Most, if not all, of us can remember what it is like to look out from a high position to the ocean and seashore in the distance or some other beautiful scene. The picture stays in our minds but we also know that it is a long way before we can get there. It is like what the prophet Isaiah is speaking about  … the future destination and the journey.

In this passage we also have the metaphor of a vineyard … it’s blossom and fruit. The vine dresser is totally committed to his vine. We find elsewhere in Scripture that Jesus is the true vine and those who trust in him, not themselves, are the branches. They are to remain in him in order to produce fruit … lives that are connected to God.

To say, however, that God no longer has any righteous anger towards his people does not mean the absence of discipline. God’s righteous anger would cut off the branches of the vine but his discipline only prunes the vine so that more fruit is produced. God’s discipline for his vine, as the people try to live with the troubles of this world, sanctifies them. The cross of Jesus was so that, through faith, people could be freed to worship him … gathered up one by one.