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The
Lord's Vineyard
In the New
Testament, you will find Jesus parable of the vineyard in Mark 12: 1-12. God
has spoken to my heart about this parable, which I shall share with you in
this teaching:
1 And he
began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and
set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower,
and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. 2 And at the season
he sent to the husbandmen a servant that he might receive from the husbandmen
of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 And they caught him, and beat him, and sent
him away empty. 4 And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they
cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully
handled. 5 And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others;
beating some, and killing some. 6 Having yet therefore one son, his
wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my
son. 7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let
us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. 8 And they took him, and
killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. 9 What shall therefore the lord
of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the
vineyard unto others. 10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which
the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: 11 This was the Lords
doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? 12 And they sought to lay hold on
him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable
against them: and they left him, and went their way.
The
Vineyard describes the
Planting
Planting describe the time when God saves someone and He starts to remove each unwanted plant, which the ruler of this world has planted into the heart of that person. These unwanted plants are sins. Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up, Matt 15:13. Weeds of sin, which is in the heart, prevent the light of Christ from shining into that heart. Weeds of sin will absorb all nourishments and they keep up to grow.
Every plant, which the Heavenly Father had not planted, shall be rooted up. In a natural garden, weeds steal valuable and nutritious humus from the plants by consuming this valuable mould. As a result, the plants cannot get the necessary amount of nourishment and they remain a far inferior. When weeds grow they prevent the sunlight from reaching the plants, and without sunlight plants cannot grow. If weeds outgrow the plants, what follows often is the death of those plants, because weeds eat all the nourishment from the plants and cover all sunlight. It is important that all plants, which the word of God does not know, must be rooted up; otherwise they will choke the plants of God. Likewise, sin and human tradition suffocate all healthy belief in God. The removing of the visible part of the weed is insufficient; all roots must be pulled up to prevent their again growing and choking of the plant. Sin and all erroneous traditions must be removed, because otherwise they block off the illuminating word of God.
Jesus spoke about the good ground, which produced fruit a hundredfold and one thirty and one sixty, Matt 13: 23. Jesus Christ meant that the heart of a person must proceed in the same way as the field, which produces a good harvest. Good ground must prevail. Ploughing it softens the ground. It is the same with the hearts of people, which must experience turning from the paths of sin, after which the new plants of Gods kingdom get completely new values and instructions for life. When the heart has been softened the seed of the Word can be sown, which will produce a harvest of righteousness. The softened heart starts to produce good fruit by way of patience, Luke 8: 15. In this way the softened heart then receives the rain of the Spirit of God, which led the plant of God to a good and healthy growth. The plant of God can also enjoy the heat of the sun, which is the mercy and love of God. The effect of this heat makes the plant grow towards healthy maturity. The good ground receives fertilization, in which dung enriches the soil. This dung can be described as twigs, which we get from our neighbours, because we love God and not the sin of the world. And so the good ground receives the dung, whereby it enriches the maturing of the harvest, in the same way the born-again believer receives twigs from his neighbour, because we love God and not the world and not sin.
The vineyard was always in a sunny place and with good drainage. It was always on hillsides to catch the sunlight and not get waterlogged. Before the vineyard was prepared, the area was terraced, and this acted as a form of protection against downpours. The terrace held the fierce rains of winter, otherwise the rain would wash away the valuable humus of the vineyard. If this happens the roots of the grapevines would be exposed to the heat of the sun. If we build our house on the rock of Christ, when the downpour comes it does not collapse.
God wants to shape the hearts of His people so that the enemy cannot destroy it. The heavenly “humus” or the Word of God must be mixed with faith in our hearts in order to be of benefit to us and we can grow forward in the faith as in Heb 4: 2. Let God shape your heart with His terraces so that the enemy cannot destroy you.
Fence and ditch
Fences and
ditches surrounded the vineyard. The fences were generally high stonewalls
which surrounded water ditches. On these stonewalls needle bushes were
planted. As fences, ditches and needle bushes prevented access to the
vineyard. Foxes and jackals would steal the grapes if they were not well
guarded. Even humans tried to steal the delicious grapes. Stonewalls and
ditches prevented thieves from having access to the vineyard.
Take us the
foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
So 2: 15.
God wants
to protect our hearts from sin, because sin spoils our hearts in quite the
same way as foxes spoil the vineyard. The stonewall describes the
The Wine Press
For the
crushing of grapes a wine press was needed, which was hacked from rock
(usually) where there were two cisterns. This wine press could also be buried
in the ground or bricked up. In this wine press were two cisterns, one was on
top, which was deep and wide. The other cistern was below that, and was deep
and narrow. Wine and oil were not produced by hand, because they were too
hard to be crushed by hand, but trampling on them with the feet did it. This
was carried out in the higher and wider cistern. Here trampling on them
crushed the olives and grapes. There was a hole in the bottom of the cistern
from which juices and oils poured down to the lower cistern.
The wine
press announces the message to the believers and this is a powerful example of
the transformation of this believer into the image of God. The upper cistern
describes how the proud human heart must be broken in much the same way as the
trampled grapes were. The grape juice poured from the upper to the lower
cistern; it came down from a height! When our flesh is broken, we begin to
change so that Christ is formed in us. The message of the wine press is a
powerful one: that I must decrease and Christ must increase in me, John 3:30.
The
In a
vineyard there was also a watchtower, where the vine workers in the vineyard
lived during the harvesting of the grapes. This watchtower is also a powerful
example of the believers watching over their progress. Believers must watch
their condition with concern so that no one can spoil the vineyard of the
Lord.
The Vine
Jesus is the True Vine and the believers are the branches of this Vine. The intention of the believer is to bear the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness and temperance. If we bear fruit, then God will be glorified. Bearing fruit does not glorify us, but glorifies God. This is so that we ourselves decrease so that Christ can increase in us. Jesus takes away each branch that refuses to grow, but each branch that struggles, Jesus helps and supports. In John 15:2 we find the expression takes away (Greek = airoo), which means to lift up; by implication, to take up or away; figuratively, to raise (the voice), keep in suspense (the mind), specially, to sail away. So Jesus actually uplifts and supports the believer who has a desire to grow, but have problems in growing. The believer who loves and bears fruit, Jesus prunes more, so that he/she can bear much more abundant fruit.
Those who cultivate vines and berries support those branches, which make contact with the ground, because the branch that is in contact with the ground absorbs strange nutrients and in that way the berries acquire a bitter taste. Berries must be nourished from the roots, so that they taste delicious. Jesus Christ is that the root who gives the believer healthy nourishment by the Holy Spirit and Word of God so that this believers life takes on the fragrance of Christ. The grapevine is such that the main trunk supports hundreds of branches. Jesus Christ is the head of the body, and He holds the congregation together. So let us stay in Jesus Christ, so that we can grow and mature toward the image of God.
Prophetic teaching of this
parable
The servants in this parable are the prophets of God, which the nation of Israel treated harshly with the aid of theirs leaders (both religious and earthly). The husbandmen were the priests, scribes and elders of the nation of Israel, who persecuted the real prophets sent by God. The beloved son is Jesus Christ whom the Jews rejected, and whose task was to teach the nation of Israel how to serve God. The Jewish religious leaders rejected the cornerstone, The Messiah Yeshua (Jesus), who delivered the good news (the gospel) of salvation to the world. Let this gospel reach the hearts of the people; let this be the subject of continuous prayer of the disciples of Jesus. Petri Paavola from Finland |
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