Pastor’s Note: God does NOT change and neither does the spirit of His Word. It is living and still relevant for each and every one of us today. With that thought in mind, remember the Prophetic words given by God’s Prophets and Teachers. The words STILL ring true! Do not be fooled into believing God’s Words and warnings were or are only for the children of Israel in ancient history.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-21, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” KNJV (Bold emphasis, added).

The Story of the Lord’s Vineyard

Now I will sing for the One I love a song about His vineyard: My Beloved had a vineyard on a rich and fertile hill. He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with the best vines. In the middle He built a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then He waited for a harvest of sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were bitter.

Now, you people of the U.S. and other nations, you judge between Me and My vineyard. What more could I have done for My vineyard that I have not already done? When I expected sweet grapes, why did My vineyard give Me bitter grapes?

Now let Me tell you what I will do to My own vineyard: I will tear down its hedges and let it be destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it. I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it.

This nation especially as well as others are the vineyard of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. The people of this and other nations are supposed to be His pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.

What sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after field, until everyone is evicted, and you live alone in the land. But I have heard the LORD of Heaven’s Armies swear a solemn oath: “Many houses will stand deserted; even beautiful mansions will be empty. Ten acres of vineyard will not produce even six gallons of wine. Ten baskets of seed will yield only one basket of grain.”

What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning looking for a drink of alcohol and spend long evenings drinking wine to make themselves flaming drunk. They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties— lyre and harp, tambourine and flute— but they never think about the LORD or notice what He is doing or the work that He has done.

What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart! They even mock God and say, “Hurry up and do something! We want to see what You can do. Let God Almighty, the Holy One carry out His plan, for we want to know what it is.”

What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter. What sorrow for those who are wise in their own eyes and think themselves so clever. What sorrow for those who are heroes at drinking wine and boast about all the alcohol they can hold. They take bribes to let the wicked go free, and they punish the innocent.

Therefore, just as fire licks up stubble and dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will rot and their flowers wither. For they have rejected the law and commands of the LORD; they have despised the word of God Almighty, their Creator. That is why the LORD’s anger burns against this people, and why He will raise His fist to crush them. The mountains will tremble, and the corpses of this people will litter the streets like garbage. But even then the LORD’s anger will not satisfied. His fist will still be poised to strike!

He will send forth a signal to distant nations far away and whistle for those at the ends of the earth. They will come racing toward the disobedient nations. They will not get tired or stumble. They will not stop for rest or sleep. Not a belt will be loosened, not a boot will be left empty. Their weapons will be lethal and primed ready for battle. Sparks will fly from their machines, and the wheels of their tanks and vehicles will spin like a whirlwind. They will roar like lions, like the strongest of lions. Growling, they will pounce on their victims and carry them off, and no one will be there to rescue them. They will roar over their victims on that day of destruction like the roaring of the sea. If someone looks across the land, only darkness and distress will be seen; even the light will be darkened by clouds.

All because they rejected the love the Lord God Almighty had for them and the work that He had done to establish them. They will feel what their rejection has accomplished. Like the farmer sowing seed, every action has and will have a reaction. You WILL reap what you sow!

¹(Based on and partially adapted from parts of Isaiah, Chapter 5,  NLT – New Living Translation)

¹Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015)