The vineyard

 The Vineyard

By Richard P. Joseph

10/10/2024

Isaiah 5:1-2  Now let me sing to my Well-beloved
A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard:

My Well-beloved has a vineyard
[a]On a very fruitful hill.

He dug it up and cleared out its stones,
And planted it with the choicest vine.
He built a tower in its midst,
And also [b]made a winepress in it;
So He expected it to bring forth good grapes,
But it brought forth wild grapes.

Throughout the old testament the prophets used the euphemism of a vineyard to represent Israel.  This was God’s garden that he planted among heathen nations and called it his own. He put his people in to tend it expecting good fruit but it constantly produced rotten fruit.   Vineyards were a very important industry in the ancient world.  It not only brought forth fruit to eat, it also gave the common drink of the day; wine.  Most people are aware of those things but what many people don’t know is that the leaves are also highly sought after for food.  If you go to any Middle Eastern restaurant you will find a dish called “grape leaves”.  Growing up in a Middle Eastern family, grape leaves were a common dish for us.  It usually is ground lamb, pine nuts, spices etc rolled up in a grape leaf.   This is better known today but when I was a child, Middle Eastern cuisine was not as common as it is today.  But I digress.  The new testament stays on task and uses the vineyard scenario in the same way as the old testament prophets used it, except this time it comes with judgment attached.  

One of Jesus’ first open miracles involved wine.  In John chapter 2 we read about the wedding at Cana.  John tells us that “after 3 days” Jesus was at a wedding in Cana, where John also tells us that he revealed his “glory”.  In ancient Hebraic literature, numbers usually have double meanings.  This was the third day since Jesus began gathering some of his disciples but it seems that 3 is an important number as Jonah was 3 days in the belly of the fish, Jesus was three days in the belly of the earth where he showed his glory by his resurrection from the dead.  As the story goes, Jesus’ mother prompted him to perform the act of changing 6 jars of water into wine.  Now we have the number six to deal with.  Six is usually the number of men; or in other words, a number of incompletion.  When they ran out of wine at the wedding, Jesus turned six pots of water into wine.  When they tasted the wine the master of the wedding exclaimed;  And he said to him, “Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!”   The six pots represent the Law which is now being replaced by Grace.  In other words, the law was being fulfilled right before their eyes and the New Covenant was upon them.  The old covenant was inferior to the new covenant.  The good wine was preserved for last.  The new covenant is the new wine.  

In Matthew chapter 20 we read about Jesus’ parable of the vineyard.  The Jews of that day immediately knew that Jesus was referring to Isaiah chapter 5.  I encourage you all to read that entire chapter.  The reason you need to read it is so you can experience it like the Jews did when they heard it.  Us living 2,000 years later in a different culture and usually a poor understanding of the old testament scriptures, never really get the full effect of what they got.  Many today think “oh what a nice story” and then, by using relative thinking, come up with a myriad of different interpretations that have nothing to do with the original, and true, interpretation.  As soon as Jesus started in with his parable about a vineyard, the Jews knew something bad was coming, and that is because they had most of the old testament memorized, unlike us today..  In this parable, the owner of the vineyard hired workers in the morning, then more throughout the day,even until evening.  He then paid them all the same price.  The workers that were hired first did exactly what we probably would have done and said “hey, we worked all day and got the same pay that those that only worked one hour, what gives?”.  The owner then told them that he gave them exactly what he agreed to give them so he did them no harm but he, as the owner, can give to others whatever he wants.  He then said “ So the last will be first, and the first last. For[d] many are called, but few chosen.”  This represents that those that were called first, the Jews, were now given the same pay as the new gentiles that would be taking over the vineyard.  In order to press this point, Jesus gave two more parables about the vineyard. 

Here is the next parable Jesus gave;

Matthew 21:28 31 28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” 

This parable shows how the one of the sons, those that lie and say they will obey God, are not really following God but those that actually “do” the will of God are those that please God.  Therefore, just because someone is a Jew, doesn’t mean they are doing God’s will.  Then Jesus hits them with yet a third parable.  

