I AM the Word

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1) God created the universe in six days. One common thing that happened in each day was that he said “Let there be…” He said, “Let there be light…” and “Let there be an expanse between the waters…” and “Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place…” Six times he spoke creation into existence. His words created. His words had power. His words brought life. God didn’t have to create people. He wasn’t obligated to, but he wanted to. He wanted people to be in relationship with him.

In Exodus 14, before the Israelites crossed the Red Sea, the angel of God was before them. The scripture says that, “Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them.” (Ex. 14:19) God himself came to protect the Israelites. He didn’t have to but he wanted to. He was intervening on behalf of his people. In speaking of the angel that went behind him, Paul said that the Israelites, “they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.” (1 Corinthians. 10:4)

In Joshua we see how God’s word represented his faithfulness. He had made a promise to Moses in Deuteronomy 11:24, “Every place where you set your foot will be yours…” In Joshua 1:3, God reminded Joshua of this promise, “I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.” The rest of the book of Joshua is a demonstration of God’s faithfulness which came through the words of his promise. The words that he spoke to Moses weren’t just the sound of air vibrating his vocal cords. He was being faithful to his word and he wanted relationship with the Israelites.

God made numerous covenants with his people. He made a covenant with Noah not to destroy the earth with a flood again. He made a covenant with the Israelites on Mount Sinai through the law. He made a covenant with David to raise up offspring to him which we now know as Jesus. God said to King David, “He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” (2 Samuel 7:13) Each of those covenants involved his words of promise in which he would be faithful. Some of his covenants also pronounced judgment if the people did not obey. His words demonstrated that he was not a God who was distant, who didn’t want to get involved. He wanted them to see that through fellowship with him their lives and generations after them would have purpose.

When I started college I went to a christian group meeting once per week while I was there. Each week a student would give a devotional, something simple from the Bible that they would share with the group. One meeting a girl brought a bunch of devotional booklets, Our Daily Bread. She challenged everyone to read one devotional each day. I took her up on it. I never read the Bible before other than Sunday school or Sunday church. I was determined to get it done. I had no clue as to what God was going to do with that. I sensed that something was going on inside of me when I was reading his word, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was. I wanted more, so I started reading the Bible cover-to-cover. I gave up a few times, but by the time I got to State I had developed a habit of reading it. I began realizing that God was really trying to say something to me. The Bible wasn’t just words on a page anymore. I finally was able to find God’s forgiveness through all that. God wasn’t distant like I thought. Well, in one sense he was distant because my sin had separated me from him. But he did want to be involved. Even though I was separated from him, his arm wasn’t so short that it couldn’t save me.

As we move forward in the Old Testament, the people of Israel had been exiled, many of which went to Babylon. The prophet Ezekiel was in Babylon. It was there that he prophesied God’s words to the people of Israel, “I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30) God was searching. He wanted someone, anyone, to be involved in the restoration of his people. He wasn’t sitting back in his recliner hoping that someone would come to his door. He was actively seeking. About 120 years later we read about a man named Nehemiah. Undoubtedly, Nehemiah had heard about God’s desire through Ezekiel. We read in the book of Nehemiah that he heard about the condition of the wall around Jerusalem and the people were experiencing great trouble and shame. God’s desire, along with the situation of the people, gripped his heart. He knew he had to do something. He administrated the rebuilding of the wall. And with the help of Ezra, reinstituted God’s word to the people of Israel so that they would turn back to him.

Somewhere in my last year of college I went to a conference. I had been wrestling with the idea of going into full-time ministry with my church. At this conference someone spoke about Ezekiel 22:30. He was encouraging us to consider ourselves as someone who could stand in the gap for people…to be someone God could use to reach people for Christ. I kept thinking about that. I woke up in the night and couldn’t go back to sleep. So, I started reading the first few chapters of Nehemiah. When I finished the thought struck me that no where in this story does it say that God told Nehemiah to rebuild the wall. I was wondering if God was trying to speak to me about my decision to go into ministry as a job. I didn’t feel like I was anything special. Surely God would rather use someone else who was more gifted or a had a better personality. Nehemiah wasn’t a prophet or a priest. He wasn’t someone that would have been seen as a great deliverer. A few days later, I was at our Sunday church meeting back in Raleigh. One of the pastors, Berk, was teaching. I perked up because he was teaching from the book of Nehemiah. As he was teaching, he said something that I remember word-for-word 25 years later. He said, “Nowhere in this story does it say that God told Nehemiah to rebuild the wall.” At that moment, I knew God was speaking directly to me. I already knew that God desired for the nations to be reached with the gospel and to make disciples. I knew that I could have gotten a forestry job and still pursued God’s will. But, I had shared God’s word with a lot of people over the previous few years. I liked the thought of being in a job where I could focus on teaching and have more time to disciple students. If it didn’t work out after a couple years, then I could move on and do something else as a career.

You see, God had spoken. He already made his will to be known to all the people of Israel, not just to Nehemiah. It wasn’t a mystery as to what God wanted. He already communicated it with very clear words. It was Nehemiah who recognized that God wasn’t just speaking to all the other people. God was speaking to him. When you look back throughout the scriptures this is one of the great qualities of those who do great things for God. They recognized that God exists, that he has spoken, and that he is speaking today, to them in particular. God has spoken to us through his word. It’s not just rules in a book, it’s God demonstrating his existence and communicating with each of us directly. Just because 120 years had passed since God declared his will in Ezekiel, it didn’t mean that God’s will had changed any. Just because Jesus spoke over 2000 years ago doesn’t mean that his will has diminished any either.

The rest of the Old Testament is fill with examples of God speaking about intervening, God speaking about fellowship, God speaking about judgment, God speaking about hope. Then there was 400 years of silence. No new prophecies were made. But, he wasn’t done speaking. In Hebrews it says, “1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.” (Hebrews 1:1-2)

In John 1:1-3, John states, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” As you read the rest of the chapter you will see that Jesus is the “word”. In the Greek culture the word “logos” was used as a title given to the impersonal creative force. This intelligent force was involved in bringing order to the universe. It was the source of knowledge, wisdom and intelligence as well. This is how they could reason that there could be order in the universe without embracing a God that they were accountable to. So, when John used the word “logos” his readers would understand what he was talking about. Instead of “logos” being impersonal, John begins to share what God is truly like. Listen to how he describes God:

“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.” - John 1:11

“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” - John 1:12

“The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…” - John 1:14

Jesus had come to intervene, bringing salvation to all people. He came to “seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:11). He came to bring hope, but those who rejected him found themselves in judgment. He came speaking. His words had life. In John 1:12, notice that it doesn’t say that those who received his teachings became children of God. It’s those who received him that can become children of God.

As I was thinking about this message I was reminded that I don’t need to just spend time in the word. I need to spend time with the word. What do you believe? Do you believe that God exists? Do you believe that he has spoken? Do you believe that he is still speaking to you? This is part of the great hope of Christians. We believe that all these things are a “yes”. Before I came to Christ I had no clue that God was still speaking. I felt pretty certain there was a God and that he had spoken to people at some time in history. But I felt that he went silent, especially for me. It wasn’t until I started reading the Bible for myself that I started experiencing strange, new things happening. I began to be convicted for my sin. The death and resurrection of Jesus became more of a reality to me. Christian friends were sharing with me the same verses I had read earlier that day. I gained more and more glimpses of a personal God that was wanting to speak with me.

In a couple minutes we’ll have a time for sharing. I want to ask you two questions for you to think about:

What has been helpful for you in meeting with the word over the past month or so? In other words, have you changed a habit or heart attitude that has led God to speak to you? Have you continued having a certain habit or heart attitude that has kept you in communication with the word?

What is one simple thing you can pass on to someone over the next week or in order to encourage them to meet with the word as you have been doing?

