The Unproductive Vineyard
I have spent the bulk of my life living in Alberta, but, for a few years, growing up, we lived in the Lower Mainland. I was recently reminded of that time when reading a passage about a vineyard in Isaiah’s prophecies.
We didn’t have vineyards, but there were wild grapes aplenty for the picking. They were typically small and bitter, but we loved to pick and eat them. The vines were wild, untended and scraggly. Unlike the beauties you would find in a well-tended vineyard.
Let me sing now for my well-beloved, a song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. 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 hoped for it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones. “So now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between Me and My vineyard. What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I hoped for it to produce good grapes, did it produce worthless ones? So now let me tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall, and it will become trampled ground. I will lay it waste; It will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up. I will also command the clouds to rain no rain on it.” For the vineyard of Yahweh of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah, His delightful plant. Thus, He hoped for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress. Isaiah 5:1-7
Now that’s clearly a prophetic passage for the nation of Israel. God had provided everything they needed to produce a crop of righteous believers, but they failed. He sent them into exile in Babylon.
God brought them back, and still no harvest was produced, so in 70 AD, they were dibursed again and scattered them across the globe.
The fact that it was a prophecy for Israel doesn’t mean we can ignore it. The same principle can be applied to the church today.
God has given us everything we need to produce a harvest. We have been born again, carry the imputed righteousness of God and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. We have the Word in more languages, formats and translations than ever before in the history of the church. Here in the West, at least (for now), we are free to worship as we choose and to proclaim the gospel.
There is a crop to be gathered. We know that Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” Luke 10:2
We need to look at our collective hearts. Are we faithful to the Great Commission? Are we exercising our gifts and talents to grow the kingdom? Do we even care that people are perishing and going to eternal damnation?
It’s not my desire to beat anyone up over this issue. It’s simply a reminder to keep our priorities straight. As believers, God has expectations of us, and we have been provided with everything we need to get the job done.
Let each of us do our part to bring in an abundant and healthy harvest. That part might be to seed, water or reap, but whatever part we have been called to, may we be faithful.
Hallelu Yah (Praise God)
Be blessed
Kevin
Soli Deo Gloria (For the glory of God alone)
SUMMARY
Drawing on Isaiah 5’s vineyard parable, this devotional traces God’s patient provision for Israel and their repeated failure to produce a righteous harvest. The application turns to the church: we have been given every resource we need, and the question is whether we are faithfully doing our part in the Great Commission.
TAKEAWAY
God’s expectations are inseparable from His provision. He does not demand what He has not supplied.
The harvest is real and waiting. The shortage is not opportunity but workers willing to enter the field.
Every believer has a role, whether seeding, watering, or reaping. Faithfulness in your assigned part is the standard, not someone else’s calling.
All contents, “Gleanings From the Word” and “Experience an Extraordinary God in Ordinary Life,” are © 2001, 2026 K.F. “Kevin” Corbin, “Gleanings From the Word.” All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations are from the Legacy Standard Bible® (LSB®), Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc.
From Gleanings From The Word (Kevin Corbin, 2001– ), a Scripture-based devotional work.
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