Again, I encourage you to read Matthew chapters 20 and 21 to get the full effect.  In this third parable the owner (God) lends his vineyard to workers and goes into a far country.  He sent servants (prophets) to check on the vineyard during that time but the workers mistreated and killed them.  He then sent his son (Jesus) and they killed him because they wanted the vineyard for themselves.  But Jesus himself went into a far country (heaven, then returned in AD70) and punished the evil vinedressers and handed the kingdom over to another nation (the church).  

At the last supper, Jesus initiated this transaction by passing around the cup of wine and told his disciples that this is the cup of the blood of the new covenant.  The entire new testament is really the story  of eschatology.  It is entirely about the old covenant being complete and of the new covenant beginning.  It is the story of completion.  It is the story of a transfer of power.  It is the story of the last being first and the first being last.  But what is my real point in this article?

My point is to help Christians understand the bible the way the original audience saw it.  We need to experience it just like they did.

When Jesus gave the parable of the vineyard, he was really saying “hey priests, Isaiah 5 is being fulfilled right before your eyes”.  In Luke chapter 4 Jesus outright informs them that the scriptures are being fulfilled right at that time. 

 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 

When Jesus was on the cross he cried out in a loud voice so all could hear, letting the onlooking priests know that they just fulfilled Psalm 22.  

Mark 15:34  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

So as you read scripture, look back and reference it with the old testament scripture that it most likely originated from.  Put yourself in their shoes and see what they saw.  Know the old (original) testament well so that you can recognize the passages when you see them in the New (fulfilled) testament.  Do not rely on modern methods of relative interpretation.  Find out the original and true interpretation, and the bible will begin to open up like a movie. 

If it feels good, do it!

 If it feels good, do it!

By Richard P. Joseph

9/23/2024

John Adams is one of my favorite historical figures.  To me, the portly 5’7” man stands larger than life.  There were many great figures of our American Revolution including Samual Adams who seemed to be the instigator, George Washington, who was the might, Thomas Jefferson, the articulator and then there was John Adams, the one that all of those efforts seemed to be resting upon when it came right down to producing a product.  Adams was the product himself of a long line of Puritan Christians who would not, and could not, bend under pressure.  He held fast to his Christian morals at all cost and proved himself one of the most disciplined men of all time.  And while not all Americans stood as fast as Adams, there was a time when many Americans did hold to those same Christian morals as Adams held to.  

As I read through the two volume work of Page Smith’s biography of John Adams, and Original Intent by David Barton, one theme seems to repeat itself, that Christian morals are a necessity in order to keep a nation from falling apart.  John and Abigail Adams, who both spent much time in France, were disgusted with the products of the so-called “French enlightenment”.   The American revolution produced a nation faithful to Jesus Christ whereas the French revolution did quite the opposite; it rejected the gospel and embraced the darkness of man’s own morbid mind, producing a sexually promiscuous society that degraded their once Christian moral fabric.  That perversion is still very active today in France.  On page 915, Page Smith summarized that the American nation could recover after a tough presidential campaign for the simple reason that “among Americans there was a common consensus-common traditions and ideals- that lay deeper than the transient passions of party and faction.  As long as that remarkable consensus held fast, the nation would somehow endure.”    We now, in the 21st century, seem to have lost that common consensus.

Beginning in the 20th century, specifically in the 1960’s our common Christian heritage came under intense assault.  This attack was very reminiscent of the French enlightenment.  The hippie mantra of “If it feels good, do it”  was code for “Reject Christ and the established order” or in shorthand “stick it to the man”.  This was America's sexual revolution which produced all manner of debauchery, disease, sin, illegitimacy and social entropy.  It has finally matured and now, in 2024, we are on the cusp of losing our once great nation.  We are now in a free fall moving quickly into atheistic communism.  Once Christianity is rejected, our moral compass fails and all sense of freedom is lost.  Oppression and poverty is then the only possible option.  Freedom is unique to Christianity and once Christianity is replaced, so is freedom.  It is a scientific and mathematical equation that cannot be reworked into another product.  Just like a chemical reaction, it must absolutely work 100% of the time.  