I AM the Root and the Bright Morning Star

Welcome! Today we continue our I AM series, where we seek to deepen our understanding of the I AM statements of Jesus. This is our next-to-last message in this series; next week, we will look at the statement of Jesus as being The Word.

Today’s I AM statement comes from Revelation chapter 22, the final chapter of the Bible:

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” – Rev. 22:16

This verse is kind of a two-for-one deal, as we have two titles of Jesus: First, the Root and the Offspring of David, and second, the bright Morning Star.

Let’s start with the first title. I am the Root and the Offspring of David. The root is something that comes before; the offspring is something that comes after. How can this be?

We of course know the answer – Jesus is God; He is eternal. He is the Messiah. The issue of Jesus’ identity was the core issue that led to His crucifixion. The Jewish leaders had been jealous of Jesus for some time, but this hatred grew to a fever pitch when Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. I want to read the account of Jesus’ entry from Matthew, along with what happened immediately after this. Notice how these are all connected, how the people treat Jesus, and how the leaders respond. This is from Matthew 21.

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Hosanna in the highest heaven!” When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, “Who is this?” The crowds answered, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.” – Matt. 21:6-11

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” He said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” – Matt. 21:12-13

The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things He did and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they were indignant. “Do You hear what these children are saying?” they asked Him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, “‘From the lips of children and infants You, Lord, have called forth Your praise’?” – Matt. 21:14-16

“Your” praise. Jesus is clearly identifying Himself as the Messiah, but He is also identifying Himself as God, as the object of worship. “Hosanna” in the original Hebrew meant, “Please, save us!” and this was contained in the idea, but it was more than a prayer for salvation – it was an expression of adoration and worship. Hosannas to anyone but God would have been considered idolatry.

This brings me back to my question: How can Jesus be the Root and the Offspring of David, one that follows after David but yet one that comes before? Again, our answer is that Jesus is the Eternal God, one of three Persons in the Trinity of God. But the Pharisees and priests are not ready to hear this.

Jesus presents this question to the Pharisees in Jerusalem during his final few days before the crucifixion, shortly after the events we have just read. The account is found in Matthew, Luke and Mark. We will continue on in Matthew, in Chapter 22.

While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?” “The son of David,” they replied. – Matt. 22:41-42

This is just the start. The Pharisees seemingly give this answer together, as it is obvious. And to them it was obvious. But they thought it meant that the Messiah was only the offspring of David, not the Root. But the thing is, when you look at the passages describing the Messiah as the offspring of David, it becomes obvious that He is far more than just a man. For example, look at this passage from Isaiah 11:

A Shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—and He will delight in the fear of the Lord. He will not judge by what He sees with His eyes, or decide by what He hears with His ears; but with righteousness He will judge the needy, with justice He will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth; with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be His belt and faithfulness the sash around His waist. – Is. 11:1-5

Jesse was David’s immediate father. And so this passage shows that this messiah figure will indeed come after David. Jesse is referred to a stump because of the context of Isaiah – one of his main themes of Isaiah is that Judah and Jerusalem will finally fall as a result of their ongoing sin and disregard for the Lord. The promised land will be taken away from them! David, the son of Jesse, was the one who had at last taken Israel from her various enemies. The Jews understood Messiah would be one who took it back again, a kind of “second” David, and so the term “the son of David” meant more than just genealogy, although it meant that too. It meant that the Messiah would do what David had done.

The passage is encouraging: out of this stump of Jesse, out of the fallen line of kings who did not serve God and sinned greatly, after the great fall of Israel and of Judah, would come a Branch, or Shoot, one that would bear fruit. The description is of the Messiah, the one on whom the Spirit would rest, a sneak preview of Jesus’ baptism when the Spirit, in the form of a dove, rests on Jesus, and God says, “This is My Son, whom I love.” And the passage describes the Messiah as judge – a good judge, a righteous judge, and a judge who also metes out punishment upon the wicked. And note that He is described as far more than human – it says that with just His breath, He would slay the wicked. Whether this was meant to be taken literally or figuratively (the latter, I’m sure the Pharisees thought), it meant that the Messiah had power far beyond that of a mere man.

Here is another passage on the Messiah, Son of David:

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David [from David’s line] a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In His days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which He will be called: The Lord Our Righteous Savior. – Jer. 23:5-6

Again, this Messiah figure comes from David, again He is called a Branch, again He is King. And again, He is more than a man – He is described as Lord – a term reserved for God – and as Savior, together a title more than worthy of Hosannas. It is obvious to us that this refers to Jesus. The Jewish leaders should have seen this as well – they knew these passages! Indeed, the Pharisees were experts in Scripture – or to be more precise, they were experts in reading and discussing Scripture. On the other hand, following it, obeying it, repenting as it pointed out their sins, not so much. But they knew what the Scripture said.

There are many other passages we could consider but let us go on with the account of Jesus in Matt. 22. Recall that Jesus asked the Pharisees what they thought about the Messiah, and whose son He was. They replied that He was the Son of David. Here is how the passage continues:

He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask Him any more questions. – Matt. 22:43-46

How could David’s son be David’s Lord? The Pharisees immediately knew the passage that Jesus was quoting. This comes from Psalm 110. This is a Psalm “of David.” Let’s read from it:

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” The Lord will extend Your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies!” Your troops will be willing on Your day of battle. Arrayed in holy splendor, Your young men will come to You like dew from the morning’s womb. The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” The Lord is at Your right hand; He will crush kings on the day of His wrath. He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. – Ps. 110:1-6

David calls this future son of David, his Lord! And there is no question that David is talking about the Messiah. We see the same kind of holy battle scene that we saw in our earlier passages today. And he is called a priest. A king that is also a priest? That goes against the Law of Moses. But preceding the Law of Moses we see the example of Melchizedek, a king who is also serving as a priest, one to whom Abraham gave an offering or tribute. Note again that the Messiah figure is more than a man. Not only does He transcend the Law of Moses, being a warrior, king, and priest, but He is a priest forever; that is, He is eternal. The Jewish leaders, and the priests in particular, probably didn’t like to think about this Psalm. It said that there was a priest who would serve as priest forever. The implication was that the present priesthood, the ancient priesthood that went all the way back to the time of Moses, was, in contrast, temporary. It was indeed more temporary than they realized, as the whole thing would end a few decades later, in AD 70.

And so we see that the idea that Jesus is the Root and Offspring of David was not really a new concept in Revelation. We see Jesus explaining this to the Jewish leaders shortly before the Crucifixion, but the idea is actually spelled out in the later prophets and even goes back to David’s own writings. The very title that the Jewish leaders rejected, should be one that we, as believers, rejoice in. We should want to join in with the children shouting Hosanna’s to our Savior, King, and God.

I want to point out that the Isaiah and Jeremiah passages we looked at today (Is. 11:1-5 and Jer. 23:5-6) specifically call the Messiah a branch, or, equivalently, shoot, a word that can also be described as offspring, but which means much more. In the Is. 11 passage, the word used is Netzer, a word closely tied to Nazareth! And Jesus is called the Nazarene, for He grew up in Nazareth.

Here is another passage that describes Jesus as the Branch:

“‘Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. – Zech. 3:8-9

Again, the Messiah figure The “stone” is likely Jesus, elsewhere called the “cornerstone” who is described as having seven eyes in Rev. 5:

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. He went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. And when He had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because You were slain, and with Your blood You purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” - Rev. 5:6-10

And so the Messiah in Zehariah is called the Servant, and the Branch, and the Stone, which I think is meant to be reference to the Cornerstone. And indeed, God did remove the sin of the land in a single day, when Jesus went to the cross for our sins.

The “branch,” or offspring, is also used in Zech. 6:

‘Here is the Man whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. It is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on His throne. And He will be a priest on His throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ – Zech. 6:12b-13

Again, we see the term the Branch, and we see the joint roles of king and priest. I believe that “The Temple of the Lord” is not primarily referring to a physical Temple, but instead to the church universal, to the body of believers who have given themselves to Him and follow Him. Through them He indeed “branches out from his place” and salvation goes from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, and then to all the ends of the earth.

