I was reading in Isaiah and noticed.

The vineyard of the Lord Almighty

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are the garden of his delight.

Isaiah 5:7-8

It is interesting that in Isaiah the idea of Israel as a Vineyard comes up. It is rebuked for bearing only bad fruit.



“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunesa so that it will be even more fruitful. John 15:1-2

Then in John Jesus is depicted as the "true vine". Jesus himself at one point saying that "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel." Matthew 15:24

I wonder if this is accurate to apply these ideas to ourselves? I noticed also that although "fruit" is brought up after Jesus death, it is speaking about the "fruit of the spirit" which it seems many people reread back into the "fruit of the vine". That seems wrong. We should be careful to not get our vines, olive, and fig trees mixed up.

One more interesting thought is that, although it is not mentioned after Jesus refers to himself as the vine through all the discourses to the church... it is brought up one last time in Revelations.

Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." Revelations 14:18

This seems to be another reference to Israel as the church has not been mentioned since Chapter 4. It is very interesting when left in its proper context.

Thoughts?