WWUTT 1849 Woe to Those Who Call Evil Good (Isaiah 5:1-30)

God promised judgment upon the house of Judah because they were wicked and rebelled against the

Lord. And in the same way God promises judgment against this land as well. Our only salvation is

Christ when we understand the text. This is

When We Understand The Text. Teaching through a New Testament book on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. An Old Testament book on Thursday.

And a Q &A on Friday. With our Old Testament study today, here is Pastor Gabe. Thank you,

Becky. You know, I just noticed that we started the New Year talking about the

New Covenant. Never made that connection on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday when we were in Hebrews 9.

And I was actually teaching from Hebrews. Hey, New Year, New Covenant. Yeah, so it took me until Thursday to notice that.

But here we are in our Old Testament study. We're coming back to the book of Isaiah. I'm in chapter 5, and I'm going to start off reading verses 1 through 7.

And then I'll give you an outline of our chapter here. This is out of the Legacy Standard Bible.

Hear the word of the Lord. 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.

So we're back to our study of Isaiah 5. And as I mentioned last week, this flows from what we had just read from chapter 4.

There is the promise of the branch of Yahweh. And this was a prophecy concerning Christ, what we read in chapter 4 verses 2 through 6 last week.

And on the theme of the branch of Yahweh, the branch that is Christ, we have this planning of a vineyard that's being talked about in chapter 5.

But the vineyard does not produce good fruit. In fact, it produces bad fruit. And this, of course, is in reference to Israel.

Now the branch that's going to come from Yahweh, who is Christ, that is a good branch. And it is going to be perfect, of course.

Everything that it yields will be good. But this in contrast with Israel, who produced bad fruit.

So what should the Lord do with that vineyard? And that's the question and answer that we have in these first seven verses.

The next, flowing from what we just had here in chapter 5, is warnings to the wicked.

Here's what's going to happen to you. So here's what the Lord is going to do. That's in 1 through 7. And then here's what's going to happen to you after the

Lord does it. That's in verses 8 through 23. And then we have in verses 24 to 30, no one is going to escape that judgment that is going to come.

So to summarize once again, verses 1 through 7, the description of a vineyard that yielded bad fruit.

And so here's what God is going to do to it. Verses 8 through 23, here's what will happen to those who are in the vineyard.

Verses 24 to 30, no one will escape the judgment that comes upon the vineyard.

So back to the start of the description of this vineyard here in chapter 5, verse 1. Let me sing now for my well -beloved a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard.

Which sounds a lot like what we had previously read in Song of Songs. Providential.

How in the arrangement of the Old Testament we would have Song of Songs and Isaiah next to one another.

With this song appearing so early in this prophetic book. 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.

I don't know if you've ever done this kind of work before where you're tilling up the ground and removing rocks. It's a lot of work.

Some of the hardest work I've ever done. Backbreaking work. 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.

This reference to the tower is simply to say that the vinedresser was going to watch over his vineyard.

He guards and protects his vineyard. You also have the reference to the hedge coming up a little bit later on that kept out predators.

But this is a vinedresser, a farmer that loved his vineyard and cared for it.

But instead of producing good grapes for him, it only produced worthless grapes. As Jesus said in Matthew 7, 19,

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Verse 3. 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 who's really at fault here?

The Lord is asking, what did the farmer do wrong that it yielded worthless grapes?

He did everything right. He loved and cared for this vineyard. Even watched over this vineyard.

But it still produced bad fruit. So now let me tell you what I'm going to do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge.

You have that hedge of protection? Surely you've heard that expression used before.

So it was a tall, high bush. And it was very, very thick shrubbery. It wasn't like the kind of bushes that you put around your yard.

This was a packed bush, like a wall that grew itself. It kept out all kinds of animals and kept thieves from breaking in and stealing from the vineyard.

But here, Yahweh's going to tear down the hedge so that it will be consumed.

I will break down its wall and it will be trampled to the ground. I will lay it waste. It will not be pruned or hoed.

I'm not going to care for it anymore. But briars and thorns will come up. I will also command the clouds to rain on it no more.

It's not going to receive any help from the ground or from the sky. All of creation is going to be like is against this vineyard now.

Because the vineyard did not yield good fruit. 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.

So he gets real plain with his language here. What I'm talking about is you owe

Israel and the men of Judah. This is what is going to happen to you. So that's the first section of chapter 5.

We have the description of the vineyard and now what's going to happen to the vineyard. Then in verses 8 through 23, we have six woes.

And I'm going to read through each one of these woes one at a time and then we'll discuss it. So verses 8 through 10 is the first woe.

Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field until there is no more room.

So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land. In my ears Yahweh of hosts has sworn, surely many houses shall become desolate, even great and good ones without inhabitants.

For ten acres of vineyard will yield only one bath of wine, and a homer of seed will yield but an ephah of grain.

The first woe here is concerning unjust landowners.

The wealthy landowners who were absorbing the smaller land plots of the lesser landowners around them and then evicting those people.

So that they were basically homeless and without territory. In Deuteronomy 27 .17

it says, Cursed be the man who removes his neighbor's landmark. Each one of these woes is going to be against a person that broke the law of God.

Now we see this not just in the context of Isaiah, but there were other prophets that gave such warnings about those who dealt unjustly like this.

In Micah chapter 2 and in Amos chapter 2. Then when the people of Israel came back into the land, this was after the exile, but they came back to the land.

It was discovered that this was still going on. Wealthy landowners were buying up all the land and then they were leaving their brothers from other tribes without land.

Those guys who would take loans out would give their land out to the wealthy landowners so that they would have seed to be able to plant.

But then they would get bought out. The wealthy landowners would possess everything. And so the wealthy landowners were warned not to take advantage of their brothers and sisters in the

Lord in this way. That they needed to return these plots to them. And so you had in the scriptures, like in Leviticus 25, 8, the reference to the year of Jubilee, in which whatever land that you would come to possess from one of your fellow tribesmen or from another tribe, you were to restore that land back to them.

That wasn't to remain your permanent possession. But here's how we see these landowners dealing unjustly.

Verse 9, In my ears Yahweh of hosts is sworn, surely many houses shall become desolate, even great and good ones without inhabitants.

So you've stored all this stuff up for yourself? But I'm going to take it all away. It's basically what the

Lord promises. Ten acres of vineyard will yield only one bath of wine. And a homer of seed will yield but an ephah of grain.

Both of these measurements are a tenth of the previous. So a bath of wine is a tenth of what ten acres of vineyard should be producing.

An ephah of grain is a tenth of what a homer of seed would be. And all of this to say, all this stuff you stored up for yourself, it's not even going to yield for you what you will expect it to give.

I'm going to cause famine and distress in your land. Going on into verse 11, we have the next woe.

This is 11 and 12. Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may pursue strong drink, who stay up late in the evening, that wine may inflame them.

And their banquets are accompanied by lyre and harp, by tambourine and flute, and by wine.

But they do not look upon the deeds of Yahweh, nor do they see the work of his hands.

So they've amassed plenty for themselves, but they don't give glory to God. And instead of being self -controlled and practicing these things in a way that honors the

Lord, they indulge themselves and get drunk on this stuff. The woe continues in verses 13 to 17.

Therefore, my people go into exile for their lack of knowledge, and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude is parched with thirst.

Again, the promise of famine and drought. Therefore, Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without limit, and Jerusalem's majesty, her multitude, her rumbling, and the exultant within her descend into it.

The wonderful riches, the wonderful blessings that Jerusalem has amassed for itself, it's all going to go down to the grave.

No matter how protected Jerusalem thinks that it is, the Lord will breach its walls, and an enemy will come into it.

Hence the reference earlier to the vineyard, I will tear down its hedge. This is symbolic of the

Lord saying literally that He's going to tear their walls down and let their enemies conquer them.

Verse 15. So the common man will be bowed down, and the man of importance will be made low.

The eyes of the lofty also will be made low, but Yahweh of hosts will be lofty in judgment, and the holy

God will show Himself holy in righteousness. Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and sojourners will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.

Yahweh will be right in all of His judgments. Any of this that He brings upon Israel, it happens to them because they deserve it, and the

Lord is not wrong in any of these judgments that He makes. The next woe, this would be the third woe, comes up in verses 18 and 19.

Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of worthlessness, and sin as if with cart ropes, who say, let

Him hurry, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it, and let the counsel of the

Holy One of Israel draw near and come to pass, that we may know it. This is about those who mock, they scoff, that God will even do anything.

Oh yeah? You say judgment is going to come upon us? Well, let's see Him do it. Hurry, hasten this work so that we can see it.

Let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come to pass, that we may know it. Jesus says that it's going to be like this too in the last days.

He says in Luke 17, 26, Just as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the

Son of Man. They were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.

It was the same as in the days of Lot. They were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building.

But on the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all.

It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. We have this also about the scoffers and the mockers in 2

Peter 3. It says that in the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, saying,

Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.

For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being deluged with water.

There you have the reference to Noah, just as Jesus made in Luke 17. Peter goes on, verse 7.

But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly men.

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.