I could say much more, but we have a second title of Jesus to investigate. Here again is our opening passage from Rev. 22:

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” – Rev. 22:16

What does it mean that Jesus is the Bright Morning Star? Astronomically speaking, the morning star refers to Venus, the brightest object in the night sky apart from the moon. Venus always appears in the east before sunrise, or west after sunset. It never appears overhead at midnight. At present, Venus rises at 6:09 am, reaches its peak at 1:03 pm (when it is not visible, due to the sun shining and overpowering it), and sets at 7:58 pm. The sun presently rises at 6:21 am (12 minutes after Venus rises) and sets at 8:28 pm (30 minutes after Venus sets, meaning that Venus’ morning rising is much more visible than its evening setting at present).

Again, I want to look at some Old Testament passages referring to the “star of the morning.” Our first passage is from Isaiah 14:

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. Those who see you stare at you, they ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made kingdoms tremble, the man who made the world a wilderness, who overthrew its cities and would not let his captives go home?” All the kings of the nations lie in state, each in his own tomb. But you are cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch; you are covered with the slain, with those pierced by the sword, those who descend to the stones of the pit. Like a corpse trampled underfoot, you will not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land and killed your people. – Is. 14:12-20

Is this referring to Jesus? Certainly not! This is Lucifer, who is said elsewhere to appear as an angel of light. But isn’t Jesus the bright morning star? Yes. Jesus is the true bright morning star. Satan, always the great imitator of Jesus, imitates Christ in this way (and does so quite poorly, I might add).

“Morning stars” can be symbolic of heavenly beings (and recall that Lucifer was an angel). Job 38 gives us this description of creation (God is talking):

Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? – Job 38:4-7

In one of Balaam’s prophecies, he refers to the Messiah coming at a future time, and uses “star” symbolism to do this. From Numbers 24:

I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel. – Num. 24:17a

That Jesus is associated with a star is demonstrated by the star that the Magi followed to see the baby Jesus. From Matt. 2:

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw His star when it rose and have come to worship Him.” – Matt. 2:1-2

But what is the meaning behind Jesus as the Bright Morning Star? Why is this one of His titles? The answer is in the verse immediately after this verse in Revelation. Here it is, with the verse we have been looking at this morning:

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” – Rev. 22:16-17a

Let us say it now: Come! The Bright Morning Star is a beautiful picture of Jesus’ coming. When does the star come? In the morning, when it is still dark. But its coming tells you that night is over, and the day begins. Spiritually speaking, we are currently in the night. But when Jesus, the Bright Morning Star comes, we know that day is upon us, that the reign of Satan on earth is over, and that an eternity with Christ in the New Heavens and the New Earth awaits us. He is indeed the Bright Morning Star.

Now I want to finish today by going back to the idea of Jesus as the Root. Now trees and plants have multiple kinds of root systems. The kind you are probably most familiar with is when roots are isolated to each plant, and the plant spreads through seeds that grow up new, independent plants. Think of carrots, for example – you can pull up one carrot from your garden without all of the other carrots coming up with them.

Now, the Greek word for root is riza, and although the word is used figuratively and literally in a variety of ways in Scripture, from a botanical point of view, going all the way back to the Greek, the word riza referred to a root system that is not independent, but instead, interdependent. And today, in botany we use the word rhizome, which comes from that root word (pun intended) riza.

What is a rhizome? A rhizome looks like a root, as it is a part of a plant that is underground, but more precisely, it is a subterranean plant stem. Unlike true roots, which grow vertically, deeper and deeper into the earth, rhizomes grow horizontally, maintaining a fixed depth. In plants that have rhizomes, true roots grow down from the rhizome, and shoots grow up from it, breaking the surface, and giving the appearance of being independent plants. But the plants are not independent; they remain connected via the rhizome.

Some rhizomes are edible; ginger is an example of a rhizome that we eat. Another example is the horseradish that we ate together during the Passover service a few weeks ago. For the casual gardener, rhizomes may not be your friend, because they spread underground and are both difficult to contain and difficult to eliminate. We had a beautiful flowering cherry tree at our house but had to cut it down because as its roots grew it became a danger to the foundations of our house. But underground it created an extremely dense mat of material that not only still sends up shoots years later, but also makes it difficult for anything else to grow. Blackberry bushes also have rhizomes, and we have found them able to travel under our driveway and pop up in our lawn. Crepe myrtles are also rhizomes, and although we have never planted any at our house, we have them now thanks to the wandering rhizomes from our neighbors’ plants. In terms of their ability to spread, perhaps the most impressive rhizomes are bamboo and aspens. We are all familiar with bamboo, but aspens maybe less so, as they don’t grow here. But in Colorado and surrounding states, entire aspen forests are connected through their rhizomes. And some of these aspen rhizome root systems are known to be thousands of years old. If you are looking for a Biblical example, look at the olive tree. Why are they in groves? Because olive trees also have rhizomes.

Plants connected by rhizomes share nutrients and therefore are better able to withstand drought. And rhizomes also protect plants from forest fires. The upper matter, the visible part of trees and plants, may burn, but the rhizomes are protected, and new plants shoot up from them a short time after the fire has ended.

I think rhizomes are a powerful symbol of our collective relationship with Jesus. A plant is connected to other plants via the rhizomes; in the same way, believers in a community are connected to one other – and to Jesus Himself – via Jesus, our rhizome. A plant has resilience and energy stores that are not apparent because they are fed and strengthened in and through the rhizomes; in the same way, believers have resilience and power that are not from or in themselves, but through and in Christ. And a mature plant may appear to only be a few decades old, but in fact its rhizome may have been around for centuries or millennia; in the same way, those who are in Christ are not only connected to Jesus the Incarnate one, but they are also connected to Jesus who was present at the creation of the Universe.

And with that, let us look at our main passage one last time:

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.” The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” – Rev. 22:16-17a

Come, Lord Jesus!

I AM the Bridegroom

Good morning saints and Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers here in the church today as well as those listening in on our ZOOM broadcast. Today we continue our series titled I AM. Now we began this I AM series back in February with the I Am the Bread of Life. Then we continued the series with "I AM the Light of the World", followed by "I AM the Door of the Sheep"; "I AM the Good Shepherd"; "I AM the Resurrection and the Life"; "I AM the Way the Truth and the Life"; "I AM the Vine"; "I AM the Lamb of God"; "I AM The Word" and last week John covered the "I AM the Alpha and Omega".

Now these are all metaphors. They were all chosen by God to reveal to us one or more particular dimensions of His Character of love for His Chosen People.

Today we are going to look at the I Am the Bridegroom metaphor. Now I looked for the earliest reference of the I Am being the Bridegroom and found it in the second chapter of the Book of the prophet Hosea. Now Hosea’s ministry is dated c. 755 to 710 BC. Hosea, whose name means Salvation, ministered to the northern kingdom of Israel. The northern kingdom of Israel was also called Ephraim, after the largest tribe of Israel. Actually Ephraim was just a half tribe. If you recall Ephraim was the youngest of Joseph’s two son.

16 “In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call me ‘my Husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master (translated also as Baal). 17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. 18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. - Hosea 2:16-18

Now the Hebrew word “master” here is also translated Baal. It means owner or lord. It came to be applied to their gods that they worshipped and served. In the context it is the name of these gods that were on their lips. But the I Am here says that these names will no longer be on their lips in that day. When is that day going to occur? Well no one knows exactly except God because the in that day is a reference to the end times. In the context of Chapter 1 of Hosea verses 10 and 11 the bride is Israel and Judah reunited.

10 “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited, and they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel. - Hosea 1:10-11

Now in reference to the Bride being Judah and Israel reunited He says:

19 I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. 20 I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD. - Hosea 2:19-20

The apostle Paul uses this same betrothal metaphor in the New Testament to describe the relationship to Christ and the Church in 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verses 1 through 3.

