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The true vine: Christ on earth in contrast with IsraelThe beginning of this chapter, and that which relates to the vine, belongs to the earthly portion — to that which Jesus was on earth — to His relationship with His disciples as on the earth, and does not go beyond that position. "I am the true vine." Jehovah
had planted a vine brought out of Egypt (Psalm 80:8). This is
Israel after the flesh; but it was not the true Vine. The true Vine
was His Son, whom He brought up out of Egypt — Jesus.* He presents
Himself thus to His disciples. Here it is not that which He will be
after His departure; He was this upon earth, and distinctively upon
earth. We do not speak of planting vines in heaven, nor of pruning
branches there. The fruitbearing of the branches: the disciples' personal responsibilityThe disciples would have considered Him as the most excellent branch of the Vine; but thus He would have been only a member of Israel, whereas He was Himself the vessel, the source of blessing, according to the promises of God. The true Vine, therefore, is not Israel; quite the contrary, it is Christ in contrast with Israel, but Christ planted on earth, taking Israel's place, as the true Vine. The Father cultivates this plant, evidently on the earth. There is no need of a husbandman in heaven. Those who are attached to Christ, as the remnant of Israel, the disciples, need this culture. It is on the earth that fruit-bearing is looked for. The Lord therefore says to them, "Ye are clean already, through the word which I have spoken unto you"; "Ye are the branches." Judas, perhaps it may be said, was taken away, so the disciples who walked no more with Him. The others should be proved and cleansed, that they might bear more fruit. I do not doubt that this relationship, in principle and in a general analogy, still subsists. Those who make a profession, who attach themselves to Christ in order to follow Him, will, if there is life, be cleansed; if not, that which they have will be taken away. Observe therefore here, that the Lord speaks only of His word — that of the true prophet — and of judgment, whether in discipline or in cutting off. Consequently He speaks not of the power of God, but of the responsibility of man — a responsibility which man will certainly not be able to meet without grace; but which has nevertheless that character of personal responsibility here. Pruned by the Father; fruit as the proof of a vital and eternal linkJesus was the source of all their strength. They were to abide in Him; thus — for this is the order — He would abide in them. We have seen this in chapter 14. He does not speak here of the sovereign exercise of love in salvation, but of the government of children by their Father; so that blessing depends on walk (v. 21, 23). Here the husbandman seeks for fruit; but the instruction given presents entire dependence on the Vine as the means of producing it. And He shows the disciples that, walking on earth, they should be pruned by the Father, and a man (for in verse 6 He carefully changes the expression, for He knew the disciples and had pronounced them already clean) — a man, any one who bore no fruit, would be cut off. For the subject here is not that relationship with Christ in heaven by the Holy Ghost, which cannot be broken, but of that link which even then was formed here below, which might be vital and eternal, or which might not. Fruit should be the proof. In the former vine this was not necessary; they were Jews by birth, they were circumcised, they kept the ordinances, and abode in the vine as good branches, without bearing any fruit at all. They were only cut off from Israel for wilful violation of the law. Here it is not a relationship with Jehovah founded on the circumstance of being born of a certain family. That which is looked for is the glorifying the Father by fruit-bearing. It is this which will show that they are the disciples of Him who has borne so much. What precedes fruit; the source of strength and fruit; abiding in Christ
Christ, then, was the true Vine; the Father, the Husbandman; the
eleven were the branches. They were to abide in Him, which is
realised by not thinking to produce any fruit except as in Him,
looking to Him first. Christ precedes fruit. It is dependence,
practical habitual nearness of heart to Him, and trust in Him,
being attached to Him through dependence on Him. In this way Christ
in them would be a constant source of strength and of fruit. He
would be in them. Out of Him they could do nothing. If, by abiding
in Him, they had the strength of His presence, they should bear
much fruit. Moreover, "if a man" (He does not say "they"; He knew
them as true branches and clean) did not abide in Him, he should be
cast forth to be burnt. Again, if they abode in Him (that is, if
there was the constant dependence that draws from the source), and
if the words of Christ abode in them, directing their hearts and
thoughts, they should command the resources of divine power; they
should ask what they would, and it should be done. But, further,
the Father had loved the Son divinely while He dwelt on
earth. Jesus did the same with regard to them. They were to abide
in His love. In the former verses it was in Him, here it is in His
love.* By keeping His Father's commandments, He had abode in His
love; by keeping the commandments of Jesus, they should abide in
His. Dependence (which implies confidence, and reference to Him on
whom we depend for strength, as unable to do anything without Him,
