Lesson 11: The Emblems
The Emblems are often called the Bread and the Wine. But the reality of the Emblems and what they mean is far from what people often think of. In fact even the symbols themselves are disputed in this lesson.
The Paradoxes of the Last Passover
Matthew 26:17-30 is one of the most famous passages in Matthew’s Gospel and certainly the most infamous. It is infamous not only because there is a shadow of death and betrayal covering this otherwise lovely family meal, but also because these fourteen verses have lead to 14,000 divisions within the church and persecutions of the church by the church.
If you lived at the “wrong” time in church history, how you answered questions like, What did Jesus mean by “This is my body”? and How many elements (emblems) should be consecrated? and Who should partake of the bread? were questions of life and death. Thankfully today, while we come with many of the same questions as our predecessors and many more of our own, we are safe to state what we believe about the Lord’s Supper and, God willing, free enough to disagree on certain matters without the deacons tying you to the church stake and the elders striking the deadly match.
A Sovereign Plan; A Responsible Man
What has often led to division, then as now, is an improper emphasis of questions about the Lord’s Supper. That is, making the questions that aren’t answered directly by the text more central than those that are.
We begin with two questions raised and answered in the setting.
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread [a seven-day festival connected in Jesus’ day to the Passover] the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says. My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover. (vv. 17-19)
The first question we should ask is, when did the first Lord’s Supper take place? The answer is at “the Passover.” Matthew wants us to notice that detail, for he repeats it three times, once in every verse above. Passover. Passover. Passover. In these opening verses don’t pass over the Passover!
Most commentators say that Jesus is celebrating some version of the Passover Seder, which took its present shape thirty years after the Lord’s Supper (see Mishnah Tractate Pesahim, chapter 10), and they go into great detail about that meal. Matthew, however, doesn’t focus on the details of the meal. He focuses instead on who is serving (Jesus) and Jesus’ surprising innovations to the Exodus feast.
Besides turning this family meal into an Ecclesial community meal (that’s innovative—who are his brothers and sisters but his disciples, Matthew 12:46-50), Jesus also turns the focus of the whole celebration on himself. Instead of focusing on the lamb—the focus of the Passover meal—Jesus speaks of his body and blood: “my body” (v. 26) and “my blood” (v. 28). Your body? Your blood? What about the lamb and its body and blood? That lamb is nowhere on our Lord’s lips and nowhere found in Matthew’s account.
What are we to do with this surprising omission and shift in focus? In Jesus’ death is there some sort of new Passover and new exodus? Jesus is the last and final Lamb of God and through his blood God’s people are saved from death and freed from the slavery of sin, a far greater slave-master than Pharaoh. In reading Matthew’s focus on Jesus and his Passover innovations, we are to join with John the Baptist, saying, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, 36), and we are to soberly proclaim with Paul, “Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed” (1 Corinthians 5:7b).
The second question we should ask is, who’s in charge? The answer is Jesus. This question might well be the question of Matthew’s whole Gospel. In every chapter in this Gospel Jesus’ authority is on display. Here it is on display in two ways—through Jesus’ spoken word and through God’s written word.
First we have Jesus’ spoken word. Notice Jesus’ authoritative command in verse 18: “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” Jesus essentially says to his disciples, “If you obey my word now, I'll guarantee that this mysterious ‘certain man’ will obey my word when you get there.” Doesn’t Jesus sounds like a king? He speaks with the bold assumption that people will obey him and should obey him. Yes, he does sounds like a king or a “Lord,” the title that eleven of the men will use for him in verse 22. (Notice that only Judas calls him “Rabbi” and not “Lord.”)
Two other sentences are saturated with his sovereignty. Verse 21 features his favorite listen to me now for what I’m about to say is really important phrase, “Truly, I say to you.” That's his personal version of “Thus says the Lord.” Then there is what he calls himself twice in verse 24, “The Son of Man,” that title from Daniel 7 for the divine king who will rule an everlasting kingdom.
Also under this category of Jesus’ spoken word are his predictive prophecies. He predicts that someone will betray him (v. 21). He knows who that someone is (v. 25). He predicts his death and the timing of his death. It will occur during the Passover, as he stated back in verse 2 and reiterates with his language in verse 18, “My time is at hand.” He also and finally predicts his bodily resurrection and his disciples’ bodily resurrections (v. 29). What else can he mean by “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom”? One needs to be alive and have a body to drink fruit of the vine.
Jesus’ authority is on display through Jesus’ spoken word. It is also on display through God’s written word. Look at that phrase in verse 24, where Jesus says of himself, “The Son of Man goes [i.e., goes to be betrayed and killed] as it is written of him.” Here our Lord has in mind not one Old Testament text but a compilation of texts, such as Isaiah 53:7-9 and Daniel 9:26, Scriptures that speak of this strange juxtaposition of a sovereign king but suffering servant. And/or, Jesus might simply be referring to, as I noted earlier, the Passover lamb as a type. That is, take all those Passover texts together and those millions of lambs slain since Exodus 12,10 and those shadows of the real thing come to a stop when Jesus’ heart stops. They are fulfilled when the Son of Man is slain, “as it is written of him” (v. 24).
So Matthew’s focus in these opening verses is on Jesus and his authority. And if we miss that focus, we’ll misapply this meal.
We have the title “The Paradoxes of the Last Passover.” It’s titled that for two reasons. First, this is the last Passover meal. It is the last one because there is no need to celebrate the Passover now that the Lamb of God has shed his blood to free us from the slavery of sin. Second, there are paradoxes here. The first paradox I call “A Sovereign Plan; a Responsible Man.” That responsible man, of course, is Judas. We’ve looked at Jesus’ sovereignty; let’s turn our attention next to Judas’s responsibility.
When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I. Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.” (vv. 20-25)
Our Lord’s language here is clear. Judas is held accountable for his actions. Jesus calls out his crime, and then he warns him of the woe to come. It’s as if he said, “Judas, that ‘woe’ of judgment that came upon the unrepentant cities (Matthew 11:21), on the person who leads the little ones into sin (Matthew 18:7), and on the scribes and the Pharisees (Matthew 23) is about to come upon you.” Jesus is wooing Judas with his woe: “Turn back, my friend. It’s not too late to repent.” Whatever Jesus is appealing to Judas’s will and holding him responsible for the actions of that free will, free under God’s sovereignty over all things, of course. Judas is fully responsible. “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God [divine sovereignty], you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men [human responsibility]” (Acts 2:23). Now, just as our Lord’s language on human responsibly is clear, so too are the warnings for us. The first warning is, “let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).
