Jesus the True Vine
I am the vine.... you are the branches....
Words we often hear. But the eschatological claim is ground-breaking. In the Old Testament, Israel was often pictured as a vine (Is. 5; Ps. 44:2; Jer. 2:21; Ps. 80:8; Dt. 32:32; Ex. 15:17). However, it was most often in the context of judgment--of what the Lord had done for Israel, yet how they had rejected him, disobeyed him, become worthless... Notable is the promise in Ex. 15:17 that the Lord "will bring them in and plant them on [the Lord's] own mountain, the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O LORD, which your hands have established. The LORD will reign forever and ever."
In the light of thousands of years of revelation, Jesus' words cascaded in: "I am the true vine." I am the true Israel. I am am the faithful vine, the one who produces the fruit that the Lord desires (Is. 5; Jn. 5). Yet, not understandable at the time he spoke those words, he would also be the one who would take the wrath that the vine image of Israel often evoked in the Old Testament. As John the Baptist warned for Israel, instead he was cut off, burned, and bore our punishment.
When we read John 15, the themes of God's covenantal care throughout the ages for the vine of Israel, as well as Israel's unfaithfulness and unfruitfulness and their deserving of wrath and being cut off, should ring in our ears. Christ is once again saying, "I am the fulfillment of all the promises, of the entire Old Testament. I am the culmination of the covenant." Let the weight of years of promise, faithfulness, history, redemption, and warnings of wrath sink in.
Words we often hear. But the eschatological claim is ground-breaking. In the Old Testament, Israel was often pictured as a vine (Is. 5; Ps. 44:2; Jer. 2:21; Ps. 80:8; Dt. 32:32; Ex. 15:17). However, it was most often in the context of judgment--of what the Lord had done for Israel, yet how they had rejected him, disobeyed him, become worthless... Notable is the promise in Ex. 15:17 that the Lord "will bring them in and plant them on [the Lord's] own mountain, the place, O LORD, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O LORD, which your hands have established. The LORD will reign forever and ever."
In the light of thousands of years of revelation, Jesus' words cascaded in: "I am the true vine." I am the true Israel. I am am the faithful vine, the one who produces the fruit that the Lord desires (Is. 5; Jn. 5). Yet, not understandable at the time he spoke those words, he would also be the one who would take the wrath that the vine image of Israel often evoked in the Old Testament. As John the Baptist warned for Israel, instead he was cut off, burned, and bore our punishment.
Moreover for us, when we abide in him, we are the new people of God. When we abide in
him, his fruit is our fruit, his righteousness is our righteousness. We are counted as being the faithful fruit bearers. In the light of years of Old Testament history, our inability to produce our own fruit apart from him becomes so much more real, so much more heavy. We, too, apart from the True Israel of Christ, are like the historical, unfaithful Israel. But it is to our Father's glory we bear much fruit, that we fulfill what he always desired his people to be. Christ has done that, and he (not us) is still doing that in us his people.
Christ has brought us in and has planted us on the mountain of God in himself, the sanctuary and temple in himself that the Lord has established, in his eternal reign of inbreaking kingdom of God. Thus, we are the church, the abode of God, the branches from the true temple.
He--he--he--our wonderful Savior--is the true vine. "Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard!" (Is. 5:1).
Christ has brought us in and has planted us on the mountain of God in himself, the sanctuary and temple in himself that the Lord has established, in his eternal reign of inbreaking kingdom of God. Thus, we are the church, the abode of God, the branches from the true temple.
He--he--he--our wonderful Savior--is the true vine. "Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard!" (Is. 5:1).
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