and so clinging close to Him) and obedience, are the two great
principles of practical life here below. Thus Jesus walked as man:
He knew by experience the true path for His disciples. The
commandments of His Father were the expression of what the Father
was; by keeping them in the spirit of obedience, Jesus had ever
walked in the communion of His love; had maintained communion with
Himself. The commandments of Jesus when on earth were the
expression of what He was, divinely perfect in the path of man. By
walking in them, His disciples should be in the communion of His
love. The Lord spoke these things to His disciples, in order that
His joy** should abide in them, and that their joy should be
full. THe path of a disciple, not the salvation of a sinner, treated hereWe see that it is not the salvation of a sinner that is the subject treated of here, but the path of a disciple, in order that he may fully enjoy the love of Christ, and that his heart may be unclouded in the place where joy is found. Obedience the means of abiding in the Lord's loveNeither is the question entered on here, whether a real believer can be separated from God, because the Lord makes obedience the means of abiding in His love. Assuredly He could not lose the favour of His Father, or cease to be the object of His love. That was out of the question; and yet He says, "I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." But this was the divine path in which He enjoyed it. It is the walk and the strength of a disciple that is spoken of, and not the means of salvation. Love one to another; its measure
At verse 12 another part of the subject begins. He wills (this
is His commandment) that they should love one another, as He had
loved them. Before, He had spoken of the Father's love for Him,
which flowed from heaven into His heart here below.* He had loved
them in this same way; but He had also been a companion, a servant,
in this love. Thus the disciples were to love one another with a
love that rose above all the weaknesses of others, and which was at
the same time brotherly, and caused the one who felt it to be the
servant of his brother. It went so far as to lay down life itself
for one's friends. Now, to Jesus, he who obeyed Him was His
friend. Observe, He does not say that He would be their friend. He
was our friend when He gave His life for sinners: we are His
friends when we enjoy His confidence, as He here expresses it — "I
have told you all things that I have heard of my Father." Men speak
of their affairs, according to the necessity of doing so which may
arise, to those who are concerned in them. I impart all my own
thoughts to one who is my friend. "Shall I hide from Abraham the
thing that I will do?" and Abraham was called the "friend of God."
Now it was not things concerning Abraham himself that God then told
Abraham (He had done so as God), but things concerning the world — Sodom. God does the same with respect to the assembly, practically
with respect to the obedient disciple: such a one should be the
depositary of His thoughts. Moreover, He had chosen them for
this. It was not they who had chosen Him by the exercise of their
own will. He had chosen them and ordained them to go and bring
forth fruit, and fruit that should remain; so that, being thus
chosen of Christ for the work, they should receive from the Father,
who could not fail them in this case, whatsoever they should
ask. Here the Lord comes to the source and certainty of grace, in
order that the practical responsibility, under which He puts them,
should not cloud the divine grace which acted towards them and
placed them there. Hated by the world, in the same position as their Master
They were therefore to love one another.* That the world should
hate them was but the natural consequence of its hatred to Christ;
it sealed their association with Him. The world loves that which is
of the world: this is quite natural. The disciples were not of it;
and, besides, the Jesus whom it had rejected had chosen them and
separated them from the world: therefore it would hate them because
so chosen in grace. There was, besides, the moral reason, namely,
that they were not of it; but this demonstrated their relationship
to Christ, and His sovereign rights, by which He had taken them to
Himself out of a rebellious world. They should have the same
portion as their Master: it should be for His name's sake, because
the world — and He speaks especially of the Jews, among whom He
had laboured — knew not the Father who had sent Him in love. To
make their boast of Jehovah, as their God, suited them very
well. They would have received the Messiah on that footing. To know
the Father, revealed in His true character by the Son, was quite a
different thing. Nevertheless the Son had revealed Him, and, both
by His words and His works, had manifested the Father and His
perfections. Falling creatures in the presence of mercy and grace proving they preferred sin to GodIf Christ had not come and spoken unto them, God would not have had to reproach them with sin. They might still drag on, even if in an unpurged state, without any proof (though there was plenty of sin and transgression as men and as a people under the law) that they would not have God — would not even by mercy return. The fruit of a fallen nature was there, no doubt, but not the proof that that nature preferred sin to God, when God was there in mercy, not imputing it. Grace was dealing with them, not imputing sin to them. Mercy had been treating them as fallen, not as wilful creatures. God was not taking the ground of law, which imputes, or of judgment, but of grace in the revelation of the Father by the Son. The words and works of the Son revealing the Father in grace, rejected, left them without hope (compare John 16:9). Their real condition would otherwise not have been thoroughly tested, God would have had still a means to use; He loved Israel too much to condemn them while there was one left untried. If the Lord had not
