The True Vine

When the Lord Jesus Christ gave the upper room discourse He was preparing His disciples for His crucifixion and ascension. This took place after the Last Supper and Judas had already left to betray the Lord. Two of the seven “I AM”s of the gospel were given in the Upper Room. “I am the Way the Truth and the Life” and “I am the True Vine”. While each of these was given while the Lord Jesus Christ was waiting for His death, they each refer to His current works in the time of the Church. The fact that the Lord used the present tense shows us that He was using the sacred relationship Name that the Lord gave to Israel (see Ex 3: 14, 15, “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.”) and that these facts apply to every person who hears the Lord’s words at any time after they were spoken.

John 15: 1-8, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 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. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 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. 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. 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. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”

It is hard to dispute the meaning of the word “true” even though many people may dispute what the truth is in the modern world. Many people define the truth as “whatever I want to be right just now.” However, When John spoke to the angel in his heavenly vision of the last times the angel told John that his words are faithful and true (Rev 22: 6, “And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.”) We can see that the truth is faithful, can be relied on and comes from the Lord God. When the Lord Jesus Christ said that He is the true Vine He was letting us know that He is Divine, He is faithful and His word comes from God, that cannot lie (Titus 1: 2).

A vine, in the Bible, is associated with wine (See Gen 40: 9-11, this is Pharaoh’s butler’s dream) The fruit of the vine is always trodden to produce the wine and is associated with the Lord’s vengeance (See Rev 14: 19, “And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.”) When the Lord Jesus Christ said that He is the true Vine, He was letting us know that He was associated with the wrath of God. In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ was crushed in the winepress of God’s wrath and His blood was poured out to make deliver us from sin.

The first time that we read about fathers in the Bible is when the Lord God made Eve from Adam’s rib and instituted marriage (Gen 2: 24, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”) The idea of father and mother is one of belonging. When a man is ready to get married he leaves the place where he belongs and goes with his wife to make a new home. First he makes a public proclamation and then he takes the responsibility. The Lord Jesus Christ reminds us again, that He belongs to the Father in heaven and has come from heaven.

(See James 5: 7, “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.”) A husbandman is someone who is patient and waits for the fruit. The Father is patient and cares for the vine, waiting till it produces fruit for His glory.

Even though the Husbandman is patient, He still takes His responsibility seriously and tends the vine. The vine is usually old and has proven to be fruitful while the branches are cut off each year when they have produced their fruit so that the vine can produce new fruit from the new branches in the new season. Sometime a branch doesn’t produce any fruit and that branch needs to be cut off as it is wasting resources. If a branch does produce fruit the husbandman will nurture that branch and take away any extra shoots that will take away from its ability to produce the best fruit.

The major issue about the True Vine and His present work in the church concerns His permanence and His perseverance. The True Vine is there forever even though the branches are here for a short time. Even though the branches come and go the True Vine is always there to support every branch every day.

What does it mean to abide? When the angels came down to Sodom to rescue Lot he met them and asked them to stay at his house for the night but the angels said, “...Nay; but we will abide in the street all night.” (Gen 19: 2) The angels needed a temporary place where they could stay for a period of time. They would move on again after they finished there. However, when a person abides they remain fixed in that place.

The True Vine encouraged the branches to abide in Him. This means that the branches are to invest everything in the True Vine and stay there till their circumstances change. When a branch abides in the True Vine the branch takes all its resources from the True Vine and trust the True Vine completely.

However, the branches don’t only abide in the True Vine but the True Vine abides in the branches as well. The branches receive the same investment from the Vine as the put into the Vine. We should also note that the branches are purged from time to time and they move on to another state. While we are on the earth we can abide in the True Vine but “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (1 Cor 13: 12) Abiding in the True Vine is only a step along the way to seeing the True Vine face to face.

Just before the Lord Jesus Christ spoke these words He said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14: 3). If we abide in Him we are having a foretaste of the final reality of being with Him forever.

No branch is able to produce fruit if it isn’t attached to the vine. In the same way, any of the branches who belong to the True Vine cannot produce anything unless they are attached to the True Vine and abide in the True Vine.

When the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking beside the Lake He said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt 6: 33) This is another way of asking us to abide in Him. This has to do with treasure and where we invest our effort. If we abide in the True Vine we seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness.

In the final analysis the Lord Jesus Christ is the core of our faith and we are entirely dependant on Him. He is the vine and we are the branches. Each one of us was born on the earth and we belong to the earth. When sin came into the world we were sinners by birth but each one of us is a sinner by choice as well. We cannot do anything to save ourselves from the earth because we belong to the earth. We have no life because sin entered into the world (see Rom 5: 12, “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:”) and we are in the power of death. However, the Lord Jesus Christ, the True Vine, has life (John 1: 4, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”). He is able to bring life to others while no one else can give life to anyone. The heavens and the earth, as we know them, are reserved unto fire (2 Pet 3: 7, “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”) We cannot do anything about this but the True Vine, Who is the source of life, has come down from heaven and can take us back up to heaven where we can escape the destruction of the earth. This is why He is the True Vine but we are only the branches.

One of the marks of life is that living things is that they are fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth (See Gen 1: 20, 28) Living things produce fruit while they are being fruitful but they cannot produce fruit unless they are connected to a source of life. Any branch that abides in the True Vine will bring forth fruit and so they will satisfy the command the multiply and replenish the earth.

If a brach is not abiding in the True Vine that branch will not produce fruit and will wither away. The Husbandman will cut that branch away and it will die.

There is another aspect to abiding in the True Vine and that is that His words abide in us. When the Lord called Abram, He gave Abram some important promises but Abram wasn’t sure how these promises were going to work out while he was wondering, the Word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision and told Abram not to fear because the Lord was his shield and his great reward (Gen 15: 1). The Lord’s words are secure and can be relied on. When the Lord makes a promise it is up to us to allow those words to abide within us. Compare this with the command that the Lord gave to Joshua when he first began to lead Israel after Moses died. (Josh 1: 8, 9, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”) The Lord told Joshua how to make sure that the he could abide in the Lord’s words.

If we cling to the Lord’s words and fill our minds by meditating on the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He has said and done then His words will abide in us and we will abide in Him. If we do this then we have the power to ask and the Lord will give us what we ask for. If we are full of His words then we will only ask what is according to His will. If we abide in the True Vine then we will produce fruit and glorify the Father.