The final “I AM” statement comes from John 15:1 and occurs during the Last Supper with his disciples.
Jesus knew that His betrayal and arrest would soon arrive and He wanted to instruct and instill in His disciples as much as they could comprehend about God and Himself before His death. Unfortunately, they still didn’t get it and wouldn’t until after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
A vinedresser is a person who tends or cultivates vines. John describes the Lord as a vinedresser, using Isaiah 5:1-7 as reference. It was typical for a New Testament writer to refer back to the Old Testament because the Jews knew it forward and backward, like the back of their own hands.
The vinedresser would cut off the dead branches so that the living vines could produce, prosper and grow.
The branches that don’t produce fruit represent those who say they are believers but don’t show the products of true faith in their spiritual walk. They talk the talk but do not walk the walk. At one point in my life, this was me. I needed a proper pruning and boy, did the Lord prune me!
The Bible Knowledge Commentary sums up this verse well - Israel was God’s choice vine on which he lavished care and attention (Ps. 80:8; Isa. 5:1–7; Jer. 2:2; 6:9; Ezek. 15; 17:5–10; 19:10–14; Hosea 10:1; 14:8). He longed for fruit, but the vine (Israel) became degenerate and produced rotten fruit. Therefore Jesus, as “the true Vine,” fulfills what God had intended for Israel. The Father is the Gardener who cultivates and protects the Vine.*
Listen, friends now is the time to start pruning your life. What is keeping you from living an abundant life in Christ? I wrestle with this question often. For me, it can be social media and going down the rabbit trails that lead from one website to another. What started as a quick check on something ends up being an hour of wasted time.
Let’s start the path to abundant living with prayer and asking the Lord on what is standing in the way of a full Christ-filled life.
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