186. Destroy not, Bless
Isaiah 65:8 Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sake, that I may not destroy them all.
“Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” The believers in Christ will not perish, or be destroyed, but they will have eternal life, a blessing. So God promises and so He fulfills: Jesus is the blessing, and Jesus prevents destruction. The Enemy seeks to destroy, but Jesus destroys the works of the devil. Perishing is the result of sin, but Jesus died to forgive sin and take it away. Therefore, because of Christ the promise is sure: a blessing is in it. The blessing in the cluster of grapes is Christ Himself, the life of God, which is eternal. This eternal life is the blessing. Jesus is the new wine that is in the cluster of grapes. Thus it cannot be destroyed, but what is in it is a blessing. This is what God will do for us.
The Lord has no pleasure in the death of the wicked, the unbeliever, but the punishment of death is necessary and required by the Law, for the sake of justice; but if something good can be found in us then we shall not be destroyed. The sin and death that is in us will be destroyed, like the trampling of the grapes. This trampling releases the juice, which becomes the new wine. The new wine is Jesus and His life. God promises us this new life. We need to believe this promise, for we do not easily see the new life that arises daily in the baptized and resurrected soul. So we need to hear the word of gospel in order to see the truth.
Something good is in us, but be careful; for the goodness in us is Jesus. There is nothing good in us (“call no man good”). Anything good in us is God, not us. It is a false statement to say the saying: “There is a little good in the worst of us, and little bad in the best of us.” Not true: there is nothing good in any of us, but only bad in all of us. But by faith in Christ God places goodness in us, His goodness, His life. Now there is something worth saving: it is God in us. This life of God that lives in our spirit is the “blessing that is in it.” And God says, “So will I do for my servants.”
Take this promise to heart. You have God’s life in you. You have a blessing in you. We can by faith be a blessing and give life to others by bearing fruit. We bear fruit by abiding in the Vine. We are not destroyed; we live.