Chapter Four

Dec 3

AS THE BRANCH IN THE VINE

"I am the vine, ye are the branches." (John 15:5)

It was in connection with the parable of the Vine that our Lord first used the expression, "Abide in me." That parable, so simple yet so rich in teaching, gives us the best and most complete illustration of what our Lord's command means and the union He invites us into.

The Nature of the Union

The parable teaches us the nature of this union. The connection between the vine and the branch is a living one. No external or temporary union will work. No human effort can create it. The branch exists only by the Creator's own work. Through this work, the life, the sap, the fatness, and the fruitfulness of the vine flow into the branch.

It's the same with the believer. His union with the Lord is not created by human wisdom or human will. It's an act of God. Through this act, God creates the closest and most complete life-union between the Son of God and the sinner. "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts." The same Spirit that lives in the Son becomes the life of the believer. Through the unity of that one Spirit and the fellowship of the same life which is in Christ, he becomes one with Him. Just as with the vine and branch, it is a life-union that makes them one.

The Completeness of the Union

The parable also teaches us how complete the union is. The union between the vine and the branch is so close that each is nothing without the other. Each exists wholly and only for the other.

Without the vine, the branch can do nothing. It owes everything to the vine: its place in the vineyard, its life, and its fruitfulness. The Lord says, "Without me ye can do nothing." The believer can please God each day only through what he does by the power of Christ dwelling in him. The daily flowing of the life-sap of the Holy Spirit is his only power to bring forth fruit. He lives in Him alone and depends on Him for each moment.

Without the branch, the vine can also do nothing. A vine without branches can bear no fruit. The branch is just as essential to the vine as the vine is to the branch. This is the wonderful reality of God's grace. Just as His people depend on Him, He has made Himself dependent on them. Without His disciples, He cannot give the grapes of the heavenly Canaan to the world. He cannot offer sinners His own appointment. This is the high honor He has given His redeemed ones: as essential as He is to them in heaven, so essential are they to Him on earth. Through them, His fruit may be found.

Believers, think about this until your soul bows in worship before the mystery of this perfect union between Christ and the believer.

Each Exists for the Other

There is more. Just as neither vine nor branch is anything without the other, neither exists except for the other.

All that the vine possesses belongs to the branches. The vine doesn't gather its fatness and sweetness from the soil for itself. Everything it has is for the branches. As the parent, it serves the branches. Jesus, to whom we owe our life, gives Himself completely for us and to us. "The glory Thou gavest me, I have given them." "He that believeth in me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works shall he do." All His fullness and all His riches are for you, believer. The vine doesn't live for itself or keep anything for itself. It exists only for the branches. All that Jesus is in heaven, He is for us. He has no interest separate from ours. As our representative, He stands before the Father.

All that the branch possesses belongs to the vine. The branch doesn't exist for itself but to bear fruit that proclaims the excellence of the vine. It has no reason to exist except to serve the vine. This is the glorious image of the believer's calling. His entire consecration to the service of his Lord drives him. As Jesus gives Himself so wholly over to him, the believer feels compelled to be wholly his Lord's. Every power of his being, every moment of his life, every thought and feeling belong to Jesus. From Him and for Him, he must bring forth fruit.

As he realizes what the vine is to the branch, and what the branch is meant to be to the vine, he feels that he has only one thing to think of and to live for: the work, the kingdom, the glory of his blessed Lord, bringing forth fruit to the glory of His name.

The Purpose: Fruit

The parable teaches us the purpose of the union. The branches exist for fruit and fruit alone. "Every branch that beareth not fruit He taketh away." The branch needs leaves to maintain its own life and to perfect its fruit. The fruit itself it bears to give away to those around it.

As the believer enters into his calling as a branch, he sees that he must forget himself and live entirely for his fellowmen. To love them, to seek them, and to save them is why Jesus came. For this, every branch on the Vine must live as much as Jesus came. It is for fruit, much fruit, that the Father has made us one with Jesus.

Understanding the Mystery

This wondrous parable unveils the mysteries of divine love, of the heavenly life, of the world of Spirit. How little I have understood! Jesus the living Vine in heaven, and I the living branch on earth! How little I have understood how great my need, yet how perfect my claim to all His fullness! How little need, but also how great His need, yet how perfect His claim to my emptiness!

Let me study this wondrous union between Jesus and His people in its beautiful light until it becomes my guide into full communion with my beloved Lord. Let me listen and believe until my whole being cries out, "Jesus is indeed to me the True Vine, bearing me, nourishing me, supplying me, using me, and filling me to the full to make me bring forth fruit abundantly." Then I shall not fear to say, "I am indeed a branch to Jesus, the True Vine, abiding in Him, resting on Him, waiting for Him, serving Him, and living only that through me, too, He may show forth the riches of His grace and give His fruit to a perishing world."

Coming Home to the Truth

When we try to understand the meaning of the parable, the blessed command spoken in connection with it comes home to us with true power. The thought of what the vine is to the branch, and Jesus to the believer, will give new force to the words, "Abide in me!"

It will be as if He says, "Think, soul, how completely I belong to you. I have joined myself inseparably to you. All the fullness and fatness of the Vine are yours in every deed. Now you are in me. Be assured that all I have is wholly yours. It is my interest and my honor to have you as a fruitful branch. Only abide in me."

You are weak, but I am strong. You are poor, but I am rich. Only abide in me. Yield yourself wholly to my teaching and rule. Simply trust my love, my grace, my promises. Only believe. I am wholly yours. I am the Vine, you are the branch. Abide in me."

What does this say to me, my soul? Shall I any longer hesitate or withhold my consent? Shall I not stop thinking only about how hard and difficult it is to live like a branch of the True Vine? Shall I not begin to look at it as something I had to accomplish? Instead, shall I not now see it as the most blessed and joyful thing under heaven?

Shall I not believe that now I am in Him, He Himself will keep me and enable me to abide? On my part, abiding is nothing but accepting my position, consenting to be kept there, and surrendering in faith to the strong Vine to hold the feeble branch.

Yes, I will, I do abide in You, blessed Lord Jesus.

O Saviour, how unspeakable is Your love! "Such knowledge is too wonderful for me: it is high, I cannot attain unto it." I can only yield myself to Your love with the prayer that, day by day, You would unfold to me somewhat of its precious mysteries. Strengthen and encourage Your loving disciple to do what his heart longs to do: to abide in You, wholly, only, ever.

Marcus Meazzo