Christ The True Vine Pt.2
“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.”
John 15:1-2
The Lord is our light and our salvation, another powerful declaration of scripture, one that must invade every nook and cranny of our being. It must fill us with the understanding that there is no other source of light, and there is no other source of salvation. It is in the Christ (THE TRUE) that we are illuminated and delivered.
The song writer said it best when he said, “I searched all over, and couldn’t find no-body, no-body greater!” How many of us are searching for the Christ among dead things? How many of us have settled for the American dream as life? How many of us look to a marriage or, educational prowess to define our ownership of life? How many are held prisoner to a false image of success, defined by material possessions, of houses, land and cars?
When Christ had risen from the borrowed tomb, Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Mary the mother of James, came looking for the body of Jesus, and the question was asked, “Why seek you the living among the dead? He is not here…” Many are seeking for the Christ among the dead tombs of religion and humanity, to engage in the ritual of focusing on death. However, anyone that seeks after Christ must be a seeker of His LIFE. When we understand the absoluteness of Christ, we understand that Christ is The Messiah (John 4:26), The Bread of Life (John 6:35), The One from Above (John 8:23), The Eternal One (John 8:58), The Light of The World (John 9:5), The Door (John 10:7), The Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14), The Son of God (John 10:36), The Resurrection and The Life (John 11:25), The Lord and Master (John 13:13), The Way, Truth, and The Life (John 14:6), The Alpha and Omega (Rev. 1:8) and The First and The Last (Rev. 1:17).
To seek after Christ beckons that we become aligned with the measuring reed (Ezekiel 42:16) of the temple, for it is He that measures us, because there is no other authority in heaven and earth that has the right of way to open the seals.
AND MY FATHER IS THE HUSBANDMAN
In that beginning of many beginnings, so long ago, God unveiled to Moses and opened the pages of scripture saying, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Gen.1:1). Paul later penned these words of Christ (The Beginning) in Colossians 1:16-17 [Amp], “For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in and for Him. And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).
Oh the wonder and splendor of it all, when we take time to let light shine upon our thoughts the majestic truth of oneness that exist between the Father and His Son. Even in John 15:1 this truth shouts out unto us, that there is nothing done without the Father being nearby to place His indelible fingerprint upon the Son. The Son is truly inseparable from His Father, so when He says, “I am the TRUE VINE, and MY FATHER IS THE HUSBANDMAN,” Christ spells out for us with great clarity, that HE exists because THE VINEDRESSER IS…THE ONE THAT DRESSES THE CHRIST!
It is the work of the Father that APPOINTS The Son of God to be THE TRUE VINE!
Christ is what and who He is because of the dictates of His Father, not of man, not of religion, not of any other authority, but of The Father (THE KEEPER OF THE VINEYARD). In that Garden of long ago, we see that the FIRST MAN ADAM was introduced to this concept of KEEPING THE GARDEN, because this is the way of ALL SONS. The Garden is descriptive of ALL MEN and of EVERY SON, and The Father is the one who knows how to prune us for KINGDOM GROWTH; establishing the tender plants for fruit bearing.
One thing that we must glean from this segment of scripture is, that if Christ is THE TRUE VINE of which we are to be linked, then it is of necessity that we be “dressed” in the same manner the Father has prescribed for every son that is to follow. Christ learned obedience: “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec” (Hebrews 5:8-10).
The Kingdom of God is a way of suffering, dying out to the old man, that old man Adam, so that the life resident within the grapes might flow forth; as we become FOLLOWERS OF CHRIST AS DEAR CHILDREN. The reference of the Father as THE VINEDRESSER is not by accident, it is purposeful to reveal that if we are to be the branches of THE VINE, we must allow purging to take place, to allow THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT to be manifested in and through our life. Whether it is through the stock market crashing, or the boss scolding us at work, the purging must take place in order to silence the flesh.