One of the first talks I ever preached (I was twenty at the time) was on Judas’s betrayal. I began that talk with the provocative question, do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? Then I went on to point out how Judas had a very personal relationship with Jesus but was not saved. Whatever the phrase “It would have been better for that man if he had not been born” (v. 24) means, it does not mean Judas will be in the Kingdom. The shock factor of that old talk was awesome. I had everyone quite concerned. Judas Iscariot had the highest possible religious privileges. He was a chosen apostle and companion of Christ; he was an eyewitness of our Lord's miracles and a direct hearer of his teaching; he saw what Abraham and Moses never saw, and heard what David and Isaiah never heard; he lived in the society of the eleven apostles; he was a fellow-laborer with Peter, James and John: but for all this his heart was never changed.
So don’t you, O man, woman, child of religious privilege, be presumptuous in your personal relationship with Jesus. The eleven apostles asked, “Is it I, Lord?” and we must never grow old of asking that same question. In his “Matthew’s Passion,” Bach has the congregation sing, after the words, “Is it I, Lord?” a confessional chorale: “I’m the one, I should repent.” Exactly! Judas, this deepest and darkest character in the Gospels—in perhaps of all world literature—is held up here as a mirror to us. We should repent. We should take heed lest we fall. That’s the first warning.
The second warning is that the love of money strangles the soul. Or to use Paul’s words again:
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. (1 Timothy 6:9-11)
Many scholars today say that Judas’s motive for betrayal is uncertain. Was it greed, disillusionment, or misguided zeal (Judas wanted to force Jesus’ hand into acting like the Messiah should)? We don’t know, they say. However, I say it’s clear that Matthew links the motive to money. Just follow the money. As we saw in verse 15, Judas’s question to the Jewish leaders shows his hand (and heart): “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” Why ask for money if you want to force Jesus’ hand or if you are seriously disillusioned? Just go and tell them where Jesus is and call it a day. Either way Judas would have done his part to save Israel. But instead he dismissed Jesus’ teachings on money and this trusted treasurer allowed “the deceitfulness of riches” (13:22) to choke him.
My brothers and sisters, the love of money can tie a noose around our necks. We can give up all sorts of things for Christ, as Judas did, but if we do not give up covetousness, that one secret sin will choke all spiritual life out of us. Let Jesus’ diagnostic question hang above us always: “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36). May the penetrating prayer of Proverbs 30:7-9a be our persistent petition:
Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you [or betray you?] and say, “Who is the Lord?”
A Little Ink Spilled; Enough Blood Shed
The second paradox is, a little ink spilled; enough blood shed. There is a double meaning to this paradox. The first meaning is this: since there is so little written in the New Testament on the Lord’s Supper (i.e., a little ink spilled), the divisions and persecutions surrounding this meal should come to an end (i.e., there has been enough blood shed).
Considering the Church’s stress on Lord's Supper, it is surprising how little this meal is mentioned in the New Testament. While “the breaking of bread” is mentioned twice in the book of Acts (see 2:42 and 20:7), it is only mentioned once in each of the Synoptic Gospels, for a total of twenty-nine verses (Matthew 26:20-30; Mark 14; 12-20; Luke 22:14-23) out of 3,639. In John’s Gospel a “supper” is mentioned in 13:1-5 in the context of “the Feast of the Passover,” but there is not a word about the acts or institution of that supper. Instead the focus falls on Jesus’ washing of the disciples’ feet and his words—his new commandment and high priestly prayer.
It is also surprising how little direct teaching we have on it. That is, unlike the Passover meal, mentioned in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy especially, we are given no directions in the Gospels on how we should celebrate this meal. And in Matthew, we don't even have Jesus’ command, "Do this in remembrance of me” (cp. Luke 22:19). The closest directions we have are found in 1 Corinthians 10:14—11:34 (cp. 5:7-8), which is a rebuke more on what not to do than what to do.
“A little ink spilled” doesn’t necessarily mean “of little importance.” Just because there are only a few verses on the birth of Christ doesn’t mean Christ’s birth matters little. But what is most important to the Christian life is what is most emphasized throughout the New Testament. In other words, Jesus’ death, resurrection, and return can be found at the end of every Gospel and throughout every book that follows—from Acts to Revelation; discipleship themes like repentance, faith, perseverance, holiness, forgiveness, and unity can be found on nearly every page of the New Testament.
In fact, I find it quite revealing that in 1 Corinthians 11 Paul is far more concerned with Ecclesial unity, love, and holiness than the particular details of the Lord’s Supper. He spills no ink on who should administer the meal or what kind of bread should be used or if the one cup they all shared should be wiped between sips. His focus is on remembering the death of Jesus and not receiving the meal “in an unworthy manner” (1 Corinthians 11:27). The unworthy manner is clear from the immediate context and the whole context of the epistle. Don’t come to the table without love for and peace with your brother. Without brotherly love (1 Corinthians 13) and edifying words (1 Corinthians 14) the Lord’s Supper is not the Lord’s Supper, and it would be far better if we all stayed at home. Paul puts it this way:
But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as an Ecclesia, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. (1 Corinthians 11:17-20).
Wait. Can you have the Lord’s Supper but it’s not the Lord’s Supper? I suppose so. Wait. Does that mean the meal itself is not efficacious? I suppose so. I think, I hope, I pray that Paul would agree with my first paradoxical point: enough disunity over this unifying meal! In his case some Believers were not waiting for others to arrive and were eating and drinking too much. In our case there are other issues. But in both cases if we don’t want to heed all the ink spilled on themes like Brotherly love, sanctification, edification, and unity, then we will never correctly heed the little ink spilled on this meal.
So the first meaning of our double-meaning paradox is that since there is so little written in the New Testament on the Lord’s Supper (i.e., a little ink spilled), the divisions and persecutions surrounding this meal should come to an end (enough blood shed). The second meaning of the paradox stresses the significance of the Lord’s Supper. It uses the word enough in the sense of sufficient and the word blood as being Jesus’ blood. Thus the paradox is this: while there is so little said about the Lord’s Supper, it is a meal of such great importance because it reminds us that Jesus’ death is sufficient to save (enough blood shed to forgive many).
Now we come to the final section of the text:
Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives, (vv. 26-30)
With these final five verses, let’s ask two interpretation questions and a few application questions. We’ll start with the two interpretation questions.
