The True Vine - (2)

“All earthly things are the shadows of heavenly realities—the expression, in created, visible forms, of the invisible glory of God. The Life and the Truth are in Heaven; on earth we have figures and shadows of the heavenly truths. When Jesus says: “I am the true Vine,” He tells us that all the vines of earth are pictures and emblems of Himself. He is the divine reality, of which they are the created expression. They all point to Him, and preach Him, and reveal Him. If you would know Jesus, study the vine.” Andrew Murray - The True Vine, Day 1

In John 15:1 Jesus says, “I am the true vine and my Father is the vinedresser.” Just as there are many shepherds but only One True Shepherd, and many ways but only One True Way, so there are many vines but only One True Vine.

I think there is a sacramental reality in addition to the “figures and shadows” that Murray writes about, meaning that we can move through the figures and shadows and touch and be touched by the heavenly realities; the earthly things, by the grace of God, can be the media through which we are touched by the heavenly things. There are places that are “thin”, and elements of creation that touch us as “thin”; by “thin” I mean that the separation between the visible and invisible is translucent, there is a permeability in the air, in the heart, in the place, in the element of creation. One cannot conjure this up, one cannot create it, one cannot work oneself up to experience it - one can only abide in the True Vine and allow Him, Jesus Christ, to speak, to lead, to draw our hearts.

I have known the song of the wren to be a heavenly aria. The first light of day to be as the rising of the Son. The ocean to be God’s love enveloping me. Stately mountains to speak of His majesty. The winds blowing where they will as the Voice of the Holy Spirit. The cosmos is found in my backyard, along with its Creator. Amusement parks are for amusement, artificial sweeteners with an aftertaste. If I take you to an amusement park I will need to take you back to have another experience, but if you spend an hour in my backyard (or yours!) and allow the backyard to get into you as you enter into it - well then, you just might have a sense of “other”, of the heavenlies as they speak through earthly things.

All things speak of Christ, point to Christ, glorify Christ. Whether things sweet and gentle or terrible and overwhelming - somehow, some way, they move from Christ and toward Christ. “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Romans Chapter 11).

“In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth.” (Ephesians Chapter 1).

If we look for Jesus we will, by His grace, learn to see Jesus. Is there anymore we could want or desire? Well, we could desire that others would see Jesus too. To behold His beauty is to know transcendent glory. To behold and receive His gracefulness is to know what it is to be touched by the Trinity and enveloped in God’s holy Presence. He is the True Vine and we are invited to abide in Him, to allow Him to be our life, to live in union in Him.

There is a place and a time when things in the heavens and things on the earth find their harmonious unity in Christ; we are called to participate in this symphony in Christ, to be players in His orchestra, to be His agents of reconciliation.