THE VINE | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 1, 1889

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 15, No. 13.

THE VINE.

Of all the figurative titles applied to Christ in the Scriptures, there is none more suggestive than that of the vine. "I am the vine," says the Master to his disciples, "ye are the branches." What figure could illustrate more strikingly than this the vital union which exists between the true believer and Christ the head of the church? The true Christian has his very being in Christ, receives from him every invigorating impulse, every enlarging desire and motive, every perfecting grace.

The branches of the vine are strong and fruitful just in proportion as they are firmly and deeply engrafted on the main body. If, for any reason, they become partially disconnected, their hold upon the vine loosened, they at once grow poor and feeble, and if not soon reunited, wither and die. The Christian who neglects the means of grace, who falls into a loose and careless observance of God's laws, soon loosens his connection with the Vine, and is in danger of becoming a dead and withered branch in the vineyard.

As the natural vine holds up and supports its branches free from the earth and its entanglements, so does Christ the Vine bear aloft his branches above the world, above its cares and perplexities, above its trials and griefs. All the branches have to do is just to cling firmly and trust wholly and grow. It is the Vine that gives the life, the strength, the power, to bear fruit. The sincere, trustful Christian is willing that all should depend upon the Vine. Christ is his all in all.—Christian at Work.