First, what did Jesus mean by “this is my body”? He meant, quite simply, that “the bread symbolizes (represents, stands for, or points to) his crucifixion.” I don’t think the Roman Catholic view of transubstantiation (the bread and wine become Christ’s actual body and blood) or the Lutheran view of consubstantiation (Christ is really present “in, with, and under” the emblems) does justice to the actual historical situation. When Jesus held up the bread and said, “This—my body” (there is no “is” in the Aramaic), I can’t imagine the Twelve thinking that the bread was a literal “extension of his flesh.’’ Then how could he be the one in the room handing them bread and be the bread itself, and now how can he be bodily present in Heaven and bodily present on earth? Let’s be careful we don’t dismiss Jesus’ bodily ascension.
So here our Lord provides, with his typical figurative language (“I am the vine,” “I am the door,” etc.), yet another “vivid object lesson.” The bread is not literally his body any more than the cup is literally the covenant in his blood.
That is not to say I don’t believe that Christ is spiritually present at the meal. Just because I don’t believe in the real presence of Jesus does not mean I believe in the real absence, or that Immanuel is present spiritually with his Ecclesia when we do Ecclesia discipline (Matthew 18:20) and discipleship (Matthew 28:20) and at all times through his Spirit (John 14:23; 15:4-7) except during the Lord’s Supper. I believe that “by faith” when we eat the bread and drink this cup we are “made partakers of his body and blood” and grow in grace through such spiritual nourishment.
So what did Jesus mean by “this is my body”? He meant that the bread symbolizes his death on the cross. Second, what did Jesus mean by “this is my blood of the covenant”? He meant that through his sacrificial and representative death, he promises the blessings of the new covenant upon his people (the “many”). I say the “many” are God’s people because of the language of Matthew 1:21, “you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins,” which picks up from the language of Isaiah 53, where the Servant “bore the sin of many” (Isaiah 53:12), who are earlier called “my people” (Isaiah 53:8, i.e., God’s people). Compare also Luke’s “poured out for you” in reference to Jesus’ disciples (Luke 22:20). And the many of them that sleep which awake (Daniel 12:2).
What are the new covenant blessings bestowed on the “many”? Those blessings are total forgiveness of past, present, and future sins and eternal fellowship with God. Here the blood covenant made by Moses at Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:7, 8) is renewed, embodied, fulfilled, and surpassed. It is a new and “better covenant” (Hebrews 7:22) because it is God’s commitment— through Jesus’ atonement—to “forgive” his people once and for all time “their iniquity” and “remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34).
This is sometimes why we say of this table, “We celebrate his death.” What? Celebrate death? Yes, we celebrate his death because through it (and through it alone) we have the forgiveness of sins.
We also celebrate his death because it guarantees us eternal fellowship with God. Don’t overlook our final two verses, where Jesus says, “I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom” (v. 29), and then after they sang “they went out to the Mount of Olives” (v. 30). Jesus has not left the Mount of Olives behind or the Olivet Discourse he gave on it. He’s a mountain man forever. It’s as if Jesus says to us, “Think of your future with me. Yes, every time you drink that fruit of the vine, which symbolizes my blood poured out for you, let it remind you of the wedding banquet to come, where we will share that same drink forever at table together.” Future fellowship! Forever fellowship! Someday soon we one with God!
Why do we celebrate the Lord’s Supper? Well, the two answers to our two interpretation questions provide us with the two main reasons: first, to “commemorate Jesus’ redemptive death”; and second, to anticipate our future fellowship with him and “with all the redeemed.”
Finally, we come to a few application questions: should we have the Lord’s Supper, as it is here, during the middle of a seemingly substantial meal? Should Jesus alone be allowed to break the bread and distribute it? Should only men be allowed to partake? Should only twelve men be allowed to partake? Should only twelve Jewish men be allowed to partake? Should known traitors be allowed to partake? Should we use only bread that can be easily broken—perhaps something flat and brittle like unleavened bread? Should we have only one loaf that all share, as seems to be the case here? Should we drink from one cup, which is certainly the case here? Should we all dip our hands into one dish? Should we use wine? Should we only have this meal once a year, at the time of the Passover? Should we only eat it after sundown and in Jerusalem? Should we have this meal not in a church, synagogue, or temple but only in a house, as it is here and everywhere throughout the New Testament? Should we receive the emblems as they did, reclining at a table flat on our bellies with our bare feet sticking out? (Sorry, Leonardo Da Vinci.) Should we sing one hymn and only one at the very end of the service, and should that one “hymn” be one of the Hallel (Psalms 114— 118, perhaps Psalm 118:22—“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”)?
What is descriptive here and what is prescriptive? That is, what of what they did should we do? How does our text answer that question? It doesn’t. But if we assume that Matthew’s Gospel was written to instruct the Ecclesia, and then if we compile all the New Testament texts on the Lord’s Supper (the few there are), we are given some guidelines. But guidelines are different than commands or laws or rules. So think Garden of Eden; think freedom within boundaries. Consider the seven freedom-within-boundaries guidelines I give below.
First: I think the case can be made that the Ecclesia should use unleavened bread symbolically to celebrate that Jesus has fulfilled the Passover. We might even say, he fulfilled it in his dying and rising! I also think the case can be made that grape juice qualifies as being “fruit of the vine,” the only phrase we find here; so it does not have to be wine.
Second: It is more than appropriate to share this meal in a building. The houses of the New Testament were replaced by buildings from the third century on. With that said, it might be nice for us occasionally (once a year?) to be less formal and more family-like (as depicted here) and celebrate this meal as a full meal in a home.
Third: I see no reason why any Believer cannot preside over the meal and serve it. However, it makes most sense to have the elders, as representatives of the Ecclesia, preside over the meal (teaching and reminding you of what it is about) and then modeling servant-hood to the Ecclesia by distributing it to you. A fine argument can be made for involving the congregation, especially in serving the emblems to show our unity and spiritual equality.
Fourth: This is a meal for disciples only. In other words, non-Christadelphians should not partake. However, since Jesus served Judas (knowing that he would betray him) and the eleven (knowing that they would all soon forsake him at his trial and death) we ought not to be more scrupulous than our Savior in fencing in the Table. Those who profess faith in Christ and have been baptized into Christ but live in unknown hypocrisy ultimately stand accountable before God. If such a believer eats and drinks, he “eats and drinks judgment on himself’ (1 Corinthians 11:29).
Fifth: A local Ecclesia can distribute the emblems however it would like. Perhaps an Ecclesia, after weighing all the opinions, selects one tradition and sticks with it until the return of Christ. Or perhaps an Ecclesia mixes things up a bit to remind people that how the emblems are distributed matters little compared with Ecclesial unity based on Christ and him crucified.
