Synopsis: Christians should read, along with the church, the OT readings prescribed for Great Lent. It is appropriate to read Isaiah, because in describing the sins of the Jewish Nation and their consequences, it outlines the human condition and the need for a Messiah, and indeed, there are many important messianic prophesies in Isaiah. The original parable of the vineyard is in Isaiah, and it is like the retelling of the parable from our Lord in the Gospels, but also unlike it is some very important ways. The end of the parable in Isaiah mentions the "Man of Judah, His beloved plant", and in context, this is none other that a prophesy of the need for and the coming of the God-man Jesus Christ.
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Isaiah 4:2-5:7 2. And in that day God shall shine gloriously in counsel on the earth, to exalt and glorify the remnant of Israel. 3. And it shall be, that the remnant left in Sion, and the remnant left in Jerusalem, even all that are appointed to life in Jerusalem, shall be called holy. 4. For the Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Sion, and shall purge out the blood from the midst of them, with the spirit of judgment, and the spirit of burning. 5. And he shall come, and it shall be with regard to every place of mount Sion, yea, all the region round about it shall a cloud overshadow by day, and there shall be as it were the smoke and light of fire burning by night: and upon all the glory shall be a defense. 6. And it shall be for a shadow from the heat, and as a shelter and a hiding place from inclemency of weather and from rain. 1. Now I will sing to my beloved a song of my beloved concerning my vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a high hill in a fertile place. 2. And I made a hedge round it, and dug a trench, and planted a choice vine, and built a tower in the midst of it and dug a place for the wine vat in it: and I waited for it to bring forth grapes, and it brought forth thorns. 3. And now, ye dwellers in Jerusalem, and every man of Juda, judge between me and my vineyard. 4. What shall I do any more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it? Whereas I expected it to bring forth grapes, but it has brought forth thorns. 5. And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be for a spoil; and I will pull down its walls, and it shall be left to be trodden down. 6. And I will forsake my vineyard; and it shall not be pruned, nor dug, and thorns shall come up upon it as on barren land; and I will command the clouds to rain no rain upon it. 7. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the man of Juda his beloved plant: I expected it to bring forth judgment, and it brought forth iniquity; and not righteousness, but a cry.
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