1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. 2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. 3 But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. - 2nd Cor. 1:1-3 NASB

Jumping back to Hosea chapter 2 we read:

21 “In that day I will respond,” declares the LORD—“I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; 22 and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel (now here the word Jezreel in Hebrew means God Plants ) 23 I will plant her for Myself in the land; I will show My love to the one I called ‘Not My loved one’. I will say to those called ‘Not My people’, ‘You are My people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” - Hosea 2:21-23

Now the Lord tells the prophet Hosea to go back to his adulterous wife. And Hosea records His words as follows:

1 The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” 2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley (a lethek is about 10 bushels). 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will wait for you.” 4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. 5Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to His blessings in the last days. - Hosea 3:1-5

Here the Lord explains that Israel’s return is going to take place in the last days. He says He will wait for them to return. So He has been waiting more than 2700 years and He is still waiting. Now about this waiting for the last days Peter tells us the following in 2 Peter chapter 3 beginning in verse 8:

8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. - 2nd Peter 3:8-13

I shared verse 9 with a Jewish man who goes by the name of Stu which is short for his first name Stuart when he asked me why God allowed all the deaths of the Jewish people to occur in World War II and that are still occurring in Israel to this day. His response to the verse I shared was in the form of another question. He said “What’s He waiting for?” My reply after quoting the verse from memory again was “Perhaps he is waiting for you to believe in Him. Have you ever thought that you may be the hold up of His return?”

Not everyone is going to come to the wedding feast that was invited but the Bridegroom is going to wait until all who are going to believe and put their trust in Him have done so before He returns. Now Stu isn’t there yet but he might be close. Please pray for Stu and others that you know who are not saved yet, to come to the saving knowledge of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus’ Salvation before it is too late and the door of opportunity for him to get saved is shut permanently. Who knows, in doing so you might speed up the coming of the day of the Lord like Peter says in 2nd Peter 3 verse 12.

Now the next reference of the I Am the Bridegroom in the Old Testament is in the Book of Isaiah chapter 62 verse 5. Now just as the prophet Hosea was ministering to the Northern Kingdom, the prophet Isaiah was ministering to the tribe of Judah in the Southern Kingdom. Now the time period for the book of Isaiah is from 740-701 BC. Thus the book of Isaiah was written relatively around the same time period as the book of Hosea. Since Hosea’s bridegroom prophesy involves both Hosea’s Northern Kingdom and Judah’s Southern Kingdom being reunited, you would expect that the prophet of the southern Kingdom would also prophesy something in regards to the bridegroom. Sure enough He does. In Isaiah chapter 62 Isaiah writes:

5 As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you. 6 I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD, give yourselves no rest, 7 and give Him no rest till He establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth. - Isaiah 62:5-7

Again the I Am Bridegroom is waiting since Jerusalem is not yet been made the praise of the earth yet. Now while He is waiting here with Isaiah let’s fast forward 735 years from around 701 BC to 34 AD.

Then came John the Baptist as prophesied to make ready the way of the Lord. And John the Baptist prophesies about the you guessed it “the Bridegroom” as recorded in the Gospel of John chapter 3 verse 29. Starting in verse 26 of this chapter John records the following:

26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—well, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.” 27 To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of Him.’ 29 The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. 30 He must become greater; I must become less. - John 3:26-30

Now Jesus actually refers to Himself indirectly as the bridegroom in the book of Matthew chapter 9 verse 15.

14 Then John’s disciples came and asked Him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. - Matthew 9:14-15

Now Jesus also refers to Himself indirectly as the bridegroom in the book of Mark chapter 2 verses 19 and 20. This may be a reference to the same event recorded in Matthew 9 verse 14 and 15 and just worded a little differently or it may be a different event but with a similar question that Jesus answered on another occasion.

18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, “How is it that John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?” 19 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? They cannot, so long as they have Him with them. 20 But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast. - Mark 2:18-20

Now Jesus also uses the bridegroom analogy in the parable of the ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom as recorded in Matthew 25 verses 1-10.

1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. 6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet Him!’ 7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ 9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ 10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with Him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. - Matthew 25:1-10

In this parable Jesus explains that not everyone will be ready when the bridegroom comes. However, the wedding still takes place without those who were not ready. The door is shut they are left outside.

I’m told in that in the Hebrew culture of that time period, following the betrothal it was customary for the Jewish bridegroom to go and prepare a place for the bride. This place was usually in a room either in or annexed to the bridegroom parent’s home. Jesus alludes to Himself being the bridegroom metaphor in John chapter 14 verses 1 through 3 when He says:

1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. - John 14:1-3

Reference to this wedding metaphor was also made in the book of Revelations chapter 19 verse 6 through 9 but here it is not in a parable it is a vision of the future as revealed to the apostle John. Starting in verse 6 the description of this vision of the future as revealed to the apostle John reads as follows:

6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) 9 Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” - Revelations 19:6-9

So these are the reference of the I Am being the Bridegroom and Judah reunited with Israel being the Bride which God expanded to include the saved Gentiles in Isaiah 49 verse 5 and 6 when He says:

5 And now the LORD says He who formed me in the womb to be His servant to bring Jacob back to Him and gather Israel to Himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and My God has been My strength 6 He says: “It is too small a thing for You to be My servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make You a light for the Gentiles, that You may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.” - Isaiah 49:5-6

Here the Lord is speaking of the Gentile Church of believers. The apostle Paul alludes to this in chapter 5 of his letter to the Ephesians where he says:

22 Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. - Ephesians 5:22-27

There are a couple of other references to the I Am being the bridegroom. In these the City of Jerusalem is referred to as the bride and I would be remiss if I didn’t mention them here. So I will. However, before I do, I want to explain that the united Judah and Israel and the Gentile Church and the City of Jerusalem metaphors being the bride can all be true at the same time since they are all metaphors used by God to reveal to us one or more particular dimensions of His Character of love for His Chosen People. So for completeness sake the references to the city of Jerusalem metaphors being the Bride are recorded in Revelations 21 verse 2 and in verses 9 and 10. Revelations 21 verse 2 reads as follows:

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. - Revelations 21:2

Note the reference to the Bride beautifully dressed for her husband is referring to the Bridegroom.

Revelations 21 verse 9 reads as follows:

9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. - Revelations 21:9-10

Note the bride, the wife of the Lamb here alludes to Christ the Lamb of God being her husband the Bridegroom.

Now I want to close today’s message by recalling Peter’s instructions to the Saints and to us that I shared earlier. Peter says in 2nd Peter chapter 3 starting in verse 11 the following:

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. - 2nd Peter 3:11-13

Remember you can speed the bridegrooms coming because this passage is inspired by the Holy Spirit who is God and He can’t lie.

Let’s Pray!

Next week Carl will finish up our I AM Series with the I AM the Root and I AM the Bright Morning Star.

I AM the Lamb of God

Good morning!  We’re in the second half of the “I AM …” series.  In a way, this message is the first in a two-part message about the Lamb of God.  We will celebrate the Passover together next Sunday and have a meal together afterward.  I Corinthians 5:7 tells us that Jesus is our Passover lamb.  We look forward to celebrating that truth together next week.

It is good to be home.  I enjoy traveling about as much as anyone.  It’s beneficial to go and see places and things and people you would never see if you didn’t go.

Work-wise, we did what we were sent to do.  In addition, I met a guy from Antioch named Berkem.  One night, we had dinner in a medieval walled city.  I visited the Dachau Concentration Camp.  But probably the most memorable thing that happened was getting caught in a rain shower on Monday evening.

It was nearly five o’clock when I got free from a supplier visit in Berlin.  Since I had a car, and the city center was a mess of traffic, I decided to drive out to Potsdam and look around the gardens of the former monarchs of Prussia.  The gardens were larger than I expected and they had quite a number of flowers in bloom.

