Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Q & A on the State of the Vineyard SERIES: 2

What could have been done more to My vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes,
brought it forth wild grapes.
Isaiah 5:4



Q: Why was God disappointed with the vineyard He loved?
A: My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. Isaiah 5:1-3

"The Lord planted His church as a vine in a fruitful field. … But this vine of God’s planting has inclined to the earth and entwined its tendrils about human supports.
--Its branches are extended far and wide,
--but it bears the fruit of a degenerate vine. …
As the treasures of truth committed to her keeping have increased, her obligations have increased.
But instead of improving upon these gifts and going forward unto perfection, she has fallen away from that which she had attained in her earlier experience.
The change in her spiritual state has come gradually and almost imperceptibly. As she began to seek the praise and friendship of the world, her faith diminished, her zeal grew languid, her fervent devotion gave place to dead formality.
Every advance step toward the world was a step away from God. As pride and worldly ambition have been cherished, the spirit of Christ has departed, and emulation, dissension, and strife have come in to distract and weaken the church.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 240, 241 E.G.W."
From StepsToLife