Since the time I was saved and began to love the Lord and the Bible, I have been attracted to John 15, where we have the illustration of the grapevine. For more than fifty years, this illustration has never been far away from my consideration.
Christ is the vine, and we are the branches (15:5). The fact that Christ is the vine and we are the branches of this vine clearly indicates that we are part of Christ. What a great matter this is! John 15 is not merely a parable; it is an illustration showing how we are now a part of Christ. We are not simply those who have been redeemed, forgiven, justified, reconciled, and saved. We are actually a part of Christ! If we view the illustration from this angle, we shall realize how profound it is. Christ is the very embodiment of God, and we are pitiful, corrupted, fallen, and even devilish sinners. How could such sinners have become a part of Christ? Nevertheless, as profound as it may seem, we are truly a part of Him.
The vine with the branches is the organism of the Triune God in the divine dispensation. One day the Lord showed me clearly that this vine is the unique organism in the universe. The vine in chapter fifteen is not a small, local, individual organism; it is a great, corporate, universal organism, the organism of the Triune God.
No other book in the Bible unveils the Trinity as fully as the Gospel of John does. This whole book concerns the Trinity. In no other book are the Father, the Son, and the Spirit revealed in such a practical way as They are here. The entire Gospel of John is a book on the Son with the Father and with the Spirit. Hence, the organism in chapter fifteen is not merely an organism of Christ, but of the Triune God.
In the opening word of this chapter the Lord Jesus, the Son, says, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman.” You may wonder where the Spirit is in this chapter. The Spirit is the sap, the life juice, in the vine. Therefore, we see that the Trinity comprises this organism, which includes us. The organism of the vine is constituted not only with divinity, but also with humanity. Praise the Lord that this universal organism is composed of both the Triune God and us! In fact, we are the crucial part of this organism. This is a matter of great significance.
The organism of the vine tree in John 15 is the focus of the whole Bible. An organism is an organic body containing life and having organs. Many Christians think of John 15 merely as a parable used by the Lord to describe our relationship with Him. But it is not merely a parable; it is a reality that reveals the focus of God’s intention. God is life, and life needs an organic body in which to grow and express itself. Even the life element within the seed of a flower needs an organic body. The seed is the organic body whereby the life within it can grow and be fully expressed. God desires to grow within an organic body and to have Himself expressed by means of that body. This body is the organism of Christ and the church.
The focus of the Bible is God as life growing in an organic body. This means that God is the growing life and that the growing life needs an organism, an organic body, in which God can grow and through which He can express Himself. We have been told that God was our Creator, the object of our worship, and that we, the creatures, had to worship Him. Although this is not wrong, it is a very superficial understanding of the revelation in the Bible. It is definitely not the inner content of the focus of God’s revelation.
The inner content of the divine focus is that God is not only our Creator and the object of our worship, but that He is life. Life does not require worship. How foolish it would be to put a carnation seed on the table and worship it! If you did this and the carnation seed could speak, it would say, “Stupid man! What are you doing? The more you worship me, the more I suffer. Instead of worshipping me, please sow me into the soil. If you do this, I will be happy.” Ultimately, God is not the object of our worship; He is life and He desires to grow in an organic body so that He may be expressed.