Sixth: We should celebrate this meal as often as we’d like or seems profitable. Paul writes, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup… (1 Corinthians 11:26a). If I understand that term “as often” correctly, it can mean once a year, once a month, once a Sunday, or once a day. We could follow the Passover tradition, thus celebrating once a year. Or we could follow the early church tradition, thus celebrating weekly (“On the first day of the week [Sunday], when we were gathered together to break bread...,” Acts 20:7) or daily (“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,” Acts 2:46). One benefit of a more regular observance is that if the Exhorter fails to preach the gospel in the Exhortation, it is nearly impossible to fail to preach it in the Supper. Through this meal Jesus assures us that even the worst Ecclesias get to hear and apply the doctrine of the atonement.
Seventh: There are many reasons we should celebrate this meal, but the one certain reason we celebrate it is to preach to one another and to the world “the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Corinthians 11:26b). It has often been said that there is no Brotherhood without the cross, and the first person to say it was Jesus. To him the cross is at the center of the Believers faith. Now some might argue, “No, Jesus’ birth or the resurrection is at the center.” Or Jesus’ teachings and miracles are at the center. But at the Last Supper Jesus bestows upon his Ecclesia only one commemorative and recurring drama, and it centers on his cross, it focuses on his death. At the Last Supper Jesus said nothing about his birth (to remember it) or about his coming resurrection (to remember it) or about his glorious return (to remember it). He assumed we would, of course, remember all those great events, and two of them are hinted at here. But the one drama that he bestows upon his Ecclesia is to remember his death by regularly having this tangible and movable feast.
The Symbol of Bread
In Numbers 33:3 we read - “And Israel departed from Rameses on the fifteenth day of the first month; on the morrow after the Passover the children of Israel went out with an high hand in the sight of all the Egyptians.” And John 6:4 - “And a great multitude followed Jesus... And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.” Fifteen centuries had passed between the record of Moses concerning the institution of the Passover feast and the record by John that Israel still remembered that God had called them as a people, as a son, out of Egypt.
The 14th day of Abib was the beginning of the feast of unleavened bread. It was a constant reminder that they had left Egypt in haste, carrying their dough unleavened in their kneading troughs. It was a feast which they were instructed “to keep when ye come into the land.” Why not in the wilderness? There was no need for the injunction for them to keep it in the wilderness, The bread which they ate then was not leavened bread of wheat or of barley but it was bread from heaven. God gave them the manna morning by morning and for forty years in a desert place “man did eat angels’ food.”
In John 6:31 it says that the people said to Jesus: “Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” And why did they make mention of this bread? Because that moment was a time when the provision of bread was very much before them.
The centuries pass, and a few here and there, like ourselves, traveling through the wilderness, having left the darkness of Egypt, meet for the breaking of bread, the remembrance that “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.”
John chapter six commenced with the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand. Out of the many miracles which Jesus did John only enumerates eight, seven before his crucifixion and one after the resurrection. These miracles were given as signs having a doctrinal significance. One very clearly emerges from this miracle of the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:12). “Gather up the fragments that remain,” Jesus said, “so that none may be lost.” It is recorded: “And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me! should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.” Even the number of the baskets that were taken up, twelve, is of significance. “All Israel shall be saved.” Not one shall be lost.
Why, for example, were they told to sit down on the grass? Why was there “much grass” in a desert place? for so it is described by Mark—“a desert place.” The reason is that it was the time of the Passover, and the time of the Passover is the only time in Palestine when there is much grass. Indeed, Mark says “green” grass. Why did Jesus say to Philip: “Whence shall we buy bread?” The answer is that Philip was of Bethsaida, and it is Luke who tells us that the miracle took place nigh unto a city called Bethsaida. So now we know why Christ asked Philip of all the disciples. You will remember also that Andrew it was who said: “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes.” Andrew also was of Bethsaida and he may well have known the lad.
These of course are interesting matters connected with the miracle, but our thoughts are directed chiefly to the wonderful provision of that bread in desert places. We had the type given centuries before, when Israel were fed in a desert place. We have this occasion when once more five thousand were gathered together in one place, not counting women and children, and were fed with, as it were almost, “bread from heaven.”
We want to speak particularly upon the comments made and the lessons which Christ drew from this particular incident. This great miracle, was performed before five thousand men, besides women and children, and it had a slight but very transient effect on some, if not all, of those who witnessed it. We cannot help but comment how history repeats itself, or, shall we say, repeated itself, how human nature was unchanged. One would have thought that the children of Israel witnessing the daily provision of bread in the wilderness would have precluded any unbelief, any murmuring; and yet it is Nehemiah who comments, after Ezra had read the Law in the ears of all the people, concerning this very provision of bread and the unbelief of Israel (Nehemiah 9:15): “Thou gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst... but they refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them.” So, in like manner, in this record of John we have exactly the same thing.
Let us look at it again for a moment. John 6, reading first of all from verse 14: “Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.” Now verse 16: “And when even was now come, his disciples went down unto the sea, and entered into a ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum.” Now verse 24: “When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.” Verse 26: “Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.”
Yes, Christ needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. He perceived that they had followed him right across the sea to Capernaum for the loaves and fishes. Here, they thought, was one who would provide daily food without any care, without any effort or trouble to themselves; and it is even shown by the fact that they made reference to the provision in the wilderness, without toil, without care, of daily bread, because they said, verse 31: “Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”
So Christ draws the first lesson. He says: “Labour not for the meat which perisheth.” It is a lesson which is still necessary to be taught and to be learned. Christ said, “Be not unduly anxious, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? After all, these things do the Gentiles seek,”—and how they seek them these days—“but your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” A simple enough lesson but nevertheless necessary at all times. So Christ went on: “But labour for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you.”
Again, those to whom Christ spoke did not perceive the matter. They still thought that he was speaking merely of bread to eat, so they said: “Lord, evermore give us this bread.” So we come to the second lesson. “I am the bread of life.” Labour for me and I will give you everlasting life. “I am the bread of life which came down from heaven.” And in verse 51 of this same 6th chapter he says: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” Verse 54: “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” And “many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying.” Verse 66: “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.”
“This is a hard saying.” “Eat my flesh and drink my blood.” And so it has proved. Christendom has formulated and embraced many false doctrines and it is a matter to be remarked upon that the gospel of John is quoted more extensively than any other of the gospels man endeavour to prove their doctrines. How often do they quote Chapter 1, chapter 10, chapter 17, in order to try to prove the pre-existence of Christ and the doctrine of the trinity. How often are the opening verses of chapter 14 quoted, concerning heaven-going: “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” And this chapter which we are just considering is quoted by the biggest section of Christendom, the Roman Catholics, in relation to the doctrine of transubstantiation, the doctrine which claims that the bread and the wine is actually changed into the flesh and the blood of Jesus.