THE VINEDRESSER must take hold of each BRANCH and cut away the deadness of our humanity so that death can be swallowed up of life. There is no other way to get to that beautiful place in sonship, but through the PURGING OF SELF. The scriptural reference of the believer as BRANCHES and Christ as THE TRUE VINE, and THE FATHER AS THE HUSBANDMAN is connected to laying aside THE OLD MAN ADAM, until he is no more!
It is the Father that touches us with His pruner, to bring forth the image of HIS DEAR SON!
“EVERY BRANCH, (you and I), IN THE TRUE VINE THAT BEARETH NOT FRUIT, THE VINEDRESSER TAKETH AWAY: and EVERY BRANCH THAT BEARETH FRUIT, THE VINEDRESSER PURGETH IT, THAT IT MAY BRING FORTH MORE FRUIT” (John 15:2 with emphasis).
The significant truth here is that the Father is involved in the development of THE BRANCHES; for HE is the PRUNER. Most religion introduces its followers to symbolic and literal concepts; but let it be understood, that the Father is looking for FRUIT; or said another way, an offshoot of HIMSELF in a people.
The Father as THE VINEDRESSER is presented in John 15:1-2 as observing THE BRANCHES, to provide what is needed in bringing them forth. The Father in pruning or purging THE BRANCHES is at work to bring forth HIS LIFE within. Unfortunately, there is a soulish association existing in many “church goers,” because we are taught to live a “good life” with little emphasis placed on LIVING AFTER THE SPIRIT. Christ informs us in John 15:1-2 that there is no life apart from HIM, “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” (John 15:4).
The Father works in context with this understanding, “…THE BRANCH CANNOT BEAR FRUIT OF ITSELF…” we need the interaction of THE FATHER to bring us forth to experience the ZOE OF GOD. This life is not obtained through the efforts of self; it is brought forth through the in-working of PRUNING. You and I cannot be motivated into it by motivational speeches, or formulas of 5’s, 7’s and 10’s. We must adhere to the call and working of the Holy Spirit to reprove us. One level of pruning is TO TAKE AWAY SIN [Gr142 – airo (ah’-eer-ro)], the other level of pruning is to CLEANSE OF FILTH IMPURITY (Gr2508 – kathairo (kath-ah’-ee-ro)]; all for the purpose of bringing each branch into union with THE CHRIST.
The Church has become more and more distant from its FIRST LOVE – The Holy Spirit! The in-working agent of God the Father fuses us into the Christ and His Life, by faith in the work of Calvary and beyond.
We are called to be holy as HE is holy, pure as HE is pure; and in order for this holiness and purity to be evident in our lives, we must be joined unto THE VINE (a.k.a THE CHRIST). Many of us have been taught to join ourselves unto a church, a ministry, or a man and woman of God; however the scripture reveal a different priority; one that sanctions that we leave the former lust and be joined unto the RESSURRECTED and ASCENDED CHRIST!
The PRUNING work of THE VINEDRESSER has to do with bringing us into RIGHT FELLOWSHIP, the fellowship of THE FATHER AND THE SON! “What we have seen and [ourselves] heard, we are also telling you, so that you too may [d]realize and enjoy fellowship as partners and partakers with us. And [this] fellowship that we have [which is a [e]distinguishing mark of Christians] is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah)” [I John 1:1 Amplified Bible].
To accomplish this, there must be an intimacy that surpasses knowledge of the DEAD LETTER; we must follow on TO KNOW HIM. To be attached to THE TRUE VINE and be submitted to the inner workings of THE HUSBANDMAN is to be commissioned by THE HOLY SPIRIT to be drawn into the depths of God. In the book of Revelation the signification of Christ is huge, because it paints for us a clear picture of the holiness and purity each committed soul is to be aligned with.
Note what John saw (Revelation 1:12-17):
12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Through sign-i-fication (language of symbols), John on the Isle of Patmos, being in the spirit on the Lord’s Day, introduces to us, what he saw of the heavenly, priestly, kingly, prophetic Christ, who is seen standing in the middle of the seven churches of Asia Minor.
To be continued…
