Matt.7.16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
7.17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
7.18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
7.19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
7.20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
7.21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

Israel is likened unto a costly grape vine. God did everything He could for His people, but they rejected Him as their "husbandman" and went their own way, to do their own things. Finally God removes His hedge and fence of protection and they reap the results of sin.

The immediate application was to Israel in Isaiah's day. For they had turned from God and would soon be over run and over powered by enemies. The northern kingdom was about to fall to Assyria, and the southern kingdom would fall to Babylon. Yet the truth for today is powerful in these passages. For how much more has Christianity been cared for and cultivated by our heavenly husbandman, Christ? He Himself came, in person, into the world, into the vineyard, to provide for it's abundant growth. He offers us grace, and newness of life, He gave us His law as a wall of protection for us. We have the knowledge of His great sacrifice to provide for our salvation. He hedges us about with His love and protection. Yet if we turn from Him and knock down His wall of protecting laws. If we refuse to render to Him the fruits of righteousness, we too will be over run by Babylon and destroyed because we chose sin. Sin is deceptive.

John 15 builds upon the same theme:
John 15.1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
15.2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
15.3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
15.4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
15.5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
15.6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Christ, the Beloved of God, came to assert the claims of the Owner of the vineyard; but the people who should have known better, treated Him with marked contempt, saying, We will not have this man to rule over us.

Will we have this MAN, to rule over us? The church in this generation (especially the SDA church) has been the recipient of great privileges and blessings from God, and He expects corresponding returns.

We have been redeemed by a costly price. Only by the greatness of Christ's sacrifice can we truly understand the issues of righteousness and sin. On this earth, the earth whose soil has been moistened by the tears and blood of the Son of God, are to be brought forth the precious fruits of Paradise. In the lives of God's people are to be revealed the glory and excellence of Christ's kingdom. Through His people Christ is to manifest His character and the principles of His law.

Yet, Satan seeks to counterfeit the work of God, and he is constantly urging people to accept his distorted principles. He represents the obedient people of God as a deluded people.

How the heart of true "husbandman" aches as he sees the stubborn rebellion of a people on whom He has showered great and wonderful blessings. In Jerusalem we see a symbol of the world hardened in unbelief and rebellion, and hastening on to meet the retributive judgments of God. Christ wept over Jerusalem. The Majesty of heaven in tears! the Son of the infinite God troubled in spirit, bowed down with anguish! The scene filled all heaven with wonder. That scene reveals to us the exceeding sinfulness of sin; it shows how hard a task it is, even for Infinite Power, to save the guilty from the consequences of transgressing the law of God. Jesus, looking down to the last generation, saw the world involved in a deception similar to that which caused the destruction of Jerusalem.

The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of Christ; the great sin of the Christian world would be their rejection of the law of God, the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. The precepts of Jehovah would be despised and set at nought. Millions in bondage to sin, slaves of Satan, doomed to suffer the second death, would refuse to listen to the words of truth in their day of visitation. Terrible blindness! strange infatuation!

Revelation 17.1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come; I will show you the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
17.2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
17.3 I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
17.4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
17.5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
17.6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered greatly.
Both Revelation and Isaiah are describing the sins of the church that professes to be God’s people. Woe is pronounced on them — destruction is their future.