Their communicants at what they describe as the sacrifice of the mass are supposed to actually eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ. Now if that were actually so, if they did actually partake of the flesh and blood of Jesus, I can leave you to pronounce the word which would describe that act.
Of course you will know that when Jesus says: “I am the vine, ye are the branches,” we understand perfectly that he is speaking figuratively. Equally he says: “This bread represents my body, and this fruit of the vine represents my blood.” And it is necessary that we so discern it. We are not to take this bread and drink this cup and think no more about it. When we do discern indeed as a figure that the bread and cup represent the body and blood of Jesus, and when we meditate on and consider the matter, then we see how that the phrases Christ uses as figures are full of meaning and full of significance.
The bread of God. “I am the bread of life.”“I am the living bread.” In other words, it is an assertion that he is indeed giving life to a dying multitude, providing that sustenance that they may live. It is summed up in that beautiful verse, also in the gospel according to John: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son”—the bread of God—”that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”“I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.”
Moreover, it is because we partake of this bread figuratively that Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” Note the exact wording of the apostle. Not members of his body, of his flesh and blood that would represent Jesus in the days of his flesh. No, we are figuratively members of the risen Christ, who could say to his disciples: “Handle me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”“We, being many, are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.” How, as an Ecclesia, we should be knit together; how, as an Ecclesia, there should not be divergencies and differences amongst us! The apostle says we are one body, all partakers of the one bread, members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
Well now, this must be so, in order that the promise of the Father might be fulfilled. You remember the prophet had said (Isaiah 53:10): “The pleasure of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand.” The Psalmist had said (Psalm 45:1): “My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king.” And what does he say concerning the king? “Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.” The King. The Bridegroom. And then (Psalm 45:9): “Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.” The Queen. The Bride. Thus it is that when Paul said (Ephesians 4:25, 5:30): “We are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones,” he also said: “I speak concerning Christ and the Ecclesia.”
You will remember that as in the beginning the woman was taken out of the man and therefore she was called woman, so the Bride is figuratively taken out of the Bridegroom, “and they shall be one flesh.” But there is a condition attached to it. For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother, and they shall be joined together. And had not the Psalmist written in like manner, in the same Psalm where bespoke of the King and of the Queen? (Psalm 45:10) - “Hearken, O daughter, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house.”
The teaching is clear. It is another lesson we can gain from this consideration. The condition is absolute. Those who discerningly partake of this bread, those who are members thereby of the Bridegroom’s body, those who would constitute the Bride, must leave their natural state, they must forget the desires of that natural state. They must not be unduly anxious concerning the things of this order, nor of the loaves and the fishes. You see, the apostle Paul says when writing to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 10:21): “Ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and of the table of devils.” Is this a hard saying? Because of this condition that you must leave the things of the world, relegate them to their right position, will you go back, and walk no more with Christ, as many in his day did? Some did then, some in the days of the Master, some in our time and generation have said: “This is a hard saying,” and they walk no more with him.
Now what of ourselves? Are we persuaded that “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us”? Are we persuaded that he is “the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world”? Are we confident that he came “that we might have life, and have it more abundantly,” that he was the bread of life, the bread of God? If so, let us figuratively leave our father and mother and be joined to him, so that when he comes as King we may constitute the Queen; when he comes as a Bridegroom to claim the Bride—yes, and he has paid the dowry; the dowry was not in corruptible things as silver and gold which were the usual dowry, but his precious blood; he has paid the dowry for the Bride—when he comes then to claim the Bride we may be a constituent member of the Bride.
Then just as Melchisedec brought out bread and wine for faithful Abraham, so the Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec will eat bread and drink wine anew—he has promised to do so—with those who will be kings and priests with him, truly members of his body, having become con-substantial with him.
So we are being fed with manna, we are being fed with the bread of life which is from heaven, and if we discern this and truly partake of it then Christ has promised that he that eateth this bread shall live for ever.
Our daily manna is the Words of God and the Words of Christ. We need to consume them, such that we become one with them. Our minds and our actions need to become the minds and actions of our God (Isaiah 55:8) - “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Yahweh” - we need to imbibe the Word made flesh (John 1:14).
The Symbol of the Cup
You will notice that we have entitled this section the cup, and not the wine. The truth of the matter is that nowhere in the Bible will you find the cup that was partaken of in that upper room called wine. It is either described as the “fruit of the vine” or it is called “the cup”. It is not called wine, although it was probably wine, as this was part of the Passover feast (see lesson 3 – the escape from Egypt). So what is the Bible telling us? It is telling us that we should forget about it being wine, it is telling us to concentrate upon “The cup” and concentrate upon “the fruit of the vine”. The Emblem that we use on our memorial table needs to be put into a cup and it needs to be the fruit of the vine; it doesn’t need to be alcoholic wine.
The Cup
So what is it that we need to understand from the Cup?
When the Lord Jesus Christ spoke about the cup, he was speaking about his trials and tribulation. In the garden he prays – Matthew 26:36 - “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” - and again, Matthew 26:42 - “He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done.” What is he praying about? He is praying about the trials and the tribulation. He is praying about his sufferings. And that is what the symbol of the cup speaks to us of throughout the Bible.
The cup then is a symbol of our sharing in the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is to unite us in sufferings.
It is often preached in churches today that God can change your life— God can help you find yourself—God can help you love yourself—God can bring you peace of mind—God can save your marriage or get you a new job or help you be a success in this world. Such messages will not cause persecution, will they? The world loves those messages. They’ll buy your book and watch your TV show. But if you preach what Jesus said and what the apostles preached—that Jesus is the only way to God and therefore we must have allegiance to him above even our closest family members (Matthew 10:37) and that judgment is a reality, since God “can destroy both soul and body in the grave” (Matthew 10:28)—you can expect persecution. You can expect persecution for heeding Jesus’ commands on how to think, live, and witness to the world. Preach the gospel of the kingdom and what happens? Exactly what Jesus said would happen—persecution! We share the sufferings of Christ. We share the cup. And in partaking of the cup – we agree to partake with him, in persecution.
The fruit of the vine
As Brothers and Sisters in Christ we are called upon to bring forth fruit. What is expected of us? The answer is exactly what Jesus said to the Jews of his own generation – Matthew 21:43 - "The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof."