Christianity + acceptance=Freedom and prosperity.

Christianity + rejection=oppression, suppression and poverty.

My favorite John Adams quote is one that he said during a speech to the Massachusetts Militia;

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion…Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.  

What Adams is basically saying is that our constitution allows so much freedom that the only citizens that are able to live under it are those that have strong Christian morals.  Once those morals are absent, we must live under a dictator.  There is no other choice.  The hippies finally grew up and became our presidents and our legislators and our judges.  We are in the beginning stages of communism.  In fact this article will be banned on many platforms.  This is how communism works.  There is no freedom of speech, no freedom to defend yourselves and no incentive to improve your lot in life; in other words “social entropy” and death.  

We were all warned by God about social degradation in the bible and especially in God’s law.  Most people think God was joking when he gave Moses the ten commandments.  The fifth commandment reads like this;

Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

Most people only read the first part but you seldom hear the second part which ties your national existence in your homeland to the honoring of your parents.  In other words, once the family structure and order is compromised, your country becomes exposed and then deposed.  Moses warned the Israelites about this in the book of Deuteronomy and they didn’t listen and their days in their promised land was cut short in AD 70.   In today's hippie generated society, many kids don’t even know who their father is.  And even if they have a father, he isn’t doing his job of disciplining and teaching his children the ways of the eternal God.  In fact, it is now offensive to even say that a dad is necessary.  I can go on and on about this subject but suffice it to say that our national existence is inextricably tied to our moral fabric.  This really is an existential threat.  We will absolutely lose our nation if we do not have a massive great awakening immediately.  I hope and pray that that won’t happen but I can’t bend the rules of science, I can only follow the laws of nature and nature tells me that we must reverse our moral compass in order to survive this coming onslaught.   

 To sum this article up, I will now quote the giver of life himself;

Matthew 7:13-14

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 [c]Because narrow is the gate and [d]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

Isaiah 2

 Isaiah 2

By Richard P. Joseph

8/31/2024

Wherever the gospel is believed by a new convert who has no biblical training, they are usually encouraged to read one of the New Testament gospels first.  That is a good thing.  The gospels are written in story form and are not that hard to grasp, well, so it seems.  While it is not that difficult to follow the basic story of a man named Jesus of Nazarath from his miraculous birth to his death, burial and resurrection, there is yet very much that goes right over the new, and many times even long time, believers' heads.  This is because the New Testament is written in the same type of vernacular that the Old Testament was written in, including cultural nuances and beliefs.  Therefore, it is very necessary that all believers, new and old, get familiar with the Old Testament and its historical setting, otherwise they fall into the common trap of misunderstanding the New Testament.  I just happen to be going through the book of Isaiah at this time and would therefore like to share just a tidbit from chapter 2.  

Chapter 2, like many other chapters in Isaiah, are messianic in context.  Isaiah, not only addressed many issues of his day, also prophesied about future events, most notably the coming messiah.  

I encourage you to have the 2nd chapter open as I highlight some of the passages.  You need to read the entire chapter to get the full effect.  

Isaiah starts out by identifying the subject matter right off by naming Judah and Jerusalem.  He is not talking about the United States, or Russia or China, he is talking about the land that he lived in and the land that would be affected by the coming Messiah which concerns this prophecy.  Although this prophecy would eventually have worldwide concern, the starting place would be the land of Judah.  He then identifies a certain time frame; “the latter days”.  Out of context, this could mean anything but in context it only means the latter days of Judaism.  He then talks about the mountain of the LORD’S house would be “on top of the mountains and hills.  In other words a lofty and lifted up place as if it is a spiritual dwelling, not physical.  And all the nations will flow into it.  It will be a place that will judge the nations as if it will be the international law and it will be a place of peace.  He then goes into a judgment of the people of Israel and deems them idolaters and full of Eastern mysticism. He then says in verse 12

For the day of the Lord of hosts

Shall come upon everything proud and lofty,

Upon everything lifted up—

And it shall be brought low—

Whenever you see “the day of the LORD” that is a statement that refers to God’s judgment.   John the Baptist warned that that very judgment was now (in his day) upon the nation of Israel.

