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THE TRUE VINE

John chapter 14:25 to 15:11

The Lord Jesus knew that these disciples would be soon on their own. He had called them into the Upper Room in order to prepare them, and to give them information and instruction which they would pass on, as His Apostles, to the world in the power of the Holy Spirit. The only way the Truth could be given to the world was through these men, for He had written no books to leave behind Him. The Lord assured them that the Holy Spirit, in His mission as Helper, would teach them all things and bring all things to their remembrance.

The Holy Spirit knows the deep things of God and he is our Teacher and gives us the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:10-16). It is evident that He did just that, for John was one of those men, and he wrote this Gospel for us in the power of the Holy Spirit, remembering, like the others, every word that was said - a virtually impossible accomplishment, in human terms. After He came, the Apostles were able better to recall and to understand what the Lord had said (how dull they previously seem to have been at times) and to be open to new revelations from God, like Peter at Joppa and Caesarea, and John at Patmos.

He gave them His peace, and left them with it: it reminds us of the first verses of this chapter. The peace He was talking about here was a lot more than the peace of sins forgiven, it is the glorious, wonderful peace that comes to the heart of those who are fully yielded to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the peace of heart and mind of those who are in the will of God, and know that a wonderful future is being prepared for them by a Saviour who loves them.

He told them they should not be distressed or afraid: they had been advised beforehand that He was going away, but also that He would return to them. If they really loved Him they should already have rejoiced because He was going to the Father, Who was greater than He: this was not a distinction in nature or essence (John 10:30), but the filial relation makes this distinction in rank in the Trinity necessary. Being forewarned, they would believe when this came to pass.

He knew He would not have much more time to talk to them, for in a few hours He would be arrested and His disciples scattered. The prince of this world was coming: He would have another fight with Satan, which took place in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was, however, firmly determined to carry out the commandment He had received from the Father: to go all the way to Calvary. This proved to the world that He loved the Father (as the disciples would prove they loved Him by keeping His commandments).

At this point, apparently, the group arose and walked out into the night and the rest of the talk (chapters 15 and 16) and prayer (chapter 17) was in the shadows on the way to Gethsemane. It is suggested by several expositors that that night He went by the temple, following the Law as He so meticulously did, and they saw the beautiful gates of the temple, made of bronze and wrought into them was a golden vine, symbolising the nation Israel (Psalm 80:8-9, Isaiah 5:1, 7, Jeremiah 2:21, Hosea 10:1).

He then used the vine as a metaphor for Himself, as the genuine Messianic vine (as opposed to a counterfeit). The disciples were used to the old concept of the vine as a symbol of Israel, but He now told them to look upon Him as the true Vine. We are to be identified with Christ! We are in Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit the moment we trust Him as our Saviour and are born again as a child of God. National and religious allegiances, like the disciples with Israel and the Law, were no longer of prime consideration.

Whereas in the Old Testament passages and in the parables, God the Father is the owner of the vineyard, in this new metaphor He is the One who takes care of the vineyard, of the Vine, the Lord Jesus. This fulfils an Old Testament prophecy that the Lord Jesus would grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of the dry ground (Isaiah 53:2). Often the Father intervened to save Jesus from the Devil who wished to slay Him.

As He cared for the Vine, He will care for the branches, too. The branches must be joined to the Vine for fruit-bearing. In me means in Christ, and this is what it means to be saved. Words like propitiation, reconciliation, and redemption cover particular phases of salvation, but the entire procedure is in the words "in Christ."

There are only two groups of people: those who are in Christ and those who are not in Christ. When we trust Christ as Saviour we are born again by the Spirit of God to be God's children. The Holy Spirit not only indwells us, but baptises us into the body of Christ - "every branch in me."

This passage is directed to believers, to those who are already in Christ. It has nothing to do with being saved or not, but with fruit-bearing. Fruit is mentioned six times in the first ten verses, and three degrees of fruit-bearing: fruit, more fruit, and much fruit.

There are three conditions for fruitful life:

1. cleansing by the Word (verse 3, chapter 13:10,1 Peter 1:22-23).

2. abiding in Christ (verse 4),

3. obedience (verses 4, 10, 12, Galatians 6:2, 2 John 1:5,6).

Every branch that bears fruit God prunes: this is a translation of a Greek verb which means cleanses. And cleansing is by the Word (Psalm 119:9).

To abide in Christ means constant communion with Him all the time:

1. to have no known unconfessed sin,
2. no interest into which He is not brought,
3. no life which He cannot share,
4. to take all burdens to Him, and
5. to draw all wisdom, life and strength from Him.

Abiding in Christ will produce effectual prayer, perpetual fruit, and celestial joy.

The fruit which is expected of those abiding in Christ is the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Together they present a moral portrait of Christ, and a character made possible to the believer because of his vital union to Christ in His body (1 Corinthians 12:12-14).

The fruit is not soul-winning, although gospel outreach may be one of the side-products, so to speak. As we bear much fruit the Father is glorified in us. The minor moralities and graces of Christianity are often imitated, but never the nine fold fruit of the Spirit. Where such fruit is seen, the Father is glorified. The Pharisees were moral and intensely religious, but not one of them could say with Christ, I have glorified You on the earth (chapter 17:4).

The person who does not abide in the Lord, bears no fruit: he no longer evidences love for the Lord, he no longer keeps His word, or His commandments (chapter 14:24, 15:10). One of the ways God casts him out is by removing him away from the place of fruit-bearing, sometimes even by physical death (1 Corinthians 11:30, 1 John 5:16), thrown into the fire and burned, in the way Ananias and Sapphira were removed from the early church, which was a holy, fruit-bearing church. "If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire" (1 Corinthians 3:15).

A fruit-bearing Christian will have a lot of fun in this life. There will be fun in going to a Bible study; there will be fun in serving the Lord. A life in fellowship with Christ is a joyous life.

 

R David Jones

 

 

 

 

Chapter 14

25 "These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.

26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

27 "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

28 "You have heard Me say to you, 'I am going away and coming back to you.' If you loved Me, you would rejoice because I said, 'I am going to the Father,' for My Father is greater than I.

29 "And now I have told you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe.

30 "I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.

31 "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go from here.

Chapter 15

1 "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser.

2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5 "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

8 "By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

9 "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.

10 "If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.

11 "These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full."