The Vine
As Jesus traversed the cities and villages of Palestine one familiar sight met his gaze—the vineyards with their profusion of fruit. On the terraced hillsides, vineyards covered the landscape, and the beautiful luscious grapes bespoke the fertility of the soil. The incident of the spies bearing the bunch of grapes back to Moses bears adequate testimony to that. And it was from these natural surroundings and everyday scenes that Jesus drew important lessons for the spiritual life of his followers. In John 15:1 we read the words: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 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… I am the vine, ye are the branches.”
Throughout the Bible we see that the vine is a symbol of Israel.
God is responsible for all nature and life in every form, and in like manner He is responsible for the spiritual life and existence of ourselves. Without God, natural life would not be, neither would it continue to be; and without God, spiritual life would not be. And so, without a vinedresser and a husbandman there would be no vineyard and hence no fruit. The object of the vineyard was the production of fruit to bear testimony to the work of the husbandman, and Jesus says in v. 8: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” I think we shall all agree that is the object of vineyards; otherwise there is no use for them. They are for the production of fruit; and so Paul says in writing to the Corinthians: “Ye are God’s husbandry”; and as the vinedresser Paul says, “God worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure”; and the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in Christ who is the vine.
Now God’s work is well illustrated in the case of Israel, and His methods of working with them in the production of a people well pleasing to Him are also the principles upon which He works with us. God chose Israel to be a people unto Himself to show forth His praise, to attest His care and attention and provision which He made in order that they might produce results. Through Moses, in Deuteronomy, He said because He loved their fathers He chose their seed after them, and brought them out in His sight with His mighty power out of Egypt; He drove out the nations before them, to bring them in, to give them the land for an inheritance. So Israel were planted in the garden of God, the land He chose for Himself; and as a vine, they were prepared, planted, tended, in anticipation of fruit. Isaiah takes up the matter in chap. 5: “My beloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill; 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 what was the object? “He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.” God chose the whole hill of Zion, He chose Israel as His own holy people; He drove out the nations before them, He hedged them in by His law, He fed them with His statutes and judgments and commandments for their good. He took every wise measure for the production of fruit unto holiness; in fact He says in Isaiah 5:4 - “What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it?” There was only one answer to that; God had done everything that was possible. He had made every provision and preparation for them. He says through Jeremiah 2:21 - “I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed; how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?” Human nature of itself reverts to degeneration; even with much care and attention spent on it, far from thriving, it goes back and produces wood instead of fruit. Of Israel God says through Moses: “For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter.” What more disgusting and disappointing and repulsive than to taste the bitterness of gall. The grapes of Sodom, we understand, were very nice to look at, but when picked they were found to be full of dust. How repugnant that was—to anticipate good fruit and then find nothing but dust inside them. Although the appearance was good, they were useless as fruit, corrupt, putrefying, offensive; some disease had infected the vine and made the fruit obnoxious. So with Israel; with their evil practices, their copying of the ways of the nations and refusal of God’s overtures, they were corrupters, the seed of evildoers. There was plenty of empty profession, as with the grapes of Sodom, plenty of outward show, but no real genuine sincerity of purpose.
Now Jesus declares the true principle; “By their fruits ye shall know them.” We have said that a vine must either produce fruit or else it is useless, it is fit for nothing else. Isaiah describes Israel in this position in Isaiah chap. 1:4: “Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters”; and again the principle holds true in Christ’s words when he says in Matthew 7:16: “Men do not gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles; either make the tree good and the fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and the fruit corrupt.” Now in these features there are lessons for us who are spiritual Israel, who have been grafted into the good olive tree contrary to nature. We would naturally bear fruit of the wild type, manifest of course in the works of the flesh, which fill us with moral corruption. It is only when we are taken in hand and grafted on to the Christ vine that there is a possibility for us to produce fruit which is well pleasing to the husbandman. As in the case of Israel, God provides everything that is necessary. He has expended much care and attention on us in order that we may bring forth much fruit. How are we responding to the labours of the Husbandman? We have seen the result concerning Israel; it culminated in the hedge being taken away and trodden down, the vineyard being laid waste, and it became a prey to the wild beasts—the wild beasts of the nations, as Joel 1:7 says; the Assyrian, the Babylonian, “hath laid my vine waste and barked my fig tree.” Now God deals with us as with Israel. In mercy and love He has grafted us into the eternal promises as centred in Christ. God draws us by the power of the gospel, a power which not only unites us to Christ but binds us to him with everlasting cords of grace and favour; hence Christ says: “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” It is a life-long active association with Christ; with him we become one, for as he says, “Without me ye can do nothing.” Jesus himself was a tender plant; Isaiah describes him as a root out of a dry ground, cultured by God, pruned, so that he produced fruit unto perfection. He learned obedience by the things which he suffered; and hence the Christ-body is considered as a vine with its branches to bring forth fruits of obedience unto God in the same way.
We say that God provides everything for our spiritual growth and for the production of fruit-bearing qualities. As in the natural nourishment is derived from the sun and air and soil and moisture, so God has given us His Word which contains all things necessary for salvation. We draw from the vine-stem unto ourselves Christ’s teaching, his life and his noble actions in order that we may develop the fruits of the Spirit acceptable to God. Jesus recognised that he lived by the Father, and we live by Jesus, as he said, and we live by God also. So we draw from the vine unto ourselves all that Jesus did; “Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.” Now it is true that by examining plants, you can tell whether there is going to be any fruit next year; you can tell the possibilities of the fruit crop which is to come. In fact there are some plants, which have the buds of the flower which you know will come out. Here then is the point; no flower buds, no fruit. Now our induction into the vine by baptism makes us part of the vine. We must therefore partake of the goodness and fatness of the vine in order to produce these fruit-bearing buds. In the natural, the grafting takes place, and the bark gradually creeps round the little shoot that is grafted on to the parent stem, and finally it is completely knit together with the stem itself. We, similarly, have been grafted in and been bound together by the love and care and protection of God, and the life-giving word of truth works in us and through us and fosters growth. As with Israel, God has provided all the meat necessary for our spiritual growth and the production of fruit unto holiness. He has grafted us into the noble vine, wholly the right seed; He has hedged us in for our good, He has tended us, He has provided the water of life, He has provided the warmth of the Sun of righteousness, and He looks for some good wholesome fruit. Jesus again says in John 15:4 - “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. I am the vine, ye are the branches; He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” Here are the principles, therefore, of growth and production of fruit. We know of ourselves we can do nothing; if we are cut off from Christ there is no fruit whatsoever; it is necessary that we abide in him. To be in Christ therefore means that our lives, our ways and our actions exhibit the same characteristics as those manifested in Christ. You will remember how Paul puts it in Romans 6: “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” Let our ways therefore be in keeping with our profession so that whatsoever we do, we do all to the glory of God, that He in all things might be glorified.
