"His delight is in the law of
the Lord; and in His law he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a
tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season;
his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall
prosper." - Psalm 1:2, 3
Among
the very instructive and deeply significant illustrations used by Jesus during His
earthly ministry we have the beautiful presentation of the Christian's
possibilities drawn from the vine and its branches. As used by our Lord (John
15) it embraces in the closest relationship, the Father as Husbandman, our Lord
as the Vine, and ourselves as the branches -- all absorbed in the same great
objective -- the production of fruitage.
Be it noted, this illustration is particularly used to emphasize the
fruit-bearing expected of the branches. To this end, the Husbandman watches
over their union with the Vine, taking care to prune away all unfruitful
branches, and giving still more special attention to such as are fulfilling His
purpose in bringing forth increasing measures of fruit. "Every branch in Me that bears not fruit He
takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring
forth more fruit." To
make sure that we get the real import of the lesson thus illustrated, there
comes that final reiteration of the Father's purpose, and this time with such
impelling persuasiveness as to impart to our hearts something of the joy
experienced by the Vine in bearing fruit for God: "Herein is my Father
glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples."
Could there be a stronger appeal made to hearts at one with Jesus than this?
Care
is taken in this forceful illustration to once more emphasize the inflexible
purpose of the Husbandman. It is one of those Scriptural lessons calculated to
disabuse any mind of whatever lax ideas there might be regarding the
seriousness of being a castaway. There is nothing whatever in the picture to
encourage the thought that even if the fruitage is not all that it should be,
there is nothing about which to be seriously concerned. On the contrary, it has
everything in it to remind the meager fruit bearing branches of other
Scriptural warnings of the "goodness
and severity of God." It is here made very clear that unless there is
a continual growth toward greater fruit bearing, there will be a severance from
the Vine. Unless there is "more
fruit" and "much
fruit," the Husbandman must cease his expectations of a harvest, and
then, how significant the words.” Men
gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." To
get more of the force of the lesson let us remember that a vine branch has but
one use, that of bearing fruit. We
are keeping in mind, of course, that our Lord is thinking of a grape vine. Had He
used any of the larger fruit bearing trees, the lesson would not have been so
definite, for it frequently happens that the branches pruned from trees have a
further use. They may be used for fuel where firewood is needed. But vine branches
are entirely useless except for the one purpose for which the husbandman grows
them; failing in this they are unprofitable. Thus, Paul tells us, God dealt
with the Jewish nation, and so also will He deal with us should we fail to
bring forth the fruit expected: "For
if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest He also not spare you"
(Romans 11:21).
How
manifest it is from a study of the Scriptures that it is God's will for the new
life, which is begun in us by our being begotten of the Spirit, to be
constantly growing into greater fullness from day to day. Clearly it is
revealed that God desires not merely to give life, but to give it more and more abundantly. The new life
is to be vitalized continually by an appropriation of the exceeding great and
precious promises of the Word. And it will grow in proportion to the measure
that the sunshine of divine truth and the showers of heavenly grace are received
and thus appropriated. The possibilities
of growth are in proportion to our willingness to receive. God in His
marvelous grace has unnumbered blessings awaiting our willingness to accept,
and as we receive and use these blessings, we will experience expanding powers
of growth "from grace to grace, and
from glory to glory." Progressively, this will mean, first a recognition on our part of our redemption through the
precious blood of Jesus, and by virtue of that full atonement accomplished for
us, we can rejoice in a standing of "no
condemnation." Then there must be a personal faith in and dependence
upon all the promises of the Father made to us through Christ Jesus. By thus
cultivating faith there will surely follow a blessed, intimate communion with
our Father and our dear Redeemer in our daily life of prayer, and in our study
of the Word to learn our possibilities in the purpose of God. If such be our
constant attitude of mind and heart, there will not fail to be a constant
ripening of the fruit of the Spirit, making us more and more pleasing and acceptable
to the Lord. Thus, He leads us on and on into an abiding sense of His favor and
acceptance, day by day imparting to us an increasing measure of joy in
fulfillment of the promise: "If a
man love Me, he will keep My words; and my Father will love him, and We will
come unto him, and make Our abode with him" (John 14:23).
"We
will come unto Him, and make our abode with Him." What a depth of meaning there is in this
promise! Does it not literally mean that the one great desire of the
Father and the Son is to have a permanent abiding place in our hearts? Are they
not saying to us in this and other similar entreaties, “It is not yours I want,
but you.” Let our giving of time and
means be ever so great, and our work ever so zealously performed, yet we may be
robbing our gracious God of the greatest joy we can give Him ~ the joy of supping with us in quiet
communion in the innermost chambers of our hearts. He does not say, “We will make our
abode in you, and that will be
all we want.” Ah no, that would never satisfy the heart of Him who has
given us all we can know of longing for intimate fellowship. Jesus means much
more than just abiding in us as One who has had a
place of residence given Him. What He asks of the Christian is the joy of abiding with Him in intimate communion. If we would experience a
real consciousness of attaining growth in grace, we must find ourselves irresistibly
drawn away from all other things, to find ourselves alone with Him ~ yes, alone
with Him ~ not to the neglect of work to be done, but to receive that power to
work according to His will, which is indispensable to all who would enjoy His
sweet "Well done."
Not of Himself
alone did the poet write when He gave to the Church these expressions of soul
hunger for God:
"I
love to steal a while away
From every cumbering care,
And
spend the hours of closing day,
In humble, grateful prayer.
"I love in solitude to
shed
The
penitential tear,
And all His promises to plead,
Where none but God can hear.
This
desire to be alone with God is so much a part of the life of abiding in true
union with Him that to be devoid of such longing would seem to be a matter of
real concern. To enjoy oneness with our Lord, and as our opening text suggests,
to "be like a tree planted by the
rivers of water," there must be a desire to be with Him where He loves
to be. And does He not love to be "in
a desert place" with His own? Indeed He does! The evidence of this
fact is too great to leave any one in doubt. It was in the lonely Midian wilderness that God appeared to Moses, and there revealed Himself
and His purposes concerning
In
later years as Moses became burdened with such great responsibilities, we find
God calling him apart. He was called up into the mountain to spend a prolonged
season of close contact with the Lord, and with what wonderful results! His
face was made to shine with a glorious reflection of the Divine character with
which he had been in communion. Down on the plains, amid the multitudes, he
could know much of God's purposes in delivering Israel and using them
ultimately to carry forward His plan to bless all the families of the earth,
but when God would reveal the hidden secrets of the "better sacrifices," and "the sufferings of Christ and the glory to follow," He called
his servant away from the plain, up into the mountain height. The minutia of the
''great salvation" came to him
when alone with God, and as he went forth to perform his ministry to Israel,
and to us, he left that holy rendezvous with these deeply significant words in
his ears: "See that you make all
things according to the pattern showed
to you in the mount" (Hebrews 8:5).
. (to
be concluded) J. J. Blackburn
Deep Living
We love to spread our branches, the
root-life we neglect;
We love to shine in public, and
human praise expect;
While in the inner chamber, where
creature voices cease,
We may meet God in silence, and
breathe in heaven’s peace.
The secret of deep living lies in
the secret place
Where, time and sense forgotten, we
see God face to face;
Beyond mere forms and symbols,
beyond mere words and signs
Where in that
hidden temple The Light Eternal shines.
Max I. Reich