The sky was partly cloudy, the temperature cool.  I was wearing a jacket but didn’t bother grabbing my umbrella.  I had just turned back toward where I had parked when it started drizzling.  I looked up in the direction the weather was coming from, which happened to be in the trees away from the gardens, and there were solid dark grey clouds moving toward the gardens.

I was a good 20 minute walk from the car, so there was no need to rush.  There was no way to outrun the rain.  Gradually, the rain picked up.  I pulled my hood out of my jacket.  One of the nice things about gardens is that there are wandering paths.  One of the not nice things about gardens is there are rarely straight paths to where you want to go.

About the time I got fairly wet, but not soaked, I saw some little white things bouncing off the gravel path.  I thought surely it can’t be hail, but it surely can’t be anything else.  I stopped, bent over and picked up a piece, and yes, it was hailing.  I can’t even remember the last time saw hail much less when I ever was walking outside when hail was falling.

At that point, there was a long rolling boom of thunder that just went on and on and on.  On the one hand, I was thinking that it was like the thunder of the voice of the Lord.  On the other hand, I was wondering if I was about to move from being wet to getting soaked.  But, that was the end of the shower.  I walked a little farther and came upon another garden with a building overlooking it.  There, as the clouds were breaking apart, was a rainbow.

I’ve never thought of a rainbow as a symbol of anything dangerous.  I’ve always thought of it as either something beautiful or as the promise of the Lord not to flood the earth again specifically or almost in a Jeremiah 29:11 kind of way.  That God does not have plans to harm us but rather for our good, to give us hope and a future.

In the last year or so, I heard someone make the comparison of a rainbow to a bow like a bow and arrow, bow.  So, God puts His bow in the clouds.  It’s the same word in Hebrew and in English, so the comparison is similar.  Even if you do make a connection with a rainbow to real bow, which direction is the bow facing?  It’s pointing toward the sky, not toward us.

That connects with our message today.  We are going to talk about Jesus as the Lamb of God.  Jesus is the one who has taken the wrath of God for us.  The judgment against our sin was directed to the Son of God, and not to us, in an everlasting covenant.

Let’s pray and then dig into the identity of Jesus our Savior as the Lamb of God.

Father God, thank You that You have put Your signs before us whether it is in the heavens or the rainbow or through one another.  Speak to us as we look into Your Word.  Thank You for Who You are and what You have done for us.  Amen.

When we talked about Jesus as the good shepherd a few weeks ago, we looked at when the word shepherd first appeared in Scripture.  So, today, I thought I would ask where the word lamb first appears. Turns out, there are three or four Hebrew words that get translated as lamb.  There is an occurrence of a plural lambs, ewe lambs, in the chapter before this occurrence of a single lamb.  So, I’m asking where does the word lamb singular first appear in the bible?

It's in Genesis 22:7, when Abraham is taking Isaac to Moriah as a sacrifice.

Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?”

“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.

“The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?”

Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

And the two of them went on together.  Genesis 22:7-8

That’s one of the most emotional moments of scripture to me, especially the last sentence.  Neither Abraham nor Isaac knew what was going to happen for sure.  Abraham was obeying and honoring God.  Isaac was too, by obeying and honoring his father.  Despite the not knowing how things were going to work out, the two of them went on together.

There is something powerful in that.  Ecclesiastes 4:12 is often shared at weddings that a cord of three strands is not easily broken.  The three strands being symbolic of husband, wife, and God Himself.  That thinking is not only limited to husbands and wives.  It can apply to any of us, just as it applied to Abraham and Isaac.  They walked on together in the Lord.

In relation to our message today, I want to point to Abraham’s answer.  God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.  And as God often does, He is working many things out at once.  He did provide a burnt offering for Isaac and Abraham, specifically a ram caught in a thicket.  He also has provided a lamb as a sacrifice for all of us including Abraham and Isaac.

I try not to get things wrong.  When I found this passage as the first occurrence of the word lamb, I wanted to look at multiple translations to see if the Hebrew word gets translated some way other than lamb.  Turns out the Darby translation was one of fourteen translations that used a word other than lamb.  It uses the word sheep.

I don’t know why, but the Blue Letter Bible website then starts with Latin as the first of the foreign language translations.  Since I was skimming down all these sentences, I just went ahead and skimmed over the Latin.  Hebrew and Greek are next.  When I get to those, I stop reading because I don’t know either alphabet well enough to try.  If I read something in English (14 times) before I read it in Latin and it’s simple enough, then I sort of can figure it out.

The Latin surprised me because it omits the word lamb entirely.  More than that, I was surprised how you say whole burnt offering in Latin.  It’s victimam holocausti.  Literally, that means a whole burnt offering.  But the word holocaust jumps out at you.  My English-speaking brain renders the two words as holocaust victim.

Last Saturday, Matt (the guy I was traveling with for work) and I went to Dachau, the large concentration camp near Munich.  Most of the buildings are torn down, but a couple of barracks and some of the main buildings remain as part memorial, part history lesson.

I’ve been traveling to Germany on and off for work for more than twenty years.  But, I’ve never been to a concentration camp.  I wasn’t trying to avoid it, but I wasn’t seeking it out either.  It is a heavy experience, but not graphic, at least not at Dachau.  I got choked up a couple of times.  Once was after we visited the barracks, and I was talking to Matt about The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.  I was telling him about the part where Betsy tells Corrie that the must thank God for the fleas.  In the barracks, there were several signs which had quotes from former prisoners.

I’ll share just one.  “As in the military, cleanliness and tidiness were a means of harassment, only here in the camp this was taken to a … diabolical level. … Not even the smallest spot is allowed to get on the wood, for if the block leader sees it, he will write up a report for punishment right away … You can get an hour of pole hanging if even a single drop … can be seen …”  If you remember, the barracks were Corrie and Betsy were housed was so infested with fleas that the guards avoided it entirely.  In that way, God spared them some trouble.

The other thing that choked me up was what we saw as we entered the camp.  The gate says, “Arbeit macht frei.”  Arbeit is work.  Macht means makes.  Frei is free.  Work makes you free.  Or work sets you free.  What a horrible lie!  These prisoners were brought into this and other concentration camps under the sign of a false promise that work would allow them to be free.  I learned even at a death camp like Auschwitz, this phrase is prominently displayed at the entrance.

It's not work that sets you free.  Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching … you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32) Jesus also told us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6) Jesus makes you free, not work.

One more thought about the word holocaust and its use to describe the killing of six million Jews during World War II.  Neither the Nazis nor the Jewish people had any sacrificial meaning or symbolism in the Holocaust, certainly not religious.  So, one different name that has been suggested is Shoah, a Hebrew word that means catastrophe or devastation.

We’ve spent a long time looking at this passage about the lamb that God would provide for Abraham and Isaac.  The theme of the sacrificial lamb runs throughout the Old Testament.  Here are a few of the main examples.

    • The animal slain in the Garden of Eden to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve, the first sinners.  Genesis 3:21

    • The lamb God would Himself provide for Abraham as a substitute for Isaac.  Genesis 22:13-14

    • The Passover lamb for Israel.  Exodus 12:1-13

    • The lamb for the guilt offering in the Levitical sacrifices.  Leviticus 5:6-7, 14:12-13

    • The lamb, ready to be shorn, who is led to the slaughter.  Isaiah 53:7

The last one from Isaiah 53 is part of a passage that foretells the One known as the Suffering Servant.  It’s one of the most clearly Messianic passages in the whole Old Testament.  And right in the midst of it, we have this passage.

He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open his mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He did not open his mouth.  Isaiah 53:7

This is the same passage of Scripture that the eunuch was reading in Acts 8:32 when Philip the evangelist came alongside him.  “The eunuch asked Philip, ‘Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’”  Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.  (Acts 8:34-35)

And so, as each of these lambs of the Old Testament fulfilled their role in their death.  Each instance is also an announcement that Jesus would die, and His death would be a sacrifice for the sin of the whole world.

