THE VINEYARD

By Larry Doyle Crenshaw

MeditationsInLight.blogspot.com

One of the more detailed, descriptive, and hauntingly beautiful allegories in sacred scripture is found in The Book of Mormon, Jacob, Chapter 5.  It is beautiful in its picturesque narration of tending an orchard, and in its detail of events.  The allegory is haunting in its depiction of the history and destiny of the inhabitants of the Earth. It doesn’t take a historian, scriptorian or literary scholar to discern the cycle of events in God’s dealings with His children in every dispensation through the millennia.  The righteous of the House of Israel and the righteous gentiles who accept the gospel are grafted together in the covenant of Abraham.  The wicked who remain unrepentingly wild are destroyed.  – And the cycle of events continue through the ages – even unto today.

We can easily see the unfolding of modern-day events that are foretold in the last verses of Jacob 5.  The line of demarcation between good and evil is becoming ever more visible and pronounced.  As the Gospel rolls forth to every clime and corner of the Earth, the elect of God are being harvested or “saved” to use the familiar descriptor of the faithful.

The Vineyard’s story is also our personal story of redemption from the ways and wilds of the world.  We too, like the wild branches, are pruned, dug about, lifted up, and grafted on to the Tree of Life by our acceptance of and obedience to God’s Covenants – and therefore, we will be sanctified and redeemed in due time.  “The Vineyard” is your story and my story. 

This meditative verse is found on MeditationsInLight.blogspot.com .  If you find these meditations helpful in any way, feel free to share with your friends by selecting one or more of the “share” buttons on the site at the very bottom of each page. - Larry Doyle Crenshaw

The Vineyard

And when the time cometh that evil fruit shall again come into my vineyard, then will I cause the good and the bad to be gathered; and the good will I preserve unto myself, and the bad will I cast away into its own place. And then cometh the season and the end; and my vineyard will I cause to be burned with fire.

Book of Mormon   Jacob 5:77

A vineyard of wild and tame olive trees

Growing in the garden of the Master

Became subject to age, decay, and disease

So he pruned about to avert a disaster

It grieved Him greatly, the trees to lose

So tender branches he took from the wild

Their branches grafted to the tame to infuse

New life - like a mother nourishing her child

This the Master and servants did throughout

Digging, pruning, burning where they dared

But branches overran the roots round about

And many trees could not be repaired

So time and again in the vineyard they labored

Some years were lean with bitter fruit or tasteless

Other years, a bountiful harvest to be savored

And stored for seasons of want and distress

One day the vineyard’s servants learned

The Master’s work was ended and complete

And then the vineyard of trees was burned

And from stores of fruit the Master did eat

This is an allegory of symbols to discern

Regarding the Lord and the tribes of the earth

The plan of salvation is revealed and we learn

That all, both tame and once wild, have worth

The Lord’s Vineyard is your story and my story

We are rescued, pruned, lifted up and esteemed

And by the Savior’s power and atoning glory

We are loved, sanctified, and eternally redeemed

Larry Doyle Crenshaw