Matthew 3:10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 

Isaiah 2:19 gives a vivid description of the terror that will come upon them in the latter days.

They shall go into the holes of the rocks,

And into the caves of the [f]earth,

From the terror of the Lord

And the glory of His majesty,

When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

Revelation 6:15-16 sounds a lot like this prophecy.

15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, [j]the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

There were two great judgments that occurred after Isaiah’s day upon Jerusalem.  The first was the Babylonian captivity in 586 BC and the second was the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 70.  In both cases the Temple was demolished, famine and pestilence insured and most of those that did not perish were taken away as slaves.  During the Babylonian crisis, the Jews were allowed to return to their homeland after a period of 70 years which the prophet Jeremiah foretold.  The second crisis had no return date, it only had an expiration date.  As predicted by Isaiah and others, the fall of Jerusalem during the time of the messiah would be a final act.  It would close down the Mosaic economy and usher in the messianic kingdom that has no end.  That is why Isaiah’s prophecy has a spiritual tone to it.  It is not predicting an earthly physical kingdom but rather it is talking about a spiritual kingdom that has no end and cannot be infiltrated by evil.  While religion has been fully invaded and infiltrated by evil, the kingdom of Jesus Christ can’t and never will.  While all of the Old Testament prophets addressed the concerns of their day, they often would see into the future of a different kind of world.  They addressed the physical worldly kingdoms of their day but could see a day when a spiritual kingdom would unite, not only Jews, but also all the peoples of the earth.  They would no longer have to fight over a piece of land, they would actually inherit the earth.  They would no longer slave under an earthly king but be ruled by justice and righteousness by their heavenly king.  We would be united by the blood of the lamb, not the blood of war.  In this kingdom we will beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks.  While the physical world around us can’t understand what is going on in our kingdom, we can understand it.  The physical world around us will always hate us and use every source at their disposal to destroy us but it can never be done.  We are in the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ.  Read all about it; in the old and new testaments!

Isaiah 2:4

He shall judge between the nations,

And rebuke many people;

They shall beat their swords into plowshares,

And their spears into pruning [a]hooks;

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

Neither shall they learn war anymore.

Apathy

 Apathy

By Richard P. Joseph

8/11/2024

Well I did it again.  I visited a church in an attempt to find a church home but I don’t think it’s going to happen.  I haven’t been going to church for over 10 years because of my grave disappointment with faulty doctrine, weak and  liberal pastors, and the same ole dead sermons that get people nowhere.  The sermon today was on “Apathy”.  How apropo.  The pastor was making an attempt to encourage the small flock in the paths of hospitality and love in order to bring more souls to Christ.  Nothing wrong with that.  The only problem is that I have been hearing this same sermon since the 1980’s and nothing ever changes.  

The reason nothing ever changes is that the pastor is a victim of faulty theology.  He started out using 2 Peter 4:7 where Peter declares that he is living in the last days.

  

1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

 

He then used 1 Peter 4:8-10 to teach hospitality and love.  The funny part is that he actually said “and this was written 2,000 years ago” and then pushed the idea that we need to be ready because “we” are living in the last days!  I wonder if they ever stop and listen to what they just said.  If Peter was living in the last days and the New Testament is wroth with statements of imminency, then how are we in the last days?   How is 2,000 years something that is “at hand” or “about to occur”?  The answer is, it’s not.  And besides all this, everything Peter and Jesus said actually came true in AD 70.  The last days were the last days of Judaism, not the end of the earth.  This means that the second coming of Christ was accomplished during the first century, just as Jesus said it would be.  Christians have been gaslighted for so long now, it is small wonder why they are apathetic.  They sit in a pew from childhood to old age, hearing the same thing over and over and over again and still never catch on.  They never stop and ask “why doesn’t what I am told ever line up with scripture or history”   But forget the history, they don’t even know what happened to even ask about it.  I always stop and ask people “what happened in AD 70?” and I get a blank stare every time.  If you want to beat apathy then learn scripture and understand that Jesus Christ never lies.  He did indeed return in judgment in AD 70 and fulfilled all prophecies.  Once you understand that we are in the everlasting kingdom now, then we can speak out boldly about our faith.  We would no longer be sitting around waiting for the end of the world to happen.

