John 15:1

September 21, 2014

We talked a little last time about the first six verses of John 15, and were going to go
back and study a little more of verse one. Its there that we read Jesus saying, I am the
true vine, and Id like to think a little more about what that means. Weve already
concluded that Jesus is the source of all spiritual life, and the spiritual fruit we have is
because we live in him and cling to him, but now were going to see a little more into
what the original Jewish disciples may have thought when they heard him say this. To
begin lets go back to the Old Testament:

In Deuteronomy 32 we find another song from Moses about God and Israel. He describes
how God saved Israel and set them apart (v. 7-14), but they forsook him (v. 15-18), so he
turned them over to their enemies (v. 19-26):

The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the
suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
26
I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would
make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
27
Were it not that I feared the
wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they
should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD hath not done all this.
28
For they are a nation void
of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
29
O that they were wise, that they
understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
30
How should one chase a
thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD
had shut them up?
31
For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being
judges.
32
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes
are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
33
Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel
venom of asps.
34
Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?
35
To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for
the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
36
For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth
that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
37
And he shall say, Where are
their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
38
Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and
drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your
protection.
39
See now that I, even I, amhe, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make
alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
40
For I
lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever.
41
If I whet my glittering sword, and
mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward
them that hate me.
42
I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour
flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges
upon the enemy.
43
Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his
servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his
land, and to his people (v. 25-43).

When Israels enemies saw her fall they rejoiced in their own gods and strength. They
thought Israels God was nothing, and God says, but wait until you see the end. Israels
fall isnt permanent: the day comes when I repent myself for my servants! In other
words, a day will come when I wont be angry with them anymore and Ill save them. But
you! What I have prepared for you is stored up in my treasures. Just wait until you see
your end. Then youll cry out to these so called gods and find out that your vine is
nothing!

And thats the point I want to focus on in this study: the nations fell because their vine
couldnt give them life; it was useless, but Israels God (Israels Vine) can kill and make
alive, and wound, and heal, and no one can deliver out of his hand.

Jesus is the true vine.

Lets look at another verse:
And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and
unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.
22
And Solomons provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore
measures of meal,
23
Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep,
beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl.
24
For he had dominion over all the
region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the
river: and he had peace on all sides round about him.
25
And Judah and Israel dwelt safely,
every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of
Solomon (1 Kings 4:21-25).

In this verse we see that during Solomons reign everything was just right: every man
dwelt safely under his own vine and fig tree. In this case, the vine imagery is associated
with peace and tranquility. There were no invaders, and every family had what they
needed. It was a time of peace.

By the time of Hezekiah, though, things werent going quite as well. The Assyrians were
knocking at the door, and heres what their commander said during a siege:

Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a
present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his
fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern (2 Kings 18:31).

The circumstances are different, but the meaning is the same. The vine is associated with
peace and tranquility. If the Israelites will lay down their arms and just pay the tribute
to Assyria then theyll be safe and under their own vine.

Well, Jesus says he is the true vine.

How about Psalm 128?
Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
2
For thou shalt eat the
labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.
3
Thy wife shall be as
a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
4
Behold, that thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the LORD (v. 1-4).

In these verses the vine imagery is associated with blessing and richness. The mans wife
is like a fruitful vine; shes a blessing with plenty of fruit. Shes a help to the man and a
source of joy.

Well, Jesus is the true vine.

But the vine doesnt always mean something good in the Old Testament:
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between
the cherubims, shine forth.
2
Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength,
and come and save us.
3
Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be
saved.
4
O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
5
Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.
6
Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7
Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
8
Thou hast
brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
9
Thou preparedst
room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.
10
The hills were
covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.
11
She sent
out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.
12
Why hast thou then broken
down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?
13
The boar out of the
wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.
14
Return, we beseech thee, O
God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;
15
And the vineyard which
thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.
16
It is burned
with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
17
Let thy hand be upon
the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.
18
So
will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.
19
Turn us again, O
LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved (Ps. 80)

Before we comment lets look quickly at a similar verse:
Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved
hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:
2
And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof,
and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a
winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild
grapes.
3
And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me
and my vineyard.
4
What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?
wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
5
And
now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and
it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
6
And I will
lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I
will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.
7
For the vineyard of the LORD of
hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for
judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry (Is 5:1-7).

In these verses we see that Israel is Gods vine, but theres something very wrong. This
vine was set up for joy, but it failed. It was prepared for fruit but none came. Israel
refused to keep Gods commands, and she was known for producing wicked fruit.

This is what John means when he said, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee
from the wrath to come?
8
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to
say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of
these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
9
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of
the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast
into the fire (Lk. 3:7-9).

This is what all those Old Testament verses mean in Jeremiah and Isaiah and Ezekiel.
Israel failed as Gods vine, and theyre torn down for it.

But Jesus says he is the true vine!

You see, the new covenant was ushered in by his body and blood, and the remnant of
Israel (spiritual and true Israel) is complete in him. He is the fulfillment of the Old
Testament type, and so he says:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2
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.
3
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4
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.
5
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.
6
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.
7
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much
fruit; so shall ye be my disciples (Jn. 15:1-8).

This teaching has some very practical application for those who believe in him. As James
asks, Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? (James 3:12).
Under the New Covenant we look to Christ alone for not only justification but also
sanctification. Were in the vine; how then can we bear bad fruit? Or as Paul puts it:

How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
3
Know ye not, that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4
Therefore we are buried
with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5
For if we have been planted
together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin.
7
For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8
Now if we be
dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
9
Knowing that Christ being raised
from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10
For in that he died, he
died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
11
Likewise reckon ye also
yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12
Let
not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.
13
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield
yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments
of righteousness unto God.
14
For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under
the law, but under grace (Rom. 6:2-14).

May we too bear good fruit simply because were one with Christ, and may he alone be
glorified for it!

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