Seize the Moment – Day 1372
The Vineyard of God!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, December 19.
Jesus used agricultural imagery in his teaching because He, as a master teacher, was connecting with an agrarian audience. Jesus spoke of soil, the sowing of seeds, the reaping of harvests, an oxen yoke, and many other images of a working farm because the people intuitively understood them from their everyday lives. Moreso, in His parable of the tenants, told in Matthew 21:33-41, Jesus did more than connect to agricultural imagery, He referenced the Old Testament’s prophetic parable from Isaiah 5:1-7:
My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill. He dug it all around, removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it; then He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones. “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between Me and My vineyard. … I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. ….” For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah His delightful plant.
Jesus fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecies of a coming Messiah, so when He told His parable it carried the weight of God’s judgment of His vineyard. His original audience would have known this, then Jesus changed the parable’s emphasis from the destruction of Israel to a change in kingdom leadership, to those who would bring about the fruit God desired from His vineyard (Matthew 21:42-44). Jesus came as Israel’s forever King and He has given His church access to all the promises of Israel (2 Corinthians 1:20).
Seize the moment and abide in the vine of Jesus; accept His rightful rule and you will bear much fruit, but apart from Him you can do nothing (John 15:1-17).
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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