1636. A Vineyard of Red Wine
A Vineyard of Red Wine
"In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
"In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine.
"I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.
"Fury is not in Me: who would set the briers and thorns against Me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together.
"Or let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.
"He shall cause them that come of Jacob to take root: Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.
"Hath He smitten him, as he smote those that smote him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?
"In measure, when it shooteth forth, thou wilt debate with it: he stayeth his rough wind in the day of the east wind.
"By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when He maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.
"Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.
"When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore He that made them will not have mercy on them, and He that formed them will shew them no favour.
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel.
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem" (Isa_27:1-13).
The Lord, in the 27th of Isaiah, is singing another song of His vineyard. This time it is a vineyard of red wine, it is a vineyard which has known the action of the wine-press.
Let us examine the song.
1. It Is a Song About a Coming Day
"In that day sing ye unto her, A vineyard of red wine."
The day is the day of the Lord; it is the day of Jacob's trouble; it is the day of the Great Tribulation.
The great enemy, the foe of Israel, here emblematized as the mighty leviathan, the piercing serpent, the crooked serpent, is to be punished.
The children of Israel have been in the winepress of the nation's wrath, the devil having been cast down, is persecuting the woman who brought forth the man child, and the remnant of her seed. The antichrist and the false prophet have broken tryst with Israel, and are seeking to overwhelm her.
As God looks down, in that day, He sees a vineyard of red wine.
The red wine speaks of the flow of the blood–
(1) Christ was cast into the wine-press and His Blood flowed for us in substitutionary grace.
(2) Israel is cast into the wine-press, by the Gentiles and her blood is freely spilt.
(3) The nations will finally be cast into the winepress of God's wrath and their blood will be sprinkled on the garments of the Lord Who comes to the rescue of His people.
2. It Is a Song of God's Protection
"I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day" (Isa_27:3).
The Lord Jesus Christ has come to the rescue of His people, the vineyard of the red wine is prefaced by the words: "Come, My people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee; hide thyself as is were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast."
In the day of Jacob's trouble, the Lord would not forget His vineyard. An angel will cry out? "Hurt not the earth, * * till we have sealed the servants of our God."
In that day, will the woman (Israel) flee into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God, and when the serpent casts out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, God will help her.
3. It Was a Song of Fury and of Judgment
The fury and the judgment in the song of the vineyard of red wine, was not against Israel, but against the nations who had spoiled her.
He is calling upon His people to take hold of His strength, to make peace with Him.
He is telling His people that Jacob shall take root, that Israel will blossom and bud and fill the world with fruit.
He who smote him, shall restore him. God will stay the rough winds that laid waste his vineyard.
The iniquity of Jacob shall be purged, his sin shall be taken away.
This deliverance of Israel will not be until her grapes have been pressed in the wine-vat. Her defensed cities shall be desolate, her habitations forsaken, and she shall be left like a wilderness. Her boughs shall be withered and broken off, and set on fire.
But after this, the Lord will remember His people. He will lay in Zion a foundation-stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation: and he that believeth shall not make haste.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR