From wild grapes.. into grapes

[Ebn Barbara]

" Now let me sing to my Well-beloved A song of my Beloved regarding His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard 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 made a winepress in it; So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes. And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, please, between Me and My vineyard. What more could have been done to My vineyard That I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, Did it bring forth wild grapes? And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; And break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste; It shall not be pruned or dug, But there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds That they rain no rain on it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help. Woe to those who join house to house; They add field to field, Till there is no place Where they may dwell alone in the midst of the land. In my hearing the Lord of hosts said: Truly, many houses shall be desolate, Great and beautiful ones, without inhabitant… Woe to those who rise early in the morning, That they may follow intoxicating drink; Who continue until night, till wine inflames them. The harp and the strings, The tambourine and flute, And wine are in their feasts; But they do not regard the work of the Lord, Nor consider the operation of His hands. Therefore my people have gone into captivity, Because they have no knowledge; Their honorable men are famished, And their multitude dried up with thirst… Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, And sin as if with a cart rope… Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter… Woe to men mighty at drinking wine, Woe to men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink, Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away justice from the righteous man… Therefore the anger of the Lord is aroused against His people; He has stretched out His hand against them And stricken them, And the hills trembled. Their carcasses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. He will lift up a banner to the nations from afar, And will whistle to them from the end of the earth; Surely they shall come with speed, swiftly… they will roar And lay hold of the prey; They will carry it away safely, And no one will deliver, In that day they will roar against them Like the roaring of the sea. And if one looks to the land, Behold, darkness and sorrow; And the light is darkened by the clouds " (Isaiah 5 : 1 – 30).

Take a look at these verses.. and try to remember Lebanon’s situation before the civil war that destroyed it.. and after the civil war to date.
Our country was named “ Switzerland of the East ”, it was people’s center of attraction from all sides, it was a prosperous country, like a fruitful hill as this passage says, and the Lord planted it with the choicest vine.. He built a tower in it, and the tower symbolizes protection, and also made a winepress in its rock to transform its grapes to blessings.. and the Lord made to it all that could be done..
But.. when the fruit time came.. it was an unpleasant surprise.. horrible surprise..
Instead of giving grapes.. the vine gave wild grapes !!!
Comparing wild grapes with grapes.. it symbolizes two important things:
- it is sour instead of being sweet like grapes, it has the form of grapes but it is fake.

As a result, the Lord did to Lebanon like He did with His people in the past:
He took away its hedge, and it was burned; and broke down its wall, and it was trampled down..
And all the destruction mentioned in this passage came upon our country.. and if you go back in time and revise the political reasons that the ones in authority decreed at that time, you would notice that the reasons behind war and destruction and division and poverty and immigration and… are the result of an international decision of giving this country to another nation, and to find solutions for the region crisis in general; and if you follow the sequence of incidents you would find that they evolved from denominational struggles to religious struggles, then to struggles inside the same house and so on.

Beloveds: don’t get lost.. and don’t be conformed with the mindset and the conclusions of this age, for the same passage we’re reading says:
" My people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge ".
This country has gone into captivity because we have no knowledge that what had happened and still is happening to our country is a result of the sins and the evil we did, and from going astray form God’s way and commandments, and from His plan to this country..
The national decisions of using this country for wrong purposes, is a truth not an illusion.. but they are not the reason they are the ultimate result of all that we did.. and if you take a look at what God’s people did to deserve what this passage is mentioning, you would find that we did much more.. the struggles, the divisions, the fighting, the insecurity… they are not because of denominational or religious or political diversity, they are the result of what we did, this is why God’s chastisement comes upon us and one of its results is:
" … There was no peace from the enemy for whoever went out or came in; For I set all men, everyone, against his neighbor " (Zechariah 8 : 10).
To where can things go?
one of two:
First: what had happened to God’s people in the past, and is mentioned in this passage of God’s word, which we are still witnessing some of its parts even if it is with a slower motion than the days of war, and we will explain why it is slower.

Second: salvation to this country, bringing back peace security and prosperity to its land, and the Lord’s visitation with a great spiritual revival, that will bring a great salvation for the lost souls.
Of course all of us wish for salvation peace security and revival, but the question is: Who will have the key role in turning things into this direction?
And how?
It is the church who has this role and nobody else.

