Isaiah 5 A Worthless Harvest Series

Isaiah 5

A Worthless Harvest

Chose to be Wild vs. 1-7

6 Warnings vs. 8-23

Two Choices vs. 24-30

Intro:

When we get into this time of year, just before the leaves start to change, something cool happens

If you don’t know it it is grape harvest season

If you drive down La Purisma Rd or Hwy 246 you might pass a Ford F-350 pulling a trailer with big boxes of grapes in them

The guy is taking that harvest to a local processing plant to turn them into wine

The harvest season is something pretty magical

When there were vineyards off of Hwy 1 going into Santa Maria they would harvest at night

You would see the lights on the distance hills as the the workers would pick the grapes

A harvest in the Bible is a symbolic of the fruit that so much work went into producing

Ever sin the fall of man God said that by sweat and pain of our labor would the harvest come

That is why the Israelites turned the harvest season into a festive time

There are several feasts between August and October to recognize this

But what if the harvest produced wild or rancid grapes

There wouldn’t be too much to party about

In fact there would be widespread concern

The county would put out insect traps to see if there was an infestation

Meetings would take place to review the growing season and weather

Well Israel doesn’t do any of this, in fact they think the harvest is bountiful

But God has judged it and determined that it was a wasted crop… the whole thing needed to be destroyed

Read Isaiah 5:1-5

Transition:

Isaiah was a prophet that had a ministry of a minimum 41 years but possibly up to 58

We don’t know how long but his ministry traversed 4 kings

There was a fifth king, Mannaseh, who Isaiah was too old to minister to

Legend has it that in his old age Isaiah did confront Mannaseh and he put him in a hollow log and had him sawn in two

Mannaseh was by far the most wicked king of either Israel or Judah

Now we start to understand why Isaiah is prophesying all of this judgment on Israel

Prophets had two roles as the voice of God: Foretelling and Forewarning

Foretelling told the future

Forewarning told of coming judgment

It was word of why judgment was going to happen

Isaiah 5 is not an easy chapter to hear or to teach

Isaiah is asking Judah how many spankings they are going to get before they repent?

Chose to be Wild vs. 1-7

Isaiah starts with a harmless piece of entertainment, a popular love song.

But like Nathan confronting David in 2 Samuel 12, the prophet is taking us somewhere.

The story is about a vineyard that had many advantages.

It belonged to a loving person (my Well-beloved).

It was planted on a very fruitful hill.

The ground was carefully prepared (dug it up and cleared out its stones).

It was planted with good stock (planted it with the choicest vine).

It was protected (a tower in its midst).

Provision was made for the fruit to be processed (made a winepress in it).

With all these advantages, it is not surprising that He expected it to bring forth good grapes.

What else would be expected? But instead it brought forth wild grapes.

Isaiah is contrasting God’s lavish gifts of grace with the disappointing outcomes on our end.

A man is cultivating a vineyard with every appropriate provision.

He has a right to expect a good crop. But what comes of his efforts? “Wild grapes,”

Actually, the Hebrew word suggests stinking grapes.

They are not merely wild, they are rancid.

What “We are dealing with here is something worse than unfruitfulness.

The New Testament also speaks of a faith that brings forth fruit, but the fruit is dead works, which pollute the air like a cadaver.

The key word in verses 1–7 appears next: “When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?” Why?

Steppenwolf made the song “Born to be Wild” popular

But in reality we are not born wild but choose to be wild

Think about how many parents you have known who have provided the best life for their children only to see them totally rebel

Of course it’s the parents fault: they pushed too hard, they disciplined them, they had expectations

My family situation

Dad grew up in a orphanage, got jacked up in Vietnam, and had an inferiority complex

My mom had colored skin and was harassed during the late 50's & 60's, was addicted to prescription drugs most of her adult life

It would be easy for me to use that as an excuse but I can't