The Vineyard Song

The Vineyard Song

I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard.

Isaiah 5:1

IN WORD We should all end where the parable of the vineyard begins: singing a song for the One we love. This vineyard song is a sweeping story of tender love and bitter betrayal, of sin and redemption, of power and purpose. In a few short verses, it summarizes the entire Old Testament and sets up the New. It reveals the heart of the Creator.

Somehow the song of the vineyard captures God’s heart so much better than a prose description of Him. So do the other images presented in the Prophets; God is a Husband, a Father, a Potter, a Refiner, a Builder, a Lion, and much more. These images are prophetic poetry, and they remind us again and again that a picture is worth a thousand words. So when God describes Himself to us, He uses pictures. And when we describe Him to others, we would be wise to do the same.

You can present many pictures of God to others by telling them how He relates to you as your Father, your Beloved, your Teacher, and more. But there’s one picture God gave us of Himself that stands out above the rest, and it’s a pattern for us as well. God gave us the picture of Jesus—the Son is the exact representation of the Father’s nature (Hebrews 1:3). Likewise, Jesus told each of us to be a picture of Him. We are being conformed to His image because (1) we were made in that image on day six of creation and (2) we are to reflect the glory of His image forever. In other words, when you want to present a picture of God to your world, consider being one.

IN DEED Your life can be prophetic poetry, you know. God doesn’t give the world a fact sheet about you; He gives it a story, a biography. You are an epic of triumphs and tragedies, of dreams and disappointments, and of sin and salvation. In a very real sense, you are a song of the vineyard.

Sing that song, and sing it well. Your epic isn’t a private matter; it’s a picture that reveals the heart of the Vinedresser. And it’s a picture that the rest of the vineyard desperately needs to see.

The Christian should resemble a fruit tree, not a Christmas tree. For the fruit grows on a fruit tree, whereas the decorations are only tied on to a Christmas tree.

—JOHN STOTT