v. 4-6. _What could have been done more to my vineyard? &c._
There are certain epochs in the history of the Church when on every
hand may be seen the saddest indifference. This state of things is
not owing to a suspension of Divine gifts, nor to the absence of
earnest pastors, nor to the circumstances by which God's people are
surrounded. Everything has been done for the vineyard which the wise
and gracious husbandman could perform, yet no fruit is produced. The
fault lies with the Church itself. Individual members have relapsed
into a state of ease and supineness. Faithful warnings have been
unheeded; earnest entreaties have been disregarded; mercies have been
unnoticed; chastisements have been profitless. At such a time they
who sigh and cry for this desolation, turn to the despised or
forgotten Lord, and sing their mournful canticle, "My well-beloved,"
&c. (ver. 1, 2). Then the Lord replies, "Judge, I pray you," &c.
(ver. 3-6). It is too true the sorrowful singer admits, and says 'He
looked for judgment,' &c. (ver. 7).
Let us consider the _similitude_ under which the Church is
represented, the just _complaint_ of the Lord, and the terrible
_condemnation_ He pronounces.
+I. The Similitude.+ A vineyard.
This parable is peculiarly interesting on account of the fact that
our Lord Jesus uttered one in many respects similar to it (Matt.
xxi. 33). The figure of the vineyard is often used in the Old
Testament, generally to represent the Church. The vineyard of the
parable is represented as being--1. _In a very favourable locality._
2. _Planted with the choicest vine._ 3. _Carefully fenced and
diligently cultivated._ 4. _Having the husbandman living in the
midst._ "Built a tower." God is His _own_ watchman on the walls of
Zion.
+II. The Complaint.+ "It brought forth wild grapes." Observe the
complaint is not based upon the poverty or paucity of the crop, or
even upon the absence of a crop altogether, or because of the
lateness of the crop. There is an abundant crop; but of what? "wild
grapes," _i.e.,_ "poisonous berries," like those the servant of
Elisha gathered (2 Kings iv. 39). A crop that could have grown
without the husbandman at all. An unnatural production. One
calculated to injure, if not to destroy life. The husbandman's design
is thwarted; he expected that which would nourish and stimulate life;
whereas the opposite is produced. The allegory explains itself. The
inconsistencies and follies, the disobedience and idolatry of the
Church, are like deadly upas trees in the world; they tend to produce
infidelity, _i.e.,_ moral death, among men. The mission of the Church
is to proclaim life, by God's Spirit to communicate it; instead of
that, a worldly and apostate Church leads men to say and believe,
"There is no God." This is unnatural; the proper fruit of the Church
is holiness, obedience, and zeal.
+III. The Condemnation.+ (vers. 5, 6).
1. _Observe the mercy of the condemnation._ "It shall be eaten up."
The obnoxious growth shall be destroyed. The pride, the ignorance,
the idolatry of the Church shall be removed. God will not abandon
her, as He does the world, to fill up her measure of iniquity. He
must be glorified in His saints, although not now, yet afterward. The
patient husbandman will wait for another year, when his choice vine
shall yield choice fruit.
2. _Observe the severity of the condemnation._ Her privileges shall
not be enjoyed. "The hedge taken away." Direful persecution shall be
experienced. "It shall be trodden down." The Spirit's influence shall
be withheld. "I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain
upon it." It is so with the Jews. That vineyard is desolate now;--the
vines are trodden under foot; the rain rains not on them, BUT THEY
ARE NOT ROOTED UP. God shall plant another hedge, dwell again in the
forsaken tower; and His ancient people shall grow and flourish on the
fruitful hill; bringing forth such fruit that the husbandman shall
rejoice, and earth and heaven be glad.--_Stems and Twigs,_ vol. i.
pp. 246-249.