[Songs in the Night - January 13]
Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. John 15:8
THE Lord announced himself as the true vine and
his Father as the true Husbandman who planted the
true vine, and his followers as the true branches of
that vine.
The expression "true vine" suggests a false
vine, and this thought is accentuated and elaborated in
our Lord's last message to his people in the symbols
of Revelation.
There he speaks of the gathering of
the fruitage of the "vine of the earth," and the casting
of the same into the winepress of the wrath of
God at the end of this age. (Revelation 14:19)
There was,
therefore, a deeper meaning in our Lord's words,
"true vine," than the apostles could have possibly
gathered from them.
We who are living at a time
when both the true vine of the Father's planting and
the false vine of the earth, earthly, have developed,
have opportunity for noticing also that the vine of
the earth is a counterfeit of the heavenly vine.
In proportion
as we see this matter clearly it will assist us
not only in the understanding of the Lord's parable,
but also in our application of it in our daily lives.
We
will be in less danger of misunderstanding, misconstruing
and being deceived by the false vine, or by the
false branches and the false principles represented in
connection with its development, for it is not under
the divine Husbandman's care. Z'05-121 R3544:2 (Hymn 70)