jesus we can have good grapes. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22) We can have these fruit.
Abraham Lincoln soon after becoming an adult is said to have become neurotic. However, by being support by God he was able to put his life on the right track and was resolved to live for God and for man. Also Mrs. Curie after her husband’s tragic death, gave her life to God and through scientific study discovered radiation and made a huge contribution to the scientific world. William Booth, the founder of the Salvation army, never lost his passion for the lost, but made his decision for ministry more and more steadfast.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.” (John 15:5) Us too, let’s abide in Jesus, and let’s produce not pretend fruit, but the real fruit.
A little while ago on a gardening program on T.V. a professional gardener said, “By talking to your plants, you can prompt the plants growth.” This plant was a Creeping Charlie, a kind of inside plant, but the commentator said, “By talking to the leaves nicely, patting them, and talking to them, you can nurse its self esteem.”
We are Creeping Charlies. God is always speaking to us. He is always encouraging us, and patting us on the back. Let’s always hear God’s encouraging voice, and feel God’s expectations, and put our roots deep into the Word of God, and fellowship with the living God and be a person with abundant fruit.

Let’s apply it to our lives
1. What is God expecting of you? What is necessary for you to meet God’s expectations?

2. What kind of fruit are you producing? Good grapes? Bad grapes? What do you think is necessary for you to produce good grapes?