The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1902-12-12
CHRIST AS THE VINE.
Beautiful Figure Which illustrates
Deep Spiritual Truth.
Sermon by the "Highway and By.
way" Preacher TN One of the
Six Striking Sayings of
Jesus.
Copyright, 1902, by A n. Kellogg News
DaDer Col

Copyright, 1902, by A n. Kellogg News
paper Col
Chicago, 1902.
Text:-"I am the True Vine, and My Fa-
ther is the Husban6man. ye are the
| branches. John ISL, 8.
In the garden-decked land of Pales-
tine, where the grape vine flOurished in
all CT its splendid beauty and luxuri-
ance, came One from God Who declared
| Himself the True Vine, that His Father
was the Hus bandman Who planted the
| Vine, and that His disciples in their re-
lations to Him were the branches of
the Vine. The vine was known and
cultivated from the earliest times in
Palestine and is very frequently re-
| ferred to in the Old and New Tesla
ments. The short biography which
Gods word gives us OF Noah acquaints
US with the fact that he planted
| vineyard. 1t was wonderful sight
which greeted the eyes of the spies
when they had penetrated the Promised
Land as far as the Valley of Eschol.
for we are told that they cut down
branch bearing one cluster of grapes,
which two of them bore between them
which Christ selected to illustr tie the
close and intimate union which existed
| between Himself and His disciples and
| the RELATIONSHIP which His Father bore
to both the Vine and the branches.
He declares: 81 am the True Vine"
| Here is a beautiful intimation: That
Nature in her gift to man of the vine
has but foreshadowed the Christ and
strikingly illustrated what the Father
is to Him and He to His followers.
Nature sings a perpetual song OF
praise and testimony to God of His will
and purposes toward man. Always IN
perfect harmony with the Divine will
herself Nature seeks to teach man,
who is out of harmony with God, spir-
itual truths which will bring his way
ward heart into sweet communion and
fellowship with its Maker. The mis-
sion of the sun to the earth is not alone
to give light and heat. but to bear tes-
timony to that True Light which light
eth every man that cometh into the
world. The rainfall and the dew come
not only to refresh the parched earth
and make it blossom and bear fruit,
but each pattering drop and each
sparkling dewdrOp tells the thirsty
soul Of man that there are times of re-
freshing from the Lord. The grains
and the fruits that crowd barn and
cellar do not rejoice alone that they
give physical life to man. but that they
come laden with the message that
imam shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of God;" that as Natures
bread feeds the body and gives it life,
so Christ. the True Bread from Heav-
en- feeds the soul and gives it life.
Christ from the beginning o the end
of His ministry delighted to take His
illustrations from Nature. His crea
tive hand had fashioned the worlds;
had piled the rocky heights down
which the refreshing waters coursed;
had planted the fertile valleys, and in
the leafy tops of the trees He had nest
ed the happy birds. The busy hum of
Nature caught its music from the ac
tivity of the Divine workshop. and is it
any wonder when Jesus came into the
world that the lilies of the field sang
to Him of the Fathers loving thought
and carej-- that the rolling bosom of
the blue Galilee should have given Him
wearying day. and that the quiet Sc
clusion of the mountain retreats
should have become the sacred tenn
piles in which He met and communed I
with the Father? During the boyhood !
days of Jesus, at His home in Naza-
reth. as He roamed the hillsides sur
rounding the town, He had seen the |
sower go forth to sow. He had seen |
IL.
earth; had discovered the green |
sprout come pushing up to the sun
shine and the rain; had watched the !
tasseled stalk waving it's grain-lade1 !
head in the breezes a the harvest time |
approached, and had seen it yield.
some forty, some sixty and some an
hundred fold. Nature taught Him the |
beautiful lesson that except a corn
of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone; but if it die it bring
eth forth much fruit" and He willing
" trod the pathway of death that |
through His death He might give life
unto all the world
And He Who had lived in the realm
of Nature and had so fOrcibly taught
spiritual lessons from the pages of her
book. brings tic His disciples as a last
parting message this beautifully sug-
gestive figure of the vine and the
branches to comfort theip hearts and
help them to realize that though their
LORD was to be no longer with them in
the flesh, still the union between Hin
and His disciples was not broken,
but was more vital and intimate
than ever before. This is the most
striking of all the figures which Jesus
used, but it is interesting to note that
it is not the only one which illustrates
the union of Christ with the believer,
for, as some one has said, they run
through the whole range Of possible
figures of speech. There Is the amin @ |
Siugde:p, with its shsep and the khep- +
herd; there Is the mineral kingdom,
with the building and the Chief Corner
Stone of Ephesians the second chap
ter; there is the human form with the
body and its members of the fourth
chapter of Ephesians; there are the
family and its members, or the state or
commonwealth and its citizens OF the
bird and fourth chapters of Ephesians;
there is the marriage relation with the
pride and the groom of the fifth chap !
ter Of Ephesians; and the climax is
reae hed in I Cor. GIT; He that is {