We would be busy making our world a better place.  We would be applying biblical principles to everything in society. We would be spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ without shame.  But we would not be sitting around waiting for Jesus to return because that already happened 2,000 years ago just like Peter and all of the other New Testament writers said.  Go back and read it again and then read the history that goes with it and it will all of the sudden make sense.   All of these pastors really mean well but our seminaries have latched on to the Scofield doctrine and just can’t let it go.  Do your due diligence and reread the New Testament and study the Old Testament so that you know how to interpret what you are reading and pay attention to detail.  Then ask questions. 

Nothing but what was Written!

Nothing but what was written!

By Richard P. Joseph

7/31/2024

Nothing but what was written!

By Richard P. Joseph

Acts 26:22 Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come—

The Apostle Paul was beaten with rods, whipped with the cat of nine tails, stoned and left for dead and jailed multiple times and then finally executed for simply quoting the Mosaic law and the Jewish prophets.  He plainly admitted that he was not preaching some new doctrine; only the fulfillment of what all Israel was hoping for.  Sort of like us today in America when we quote the constitution, we get persecuted by the communist Democrats.  But back to Paul.  The unbelieving Jews were in a constant state of hope but when that hope finally arrived, they could not bear it.  This would be like a football team that practiced everyday, sweating it out and pushing their bodies to the limit but when game day arrived they locked themselves in the locker room and refused to take the field choosing rather to keep going back to the practice field in a perpetual rehearsal of game day but never participating in the game itself.

But my real point here is that the entire ministry of Jesus is found in the Old Testament.

I used to enjoy listening to David Curtis from Berean Bible Church before he started teaching nonsense and heresy about the flat earth, and he explains this very well in all of his teachings.  He pushes hard for people to understand the Old (or rather first) Testament in order to better understand the New (or second) Testament.  Nothing could be truer.  Summing up what Curtis explains; New Christians,who are very excited to begin studying the bible, start reading, usually, the New Testament first.  In all of their enthusiasm and in their lack of a real mentor, they begin interpreting the scripture as if it were a newspaper that was written yesterday and arrived on their doorstep this morning.  This causes tragic hermeneutic errors.  It is up to us to mentor them such that they understand that the New Testament is only the fulfillment of the Old Testament.  It is not something new or a stand alone “religion”.  It has its beginnings at the creation of the world and before. 

Christianity is not a man made religion like Islam, modern day rabbinical Judaism or Hinduism that just appeared when some smooth talking guru or some warlord came about.  The real biblical story is a real history of God and man and the earth.  It is not something new or man made.  It is a real story that began before the earth was formed.  So in other words, to understand the bible, one must understand the history of our planet.  We don’t just make some philosophy up and create a religion out of it, we really only need to tell the “old old story” of Jesus and his glory.  So, if you are new to the faith or if you have been around for a while, please understand this; you must have a basic understanding of the Old Testament in order to decipher the New Testament.  You can not just pick up an ancient document and decode it without having the combination.  That combination is spelled out in the Old Testament.  The Old Testament, which was written in the ancient Hebrew language and dialect has its very own unique idioms that all of the New Testament writers used.  Once you become familiar with the customs of the ancient Hebrews, the New Testament will open up for you in ways that you have never known before.  Add to that a grasp of the historical setting and now your eyes will be opened to a story that you never imagined and were never taught.  So, stick with me and read my articles with patients until you begin to catch the point I am making.  I am hoping to add some historical perspectives as we go.  I will also post from time to time some of the material that I used to guide me in this endeavor.  You should seriously consider purchasing them.  Your faith is personal and has nothing to do with a religion.  Your faith defines you and is the very breath that you take.  You live and die in it.  It has nothing to do with Sunday, it involves every day.  Jesus is the bread that you eat and you drink his blood spiritually.  It has nothing to do with rituals or holidays, it has only to do with your soul and your life.  It is the very substance that defines you. 

John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.