Last week we looked at the difference between discipline and pruning. One thing to be aware of is that God’s discipline is not punishment. Don’t ever believe that lie. Do we get consequences for our actions? Yes. Does God punish us for our mistakes? No, because Jesus took the punishment for us on the cross. However, consequences for sin remain. If you touch a hot stove, you are going to burn your hand and it is going to need some time, and some medication to help it heal.
With sin it may affect our physical body and our physical circumstances, but sometimes it affects our soul, and we need time to sit under the word of God and heal.
Alright, I think that’s enough of that, lol. So, we have been looking at abiding in Jesus. Remaining in Jesus. Doing life with Jesus. Inviting Him into every space of our lives and leaning on Him in all we do. John 15:5 says, and this is Jesus speaking, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” We all, at some point in our lives, reach a place where we realise that we cannot do anything without God. Where we finally see that everything that we have been able to do has been because of the grace and mercy of God. Not because we are so great but because He is great, and He is good.
So continuing our walk through John 15, we notice that verses 1-8 start us off by talking about life in a vineyard. One may think, “If Jesus came to restore us to relationship with God, why did He introduce a Vineyard in John 15 instead of a garden?”
When I think about our broken relationship with God, I am instantly reminded of the garden of Eden. Eden was a beautiful place where Adam and Eve had everything they needed and were in a direct relationship with God. God would walk with them and talk with them in the cool of the day. It was beautiful, and simply wonderful. Until sin entered in, and Adam and Eve lost their garden privileges.
But then came Jesus. Right when humanity was a mess. Right when people thought, “life will always be this way”, He came and He changed it all. Towards the end of His ministry and before He goes to die on the cross, Jesus has a very important conversation with His disciples about a vineyard in John 15. In verse 1 He says, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.” Right off the bat we know there are two people in this garden, Jesus the Vine and Papa God the wonderful Vinedresser.
One thing about grapevines is that if you do not tend them, if you do not prop them up from the ground, they will die. The grapevine needs the vinedresser to survive. Jesus tells us He is the vine and His Father, who so happens to also be our Father, is the vinedresser. He tends the vine to ensure it is healthy and it thrives.
John 15:5 says, “I am the sprouting vine and you’re my branches.” So Jesus is the vine, we are the branches and Papa God is the vinedresser. Where is Holy Spirit? Our pastors taught us that Holy Spirit is the life giving sap that flows in the Vine and connects the Vine to the branches. Now, this paints a picture of intimacy, of connection, of oneness and of unity.
John 17:23 says, “You [Papa God] live fully in me and now I [Jesus] live fully in them so that they will experience perfect unity, and the world will be convinced that you have sent me, for they will see that you love each one of them with the same passionate love that you have for me.”
The garden of Eden was wonderful, but the vineyard was God’s plan all along. Could it be, that there was always a level of relationship with God that we could not enter, even if we remained in the garden of Eden, until Jesus came and made a way for us? Because we know that Jesus was always destined to be the perfect Lamb of God and die for our sins, long before the world was created, see 1 Peter 1:18-20, Revelation 13:8 and John 1:29.
So, was the garden a foretaste of something deeper and more intimate? Because we know in the garden, God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, but as New Testament believers, God walks and talks with us, all day every day. We have 24/7 access to God. Right when the devil is tempting us to do something stupid, we have God in our ear saying, “Resist the devil and he will flee…”, James 4:7.
The vineyard offers a level of oneness, connectedness with God that we could not get before. Us abiding in the vine was always God’s plan. But we get to choose. We get to choose whether we want to be part of this wonderful vineyard by believing in Jesus and inviting Him into our everyday lives. Why wouldn’t you want to be connected to Jesus?
Isaiah 27:2-3 and 5 says, “In that day, they will sing the song “The Vineyard of Delight.” “I, the Lord, watch over my vineyard of delight. Moment by moment, I water it in love and protect it day and night. So let the branches cling to my protection when they make true peace with me. Yes, let them make me their friend.””
Love and blessings,
Melissa Tsingano.
Heavenly Whispers Blog 
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