“We should pull back from Galatians 5 and look upon the grand picture of redemptive history and observe rebellious Israel. Isaiah prophesied of a coming exile in Babylon—an exile that was God’s punishment for Israel’s disobedience.
In Isaiah 5 the prophet likens Israel to a vineyard on a fertile hill. Isaiah describes God’s activities in planting the vineyard—God tilled the soil, cleared it of stones, and planted the choicest of vines. He built a watchtower, fashioned a wine vat and waited for the crop of grapes to grow so that he could make some wine.
But the grapes that God planted yielded wild grapes, ones that could not be used to produce wine. What was God going to do to his wild grape-yielding vineyard? He would destroy it. God would remove its hedge, tear down its protective wall and allow the vineyard to be trampled.
God would no longer tend it but allow weeds, thorns and thistles to grow in the vineyard; he would also seal the sky and let the vineyard wither under a drought—the sun would scorch it out of existence.
The prophet then delivers this devastating blow: ‘For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!’ (Isa. 5:7).
Within the world of Isaiah’s parable, Israel was the unfruitful vineyard. The good grapes, or more generally, the fruit, that God desired to see grow was that of justice and righteousness. Take note, righteousness is one of the fruits of the Spirit.
But instead of justice and righteousness Israel produced wild grapes—Israel produced bloodshed. Though Isaiah does not use Paul’s specific terms for the works of the flesh, bloodshed is undoubtedly related to them.
Was this the end for Israel? Would God have Israel taken into captivity and never rebuild his vineyard? Would the vineyard only be the haunt of wild beasts, thorns and thistles?
In the following chapters Isaiah goes on to recount how God would show mercy to his people. Yes, God would carry his people into exile for their wickedness and rebellion, but he also promised through Isaiah that he would send his faithful and fruitful Servant to rebuild his vineyard. In Isaiah 11 God promised his people:
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins (Isa. 11:1–5).
So often this passage is cited and read but perhaps people do not read it in context and see the connections between what has gone before in Isaiah 5 and unfruitful Israel. There may also be some who omit to draw any connection between Isaiah 11 and Galatians 5.
But notice that the shoot from the root of Jesse would ‘bear fruit’. This servant would be anointed with the Holy Spirit—note the connection between bearing fruit and the presence of the Spirit—and he would be filled with wisdom and knowledge, and would judge with righteousness, a fruit of the Spirit.
But not only would he yield the righteousness that Israel failed to produce, but he would also wear faithfulness—another fruit of the Spirit—around his waist like a belt. Later in Isaiah the prophet uses similar imagery to those found in Isaiah 11: ‘In days to come Jacob shall take root, Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots and fill the whole world with fruit’ (Isa. 27:6).
The fruit of which Isaiah writes is not literal—Isaiah is not referring to bananas and mangos! Rather, he is referring to the fruit of righteousness and justice. And this fruit, or righteousness, would fill the whole earth! No longer would God confine righteousness to Israel alone but would see that his faithful Servant would spread this fruit throughout the entire creation.
In these passages God promises through the prophet that it is the shoot from the stump of Jesse, whom we all know is Jesus Christ, who will bear the fruit of righteousness. The Messiah will have the Spirit of the Lord rest upon him.
The work of the Servant, Jesus, will bring fruit throughout the whole earth. The work of causing the earth to sprout with fruit, however, is not the work of the Servant alone. Isaiah returns to the imagery of God’s vineyard later in his prophecy and writes:
For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens for ever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks; until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust for ever (Isa. 32:14–17; cf. 44:2–4).
What Isaiah stated in somewhat general terms is now stated more specifically. God’s vineyard would no longer be a haunt for wild animals, thistles and thorns, but would become a fruitful field with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
Again notice the connection between the Spirit and fruit. But this time, Isaiah mentions another fruit of the Spirit, as he says that the effect of righteousness would be peace.
In effect, God told his people that his servant would come, as would the Spirit, and both would produce fruit throughout the creation—the fruit of righteousness, faithfulness and peace. Again, note that the fruit of which Isaiah writes is not literal, but is symbolic for righteousness and related virtues.
If there is any doubt concerning this, hopefully the following clearly shows this point: ‘Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the LORD have created it’ (Isa. 45:8).
God would open up the windows of heaven and send forth the rain to water the earth so that it could yield fruit; but the rain is symbolic language for the Holy Spirit and his work.
All of this imagery is undoubtedly creation-laden and echoes the opening chapters of Genesis, especially as Jesus Christ created the heavens and earth through the agency of the Holy Spirit. Recall that Paul says of Christ, ‘For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth’ (Col. 1:16), and the Genesis account states: ‘And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters’ (Gen. 1:2).
The creation was completed and ended with the first Adam standing in the midst of a host of fruit-bearing trees. It should be no surprise, then, how Isaiah characterizes Israel’s renewal in the hands of the Spirit-anointed Servant of the Lord:
‘For the LORD comforts Zion; he comforts all her waste places and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song’ (Isa. 51:3).
Let us summarize what we have seen thus far. God, through his Spirit-anointed fruit-bearing Servant, and through the outpouring of his Holy Spirit, will cause the earth to break forth in fruitfulness, and this fruitfulness is likened to the garden-temple of Eden.
God will create a new heavens and earth by his Son and Spirit, and not only will it be verdant and fruitful, like the first creation, but it will be marked by righteousness and godliness. At the same time, this new creation imagery overlaps with that of the first and last exodus.
When we return to Galatians we must keep this Old Testament background in mind—the exodus and the promised final exodus, the first creation and the promised new creation, and the promise of the Spirit-anointed fruit-bearing Servant of the Lord. We should also keep in mind the broader story of redemptive history.
The first Adam was placed in the world to rule over it, to multiply God’s image throughout the world, and to extend the garden-temple throughout the world. Adam failed—he rebelled against God and surrendered his reign to the powers of Satan, sin and death.
The epoch or period of Adam is marked by the works of the flesh: ‘Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these’ (Gal. 5:19–21). All of these things are the consequences of the sin of Adam, and all of those who are in Adam manifest these wicked works.
By way of contrast, notice how Paul characterizes our redemption by Christ. Jesus is one ‘who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father’ (Gal. 1:4). Jesus delivers us from the sin-dominated present evil age.
When Christ delivers us, Paul explains: ‘Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith’ (Gal. 3:13–14).
Here Paul writes of Isaiah’s Servant who sends the fruit-bearing Spirit. Elsewhere in the New Testament we read of Christ’s outpouring of the Spirit upon the church. Peter preached to the crowds at Pentecost: ‘Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he [Jesus] has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing’ (Acts 2:33).
By this outpouring of the Spirit, the prophecies of Isaiah began to be fulfilled and the long-promised fruit that would ensue is manifest in those who are filled with the Holy Spirit: ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law’ (Gal. 5:22–23).
Quite literally, when we walk in the Spirit, the love that we show others, the joy that we know even during trials, the peace of God that we have and share with others through the gospel—in all of these things we are experiencing and manifesting the very things God promised through the prophet Isaiah over 2,500 years ago.
Paul’s famous fruit of the Spirit passage has a taproot that reaches down into the subterranean stream of the great Old Testament prophecies of Isaiah. What many do not realize, then, is that when they show love to another, God is fulfilling ancient promises of redemption through Christ and the Spirit in and through them.”
–J.V. Fesko, The Fruit of the Spirit Is… (Darlington, England; Carlisle, PA: EP Books, 2011), 43–50.
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