Isaiah

Isaiah 5: God judges His unfruitful vineyard

Begin in prayer

Before we listen to the song about God’s vineyard, please pray for honest hearts. Ask Him to show our family the evil He condemns and lead us to the righteousness found in Christ.

You brought a vine out of Egypt. You drove out the nations, and planted it.

Psalm 80:8

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Help us understand the justice of Your judgment. Show us Christ and turn us from the sins we try to excuse. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

Isaiah sings of a vineyard planted on a fruitful hill and supplied with everything needed for good grapes. It yields wild grapes, so its owner will remove its hedge and leave it a wasteland. God identifies Israel and Judah as His vineyard, where He sought justice and heard cries of distress. Greed, drunken feasts, contempt for God’s word and bribed judges reveal the bad fruit. The people call evil good and good evil while boasting in their own wisdom. God will bring captivity, hunger and death, and summon distant nations against them.

As you read Isaiah 5, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The holy God judges the evil fruit of His well tended vineyard.

The owner clears stones, plants a choice vine and prepares a tower and wine press before waiting for fruit. The vineyard has no ground to blame him for its failure. God makes Judah judge the case before naming Judah as the guilty plant. Good grapes mean justice and righteousness, and wild grapes mean oppression and cries for help. The song begins as a song for the singer’s well beloved (verse 1). The hearers listen gladly until they learn they are the vineyard (verse 7). Bribes overturn justice, and confident sinners rename evil as good. God’s stretched out hand brings judgment that their words do not reverse. The distant army answers His summons, and no one delivers its prey.

How does Isaiah 5 show us that the holy God judges the evil fruit of His well tended vineyard?

God has cared for His vineyard.

The tower protects the vines, and the wine press is ready to receive the grapes. Every preparation shows the owner’s care. When the fruit is bad, he asks what more he could have done.

God judges the injustice His people produce.

Adding field to field leaves no room for others. Judges take bribes to acquit the guilty and deny justice to the innocent. These acts explain the cries of distress that rise from God’s vineyard.

God’s holiness will be seen in judgment.

Calling evil good leaves God’s verdict as it was. He will leave the vineyard unprotected and command the clouds to withhold rain. The nations He summons will carry off their prey, and the land will face darkness and distress.

Memorise

Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.

Isaiah 5:16

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what evil am I excusing that I need Jesus to forgive and change?

The vineyard’s owner asks, “What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?” God’s care has met oppression. Renaming that evil leaves wild grapes wild.

Our rebellion deserves the holy God’s judgment. At Calvary Jesus died for His people and bore the punishment for their sin. He rose victorious over the death they deserved. He completed the saving task, and His offering provides all His people need to be accepted before God.

Turn from your sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Bring Him the wrong you have tried to call right. The repentant sinner finds mercy and forgiveness in Him through faith. The living Savior changes the lives He redeems, so that grace bears fruit in justice and love.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God’s care makes Judah’s injustice more serious. Jesus bore judgment for His people, and His resurrection gives hope to guilty sinners. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God that His holiness exposes and judges evil fruit, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.

Matthew 3:10

Holy God, thank You for Your care and for telling the truth about our sin. Please turn our hearts from evil to faith in Jesus. Give us honesty when we want to excuse evil. Let the mercy found in Christ shape our treatment of others during this week. Amen.