God Establishes the Vineyard

Scripture: John 15:1

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

Insights:  In the final week of Jesus’ earthly life He told the parable found in Matthew 21:33-46 about the vineyard owner.  Then after the Lord’s Supper when He was alone with His disciples He told them these words found in John 15.  If Jesus used this imagery twice in His final week of life, it would do us well to invest some of our time to understanding this message.  This first verse of chapter fifteen indicates two truths.  First, God IS the vinedresser.  In other words, He is the One sovereignly ruling over all of creation.  In fact in the Matthew parable, the vineyard owner is the One who laid the walls, planted the fruit, made the trellis’ and did all the preparation work before He rented out the vineyard to workers.  God established the world as He desired and saw fit.  Everything that exists is because of His infinite creativity and grace.  I am emphasizing God’s creative nature because it helps us understand that the second point found in this passage was not some kind of plan B.  Here is the second truth, Jesus in the TRUE vine.  In other words, there are a lot of vines out there in this world.  In today’s “tolerant” minded civilization, the world would have us to believe all these vines are the same or equal.  Universalists would have us to believe that as long as you are on some kind of path you will eventually reach the same final destination.  To state it a little bit more explicitly, the world would have us to believe that Allah and Yahweh are one and the same or at least equal in power.  These “tolerant” minded thoughts are absolutely false.  I write again, Jesus said He was the TRUE vine.  The implications are clear.  Jesus is the only vine where life can be found.  If one is not connected to the life giving vine, then they are dead because they are not receiving any nutrients.  One must be in relationship with Jesus in order to be connected.  The only way to be in relationship is to have received His gift of eternal life.  In other words, one must be born again to be connected to the true vine.  God knew in His sovereign grace that His plan was to send His Son to be the TRUE vine to save a people for Himself.  It was for that explicit purpose He created and orchestrated human history to the climactic point of His Son’s death, burial and resurrection.

Questions:

1. Have you thanked God lately for His gracious sovereign rule?
2. Have you received the eternal life offered by the true vine? 

Prayer: Lord, I thank You for Your sovereign rule over all creation.  I also praise You for the plan You established before the foundations of the world to redeem a people to Yourself through the atoning sacrifice of Your Son. Amen.