We therefore profit by the lesson which we learn from Israel. We shall not learn the way of the nations; we shall not copy their corrupt practices; we shall not seek their pleasures or their lives; such will lead to empty profession, like the grapes of Sodom. Let us render rather that loving obedience which accompanies sincerity of heart and mind. Bro. Roberts says it is morally impossible for one believing and loving the Truth to live in rebellion against its commands. That agrees with Christ’s words, “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Now in order to produce more fruit it is necessary to prune the vine. That is an essential feature in the growth of fruit. It is not outward show and appearance which commends us to God; it is rather those fruit-bearing qualities and possibilities. Too much wood, a superabundance of leaves, means little fruit and poor quality at that; but the pruning process removes all that is unnecessary and allows growth of the fruit buds and the luscious fruit which is so well pleasing to sight and taste. Now God is the Husbandman, and when He prunes He cuts away from us all that is useless. He takes away from us our natural tastes and desires, all the pleasures of sin, all pride and stubbornness, that we may develop the fruits of the Spirit. We know what they are; Peter tells us—love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, patience, meekness, temperance. We also know what the works of the flesh are, and there is no need to enumerate those. The things that are pleasing to the flesh are mere wood and leaves; let us not be deceived by them. They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. They have mortified them, they are killed, cut off, and they die. Peter therefore says, let us humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. Let us submit to His pruning process, to which God subjects us for our profit. The chastening hand of God, cutting away from us all that hinders us from spiritual growth, does not appear to be joyous at the time. The inexperienced gardener is inclined to leave very much on his plant for the mere sake of the look of it. I remember reading in a gardening book concerning some bushes—“cut out all the old wood, be drastic with your secateurs.” Well, God knows exactly what to cut away from us and He is drastic at times, The plant perhaps receives a check just for the time being, and all who have passed through hard experiences know exactly what that means; but if we are right minded,we realise it is for our profit; and so Paul taking up the matter says – Hebrews 12:11 - “No chastening for the present seemeth to bejoyous but grievous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” How true. Some branches are pruned and they die back, they become useless, they are sickly and reversion takes place. Others which are pruned suffer a check for a time and then they grow and produce fruit in abundance, as Christ says. Some are like the seed sown on stony ground and very soon wither, bearing no fruit; others are choked by the bindweed and other creepers, and produce no fruit.
However, being in love with the Truth we shall bring forth fruit, though it may be in varying degrees. Jesus says (John 15:2), “Every branch in me that beareth fruit, my Father purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.” So, if we have good fruit, then we realise that the pruning process is necessary that we may bring forth more fruit and better fruit.
I suppose if choice came to us, we should choose the better; so does God, upon the greater moral principle, of course. The shopkeeper knows what comparative prices he can obtain for choice fruit. So it is that God purges us that we may bring forth fruit, and it is our endeavour that we may do so to the praise and glory of His Name. The quality may vary, but the object is to bring forth, as near as possible, fruit unto perfection. So it is written in Psalm 92: “Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.” That obtains now; we are in the courts of God now, but there is a greater sense in which those words are used—in the future time, because it is written in Isaiah 60: “Thy people shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.” And in chapter 61: “That they might be called trees of righteousness.”
The fruit
Concerning the nation the prophet had said – Hosea 10:1: "Israel is an empty vine; he bringeth forth fruit unto himself." Now that is what is expected of us, then, to supply the fruits that were lacking and missing in the case of Israel. And that, of course, is the theme of “the fruit of the vine.”
John 15 Verse 2: "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away." That was illustrated in the case of Israel; particularly, in the personal sense, in the case of Judas Iscariot. "And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." So our fruit must be recognisable as being the product of the Christ-vine. If, like Israel, we bring forth fruit unto ourselves we are no better than they, and are worthy only to be taken away. A life characterized by a mere nominal adherence to the Truth, but in reality devoted to self-interest, is like a diseased branch, and that needs to be cut off because it is detrimental to the best interests of the whole vine.
Our faith is dependent upon our abiding in Christ, John 15 verse 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. 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."
How do we abide in him, then, and he in us? Clearly, according to the figure, by drawing our nourishment from him as the vine, feeding on his words, assimilating the Divine ideas, learning and doing his commandments. What fruit is required of us? What is this luscious fruit of which the Lord speaks? We know the well-known verse in the baptismal chapter – Romans chapter six. It is Romans 6:22 - "fruit unto holiness, and the end, everlasting life." That is the apostle's description of the fruit-bearing qualities of the Christ-vine. It is only what God expected of Israel – Leviticus 20:7; 1 Peter 1:15-16: "Be ye holy, for I am holy" - the keynote of the whole of the beautiful law which God gave to them but which they despised, and for which they have suffered.
"Herein", says the Lord in John 15:8, "is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit." It applies to us all. There is no exception. All of us have talents or possessions or time or money, we have assets of some sort or another in the spiritual sense. Some are able to bring forth much fruit by the conspicuous work perhaps which they do for the Truth - the exhorting, the lecturing, the speaking, the public work. They are, shall we say, like the clusters of grapes that hang in the full glare of the sun. But there is still more luscious fruit than that. Draw apart the leaves, look into the shadows and there you will see the luscious clusters of grapes which represent all those beautiful unseen works that are done by the brethren and sisters of Christ in their ministrations the one to the other. Matthew 6:4 - "He that seeth in secret will reward thee openly."
These beautiful words that we have read we always apply to Christ and we quote them frequently before we partake of the emblems – John 15:13: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends", but primarily, if you look at it, you will see that he was saying that of the brethren and sisters, his disciples. 'You must love one another, and this is the degree to which you must do it; if necessary, lay down your life.' He did it truly and has set the example. But that is the fruit of which Jesus here speaks.
Well, we try to sum it up, this fruit to which Jesus here alludes. What is it? We know it is that fruit which manifests holiness in life, the consciousness of God's nearness. The life ennobled by prayer brings forth much fruit. The mind enriched by the reading of the Word is a fruit-bearing mind. The life purged by daily affliction and trial bravely endured, the life that overcomes the sin that doth so easily beset us, that is fruit-bearing. All these things together constitute the fruit of the branches which are drawing their sap and vitality from the parent plant.
