Once I was given a small vineyard to tend in the northwest of Spain. The vine, clearly abandoned for some time, came with the small, granite-stone-walled property my wife and I had rented.
It bordered the back of the house and the upper reaches of the garden and was clearly of the Micah 4:4 type—given that a person could comfortably stand, walk or sit under it.
As we stared in a bemused way across at the vine, my mind left the thought of what a daunting task clearing up, and getting back into productive use, this vine would be, and dwelt for a few seconds on John 15.
Just how appropriate the spiritual parallels and lessons are in Jesus Christ’s “true vine” analogy (John 15:1-7) to the physical art of wine growing, I was soon to find out.
Jesus Christ typifies God the Father as being the Husbandman, the supreme spiritual gardener, and Himself as the “true vine.” Through Him, the firstfruits, or the main branches, bear godly fruit. The analogy is a symbol of God’s family government.
God the Father is doing the most challenging and rewarding thing He could possibly do—expanding His family by reproducing Himself through man. Now, God has only called a few out of this world, to be the first harvest of family members. He is constantly tending to this family, nurturing and pruning it so it will bear good fruits—so this family can eventually be born as actual spirit-composed members of His family. The desire for family predominates in the Father’s mind.
The Son is like the Father. He thinks the way the Father does. Thus, in total submission, Jesus Christ, the true vine, is allowing Himself to be wholly used by the Father as the means by which the family may be enlarged.
Once God’s Kingdom is established, Jesus Christ, through the firstfruits—that first, small harvest of human beings to enter God’s family—will continue to cultivate further growth and fruits (children) for the God family. The growing family will be an ever-increasing delight and glory to God the Father forever! What a vision!
“You’d better cut those dead branchesout, or they’ll end up killing the whole vine,” said the old man seriously, as he leaned on one of the posts which separated his garden from ours.
The next morning the old man was on our patio, helpfully showing us the effects the dead wood was having on the sickly branches.
Many dead twigs had already fallen to the ground and snapped, brittle underfoot. Others hung limp and shrivelled in a convoluted mesh. The small grapes which appeared sparsely on a few of them were of no practical use. They were inedible and unusable for winemaking.
What the man was telling us about the effect of the dead branches on the vine, led me to remember how often Gerald Flurry has said that all of those in God’s Church after the death of the Elijah were affected to some extent by Laodiceanism.
The Laodiceans are perishing (II Thes. 2:10); and, although they still produce some fruit, it is poor in comparison with what they used to produce. In fact, in the eyes of the Father, the supreme spiritual gardener, it is useless.
The dead wood in the vine had to be pruned out fast because it was drying out the rest of the plant.
Knowing where to prune was the difficult part, but the old man’s expert eye was an invaluable companion to me over the next couple of weeks as we set about the task.
Initially, the vine looked like a twisted mass of dead or dying branches. It took clear vision to know where to prune, to decide which direction the vine should grow in and then cut back accordingly.
God the Father has the whole vision, and He knows which way He wants His family to grow. He knows which branches are the strongest and will be able to produce and support the greatest weight of growth. God knows each individual in His Church and how we can best serve His work. He knows whether to cut back this way or that, and where to forcefully encourage new growth. He knows exactly what’s best for you and me, and He is pruning us and preparing His chosen ones for the most wonderful roles in His family government for the rest of eternity.
Obviously, there wouldn’t have been anywhere near as much dead wood to prune out if the vine hadn’t been neglected. As Mr. Flurry has so clearly stated, much of the blame of what happened to God’s people after Herbert W. Armstrong’s death lies with Laodicean ministers.
Soon, piles of dead, shrivelled branches appeared on the lawn. The best we could do with this dead wood was to burn it (John 15:6).
One of the most difficult parts of our task was recognizing the slight difference in the texture of the rough, wrinkled branches of the vine, which marked the exact spot where there was still enough sap for the branch to survive. Here again, the old man’s experience as a husbandman of vineyards made it possible for him to know precisely where to cut without pruning off too much.
God, of course, in transforming man into His character, is working at the supreme spiritual level. In God’s hands there are never any mistakes. God knows exactly what’s best for us. He knows where to cut the dead wood in the Church out of the body of His Son Jesus Christ. As King David said, God’s mercy is “great above the heavens.” He wants us to succeed and knows when there still exists hope for one of His little ones. While a spark of hope exists—a small amount of Holy Spirit—if the person is truly repentant and willing, God knows how to rekindle a fire within that person for His work.
Especially now, with all the dead wood cut out and nothing left but the stubs of the strongest twigs, the benefit of having the expert help of the old man was evident. Although there were huge gaps in the vine where one could see clear through to the sky, the branches that were left were evenly distributed so as to maximize their area for growth and to best fill in the spaces between the branches with healthy new shoots.
The point, spiritually speaking, is, once we do our part and let God prune us as He desires, He will maximize our spiritual growth.
Eventually, now that the old man had cut out all the dead wood and it had been stacked up for the fire, we were left with the essential branches from which the new growth would occur. These branches had to be tied down to the frame on which the vine grew, so that when fresh, tender twigs sprouted and were buffeted about by winds and storms, they would be less likely to break.
How evocative this is of Proverbs 6:20-23 and Proverbs 7:1-3, which tell us that if we are literally bound by God’s law and government, we will live. Then God promises to keep and save us for His marvellous purpose. We must back up our willingness to be bound by God’s law and government with actions. This is unnatural to the carnal mind. It can only be done with God’s Holy Spirit bringing us to deep repentance and conversion.
“You know,” said the old man, “it is even necessary at times to force the new shoots in the right direction.” He looked up at the bare, pruned-back branches. “After all, we want them to get all the rain and light possible and maximize their growth within their allotted space, don’t we?”
This is a very delicate process indeed! To achieve this, the husbandman may have to take the fragile twig between thumb and forefinger and break it internally in two or three places, being ever so careful not to break the delicate outside bark, or it will die!
How wonderful to be between God’s forefinger and thumb when we are being corrected! He will always apply the exact right amount of pressure! As a loving Father, He corrects us only because He wants the very best for us in His family. The supreme, expert, spiritual Gardener knows exactly how to bring us to complete repentance, if we let Him, so that we can be molded in the direction He wants us to go and become usable to Him and fulfill His great purpose for us. The old Oriental adage is very true: “As the twig is bent, so the tree grows.”
What sort of fruit are God the Father and Jesus Christ looking for in us? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Gal. 5:22-23).
Generating the fruit needed to produce His family is so important to God that He is willing to wait very patiently for it. “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh” (James 5:7-8).
What we learn from the “true vine” analogy is that those in God’s true Church who are submitted to God now, whose hearts are in His work, who are repentant and overcoming—whom God can use—will rule and serve in His family government forever. And the Father and the Son, in perfect unison—to whom we will be inseparably conjoined—will treasure the firstfruits, and the godly fruit produced through them, individually and collectively, forever!