John 15 is a most mysterious chapter, yet because the illustration is so simple, we may not really catch its significance. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (v. 5). Such a statement implies that He and we are one tree. How could this be possible? He is God and we are sinful human beings. How could we be one with the almighty God?
To liken the relationship between the Lord and us to a vine and its branches is to imply a living, organic relationship. A vine is not constructed by man; it grows and develops according to its life and nature. Man may build a chair, for instance, in whatever style suits him; he is free to choose the material to be used, the shape, and the way the parts will be attached. John writes of a vine, however, something which is not designed nor arranged by man. Paul writes of a Body, also a living organism not subject to man’s rearranging. Do we have a better place to locate our nose? Can we assign it a different function from what it has?
Have you ever thought of the Lord Jesus as a vine and of yourself as a branch? It is time to consider this! How could you be one with the Lord Jesus in life? He is without sin; you are a sinner. He is divine; you are human. You were a poor branch from a poor tree, but one day you believed in the Lord Jesus. Through believing you were grafted into this better vine!
You were not merely attached in some outward way by joining. You are not like a denture, fitted in but not really belonging. No! You are like a living tooth. Years ago I had a denture of two teeth. After using it for a few weeks, I threw it away. Every time I ate I had to be on guard lest the teeth come loose and fall into my mouth. I was afraid I would swallow them along with my food! You have been grafted into Christ, not artificially added to Him. He will never discard you.
If we are to understand how we and the Lord Jesus could be the same in life and nature as a vine and its branches and could indwell each other, we must relate John 15 with the foregoing chapters. These earlier chapters tell us that the Lord Jesus was the Word in the beginning and that the Word was God. One day this One who in eternity past was God became a man. He lived on this earth and went about with His disciples. For three and a half years they had Him with them and enjoyed His company. Then to their surprise they heard Him say that He was going away. He would die and be resurrected so that He might become the Spirit and be able to enter into them.
When Christ entered into the disciples, He made them the same as He. He imparted into them the divine life and nature. By His death and resurrection He became the living Spirit, able to enter into all those who believe in Him. We ourselves can testify that this is not a superstition. When we repented and believed in the Lord Jesus, we had a sense of something entering into us and of our having been put into something. To be saved is more than to have our sins forgiven and be justified by God in Christ. It is to have something living, holy, and divine-the Spirit-come into us. It made us feel as happy as the birds flying in the air. We also sensed that we no longer belonged to this earth, even though we were still living here. We were put into a living One, Christ Himself.
How can we be the same as He? How can we be in Him and He in us? Consider again the illustration of grafting. To attach a branch to another tree and have them grow together and become one is possible because they are both living. They do not stay together because of nails or glue. As long as they are brought together and attached, they will grow together into one organism. This comes about by life. We can grow into Christ and have Him grow in us by life. This life is the Spirit. It is by this Spirit that we have been grafted into Christ and that Christ can be worked into us. Now deep in our spirit we sense that Christ is one with us and that in spirit we are one with Him.
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