the Vine of Israel

Isaiah drew attention to the vine, in saying,

“Let me sing now for my well-beloved a song of my beloved concerning His vineyard.” (Isa5:1)

And over the entrance of the Holy Place in Herod’s temple was the symbol of the grape vine. The grape vine represented Israel. So when Jesus spoke of the Vine and branches, His Hebrew disciples already had this covenant symbol fixed in their thinking. The sad side of the story was that when the leaders in Israel rejected Jesus Christ, they became dead branches to be discarded. The Vine of Christ would only include true believers.

(You can read a prophetic picture of Israel’s loss as the Vineyard of the Lord in Isaiah 5:2-7, and in Matt21:33-46)

With that in mind let’s take a closer look at our new covenant experience in Christ, by drawing from the analogy of the Vine and the branches.

It takes place in the upper room.

Jesus is sharing some awesome things with the disciples in preparing them for the cross and the things to come. It is during this time that He says,

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.

“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

“If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” (John 15:1-8)

There is a much more to the analogy of Jesus being the ‘true Vine’ than meets the eye. Jesus has always been the true vine. But let’s leave that be for now. What we want to do is bring this into the new covenant experience.

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The word ‘abide’ is the key in this prophetic analogy.

Abide carries strong covenant overtones. The Greek word ‘meno’ means to stay in place, or to remain within a sphere. As for covenant overtones, we have a picture of this when God speaks to Abraham, and says,

“I am God Almighty; walk before Me and be blameless. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you.” (Gen17:1,2)

Notice the Lord says that He will do the establishing of the covenant.

So, we do the walking, God does the establishing. Believers are to live by faith in the Lord Jesus. We are to walk in the knowledge of God’s strength and presence and of His love, that is, a love that we can never be separated from! This is our completeness.

The issue of abiding is at the very heart of the new covenant. We share our life with Christ. He shares His life with us. It’s not half life we share. We share in the full life of Jesus. He shares fully in our life.

The word covenant in Hebrew is the word ‘berith.’ In Greek it is ‘diatheke.’ Both words speak of a declaration of the will of God concerning His own commitment, promises, and conditions by which He enters into relationship with man.

God is the one who establishes the covenant. He is the initiator and completer. For this reason the vine is a vivid picture of our new covenant relationship with God.

The believer has one role in the Vine life. He is to look to the Lord Jesus for everything in life. Yet it is this one truth that believers sometimes stumble over. It is so easy to concentrate on working for Lord, and not on abiding in Him. Of course the end result is often frustration and even burn out.

The truth of the matter is that God has designed us to be faith-dependent on Jesus. This alone is the true secret of power!

Paul discovered this truth the same way that many of us do. The apostle said,

“Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me– to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.

“And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

“Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2Co12:7-10)

There is no question that Paul was a man of great zeal. His eagerness for the Lord was to be admired, but this eagerness also became a danger point in Paul’s life.

And Paul found that prayer by itself could not take care of the problem. He had to learn the vine secret. When Jesus said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness,'” the apostle recognized that he was attempting to do too much on his own.

And so, what did Jesus tell the disciples about their vine life? He said, “Without Me you can do nothing.”

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Our perfect example of the vine life is Jesus Himself.

In His earth walk, not one time do we ever see Jesus defensive or frustrated. Can we be like that? What was His secret? To answer that question, we need to ask another question. How many times do we hear Jesus say that He does nothing on His own initiative?

That is the key. (For your study consider the following Scriptures; John 5:30; 8:28; 8:42; 12:49; 14:10.)

Keep ever before you that the victory we walk in is the victory of the cross, that is, God’s finished work in Christ. It is the victory of Jesus that we are to abide in. It is His rest that we enter into. We are to trust in the Lord to work out His will in our life. It is in this arena of trust that the quiet life of abiding takes over.

Listen to these Scriptures:

“And the work of righteousness will be peace, and the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.” (Isa32:17)

“The Lord is exalted, for He dwells on high; He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness. And He will be the stability of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge; the fear of the LORD is his treasure.” (Isa33:5,6)

“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matt11:29)

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Now let’s go a step further.

It is in learning how to abide that we learn the outflow of God’s will. It really isn’t hard for any child of God to learn the flow of God’s will. There are only two things we need to know. First, we need to understand that God has a perfect will for all of His children. This includes His general will, and His specific will.

And, secondly we need to know that God is the only One who can work His will in our life. We don’t work God’s will. God works His own will.

Consider these key Scriptures:

“So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” (Phil2:12)

Notice it says that God is at work in each of us according to His will and for His own pleasure. Now for an even broader picture;

“Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Heb12:20,21)

Again notice that it is the God of peace who equips us ‘in everything‘ to do His will. He does this through our relationship with Jesus Christ. Again note that God’s work has to do with His pleasure. God is pleased to work with all His children.

There is no part of a believer’s life that the Lord is not vitally concerned with. This includes our mess ups. God can take the most terrible things of our own doings, and turn them to good. This is why the prophet of old could say,

“The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” (Lam3:22,23)

The Lord never ceases to love and care for His people. Perhaps David said it best of all. He said,

“You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, and Your right hand upholds me; and Your gentleness makes me great.” (Psa18:35)

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The Lord’s gentleness.

The Hebrew word for gentleness, ‘anavah’, speaks of meekness, humility, condescension. This word paints a picture of a father giving tender instruction to his young child, in helping the child learn lessons of character. Our Father is a loving Father.

What is it that we need to learn from the Father? Let me share three simple keys to the Vine life that we need to learn. These keys include much of what we have already studied. But it will do well to review them again.

The 1st key to a victorious life is simply learning to abide in Christ. We discussed this earlier, but it needs to be reemphasized. Remember that it is His fruit that we bear. Therefore, we must learn to let our faith settle in Him absolutely. This is where God receives glory.

The 2nd key to a victorious Christian life is found in the second half of verse 7. Jesus said,

“…and My words abide in you.”

The Greek language has two words for word. Logos means thoughts and conceptions, or arrangements. It is in our meditations and study that God’s Logos flows. However, this is not the word Jesus uses here. Here Jesus says, ‘…if my Words (rhema [hray’-mah]) abide in you…’

Rhema speaks of that which has been uttered by a living voice. We are always to seek from the Lord Himself, that is, His voice in our hearts, for instructions for our lives. This is Christ ministering His Word in the heart of a believer. There are many voices in world, but there is only one voice we are to seek for and listen to.

The 3rd key is the love key. Jesus said,

“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.” (John15:9.)

To abide in His love is to keep always before us His love for us. Meno means to settle down in the knowledge of His love. God’s love is your protection. The apostle said that nothing can ever separate a believer from the Father’s love for us that is found in Christ Jesus.

So now you know the story of ‘the covenant of the Vine.’

Here is your song. There is a message in ‘God Will Make A Way”. Listen carefully. The Lord wants to speak to your heart.

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Don’t be discouraged. The Lord will see you through.

Your friend and brother in Christ,

Buddy