That, then, is the lesson of the ‘fruit of the vine’.
Now, "the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth," says James 5:7. The earliest cluster has already been gathered, for not many days after the Lord spoke these very words he became the firstfruits of them that sleep and arose to perfection of Divine nature; and Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:23: "Afterward, they that are Christ's at his coming." These also are styled in the Revelation 14:4, "the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no guile." Our hope is to be numbered among this 144,000 with the Lamb upon mount Zion, that city of God.
What a wonderful mission lies before the accepted servants of God! Think of it in the light of all the present happenings. First of all, the liberation of Israel in her extremity Habakuk 3:13: "Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people." Jerusalem to be recovered from the enemy, to "open wide the gates, that the King of glory may come in." (Psalms 24). The armies of the nations decimated at Armageddon. Jesus then established as the Prince-Priest. And what then? "He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory" (Isaiah 25:7) - that's the victory - "and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it." (Isaiah 25:8) This is the joy set before Christ, for which he endured the cross and despised the shame (Hebrews 12:2).
The fruit of the spirit
The Bread and the Fruit of the Vine teach therefore that we must imbibe the Bible (God’s Word; and that we must allow that Word to change us, such that we become like God in both Mind and Actions. Those actions the Bible describes as Fruit – notice that this is just one fruit, not multiple fruits. That fruit is a unity. But in Galatians chapter 5 we are informed that the fruit has nine aspects. Each of which we need to show forth in our lives.
Galatians 5:22 - “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law”
Love - This is the Greek word Agape. This has a meaning nothing like what most Tanzanians understand by the word love, or the word charity. It is a word that is closely linked with the idea of sharing a meal together – a love feast (see Jude 12). In the first century the Ecclesia would regularly join together as a Co-Operative. They would share a meal together. Eating together as a communal group saves time and money. Agape love is acting as a single body, united in Christ (see lesson 2).
Joy – An integral part of our worship together is “making a joyful noise unto God” (Psalm 66:1). We do so with “Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). We do this because we are grateful unto Yahweh for His goodness and mercy to us. Choirs and our singing both in the Synagogue, whilst at home, and whilst in our work need to become an important part of our actions.
Peace - “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3). Not only do we have to walk with each other, we have to walk with God! God does not change (Malachi 3:6); so if God is not going to change, then it is you and I that must change. Our Lord in Matthew 5:9 teaches “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” and the Psalmist declares in Psalm 133:1 “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” - learning to keep peace is something very special, and it will take a lifetime to learn.
Longsuffering - The record of the flood shows us the justice and mercy of God. In the days of Noah God was longsuffering toward a world given over to wickedness. He finally brought judgment upon it and at the same time saved Noah and his family, who showed faith and obedience. In like manner, those who have obeyed the call to "come out from among them and be separate, and touch not the unclean thing" (2 Cor. 6:17) will be saved in the day when God judges this present evil world (2 Pet. 2:5-9). This episode teaches us much about Gods version of longsuffering – the longsuffering had a reason (so that the righteous might be saved). The parable of the tares (Matthew 13:25-27) teaches a similar lesson. Our longsuffering does not mean that we ignore sin; our longsuffering means that our actions are taken carefully such that the righteous are not destroyed with the wicked.
Gentleness – The idea behind this word has nothing to do with being timid. The Greek word basically means – make yourself useful. It has the idea of usefulness. In Tanzania many of us do not have work that we can say is our daily occupation. We can easily stand idle “Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.” (Proverbs 19:15). Idleness in the Ecclesia is particularly bad. This is why the Synagogue is so very important. We often see Church halls empty and the doors locked. This should never be the case with the Synagogue. There is always work to be done in a Synagogue. It has always been true of the Synagogue that it is a place of teaching (even schooling, both of adults and children), a place of healing (many have hospitals attached), and it is a place of community work (the Co-Operative) as well preaching the Gospel. The Synagogue is a place of activity.
Goodness – We all know what it is to be good. But how many of us are actually good? “They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Psalm 14:3).
Faith – Our faith is more than just saying I believe in God. Salvation does not come by just saying “I believe”. Our belief must be shown through a continued life of actions that we call the “life in Christ” - “Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.” (James 2:18); “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:20); “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” (James 2:26).
Meekness – We normally associate the word meekness with the idea of gentleness and mildness but it is so much more than this. We recall that “Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)” - Numbers 12:3. Well would we describe Moses’ action of breaking the tablets containing the commandments as gentle or mild? “And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf, and the dancing: and Moses’ anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount.” (Exodus 32:19).
The main idea behind this kind of meekness, is that the individual that has good meekness has good leadership skills; and certainly Moses had excellent leadership skills. For 40 years in the wilderness Moses led the children of Israel. Despite their moans and complaints. Sadly even he failed at the rock in Zin – Numbers 20:1-11. And for his smiting the rock twice Moses did not enter the land of promise at that time.
Temperance – The word temperance has lost its original meaning due to it’s association with temperance halls. There was a ban on the use of alcoholic drinks in Western society that brought this about. The idea behind temperance is self-control. It is the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions in particular ones sensual and sexual appetites. This is no less than our fight against the ways of the serpent from the garden of Eden - “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16).
Remembering One Remembrance
When in college a group of students from college skipped the meeting they headed out one hot September Sunday morning to the beach sand-dunes. When they got there, they changed into their swimsuits and spread out our blankets on the sandy shores. But just before they ran into the cool waters, Sarah (not her real name), said to the group, “Shouldn’t we at least celebrate the Lord's Supper? It’s Sunday!” They all felt a bit guilty. Hearing no reply, she turned to the one Brother among them (thus the most guilty of the entire group)—and asked or rather commanded, "Why don’t you preside.” Well, he did preside. A, first-year student in just his swimming trunks with scantily clad young lady friends all around him. And if that wasn’t bad enough, they used hot dog buns for “the bread” and water (or was it Pepsi?) for "the cup.”
Sometimes when I look back on that unique event, I cringe. How irreverent! How presumptuous! At other times, however, I look back on it and I think, How beautiful! What a perfect display of Brotherly fellowship, freedom, and focus. For you see, they stopped in the midst of fun in the sun to remember the death of Jesus Christ. And they did so because Jesus’ death mattered to them. They stopped to celebrate that day like we stop to celebrate every time we observe the Lord’s Supper—that the Christ of the cross is the center of the Ecclesia and that through Jesus’ death our sins are forgiven. Do you believe that? And do you celebrate that, whether you’re on the beach or in the house of God in Jerusalem? If so, then feel free to whisper or shout out, “Amen.”