John the Baptist is the one who first calls Jesus the Lamb of God.  John came as a prophet, and he was baptizing people at the Jordan River before Jesus began His earthly ministry.  Many people were coming out from Jerusalem and the surrounding area to see John and to be baptized by him.  This got the attention of the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, so they sent out some priests and Levites to ask John who he was.

John freely and openly tells them, “I am not the Messiah.”  So, then they ask John a bunch more questions.  Who are you?  Are you Elijah? Are you the Prophet?  John answers each question, “No. I am not.”  Finally, these priests and Levites demand that he give them an answer to take back to those who sent them.

John answers with the words of Isaiah (40:3), “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”  After answering another of their questions about baptism, John says, “Among you stands one you do not know.  He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

The very next day, John sees Jesus coming toward him, and he says,

“Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!  This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’  I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel." 

Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.  And I myself did not know Him, but the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’  I have seen and I testify that this is God's Chosen One.”  John 1:29-34

The next day, John is there with two of his disciples, and he sees Jesus passing by again.  He immediately says, “Look, the Lamb of God!”  It’s like every time that John sees Jesus after baptizing Him, he says, “Look, the Lamb of God!” as a part of his ministry to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, the Chosen One of God.

We also see that John connects this name, Lamb of God, with taking away the sin of the world.  That is what the Lamb has done for us.  The Lamb of God is more than a prophet.  He is from of old, before John.  He is the One on whom God’s Spirit remains.  Not only that, He will baptize with the Holy Spirit.  The Lamb of God is God’s Chosen One.  There is none like Him.

Jesus is the perfect fulfillment of every time that image of the Lamb of God is displayed in the Old Testament.

    • Jesus covers our shame as the animal slain in the Garden of Eden covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve.  Luke 13:34

    • Jesus is the true lamb God Himself would provide to Abraham as a substitute for Isaac or any other person.  I Peter 1:18-19

    • Jesus is our Passover lamb.  I Corinthians 5:7 

    • Jesus the guilt offering sacrificed to absolve us of our sin.  I John 2:2

    • Jesus is the lamb of whom Isaiah wrote, the one led to the slaughter, silent as before the shearers.  Acts 8:32

    • Jesus is the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.  Revelation 13:8

The need for Jesus to come and save us is not plan B.  It’s plan A, from before the foundation of the world.  Jesus was the Lamb of God.  He is the Lamb of God.  The decision to be the sacrifice for our sins had been made before the first sin had been committed.  That is incredible.

If you take all the instances of the word lamb from the whole bible you end up with about 100.  If you include plural lambs, that’s about 100 more, but let’s just stick with singular lamb.  Which book do you think has the most occurrences of the word lamb?

You might guess Leviticus, but Leviticus is actually third.  Second place does belong to another book of the Law.  That’s Numbers.  Number one is … Revelation.  29 out of 99 verses happen in Revelation, and all but one of those are about Jesus the Lamb of God.  And now, we’re going to read them all.  No, just kidding.  We’re not going to read them all, but we are going to look at a few of them because it gives us a deeper understanding of the Lamb of God.

The Lamb first appears in Revelation in chapter 5.  If you remember, the apostle John is the author.  He is being shown a vision of things to come in the Spirit.  At first, He sees God the Father on the throne holding a scroll with seven seals.  No one is worthy to open the scroll, and John begins to weep.  But one of the elders tells him not to weep because “ the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”  then, he sees a Lamb, but it is unusual.  It is a Lamb that looks like it has been slain, but it is standing.

I looked at some artwork of the Lamb of God, and it is all very strange, and I think that Revelation 5:6 is the reason.  We can’t understand how to capture a Lamb standing and looking like it had been slain.  But at the time of the writing of Revelation, Jesus has already been to the cross.  His sacrifice has been made.

The Lamb takes the scroll and opens six of its seals with accompanying events of the last days.  At this point, we get a glimpse of the power and majesty of the Lamb as those in heaven worship Him.

After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.  And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”  Revelation 7:9-12

Can you imagine a multitude beyond counting all crying out in unison with loud voices?  It must be a sight to behold.  They’re not cheering for a football team or any other sport or human activity.  Their message of their cheer is the gospel.  Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb!  Not only are people worshiping.  The angels and the elders and the angelic creatures are worshiping, too.  This is the Lamb raised up.

Remember that we talked about the passage in Isaiah about the Suffering Servant.  Isaiah 52:13 says that God’s “Servant will act wisely; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted.”  Revelation 7 shows us how it will come true.

The Lamb of God is not just one to be worshiped.  He cares for those who worship Him.  Immediately one of the elders explains to John, 

“These in white robes … are those who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.  Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence.  ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘He will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”  Revelation 7:14-17

The Lamb shelters, He provides, He protects, He shepherds, He leads, He comforts, He cares.

You would think that everyone would want to come and wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb and enjoy His blessings forever and ever, but sadly that is not the case.  There are many who hate the Lamb.  In fact …

They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers. Revelation 17:14

This is the last passage we will examine from Revelation.  The Lamb is not weak.  He is the victorious Lamb.  He has all power and authority.  He is Lord of lords and King of kings.  And, He is not alone.  He brings those he calls to be with Him.

So, praise God!  Whoever calls on the name of Jesus to be saved has been saved and has become one of the many called, chosen and faithful followers of the Lamb.  Those who the Lamb shelters, provides for, protects, shepherds, leads, comforts, and cares for.

Let’s close with this exhortation from I Peter 1:18-25:

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.

He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.  For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.  For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures forever.” And this is the Word that was preached to you.  1 Peter 1:18-25

Worship the Lamb.  Worthy is He!  Let’s pray.

Jesus, Lamb of God, thank You that You have taken away our sin.  Thank You that You chose us first.  May we be faithful followers, servants and lambs.  Guide us we pray, in Your Name, Amen.

I AM the True Vine

Good morning! Today we continue our “I AM” series on Jesus’ “I AM” statements in the Bible and we come to Jesus’ statement “I AM the True Vine” from John chapter 15. 

I want to start today with Moses. In Deut. 31, Moses is 120 years old, and he lets the Israelites know that he is too old to lead them. He promises that the Lord Himself will lead them if they follow Him, and he lets them know that Joshua will lead them in his place. He finishes writing the words of the Law and tells them to read it publicly, on a regular schedule. Then God visits Moses and warns him that the people will soon forsake God, and in response, God will make it very difficult for them. He then gave Moses a song and told Moses to teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it would be a witness against what they are going to do.

The song speaks of God’s faithfulness but then goes on to the Israelites’ future unfaithfulness. And God uses an image of a vine to describe them:

Their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are filled with poison, and their clusters with bitterness. Their wine is the venom of serpents, the deadly poison of cobras. – Deut. 31:32-33

What kind of vine is this? A terrible one! The Israelites were supposed to sing this song to remind themselves to stay true to the Lord. But it is almost certain that they did not continue to sing this song, or if they did, they did not think about how it could apply to them. And in time, the people became unfaithful just as the song had warned.

The vine is a hugely important symbol in the Old Testament, coming up dozens of times to symbolize different things, most commonly the nation or people of Israel. As to the theme of this Deuteronomy passage, we see it again in Jeremiah. From Chapter 2:

“Long ago you broke off your yoke and tore off your bonds; you said, ‘I will not serve You!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute. I had planted you like a choice vine of sound and reliable stock. How then did you turn against Me into a corrupt, wild vine? – Jer. 2:20-21

And so again, we see this theme of a vine going bad. And again, it symbolizes the unfaithfulness of the people of God. 

Vines are not easy to grow. Rather, they are easy to grow in some wild form, but they are not easy to grow in such a way that they produce lots of fruit. They require continual care – pruning, feeding, training, watering, weeding, and more. They require protection from small animals – this is even mentioned in the Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon:

Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom. – Song of Songs 2:15

Animals ruin vineyards by digging up around the roots, causing the vines to weaken and become vulnerable to disease. Other animals of course can steal the fruit or eat the leaves. 

