Our passage this morning from Isaiah 37 is part of King Hezekiah’s story found in 2 Kings
18-20. Hezekiah is a good king, leading the people of Judah back to God,
destroying the idols and their worship places in the mountains. But Hezekiah
was also king during a really difficult time, a time when the northern kingdom
of the 10 tribes of Israel disappears from history as the King Sennacherib of
Assyria conquers them and disperses the people throughout his empire.
Sennacherib then turns his sights onto Judah, mocking them, demanding tribute,
which Hezekiah pays by stripping the gold off the doors and doorposts of the
temple. Yet this doesn’t satisfy Sennacherib, bullies are never satisfied and
always seek to humiliate their victims more, but then the Lord steps in with
messages for both Sennacherib and Hezekiah. You can read this passage in
context in 2 Kings 19.
The Lord tells Sennacherib, “Have you not heard? Long
ago I ordained it. In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass,
that you have turned fortified cities into piles of stone. Their people,
drained of power, are dismayed and put to shame. They are like plants in the field,
like tender green shoots, like grass sprouting on the roof, scorched before it
grows up. “But I know where you are and when you come and go and how you rage
against me. Because you rage against me and because your insolence has reached
my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth, and I will
make you return by the way you came.” Sennacherib’s strength has come
from the Lord, and he’s looking to deal with Judah like he did with the
northern kingdom, to conquer and disperse them throughout his empire so they’ll
disappear from history, but the Lord’s also going to deal with his arrogance. This is a warning
that God’s in control, not him. God will send him home, led away like a bull
with a hook in its nose, or a horse with a bit in its mouth. The bull and horse
are powerful creatures, but are still easily led about with small pieces of
metal.
The Lord has a message of hope for Hezekiah, “This year you will eat
what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the
third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. Once more a
remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. For
out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of
survivors. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” Here we
get a glimpse of God as the loving gardener of his people. This is a word of
hope and restoration. There’s only a remnant left from the original people of
God, the 10 tribes are gone and now Judah’s under threat; they’re like the
grass scorched before it grows. The grass may be scorched, but it’s still
rooted in the soil, and God’s watching over and tending to his people, ensuring
that they will not be completely destroyed, a remnant will remain to grow once
again. This is often called “remnant theology;” where “a portion of people
are left after a disaster, especially a disaster identified with divine judgment.
Especially in the Prophets, this term describes those who remain faithful to
God despite suffering and who ultimately experience restoration.”
Scripture often uses agricultural and farming images to describe the Lord’s relationship with his people.
The first garden in the Bible is in Eden, a garden planted by God and then
given over to Adam and Eve to care for, and cultivate. In the Garden of Eden,
every need of Adam and Eve is met, revealing the nurturing side of God, and his
provision and care for his children. This becomes one of the main themes that
runs through the whole of Scripture: God provides. Yet this isn’t enough for
Adam and Eve and they choose disobedience to God in a desire to be like God,
something that’s been passed on to each of us now. This is why we celebrate
Christmas and the coming to earth of Jesus, son of God, saviour of humanity and
creation. Jesus comes to overturn the power of death by dying and then rising
from the dead 3 days later, washing away our sin and disobedience, restoring
our relationship with God, our father and creator. God provides for our
redemption through Jesus! This is why gardening in the Bible also represents
hope and resilience. Even during times of exile, God tells his people to plant
and cultivate, telling them through the prophets that nurturing life is an act
of faith and trust in God's provision. This theme’s echoed in various places,
where gardens symbolize places of peace, meeting, and spiritual growth.
In creation, God places in the order and structure of
creation the process for how plants and animals are
nourished and grow, how they mature, die, and return to the soil again. God
puts into place all the elements needed for creation to flourish, including
humanity. For crops and plants to flourish so there are good harvests, the gardener or
farmer needs to carefully care for them. Whether it's a few plants on a patio,
a back yard vegetable garden, or acres of corn or grain, for plants to thrive
someone needs to care for their health: making sure the conditions are right
and that there aren’t weeds competing with them for nutrients and water.
This
isn’t something that’s done only when the farmer or gardener feels
like it; it requires dedication and regular hard work, in some cases for years,
before the fruit is seen. For fruit trees and vines to continue to produce
every year, they need ongoing care, proper pruning, attention to the weather
patterns, and care for the soil. Treated right, these trees and vines can
thrive for generations, as you see in vineyards in Israel and Europe. To commit
to something long term like this takes love for farming and gardening, for
creation. Farmers and gardeners pour themselves into their work, their
energy, sweat, tears, hopes, and prayers go into the plants and crops they
plant and take care of, knowing that ultimately, they need to trust the Lord
for the right balance of rain and sun at the proper times for their harvest to
flourish.
Gardening and farming are hard work since the fall
into sin. Nature itself was impacted by Adam and Eve’s
disobedience. God tells Adam, “Cursed is the ground
because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of
your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the
plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you
return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to
dust you will return.” God’s promise of a Messiah, Jesus, meant that God
committed himself to his plan of redemption and a relationship with humanity,
nurturing them in order to bring Jesus into our world to become both fully
human and fully God in order to overturn the curse of sin. God became a
gardener of our souls.
God
carefully watches over and tends our souls to make sure the harvest is
plentiful, and scripture shows that God has been doing this for generations: “Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take
root below and bear fruit above.” Matthew 1 shows us that God’s carefully
cared for remnant continued from generation to generation and that God
cultivated each generation, making sure that one day Christ, the first fruit,
would be born. Even though there were times when all a person could see was a
stump, God kept nurturing the roots of the stump, preparing for the birth of a
new shoot, of new life. The promise of the remnant bearing fruit is first
fulfilled in Jesus’ birth, and even further fulfilled in the pouring out of the
Holy Spirit on the people at Pentecost, birthing new life in many hearts that
day, and is still today growing new life in people.
In Isaiah 5:1-7, God is pictured as the owner of a
vineyard, expecting it to yield good fruit, which represents his
call for his people to live righteously, participating in the weeding and
pruning of our lives for spiritual growth. When the vineyard produces wild
grapes, it symbolizes Israel's unfaithfulness, highlighting the importance of
bearing fruit in accordance with God's character.
In the New Testament, this image of God as a gardener is developed more deeply in John 15, where Jesus tells
his disciples, "I am the true vine, and My
Father is the gardener." Here, God is described as the vinedresser
who prunes the branches so they’ll keep being fruitful. Jesus is emphasizing
the need of remaining connected to him for our spiritual growth. This is how we
grow to be more like Jesus, what we call sanctification. God’s actively
involved in the process of our sanctification and nurturing us to produce
spiritual fruit through the Holy Spirit.
The image of God as the gardener in the Bible reveals deep truths about who he is, the importance
of spiritual growth, and the relationship between God and us. It reminds us God
is actively cultivating life and guiding creation to its complete redemption
when Jesus returns to claim his us and renew us so we’ll flourish as his
vineyard. Join the Holy Spirit in its work of gardening our souls and lives.
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