(Genesis 2:8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.)

  Everyone is very familiar with the opening line of Genesis that says, “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” But often we skip the next action of God and miss out on the fact that prior to the creation of man, God planted a garden. The garden that the Lord planted upon the new earth was to be the specific intended habitation for man.

  Reading the Genesis account as a series of consecutive, sequential statements about God's work in creation, one can see that on the First Day of creation, God called into existence (1) space, (2) time, (3) matter and then (4) light/energy. Prior to this creative activity of God none of these entities existed. (God’s “bara” action means that he made everything “ex nihlo,” or out of nothing, completely without any building materials) The English word “beginning” as used in Genesis 1:1 is the Hebrew beresheth, and the action word ”created” is the word “bara.” Initially, we are told in Genesis 1:1 that God's first action was to bring into existence the dual realms called "the heavens and the earth," all of which constitutes a house with a tent-covering. Indeed the very first Hebraic letter in the word Beresheth, bet, means house. (Isaiah 45:18 For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it (the earth) to be inhabited:)

  God, who is Spirit, has always existed and His existence is independent of the created components of time, space, and matter. It was not necessary for God to create the universe, but for reasons known only to God, he created our vast house (universe) and the earth (mans dominion) for the sole purpose of planting a man and woman in a garden with all the necessary provisions already provided. Thus our entire universe is a God-designed house, a dwelling, having an "upper story" inhabited by God and the angels, and a "lower story" populated by animals, men and other creatures of the natural realm. We exist because of God’s love.

  Colossians 1:16 For by him (the invisible God) were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

  While God’s Edenic design for every person was for them to understand and live out the purpose God has provided for each person's life, he has also allowed for each and every person to return his love or to reject it. Man was created to have meaning in his life, which comes only when he has purpose in his life. And since God is our Creator-Father, only he can provide true purpose for anyone's life. Without God, man lives as an empty shell, groping around the world seeking purpose and meaning for his existence and a reason for enduring. People can find temporary solace of meaning and purpose in many things, but God has designed a love-relationship-vacuum in the soul of man that only God can fill. And the most excellent revelation of God's glory and his purpose for our lives, considering the fallen state of man from the Garden is demonstrated in His Son, Jesus Christ, the savior and restorer of our relationship to God.

  Assuredly that is the reason that the prophetic book of The Revelation conveys the following statement as the events of human history accelerate towards their climax, as portrayed by John the Revelator as he was caught up into Heaven and shown the majestic scene around the throne of God.

  Revelation 4: 1-2, After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, (rapture) and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. (11: Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.)

  In the beginning of time when God planted the first man Adam in the Garden of Eden, he also established him there with a mate in a sustainable and wonderful place with all the necessities of an abundantly rich and fulfilling life. There was absolutely nothing more that the Lord could have provided to perpetuate the eternal bliss of mankind in the garden. The garden of the Lord was a perfect environment for a full and loving relationship between God and the first Adam, and God himself pronounced it as good.

  Unfortunately, Adam and Eve fell from grace before the Lord by consorting with and finally giving into the seducing enticements of the great cosmic Rebel, Lucifer. Yet, the failure of man in the garden and his recruitment into the rebellion of the heavenly host under Lucifer did not catch the Creator by surprise. The great Creator-Gardener was prepared for any contingency, and had foreordained before the foundation of the world that he would plant another Vinyard in the world that would become the tree (nation) that should produce a Vine (branch) that would become the salvation of the world. That branch would be the second Adam, (Jesus Christ) and Israel is the Vinyard of the Lord.

  Whereas God called Abraham out of the land of the Chaldees unto the land of the Canaanites, the land of Canaan became known as the land of God’s promise, because it would ultimately be in this particular place that God would plant his vinyard and send his vine. The calling of Abraham, the conveyance of the Decalogue and the subsequent formation of the nation of Israel were the essential components for the transformation of Canaan’s land into the Vinyard of the Lord. But even with all of the Lord’s blessings in the Promised Land, Israel, as with Adam and Eve in the paradise of Eden, failed to remain faithful to God.

  Notice from Isaiah five-verse four that God pointedly asks a question. What more could have been done for my vinyard that I have not done in it? This question was directed specifically to historical Israel for verse seven explicitly verifies for everyone that Israel is indeed the Vinyard of the Lord! The prophetic analogy of the vinyard and the vine are thus established and confirmed in scripture. What else could the Lord have done in his vinyard to find fruit among its branches? Well, Israel’s fruitlessness in the Vinyard is evidence that they still needed the “Choicest Vine” planted in it.

· The fig tree is just one of many trees that are planted in a vinyard. Israel is often referred to by analogy and symbolized in prophecy in the Bible as a fig tree. (Judges 9:8-15, I Kings 4:25, Joel 1:7,12, 2:22, Zech.3:10, Matt 24:32, Rev. 6:13)

Olive trees are very typical of Israel/Palestine for the climactic conditions there are very conducive to the growing of olives (average temperature ca. 58 degrees F [15 C.]. The tree grows to a height of 16 to 26 ft. [5 to 8 m.]. The olive was one of the three main crops of the Land of Canaan (Deuteronomy 7:13), the others being grain and grapes. The oil derived from the fruit was used for cooking, lighting, cleansing, anointing, soaps. From Canaan/Israel it was exported to Egypt and to point all over the Mediterranean world. The olive tree was an especially useful in Canaan/Israel for it can grow in poor shallow soil, and can endure extended droughts. In addition, olive trees can grow and produce fruit for over a thousand years. It is said that olive trees are planted for one’s grandchildren.