and I don’t mean the stones.. neither a specific denomination.. I mean the congregation of true believers, the children of God who washed their clothes with the blood of the lamb, and decided to put their hands on the plow without looking backward, those who didn’t love their lives to death, who’s souls are not precious for them until they have fulfilled with joy what the Lord has commanded them to do. They are the ones who decided not to enter their homes neither go upon their beds nor give sleep to their eyes or rest to their eyebrows, until they see it fulfilled !!!
Beloveds: the war didn’t stop by coincidence.. and the national decisions that helped to stop it didn’t come in our favor, because the nations that stopped it are the same ones who worked on causing it, the war stopped because:
“ The king ’s heart is in the hand of the Lord Like the rivers of water, He turns it wherever He wishes “ (Proverbs 21 : 1).
The Lord had turned the kings and leaders’ hearts to stop the war.. and the reason is because God had kept for Himself a faithful remnant, who prayed, interceded, wept before Him, day and night they cried, fought in the heavenly places, conquered battles in the spiritual realm.. and the Lord heard them, and His heart was softened, and had compassion on them, HE opened doors for solutions and peace for security and revival in our country..
But.. we still have a lot of continuous work to do, and we should continue it on two levels:
First: commitment in what we do, continuity without stop or weariness, to pray, intercede, fight, win battles against Satan and his kingdom, to conquer the land, united in war as one man, giving way to the Lord to cleanse us and our purposes, to count on the Holy Spirit’s guidance and directions in every step we make.
Second: to work day and night, to turn wild grapes into good grapes !!!

Beloveds: the Lord in His great mercy and grace, with His tender heart, and His will for all to be saved and know the truth (1Timothy 2: 4), and because He doesn’t want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3: 9), didn’t remove the vine, and if we look at the passage written here, we won’t see that He removed the vine, He only took away its hedge and it was trampled.. this vine still exist but it gives wild grapes.. and God’s will for all to be saved and not perish.. is not a coincidence, it is not a fate or a destiny as some say.. it is the result of planting. harvest doesn’t come out of nothing.. we reap what we sow in quantity and quality.. that’s why the Lord taught His disciples to pray saying:
" Your kingdom comes. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven ".
(Luke 11 : 2).
That’s why God appointed us, and gave us the work, we are His body through whom He will fulfill His will..
But how do we solve the problem of wild grapes and turn it into grapes?
The farmers and the country people know the principle of " grafting ", and the word of God speaks about it:
" And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree " (Romans 11 : 17).
When the farmers find out that the trees are giving wild fake fruits, they graft them with good and reel branches, to transform their fake bad fruit into a good reel one..
So the wild bad blueberry will become a good blueberry..
and the wild grapes will become good delicious grapes..
This is our mission beloveds.. we are the branches of the vine, the true vine that symbolizes Jesus Christ:
" I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing… If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples " (John 15 : 5 – 8).
The true grafting that can transform wild grapes into grapes comes directly from the Lord, not from the branches, for when we truly abide in Him, and respond to His continuous cleansing to us, with a submissive heart and pure motives, we will be playing the role of the branch through which the true wine " the true grafting " goes to the wild grapes of the world and people, and transform them into real grapes, but only if we abide in the vine, the Lord says:
" By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit.. you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you ".
Abide in the Lord.. keep on praying interceding and fighting.. cleanse and correct your motives.. then you will be a branch that transfers the true good grafting of the Lord to the wild grapes and transform it into good grapes.. then you will ask what you desire and it shall be done for you.
And because:
" We are the salt of the earth… We are the light of the world ".
(Matthew 5 : 13 – 14).

And because:
" Righteousness exalts a nation " (Proverbs 14 : 34).

And because:
" By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted " (Proverbs 11 : 11).

We will hear the Lord saying:
" I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day " (Zechariah 3 : 9).

And He will refresh His vine, and build the hedge and protect it from the trampling and say:
" For the seed shall be prosperous, The vine shall give its fruit, The ground shall give her increase, And the heavens shall give their dew, I will cause the remnant of this people To possess all these. And it shall come to pass That just as you were a curse among the nations, O (Lebanon), So I will save you, and you shall be a blessing. Do not fear, Let your hands be strong. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Just as I determined to punish you When your fathers provoked Me to wrath, Says the Lord of hosts, And I would not relent, So again in these days I am determined to do good To (the people of Lebanon) Do not fear " (Zechariah 8 : 12 - 15).
And the Lord continue saying:
" Your fasts… Shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feasts For (the people of Lebanon)… Thus says the Lord of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, Inhabitants of many cities; The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying: Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord, And seek the Lord of hosts. I myself will go also. Yes, many peoples and strong nations Shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in (Lebanon), And to pray before the Lord, Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a believer among you saying: Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you " (Zechariah 8 : 19 - 23).
Receive this message from the Lord today, read it, and let the Holy Spirit speaks to your heart..
And today I put this challenge before you to fulfill our role, to see God fulfilling His promises, because He is watching on His word until He fulfills it, and it shall come to pass in the time He had described.. and it is so soon !!!