done among them the works which no other man had done, they might
have remained as they were, refused to believe in Him, and not have
been guilty before God. They would have been still the object of
Jehovah's longsuffering; but in fact they had seen and hated both
the Son and the Father. The Father had been fully manifested in the
Son — in Jesus; and if, when God was fully manifested, and in
grace, they rejected Him, what could be done except to leave them
in sin, afar from God? If He had been manifested only in part, they
would have had an excuse; they might have said, "Ah! if He had
shown grace, if we had known Him as He is, we would not have
rejected Him." They could not now say this. They had seen the
Father and the Son in Jesus. Alas! they had seen and hated.*
The promised Holy Spirit: new testimony to be rendered to the Son of GodxThe Lord now turns to the subject of the Holy Ghost who should come to maintain His glory, which the people had cast down to the ground. The Jews had not known the Father manifested in the Son; the Holy Ghost should now come from the Father to bear witness of the Son. The Son should send Him from the Father. In John 14 the Father sends Him in Jesus' name for the personal relationship of the disciples with Jesus. Here Jesus, gone on high, sends Him the witness of His exalted glory, His heavenly place. This was the new testimony, and was to be rendered unto Jesus, the Son of God, ascended up to heaven. The disciples also should bear witness of Him, because they had been with Him from the beginning. They were to testify with the help of the Holy Ghost, as eyewitnesses of His life on earth, of the manifestation of the Father in Him. The Holy Ghost, sent by Him, was the witness to His glory with the Father, whence He Himself had come. The disciples' position after Christ's departureThus in Christ, the true Vine, we have the disciples, the branches, clean already, Christ being still present on the earth. After His departure they were to maintain this practical relationship. They should be in relationship with Him, as He, here below, had been with the Father. And they were to be with one another as He had been with them. Their position was outside the world. Now the Jews had hated both the Son and the Father; the Holy Ghost should bear witness to the Son as with the Father, and in the Father; and the disciples should testify also of that which He had been on earth. The Holy Ghost, and, in a certain sense, the disciples take the place of Jesus, as well as of the old vine, on the earth. The presence and testimony of the Holy Spirit on earth
The presence and the testimony of the Holy Ghost on earth are
now developed. The Spirit, sent by the Father in Christ's name as an abiding comforted on the Lord's departure
Nevertheless there is development as well as connection. In John
14 the Lord, although quitting the earth, speaks in connection with
that which He was upon earth. It is (not Christ Himself) the Father
who sends the Holy Ghost at His request. He goes from earth to
heaven on their part as Mediator. He would pray the Father, and the
Father would give them another Comforter, who should continue with
them, not leaving them as He was doing. Their relationship to the
Father depending on Him, it would be as believing in Him that He
would be sent to them — not to the world — not upon Jews, as
such. It should be in His name. Moreover the Holy Ghost would
Himself teach them, and He would recall to their mind the
commandments of Jesus — all that He had said unto them. For
John 14 gives the whole position that resulted from the
manifestation* of the Son, and that of the Father in Him, and from
His departure (that is to say, its results with regard to the
disciples). The Spirit to be sent by Christ also from heaven, a witness to His exaltationNow, in John 15 He had exhausted the subject of commandments in connection with the life manifested in Himself here below; and at the close of this chapter He considers Himself as ascended, and He adds, "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father." He comes, indeed, from the Father; for our relationship is, and ought to be, immediate to Him. It is there that Christ has placed us. But in this verse it is not the Father who sends Him at the request of Jesus, and in His name. Christ has taken His place in glory as Son of man, and according to the glorious fruits of His work, and He sends Him. Consequently He bears witness to that which Christ is in heaven. No doubt He makes us perceive what Jesus was here below, where in infinite grace He manifested the Father, and perceive it much better than they did, who were with Him during His sojourn on earth. But this is in John 14. Nevertheless the Holy Ghost is sent by Christ from heaven, and He reveals to us the Son, whom now we know as having perfectly and divinely (albeit as man and amid sinful men) manifested the Father. We know, I repeat, the Son, as with the Father, and in the Father. From thence it is He has sent us the Holy Ghost. |
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