  By bestowing upon Israel his law, the priesthood and the prophets, God was naturally anticipating that Israel would be fruitful and produce an abundance of righteous branches or offspring. Unfortunately, everything God bestowed upon Israel became compromised. Israel’s prophets, priests, pastors and kings all led Israel down a path that would see the vinyard of the Lord overtaken by brambles, bushes and thorns.

  By playing the wandering harlot, and ignoring its roots planted in the commandments and statutes of Jehovah, Israel became an empty vine. Thus the Lord was angered and moved towards a righteous indignation with his own people. (vinyard)

  Jeremiah 12:10-12 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourneth unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart. The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the Lord shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace.

 Ezekiel 15:2-8 Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned? Therefore thus saith the Lord God; As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them. And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord God.

1. The withdrawal of God’s hedge of protection.

2. The loss of the city of Jerusalem and its Holy Temple.

3. The national subjugation and desolation of the land by the enemies of Israel.

4. The scattering of the children of Israel, like chaff in the wind all around the world.

5. The name Israel shall become a byword and they shall find no ease in the world.

  The world has consumed the land and the children of Israel much like a raging fire would consume dry leaves and twigs. The withdrawal of God’s hedge of protection has enabled the sinister forces of Satan to spoil and reproach the vinyard that was the house and land of Israel. As Isaiah foretold, the nations of the world have laid waste the Lord’s vine and barked his fig tree, leaving only a battered, scarred remnant shell of a trunk that remains an astonishment and a vile curse-like corpse to the whole world.

  The soulful prayers of the Psalmist and the book of Lamentations are replete with appeals by Israel for forgiveness and pleading beseeches unto the Lord to be granted mercies, and mournful inquiries as to how long the Lord will not incline his ear to hear the prayer of his people. The solicitations contained in the book of Lamentations portrays the reality that the Lord had left his own vinyard wide open to utter desolation and allowed it to be subjected to the evil hand of Israel’s assemblage of adversaries.

  Joel 1:6-7 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the cheek teeth of a great lion. He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.

  Ezekiel 36:16-19 Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman. Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it: And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.)

A Promise From The Vinyard Keeper

  Zechariah 8:12-13 For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall give her fruit, and the ground shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing: fear not, but let your hands be strong.

  Psalms 80:14-15 Return, we (Israel) beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine; And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch (Jesus) that thou madest strong for thyself.

  Amos 9:15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.

  The analogy connected to the prophetic usage of the identity of Jesus as the branch comes from the Hebrew word “klema.” Klema refers to a limb or shoot that is broken off. Daniel’s prophecies concerning the 70 weeks of Israel depicts the Messiah as being cut-off. (Dan 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself,) Daniel reveals that the branch (Jesus) would be cut-off not for himself, but rather for the sake of the millions who would come to salvation because of the fact that he had been cut-off, and that he would one day return to the restored Vinyard of Israel.

  Isaiah 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

 The prophet Hosea prophesied of the great and glorious day when God would reap a great harvest in his Vinyard. That great harvest was slated to come only after the remnant had been replanted in the Promised Land and the Messiah returned unto Israel. (Hosea 6:11 Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.)

   Having sent his son (the branch) to refurbish his Vinyard, the Lord has issued the call for laborers to go forth into the whole world because the harvest truly is great. (Matthew 9:36-38, Matthew 13:24-30, Luke 10:1-3) Thus the entire Church Age represents the challenge of the laborer-servants to take the good news of the Gospel to the world.

 We have studied at some length herein about the vinyard and the branch, and how the Lord used these garden typologies to express his dramatic plan for Israel and the world. These analogies were well understood by ancient children of Israel. Together, they form a background for the reason why Jesus used a certain parable recorded in John. Imagine for a brief moment that you are among Christ’s disciples in the 1st century, and that you have just heard Jesus say that he is going away, and that he will be put to death. (John 14) Then Jesus begins to speak to you about vines and branches, and fruit. First he explains that he is a Vine. ” What would you think? Would you catch his meaning? Would you recall that Israel was planted as the Lord’s vinyard, and that it had become waste (like an old vine) and needed a new vine?

 John 15:2-5 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

  Mark 12:1-11 And he (Jesus) began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Having yet therefore one son, his well beloved, (JESUS CHRIST) he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be ours. (Satan’s conspiracy to supplant Jesus as the rightful heir) And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?

  It was asked of Pilate, “what then shall I do with Jesus who is called the Christ? I would ask you further, “What will you do with the True Vine? Where will you stand with the Husbandman of the Vinyard?

  The Lord is coming the second time to reap a great harvest, but as the parable of the wheat and tares recorded in Matthew 13 so excellently explains, the harvest will also see a burning of the stubble that has grown alongside the wheat. Therefore, I would compel upon you to seek the true Vine while the Vinyard keeper tarries.