God's vineyard will fill the earth with its fruit.

October 24, 2013 - Isaiah 27

    ¹ In that day,

   the LORD will punish with his sword—
   his fierce, great and powerful sword—
Leviathan the gliding serpent,
   Leviathan the coiling serpent;
he will slay the monster of the sea.

   ² In that day—

   “Sing about a fruitful vineyard:
   ³ I, the LORD, watch over it;
   I water it continually.
I guard it day and night
   so that no one may harm it.
   ⁴ I am not angry.
If only there were briers and thorns confronting me!
   I would march against them in battle;
   I would set them all on fire.
⁵ Or else let them come to me for refuge;
   let them make peace with me,
   yes, let them make peace with me.”

   ⁶ In days to come Jacob will take root,
   Israel will bud and blossom
   and fill all the world with fruit.

   ⁷ Has the LORD struck her
   as he struck down those who struck her?
Has she been killed
   as those were killed who killed her?
⁸ By warfare and exile you contend with her—
   with his fierce blast he drives her out,
   as on a day the east wind blows.
⁹ By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for,
   and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:
When he makes all the altar stones
   to be like limestone crushed to pieces,
no Asherah poles or incense altars
   will be left standing.
¹⁰ The fortified city stands desolate,
   an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness;
there the calves graze,
   there they lie down;
   they strip its branches bare.
¹¹ When its twigs are dry, they are broken off
   and women come and make fires with them.
For this is a people without understanding;
   so their Maker has no compassion on them,
   and their Creator shows them no favor.

   ¹² In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, Israel, will be gathered up one by one. ¹³ And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

Prophet Isaiah saw the vision of God that the Lord would triumph over the enemy - the Lord would slay the monster of the sea, Leviathan. The Lord would also at the same time discipline His people. They would be punished for the sake of atonement. God's people would be purged of idolatry and they would be gathered on the holy mountain in Jerusalem from the exile in Egypt and Assyria. God disciplines His people but never without compassion on restoring them back to His love. Isaiah saw the vision that in that Day God's vineyard would would become a fruitful vineyard and fill the earth with all its fruit. God's works and witnesses will fill the whole earth through His people in that Day. Isaiah saw the vision of hope in the midst of the attacks of enemy and the discipline of God. God's people feel painful but yet without hope as God is still watering and guarding His vineyard, growing it to fill the whole earth with His love and glory. 

My dear Lord, let me see what Isaiah has seen in that Day. God is the victorious One. He is also the One who guards His church to fill the earth with His fruits. He is also the One who shepherds my life to be His witness.