And so is the case here with Israel, the promise of judgment that is going to come upon them.

But as we've seen with regards to these judgments that's been mentioned earlier in Isaiah, the righteous will be saved.

There will be a righteous remnant that the Lord will deliver, and they will not perish, even by His hand.

Verse 20 is the next woe. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.

You've surely heard this verse before. Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness. Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

This is the person who says that the evil thing is actually the good thing. Love is love.

A person should be free to marry whoever it is that they love. Why should we stop a person from loving who they want to love?

My friends, if it's not love as God defines it, then it's not love at all. And God will destroy it.

It's lust. It's sin. It is not done in affection or any true compassion for the other person.

It's just to fill up the lusts of the flesh. And so woe to those who call evil good and good evil.

They will perish. They'll be destroyed. Verse 21, the next woe. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and understand in their own sight.

As we read a couple of times in the book of Proverbs, a man is wise in his own eyes.

There's more hope for a fool than for him. In Proverbs 3 .7,

Do not be wise in your own eyes. Fear Yahweh and turn away from evil.

We go on to the last woe. This is verses 22 and 23. Woe to those who are mighty men in drinking wine and valiant men in mixing strong drink, who declare the wicked righteous for a bribe and remove the righteous standing of the ones who are righteous.

So the men are mighty and they are valiant but only in getting drunk. Not in fighting.

Not in actually being men of God. They're good at filling themselves up with their own pleasures.

They declare the wicked to be righteous for a bribe. Sure, I'll let you do your wickedness if it benefits me somehow.

And they remove the righteous from their standing, the ones who actually are righteous. Woe to them.

You have these woes that are listed here in verses 8 -23 and then the Lord details exactly what will happen to them.

Verses 24 -30 and they will not escape. Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust.

For they have rejected the law of Yahweh of hosts and the word of the Holy One of Israel they have spurned.

On this account the anger of Yahweh has burned against His people and He has stretched out

His hand against them and struck them down. And the mountains trembled and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets.

For all this His anger is not turned back but His hand is still stretched out.

Verse 26 He will also lift up a standard to the distant nations and will whistle for it from the ends of the earth and behold it will come with speed swiftly.

No one in it is weary or stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, nor is the belt at its waist undone, nor its sandal strap broken.

Its arrows are sharp and all its bows are bent, the hooves of its horses seem like flint, and its chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

Its roaring is like a lioness, and it roars like young lions, it growls and seizes the prey and carries it off with no one to deliver it.

And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold there is darkness and distress, even the light is darkened by its clouds.

All of this to say that the conqueror that God sends upon the land to consume it will do so swiftly and successfully and there's no way to stop it.

God's judgment will come upon this land. And my friends, even in the land that we live in,

God's judgment will come upon America. It will come upon the Western English speaking world for its embracing of the perversion that it does for the violence and the bloodshed that is on its own hands.

God will judge this land. The only escape that we have is in Jesus Christ our

Savior. Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

Now in this judgment that we're reading about here, of course God is promising this judgment upon his own people.

Upon the house of Israel and the house of Judah. And so if we apply this to our present day, we must recognize

God is promising this of those that call themselves the church if they don't repent and turn back.

And you can surely see many churches in America that are flying pride flags or Black Lives Matter, which is just another communist

Marxist movement. Anybody who's flying these pride flags or the

Black Lives Matter flags they're flying something far worse than whatever they thought the confederate flag was and every bit as racist and bigoted as well.

The Lord will come against this land for its pride, for its lifting up perversion, for its hating of its neighbor as we see going on all the time, for the violence and the bloodshed, the sexual immorality, the murder of the unborn.

God's justice will come and there are churches that have embraced this stuff because they want to look like the world.

A church that has embraced the world ceases to be relevant. I mean, what's even the point of that church?

Of course, you could also argue a church that has embraced the world ceases to be a church. So the church should be warned about this first because we have the oracles of God.

We have the Word of God right here. The rest of the world isn't paying attention to the Word of God. So may those who have been embracing worldly things or even shrugging at the stuff that God has said disgusts

Him. May that church repent and come to love righteousness and hate wickedness just as the

Lord does. It is not just enough to say that you follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

You must actually do what He says. For as we read later on in Isaiah 66 to this one

I will look to him who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at my word.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the things that we have read here in Isaiah 5. And may we take this as a warning that the judgment of God is coming and the only way to escape

God's wrath is to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and live. May we hold out this message to a lost and dying world that is coming into its own destruction so that others may hear and believe and escape the wrath that is to come.

Lord Jesus, come quickly. Deliver us into your kingdom. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. This has been When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more visit our website at www .utt

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