The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Isaiah 5:1-8, “Let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning His vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
2 He dug it all around, removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out a wine vat in it; then He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones.
3 “And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge between Me and My vineyard.
4 “What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes did it produce worthless ones?
5 “So now, let Me tell you what I am going to do to My vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground.
6 “I will lay it waste; it will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.”
7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus, He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.
8 Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, until there is no more room, So that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!

The book of Isaiah contains some startling, but practical, instructions for us in every age and under every circumstance. Dr. Irving L. Jensen sites for us a practical means by which to remember both the Book of Isaiah and the entirety of the Bible.

“Isaiah has 66 chapters. The Bible has 66 books. Isaiah has two main divisions: the first, of thirty-nine chapters; and the second, of twenty-seven chapters. The Bible has two main parts: the Old Testament of thirty-nine books; and the New Testament, of twenty-seven books.

“The prevailing note in the first division of Isaiah is judgment; in the second division, comfort. The prevailing note of the Old Testament is Law; of the New Testament, grace.

“In the first section of Isaiah, there are frequent allusions to and predictions of the Messiah; but He is described with great fullness in the second section. In the Old Testament, there are frequent allusions to Christ in types and prophecies; but in the New Testament, He is presented in all His fullness” (Jensen, Survey of the Old Testament).

There is nothing in all the annals of Christianity that comes even close to the clear, practical teachings of Holy Scriptures. Passages that seem to make no sense, simply beg for closer reading. Your life will be richer for your daily reading of the Holy Scriptures. So, “seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read…” (Isa. 34:16).

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom