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The Fruit Of The Vine Is Easy To Miss
Posted by Chris Johnson in Baptist Life, Bible & Theology
As one partakes of Christ, the fruit of the vine becomes obvious. Some believe that the actual cup and its physical properties, or the drink and its physical properties make up the essence of the tradition handed down by Christ to His disciples. That could not be further from the reality of Christ’s command. For instance some people place more trust in the processes of Welch, some place trust in the processes of Torres, even others trust in the processes of the Nation of Israel; yet all of those motives fall short of the meaning demonstrated by Christ in His covenant. The fact is ….Christ drank of the fruit of the vine and will “drink it new” in the kingdom of God. The fruit of the vine is not new (in whatever form) today, yet He will drink it new in the kingdom of God “that day”.
Mark 14:23-25 And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, and they all drank from it. (24) And He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. (25) “Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
John 15:1-5 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. (2) “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. (3) “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. (4) “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. (5) “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
What some fail to see, is that the adopted of God do not find the essence of life in the processing of the juice designed by Welch, Torres, or the Nation of Israel. The real life is secured by Christ alone, from whom all sustenance is maintained and fruit is born in the beloved. The followers of Christ should get out of the habit of defending meaningless processes and get into the habit of partaking of Christ. Whether one is enamered with the product of Welch, Torres, or the Nation of Israel with respect to the grape and remembering Christ, the arbiter of its quality in “remembrance” is the maker of the fruit of the Spirit demanding self control.
Leviticus 17:11 ‘For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.’
Jesus Christ is the reason of life now and in the kingdom to come,…as He has said “My blood of the covenant” is the essence, not the processes of fermentation or lack thereof that so many arrogantly bring to light. It would be effeminate or childish not to move to a greater understanding of the fruit of the vine, where much as been given. It is clear that God provided the vine to teach us of its fruit, and the bountiful fruit provided by the earthly vineyard is a significant and clear blessing as described by the grape, its seed and even its skin. If one focuses on fermentation and post modern thought, demonstrating their trust in Welch, Torres, or the Nation of Israel, that person misses the point of the Savior and the significance for new wine skins.
The blessings contained in the fruit of the vine are understandable…..the vine produces the grape, from the grape the juice flows, the juice becomes wine, the wine is stored or strengthened, the wine turns to vinegar over time. It’s quite a process, not unlike other decaying substances in the earth. So why is it mentioned in the Holy Scriptures?
This process is seen clearly in Numbers chapter six, where the account of worship to God in this section allows us to see the bountiful blessing of the fruit of the vine.
Numbers 6:1-4 Again the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (2) “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the LORD, (3) he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. (4) ‘All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin.
Jesus, the Nazarene, will not drink again this drink from the vine until He drinks it new with His adopted Saints. Through His fulfillment of the law, Jesus demonstrated and now yields the fruit of the vine until He lifts His cup once again in His kingdom at the celebration table. Yet in stark contrast he commands us to partake in the remembering of this blessing He has provided in this world. Jesus makes clear by analogy that the liquid of His fulfillment is from the vine (grapes), existing as juice which becomes wine from the grape; obvious blessings from the vine for God’s adopted. So tradition was established early, long before the post modern denominational proclivity of the last few centuries.
The command has brought us the true flavor of the vine, which is to remember Him and partake in the sacrifice of Christ as described by the apostle Paul to the Corinthians. Christ’s body that was broken and His blood that was shed are analogous to the pure bread and the juice of the grape. The natural change in the chemistry of the juice is a blessing given by God preserving the fruit of the vine from season to season. The juice pleases the pallet; from fresh squeezed through its fermentation stages. It is beneficial for storing and drinking in its fermented state, and the final result of vinegar brings other uses. The fruit of the vine is a blessing from God and it is depicted in the cup He has commanded us to use at His table….the fruit of the vine.
1 Corinthians 10:16-21 Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? (17) Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread. (18) Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? (19) What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? (20) No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. (21) You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
As far as history and traditions go of late… surely Welch missed the mark by advocating that unfermented juice (especially of his type) is sacred…yielding some sacramental value, in as much as the tradition seekers today who elevate some form of wine as yielding a more sacred value…. (some say because of its bite,… as if we can sense any of the sin that Christ bore). The higher understanding though and the only means of grace afforded to the Saint is remembering our Lord at His table through obeying God’s Word by way of the Holy Spirit’s gifts given to His church. The Corinthians were certainly aware of the Lord’s table and power of the Spirits gifts,…yet some were drunk, so the Apostle exhorts them to obey God, being filled with the Holy Spirit resulting in glory to God.
1 Corinthians 10:31-33 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (32) Give no offense either to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God; (33) just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit but the profit of the many, so that they may be saved.
Our Savior’s use of the term fruit of the “vine” (ampelos) in all circumstances of His command to remember Him at His table is very instructive. In our current “post modern” world we tend to focus on our senses (taste buds and egos, trusting and obeying Welch, Torres and the Nation of Israel instead of Christ),…. while Jesus focuses on the heart and the control of His Spirit, firmly instructing the lives of His adopted who are securely grafted into the vine by His hand. The Lord’s Table, when neglected, causes a lack of remembrance and fading participation with our Lord! It is easy to miss the fruit of the vine, when we misunderstand the numerous blessings that God has given. We remember as we are truly thankful for His provision! May your Thanksgiving Day be one of remembering our Savior!
Blessings,
Chris
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Chris,
Happy Thanksgiving!
Interesting article. You have caused me to think about some things I had never really considered before.
I agree with you that the essence of the Lord’s Supper is not in the fermentation, or lack thereof, of the fruit of the vine. It is rather in the new covenant established through the blood of Jesus. I would hope that, as Baptists (and, indeed, as members of the Body of Christ), we would not get so bogged down in details that we end up overlooking that.
However, I have always assumed wine was the chosen medium for the Lord’s Supper, because its color (reddish) and consistency (liquid) bear a certain likeness to blood, and also because it was (other than water) the typical drink used in the time of Jesus. However, your article has led me to consider the possibility that the symbolism goes deeper than that.
After consulting a number of different versions, I am surprised I had never noticed that in Mark 14:25 Jesus says, “I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it NEW in the kingdom of God.” I had always read that “when I drink it ANEW.” But, like I say, upon consulting different translations, it seems the translation of NEW is preferred to ANEW.
NIV does translate it ANEW, and HCSB translates it “when I drink it in a NEW way.” However, KJV, NASB, ESV, and various others translate it NEW. The Amplified Bible shows a clear preference for this understanding: “till that day when I drink it of a new and a higher quality.”
So, it seems that indeed there is some special symbolism inherent in the difference between the wine drunk by our Lord and his disciples at the Last Supper, and the NEW wine He will drink in God’s Kingdom.
Yet, I am still unclear if you are meaning to give us a clue as to what you think this symbolism is. Could you elucidate a bit further on this?
Brother David,
Yes, I do believe that scripture points to a great difference. The drink that Christ bore with us was so much different than we can envisage, yet to “obey” His command to remember Him through the grapes that have been crushed as He was is significant… (Isaiah 53)….for to obey is better than sacrifice.
The symbolism is more closely related to the vine, visible in the grape (the grape is the manifest fruit of the vine) …pointing us, in the current world, to the one that was crushed. When we drink the cup of remembering, we drink looking to the new cup, the resurrected Jesus that is now with the Father. This gives us great comfort as we understand what Jesus said….
John 6:53-56 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. (54) “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (55) “For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. (56) “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
Our remembering today is simple obedience by His Spirit,…. but when compared to the “new” He drinks with us in His Kingdom…we shall see Him and will fully know. The vine, grapes, and skin represent a tremendous picture for the temporary, mirroring by analogy a transformation looking forward to a “new” cup with Christ alone (He being a Nazarene is very helpful here as well). We are sustained in the vine now (all of what it produces), yet earnestly look to Christ through the Spirit for the lasting drink in His Kingdom.
So, yes…getting hung up in the process of fermentation is a play in myopic arrogance….where we run the risk of missing the real picture.
Blessings,
Chris
Thanks Chris.
That gives me some beautiful new thoughts to meditate upon, whenever I share in the Lord’s Supper, as I abide in the Vine throughout the day every day, and as I look forward to sharing the new wine with Jesus at the consummation of His Kingdom.
Chris,
This brings to light an interesting point of the Lord’s Supper. My first reading brought a new thought with the comparison of Jesus drinking the fruit of the vine new in God’s Kingdom. Since the symbols of earth are used to describe for us the shadows or images of heaven, do you think the fruit produced by those of us engrafted will be the new wine we will drink with Him in heaven? It’s speculitive, but fresh for me.
Thanks for the topic.
Correction, speculative.
Brother Bruce,
I do believe (and I think you are saying the same thing) that the fruit is more akin to the fruit of righteousness which has its genesis in Christ alone, His perfect work. This “new” cup will be like seeing Christ for who he really is……which now we only see in part. Any glimmer of hope, or obedience, or self control is only a taste of what the Spirit has in store for us “new” in the Kingdom, “to the glory and praise of God”.
Philippians 1:9-11 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, (10) so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; (11) having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Colossians 1:3-8 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, (4) since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have for all the saints; (5) because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel (6) which has come to you, just as in all the world also it is constantly bearing fruit and increasing, even as it has been doing in you also since the day you heard of it and understood the grace of God in truth; (7) just as you learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf, (8) and he also informed us of your love in the Spirit.
The constant bearing of fruit in this world is a clear reminder of the Holy Spirit’s active renewal in us today. So we remember (our Lord’s Supper), looking forward to the “new” cup of knowing our Savior in such a way that all things become “new”.
2 Corinthians 3:5-6 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, (6) who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
O how we will understand the Spirit and His work, when we drink of the cup with the Savior in His kingdom!
Blessings,
Chris
Amen! Chris.