With this background on the nature of vineyards and the use of vines in the Old Testament, I think we are ready to look at Jesus’ powerful teaching in which He uses vines as His primary illustration. This can be found in John 15. Let’s look at the first few verses.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. – John 15:1-4

Let’s start by talking about that word “true”. What is a true vine? The Greek word used here is alathinos. It is helpful to understand that there is another related word, alathes. In the Latin Vulgate translation they were very careful to use different Latin words for these two Greek words, verax for the second word, and verus for the first. It is the second word, not the word in this passage but the other one, that means what we commonly think about when we think about truth, as the opposite of lying, the opposite of saying something that is actually not true. But there is another meaning of “true” that seems to be rapidly disappearing from the English language. This is disappointing and disturbing, because the usage of language reveals how people groups think, and the lack of a word for something reveals that the people group does not value the thing being described by such a word. You have possibly heard that Eskimos have a huge number of words for snow, in various very specific conditions. We know nothing of this, because snow is not a major part of our lives. But even up north in the US, the words they use for snow in various conditions is nothing compared to what Eskimos have. Eskimos traditionally lived out in nature, whereas people up north are like people down here – we have cars, and heated houses, heated places to work at, and snowplows, and so on. Who cares how sharp the sound is when you walk in it? But losing a whole side of “true” is a lot more concerning.

In old adventure books, you might see the rapidly fading version of “true” I am describing. Here is a typical sentence: “The flight of the arrow was true.” What does this mean? It means it is accurate. It is reliable. It will go all the way to its destination. Sometimes a sword would be described as true. What does this mean? It means that it responds as it should, that it doesn’t chip or have problems with weighting, or being dull, and so on. A true sword is perfect in every way – from how it works to its composition. In older English, we would sometimes see as a synonym for this kind of “true” the word “very” used not as an adverb (like “I am very happy”) but as an adjective. One example of this is in the typical English translation of the Nicene Creed, which describes Jesus as “very God of very God”. This refers to His divinity. He is God “all the way through” – in every way – all the time. 

And so Jesus is the true vine. He is not like the vine in Deuteronomy, whose grapes are bitter and whose wine is poison. His fruit is good fruit. I am reminded of Jesus’ own words in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7) where He says that every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. He says that you can recognize a tree by its fruit. As the true vine, Jesus only produces good fruit. He can no more produce bad fruit than a true sword can behave like a poorly made sword. 

What does it mean that the Father cuts off every branch that bears no fruit? Well, as Jesus says in verse 4, branches that are not “in” Christ do not produce fruit, any fruit, or more specifically, any good fruit. Jesus produces good fruit. This reminds me of the verse we looked at in Jeremiah, with the wild, uncared-for vine. If you do not cut away dead branches, and even prune the good branches, both the quality and quantity of the fruit will suffer. 

When I think about the Father cutting off unfruitful branches, I think about how people may be initially attracted to Jesus and His teachings but never really give their hearts to Him. And I think about how all the crowds that followed Jesus earlier in His ministry fell away when His teachings became more challenging. I also think about the parable of the seed put into four different soils, and how the plants did not thrive and grow in three of those soils. This is found, for example, in Matt. 13. If you recall, there was the seed falling on the path, representing someone who hears the gospel message but does not understand it or accept how it applies to them. And there was the seed falling on the rocky ground, representing someone who is caught up in the emotions of the moment but does not have “root”, which to me means that they do not want to do the work of seeking Christ, of spending time in the Word, of submitting to Him, of praying, and so on. And the third problematic ground was the ground covered by thorns, representing someone who is consumed by the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth. When I think about the Father as the master gardener, I see Him carefully identifying such people and helping them to move on (or as it say, “cutting them off”) so as not to affect the living, vibrant part of the vine. 

Now, what about pruning, and what does being “already clean” have to do with anything? Well, it turns out that “pruning” and “cleaning” are actually the same word in Greek. So one way to think of this is to say that the disciples – and you – are already pruned because of the word He has given to them – and you. Now, just a bit earlier in John, in Chapter 13, Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet, and taught on the meaning of this in terms of being made clean, so I think being “clean” is also a good way to think about what is being said here. 

Jesus then tells them to remain in Him. And this makes perfect sense of the vine analogy. When our oldest son Isaac was very little, we were taking him around Clemson one day, and, for whatever reason makes little boys do what they do, he broke off a very nice flower in a raised bed. Then he felt bad about it, and tried to put it back onto the plant, and managed to get it balanced so that it looked more or less like it had looked before he had broken it. Isaac may have been too young to fully understand this, but of course, that isn’t going to work. The flower was cut off from the plant, and it would rapidly decay, probably much more rapidly than if it had remained connected to the plant. And using Jesus’ analogy, we too need to remain connected to the vine – that is, to Him – if we want to grow in Him. 

And it has been many years, but a Bible teacher I greatly respected before he passed away taught that a synonym in the Bible for fruit is “results.” An example is the fruit of the Spirit. These are the results of the Spirit, of having the Holy Spirit work in you. And in the same way, the fruit of the vine are the results of being connected to the vine. There is no plan B here – the only way to have spiritual growth, results, fruit, is to be connected to Christ so that He can grow you, mature you, change you. 

And note that the Father is the vinedresser, the one who prunes. It isn’t supposed to be the branches doing it! That is, we are not supposed to be the pruners. God is. We need to exercise restraint and let God do His job. 

Let’s continue with John 15:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples. – John 15:5-8

And so Jesus reiterates with his I AM statement. He is the vine. He is the base of the vine, the core, the central part of the vine, where the roots are attached. In fact, He is also the roots. And this is very fitting in light of multiple passages in Isaiah and other passages that describe the Messiah as the root, or core branch. Again, branches need to be connected to the main vine, or they will not receive sustenance, and will not grow, and will eventually – actually, pretty rapidly – die.  It is Christ, and Christ alone, that helps us to grow, which is what fruit is. As we remain in Him, our “rough edges” become less rough, our desire and ability to love sacrificially will grow, and our compassion for those who are perishing apart from Christ will also grow, and we will want to pray for the lost, speak to the lost, and hopefully, God will save some. 

And this brings us to the more seemingly controversial statement: “If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Now does this mean that if you ask for a Lamborghini that God will give it to you? Probably not. This is an “if-then” statement. The “if” is explicit; the then is implied. If you remain in Him, and if His words remain in you, this will change what you want to pray for. You are not going to ask God for Lamborghinis. 

One passage I think of is Psalm 37:4, in which David says:

Take delight in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. – Ps. 37:4

The desires of the heart change significantly when someone truly delights in the Lord. I also think of the model prayer Jesus gave for us:

“This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ – Matt. 6:9-13

Note that this prayer starts with worship, with praising God for who He is. And then it moves into praying that what He (God) wants would come to pass. When we pray like this, our desires are whatever He desires. And if course there is a very big difference between praying for daily bread and praying for a Lamborghini. 

Now, were branches that were cut off from the vine actually dealt with, even burned? Why didn’t they just let them stay on the ground underneath the plant? It is because doing this leads to moisture buildup where molds and other diseases can propagate. These are not conducive to the health of the plant or to the bearing of plentiful, delicious fruit.  

Now I have put off talking about the immediate context of these verses, so let me do so here. This is Jesus’ final night with His disciples before He is crucified. Earlier this evening, He had washed His disciples’ feet as an illustration of (1) how He comes to serve, symbolized by how He, the Son of God, the second Person in the Trinity, is taking on such a lowly task as foot washing, (2) how believers still need to come to Him when they sin so that He can forgive them, symbolized by the washing of only the feet and not the full body, and (3) how the disciples are to practice servant leadership as well, effectively washing the feet of other believers. 

