In John 15 Jesus instructs us on how to be His disciples. He begins by saying, “I Am The True Vine and My Father Is The Vinedresser.” So far we have shown that the roots of discipleship are anchored high far beyond the heavens in The Holy Trinity. Not only this. Through The True Vine, by the Power of The Holy Spirit, we become sons of God The Father. Let us highlight a few things Jesus is saying about Himself by Naming God Father.Begotten. Jesus says He Is The Son of God. Jesus is not a product of us. He Is Begotten of God and therefore He Possesses His Father’s Nature. Like His Father God, Jesus Is without beginning or end. Jesus Is The Son of God Who Is God.

Disciple. As Elijah ascended, Elisha, his disciple, called out, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen” 2 Kings 2:12. Why did Elisha call Elijah father? Simple. Because the rabbi is the father of his disciple. This is why Elisha left his natural father to become son to his spiritual father and rabbi Elijah 1 Kings 19:19-21. Every disciple is a son of his rabbi. Who then was the Rabbi of Jesus Christ? Who did Jesus leave Joseph and Mary to follow? Jesus left carpentry to Follow His Father God. As God’s Son, Jesus Is God’s Disciple.

Love. As we have said in the previous chapter, for the son, love is obedience. Jesus frequently affirms that He only acts and speaks in imitation of His Father John 5:19, John 12:49. Jesus Obeys His Father because He Loves His Father John 14:31.

Now lift your eyes and look at Jesus so that we can see Him Whom Jesus disappears to show John 14:8-9. Let us see Him Who denied His Countenance to Moses Exodus 33:18,20 but says “Yes!” to us by showing us His Son Jesus Christ John 1:18, John 14:9. Let us behold Him Who Loves Jesus and Whom Jesus Loves. Let us gaze upon our Father, The Vinedresser.

Image of God

“I Am The True Vine and My Father Is The Vinedresser.” Jesus Names Himself Son and True Vine. He Names God Father and then immediately Names Him Vinedresser. Why is this significant? The vine is the image of the vinedresser. The vinedresser is hidden until we see his vine. He is perceived as good if his vine is good and bad if his vine is bad. This is because nothing manifests in this world without first being conceived in the mind of its creator. A house doesn’t just manifest out of thin air. It first appeared in the mind of the architect. Therefore, the house carries the stamp and reflects the nature of the architect. The house is the image of its maker. As The True Vine, Jesus Truly Reflects the Nature of His Father, The Vinedresser. He Is The Image of God. Any who want to see God must look at Jesus Christ.

Word of God

But we do not live in a perfect world. The vinedresser, like an architect, shapes and grows the vine according to his vision of the vine. An architect gets a sudden inspiration, an inclination, a flash of insight. As he uses grand flowing words to describe what he has seen to his friend, the image appears more real and even more magnificent. As he begins to draw the vision out in lines and angles, what began as a single ray of light is unwrapped to reveal the sun. Then he begins to build the house and again the vision changes. From speech to pencil to stone, every expression of that first thought causes the vision to change.

The older he gets, the less the architect weeps over the first wonder of that shining vision now obscured by rugged stone. He acquires that worldly wisdom of the desert places. He concludes that the green child must become jaded as he grows up. But lamentations aside, the question remains, “What was the truest expression of the architect’s vision?” Was it his word or the drawing or the house itself? For a human being, it is impossible to say. Every architect, vinedresser and poet will tell you that what they imagined is never the same as what they expressed. The wood, the tortuous nature of the vine and our language alters the vision as we bring it to life.

Not so for God. God does not struggle to express himself. God does not get old and jaded. Nothing can ever obscure His Glory. He NEVER makes something and then says, “Eh, that’s not quite how I imagined it.” Instead, when He looked upon His creation, He Called it good Genesis 1:4,10,12,18,21,25,31. Since only God Is Good Luke 18:19, then Genesis is revealing that creation was reflecting His Nature. In Isaiah 55:11 God reveals the perfect unity between His Word and His Purpose. What God Says, What God Thinks and What God Does are in perfect unity with Who God Is. Yet we human beings, the work of His Hands, have been in total rebellion against His Word and our own nature since Adam and Eve sinned in Eden. We challenge His Thoughts, resist His Word and refuse to walk in His Way.

Now comes a man named Jesus Christ proclaiming Himself to be The True Vine, The True and Perfect Expression of His Father, The Vinedresser. At the very least, Jesus is saying that He is truer than Israel Isaiah 5:1-7, Psalms 80:8-13, 17, Jeremiah 2:21, Hosea 10:1-2, greater than Abraham Genesis 17:1-2 and better than Adam 1 Corinthians 15:45. Those who look upon Jesus Christ, see the Incarnation of God’s Perfect Will and Word. Jesus Is The Word of God. All who believe in Jesus Christ die to Adam and are born again. All who follow Him are made new 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Conclusion

Note carefully what has gone on in this article. Every time I tried to write about The Vinedresser, I found myself speaking about the True Vine. And every time I tried to write about Jesus Christ, I found myself writing about God. It may feel like a back and forth but this highlights the lesson from Holy Love. The Son Lifts up the Father while the Father Glorifies the Son. By seeing Jesus Christ, we see The Father. By seeing the Vinedresser, we see The True Vine.

Please keep this relationship in mind as we move on to John 15:2.