The Branches Abides In The Vine

John 15:1-11
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
15 I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser.
2  Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit [that stops bearing] He cuts away (trims off,
takes away); and He cleanses and repeatedly prunes every branch that continues to
bear fruit, to make it bear more and richer and more excellent fruit.
3  You are cleansed and pruned already, because of the word which I have given you [the
teachings I have discussed with you].
4  Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. [Live in Me, and I will live in you.] Just as no branch
can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you
bear fruit unless you abide in Me.
5  I am the Vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much
(abundant) fruit. However, apart from Me [cut off from vital union with Me] you can do
nothing.
6  If a person does not dwell in Me, he is thrown out like a [broken-off] branch, and
withers; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and they are burned.
7  If you live in Me [abide vitally united to Me] and My words remain in you and continue
to live in your hearts, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.
8  When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you
show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine.

9  I have loved you, [just] as the Father has loved Me; abide in My love [ [a] continue in His
love with Me].
10  If you keep My commandments [if you continue to obey My instructions], you will abide
in My love and live on in it, just as I have obeyed My Father’s commandments and live
on in His love.
11  I have told you these things, that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your
joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing.

There were seven “I am” statements of Christ Jesus recorded in the gospel of John. They are
claims to His deity. This seventh I am and the last self-designation in this Gospel, is seen here in
verse 5, describing the relationship between Jesus and His disciples. Its background is Isaiah
5:1-7, where Israel is compared to a vineyard under God’s loving care. But unlike Israel, Jesus is
the true [real or genuine] vine.
1. John 6:35, I am the Bread of Life.
2. Luke 8:12, I am the light of the world,
3. Luke 10: 7, I am the door of the sheep. Luke 10:9, I am the door.
4. Luke 10:11, I am the good shepherd. Luke 10:14, I am the good shepherd;
5. Luke 11:25, I am the resurrection and the life.
6. Luke 14:6, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
7. Luke 15: 1, I am the true vine; Luke 15:5, I am the vine.
Vine is defined as a climbing or trailing woody-stemmed plant of the grape family. True Vine is
an allegory or parable given by Jesus in the New Testament found in John 15:1-17, it describes
Jesus’ disciples as branches of himself, who is described as the “true vine”, and God the Father
the “husbandman”.
Isaiah 5:1-7 (New Living Translations)
1 Now I will sing a song for the one I love about his vineyard; My Beloved has a vineyard on a
rich and fertile hill.
2 He plowed the land, cleared its stones, and planted it with choice vines. In the middle he built
a watchtower and carved a winepress in the nearby rocks. Then he waited for a harvest of
sweet grapes, but the grapes that grew were wild and sour.
3 “Now, you people of Jerusalem and Judah, you have heard the case; you be the judges.
4 What more could I have done to cultivate a rich harvest? Why did my vineyard give me wild
grapes when I expected sweet ones?

5 Now this is what I am going to do to my vineyard; I will tear down its fences and let it be
destroyed. I will break down its walls and let the animals trample it.
In this scripture, “Song of the Vineyard” which is also described as God’s Disappointing
Vineyard: The Beloved represents God and the vineyard represents Israel and Judah. The good
grapes describes God’s expectation of Israel and Judah to be an obedient, holy, witnessing
people. The wild grapes describes the people that produced bigotry, injustice, and idolatry
instead of a witness to the nations; they did this in spite of God’s abundant love and care. In
verse 5 trampled down lets us know that in judgement God will permit pagan invaders to
trample down His people’s fair Land of Promise. It is recorded that Israel fell to Assyria and
Judah fell to Babylon.
In this 15 th chapter in the Gospel of John, Jesus used two pictures of the believer – branches and
friends – reveal both our privileges and our responsibilities. As branches, we have the privilege
of sharing His life, and the responsibility of abiding. As friends, we have the privilege of
knowing His will, and the responsibility of obeying.
We will take a look at the four elements in this parable: the Vine, the branches, the
Vinedresser and the fruit.
The Vine is our Lord Jesus Christ and the vine includes the branches. He is the “true Vine,” the
original of which all other vines are a copy of. The fruit that the heavenly vinedresser looks for
in His people is Christlikeness. The symbolism of the Vine and branches is similar to that of the
Head and the body; we have a living relationship to Christ.
In order to be productive, a branch must submit to pruning, that is, to the beneficent discipline
of the Father and must maintain an abiding union with the vine. Hebrew 12:10
Productive is defined as achieving or producing a significant amount of result.
A branch is weak and useless. It is good for either bearing or burning, but not for building. The
branch cannot produce its own life; it must draw that life from the vine. It is our communion
with Christ through the Spirit that makes possible the bearing of the fruit. The fruitless branch,
which does not abide in the vine, is destroyed. We the believers of Christ is considered the
branches that weak and require Jesus’ strength. We must abide in Jesus. When we abide in
Christ, our prayers are effective (v.7), we glorify God in our fruit bearing (v.8), and our joy
becomes full through experiencing Christ’s own joy within us (v. 11)
To abide in Christ means to keep in fellowship with Christ daily in order to produce fruit. When
we abide in Christ there is evidence, fruit. And we experience the Vinedresser, the Father’s
pruning.
Galatians 5:22-23 (NKJV) reads, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

God is the Vinedresser. The vinedresser is in charge of caring for the vines, and Jesus said that
this is the work of the Father. It is He who “purges” or prunes the branches so they will
produce more fruit. There is a progression: no fruit, fruit, more fruit, much fruit. We as
Christians usually pray for God to make us more fruitful but we have no idea of what God is
going to use or how God is going to prune us in the pruning process. We never enjoy the
pruning process.
Purge is defined as to rid (someone or something) of an unwanted quality, condition, or
feeling.
The Vinedresser prunes the branches in two ways: he cuts away dead wood that can breed
disease and insects, and he cuts away living tissue so that the life of the vine will not be so
dissipated that the quality of the crop will be jeopardized. In fact, the vinedresser will even cut
away whole bunches of grapes so that the rest of the crop will be of higher quality. Look at our
Father God, He wants both quantity and quality.
It is said that the greatest judgment God could bring to a believer would be to leave him/her
alone, let him/her have his/her own way. Because God loves us, He “prunes” us and
encourages us to bear more fruit for His glory. It’s all about God being glorified, not you, not
me. But God being glorified. Even in our sicknesses and the hurt from a relationship that has
gone what we call bad. May the glory of the Lord be revealed and Him being glorified be
revealed to us. And the only way we will see this is to ask the Holy Spirit to take the scales off
of our spiritual eyes and give us spiritual eyes to see. Ask God to help you to see what He sees,
don’t be afraid because fear paralyzes our capacity to see God. We have to trust God to know
what is best for us and to do what is best for us. If the branches could speak, they would
confess that the pruning process hurts, but after the hurt but they would also rejoice that they
will be able to produce more and better fruit.
Our Heavenly Father is never nearer to us than when He is pruning us. Sometimes He cuts
away the dead wood or the dead weight that might cause trouble, but often He cuts off the
living tissue that is robbing us of spiritual strength. Pruning does not simply mean spiritual
surgery that removes what is bad. Pruning can also mean cutting away the good and the better
so that we might enjoy the best. WOW!!!! Imagine that. God wants us to have the best. We
may not see it now but the best is yet to come in our lives, we have to trust God.