He then reveals Judas as the traitor and releases him to go betray Him on that very night, although the other disciples don’t really understand what is happening. He then gives them a new command, to love one another as He has loved them. And when Peter says he would lay down his life for Jesus, Jesus tells him that on that very night he will disown Him three times. 

And then Jesus tells them that He is going to prepare a place for them, and He will come back to take them to be with Him. Thomas replies that they don’t know the way, and it is then that Jesus says that He is the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Him. He then promises them the Holy Spirit and tells them that the Holy Spirit will teach them and remind them of what Jesus has said to them. 

And then, in the verse immediately prior to telling them that He is the true vine, He says, “come now, let us leave.” So it appears that John 15, that we have been reading, takes place on the road, as they leave their upper room and go through Jerusalem, eventually going outside of Jerusalem and crossing the Kidron stream. We read of this in John 18:1. The NIV puts this verse as “When He had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley.” This makes it sound as if they didn’t leave the room until this point. And I agree this is possible.

But in the KJV which is more literal, John 18:1 reads “When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the brook Cedron [Kidron],” and the Greek word choices and tenses make it seem as if He had finished speaking/praying to them as they arrived at the Kidron stream and immediately crossed it. 

Whether they left earlier or later is not especially important, but multiple commentators have suggested that perhaps they had gone past the Temple. Regarding the Temple, I want to read a passage from Josephus, a historian who wrote only a few decades after Jesus. This passage mentions a cubit, which according to Josephus, was 24 finger widths long, and modern historians, based on this and other descriptions conclude that a cubit was about 20 inches long, about half a meter. In particular, note that 70 cubits is over 100 feet. 

Here is what Josephus writes. Pay close attention to the “first gate”.

As to the holy house itself, which was placed in the midst of the inmost court, that most sacred part of the temple, it was ascended to by twelve steps; and in front its height and breadth were equal, and each a hundred cubits…. Its first gate was seventy cubits high and twenty-five cubits broad, but this gate had no doors for it represented the universal visibility of heaven, and that it cannot be excluded from any place.  Its front was covered with gold all over and through it the first part of the house that was more inward did all of it appear; which, as it was very large, so did all the parts about the more inward gate appear to shine to those that saw them.  But then as the entire house was divided into two parts within, it was only the first part of it that was open to our view.  Its height extended all along to ninety cubits in height, and its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth twenty.  But that gate which was at this end of the first part of the house was, as we have already observed, all covered with gold, as was its whole wall about it.  It had also golden vines above it from which clusters of [golden] grapes hung as tall as a man’s height; but then this house, as it was divided into two parts: the inner part was lower than the appearance of the outer, and had golden doors of twenty-five cubits altitude, and six in breadth.   But before these doors there was a veil of equal largeness with the doors.  It was a Babylonian curtain embroidered with blue and fine linen, and scarlet, and purple, and of a contexture that was truly wonderful. Nor was this mixture of colors without its mystical interpretation but was a kind of image of the universe.  For by the scarlet there seemed to be enigmatically signified fire, by the fine flax the earth, by the blue the air, and by the purple the sea; two of them having their colors this foundation of this resemblance.  But the fine flax and the purple have their own origin for that foundation, the earth producing the one and the sea the other.  This curtain had also embroidered upon it all that was mystical in the heavens, excepting that of the twelve signs representing living creatures. – Josephus, Wars 5.5.4 (207-214)

I included the description of the curtain simply because it is interesting. By the way, when he says the flax color comes from the earth, he means that it, the flax, is grown on land. And the purple comes from a kind of sea snail, the murex, so it literally comes from the sea.

We have additional evidence of the golden vine, including coins from that time that seem to depict it. 

Now this is pure conjecture, but it is possible that Jesus and His party of disciples passed by the first gate as they were walking, this stunning, gold gate adorned with a huge golden vine with golden clusters of grapes. Another ancient writer has said that from time to time people would donate golden leaves or orbs to the Temple, and workers (Levites) would hang them up in addition to all that was already there. 

The vine was undoubtedly beautiful, but to the degree it symbolized the people of Israel and their history, and even the present leadership, the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin and the so-called teachers of the Law, it represented a vine that produced poor fruit, if any fruit at all. And I picture Jesus walking past this ostentatious display and saying, “I am the true vine.” 

Again, we don’t know if this is what happened, but the contrast between the failed human vine and the living perfect vine in Christ is certainly something we are supposed to consider. Indeed, this is so much of Jesus’ point here: Remain in Me, He says, and God will trim you so that you produce amazing, living fruit. 

If you watch videos about what vinedressers do, you learn that that prune a lot. It requires tons of time and attention to detail. If even a single leaf is oriented the wrong way, so that it doesn’t get lots of sun, or blocks the sun from better oriented leaves, it is cut. If the canes, the branches, are not first year branches, they are cut. There are literally piles of debris, clippings, under every foot’s length of vine. This is gathered up, these days, usually chopped up and used as mulch. But not long ago it was still burned, and some farms still burn the clippings today. 

When you look at a vine that has recently been pruned, everything is just perfect. You have this new, tender growth, with beautiful, plentiful grapes attached to this old, thick, hearty, wood core vine. When Jesus says He is the vine, He means that part. In itself, it looks dead, much like how a tree trunk, looked at in isolation, also looks dead. But it is in fact very much alive, and it also brings life to all the greenery that is attached to it. Same with the vine. These beautiful, tender leaves, and those juicy, delicious grapes, only are that way because of both the powerful living vine that provides them life and because of the tender, loving, continual care of the vinedresser. And in the same way, we as believers are to be beautiful, tender, loving, people with abundant fruit (results) that come from God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. 

We won’t go into as much detail, but I want to read what Jesus tells His disciples next, because it brings up some important points about what this fruit really is.   

“As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Now remain in My love. If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are My friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in My name the Father will give you. This is My command: Love each other. – John 15:9-17

What is this fruit? Is it seeing people saved, the Kingdom of God expanding? I would say that is part of it, and I think that is why Jesus again tells them that what they ask in His name the Father will grant. He does want them to be doing Kingdom growing work, of course not in their own strength, but in total dependence on God. But if you feel like you have to do this out of a sense of burden, if you feel unsatisfied in how many people, if any, you have led to the Lord, I believe you are missing what fruit is ultimately about. 

There are two huge themes of fruit included in this passage. The first of these is joy. God intends for us to be joyful in Him. And the second is love. Agape self-sacrificial love. The type of love that lays down one’s life for one’s friends. Grapes don’t grow in isolation. They are in clumps, in groups. And it is very clear from this passage that believers are to be in community. You cannot love one another, laying down your lives for your friends, if you have nobody to love, if you have no friends in Christ. You quite simply cannot have this fruit of love if you are not in community with other believers, working to let them into your lives, living life together, serving one another, being with one another. The world should be jealous. People of the world should be jealous of what believers have in fellowship with one another, the joy and the love.

I remind you of portions of two passages from Galatians 5:

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” … But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy…  – Gal. 5:13-14, 22a

Love and joy, the first two items in the list of the fruit of the Spirit. To be “fruitful”, Biblically, in the Old Testament was to have many physical children, and there is indeed a sense in the New Testament that fruitfulness includes the idea of having spiritual children, those who follow you in the faith. Disciples are people who make disciples, Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples. But the concept of fruit, as explained here by Jesus, goes much deeper. We are not just to produce fruit. We are to produce good fruit. And that fruit is, primarily, our very character, the very nature of our lives. Love and joy should be the first two words others use when they are asked to describe us. Not efficient, or effective, or productive. These things will come, if God wills it. But we also have to allow God to prune us, and that may include pruning our efficiency, our effectiveness, and our productivity. We may be a bit shocked at how deeply He prunes us. But God knows what He is doing. Our primary task is to remain in Him, and connected to Him, have joy and practice agape love through His continual sustenance.