I am the true Vine

I have struggled with the concept of fruit and fruit bearing for quite a while. In the Gospels Christ is addressing Israel of course and we as christians need to be careful how we apply things regarding Israel to NT believers.

Often John 15, where Christ talks about the true vine, is applied to christians and the general challenge to fruit bearing goes out to christians however l believe that this is incorrect.

Lets look at the scriptures to see how the word vine is used.
The vine is mentioned in the life of Noah and the dream of Joseph. In Genesis 49 we have a prophecy of the foal being brought to the vine this is a prophesy regarding the Kingdom. Next we are told in the law the regulations regarding keeping vines. On and on the references come and on each occasion the vines spoken of are real physical vines every time. As the focus of the OT increases on the coming kingdom so the vine becomes a symbol of rich blessing which will be enjoyed by Gods people in the Kingdom.
In Psa 8 for the first time the vine is used metaphorically of Israel.
7: Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved. 8: Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.
14: Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;
in Psa 128 the image of the vine is used metaphorically for a mans wife...
3: Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
In Isaiah 5 the prophet gives a parable of a vineyard that will be destroyed even as Israel will be destroyed.
1: Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: 2: And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. 3: And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4: What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5: And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: 6: And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. 7: For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
So Isaiah now brings the OT references to the Vine and the vineyard into its full significance.
He says...
For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant:
I believe that this is the imagery that Christ speaks of in John 15.
In Luke 20 Christ says...
9: Then began he to speak to the people this parable; A certain man planted a vineyard, and let it forth to husbandmen, and went into a far country for a long time. 10: And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandmen, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard: but the husbandmen beat him, and sent him away empty. 11: And again he sent another servant: and they beat him also, and entreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. 12: And again he sent a third: and they wounded him also, and cast him out. 13: Then said the lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my beloved son: it may be they will reverence him when they see him. 14: But when the husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This is the heir: come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours. 15: So they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What therefore shall the lord of the vineyard do unto them? 16: He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.
The religious leaders were very familiar with the link between the image of the Vine and Israel as a nation. In this parable Christ takes the image from Psa 8 and Isa and describes a vineyard in which the servants who are to look after it refuse the messengers sent to it and finally kill the Owners Son. Then Christ poses a rhetorical question What will the owner of the vineyard do? And he answers his own question - He shall come and destroy these husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when they heard it, they said, God forbid.
What did the king want of the men who were looking after the vineyard? He wanted fruit.
Then we turn to John 15 and Christ addresses his disciples who in this passage are the true representatives of Israel.
The disciples were the true alternative leaders of Israel and in a coming day they will in fact take the leadership of Israel. Christ was raising up a new leadership in Israel.
In Matthew 19v28 Christ said...And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29: And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. 30: But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
The regeneration is the new birth of the Nation of Israel in the Kingdom. At that time the Apostles will sit on twelve thrones to exercise judicial rule over Israel. Then it will be said that the decisions they make will be ratified in heaven. - Matthew 16v19: And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. The men who had the keys were the magistrates and they sat in the gate of the city and opened and shut the gate and executed judgment on the citizens.

Now lets get back to the True Vine.
1: I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2: Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3: Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4: Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5: I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 6: If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. 7: If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8: Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

Christ says firstly, I AM the TRUE VINE. He is saying Israel is the vine of the LORD but I AM the TRUE VINE. Christ is saying l am the Messiah of Israel. Then he says...6: If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

Now this cannot be said of the least christian. No christian for lack of fruitfulness is cast into the fire. But Israel? that is a very different thing altogether. Israel is made up of a mixed multitude. there are those who are righteous and those who are unrighteous (That can never be said of the church, In the Church the - the true church there are only the saved and they have the very righteousness of Christ) And there are those in Israel that are unrighteous. How does the Lord judge Israel? He judges them on the basis of the righteous life lived under the law. If a man does that which the law demanded he is righteous and will be raised from the dead to receive eternal life in the kingdom. The christian is not like this, he has eternal life now on earth before he goes to heaven.

So what does God look for in a man who lives under law? He looks for righteousness. And the righteous deeds he does are the fruit of the inner man.

Steve