Latest / Reformed Thinking / Divine Metaphor: The Metaphorical Language of Holy Scripture as Exemplified in the Vine and the Branches (John 15)

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Divine Metaphor: The Metaphorical Language of Holy Scripture as Exemplified in the Vine and the Branches (John 15) · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. Glad to be here.
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Today we are bringing you a deep dive into the very language of
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the English Bible. Yeah, looking specifically at
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the physical earthly imagery it uses.
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Right, and to start off, imagine for a second that you are tasked
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with explaining the complete architectural blueprint of the
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Internet to a 2 year old child. Oh wow, that sounds terrible.
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Yeah, good luck, right? You cannot use fiber optic
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diagrams. You cannot pull up a whiteboard
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and start sketching out server farms or binary code.
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No, a toddler would just stare at you.
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Exactly. Well, I mean you are restricted
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to using wooden building blocks, maybe a couple of pieces of
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string and a toy mailbox. You have to take something
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massive, invisible and overwhelmingly complex and
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reduce it down to physical objects a toddler can actually
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touch and comprehend. Which is a massive
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communication. It is.
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Now take that impossible gap and multiply it by Infinity.
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Imagine you are the eternal infinite creator of the
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universe, attempting to communicate absolute,
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unvarnished truth to finite, limited human beings.
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That is the whole issue right there.
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Yeah, so our mission today is to examine how the English Bible
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bridges that infinite gap. If you have ever read the Psalms
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or the Gospel of John, you are already familiar with this.
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You have seen the vivid pictures of vines, branches, sheep and
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shepherds. Right, the classic imagery.
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We are going to see how these physical metaphors, specifically
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the agricultural picture of the vine in John 15 and the pastoral
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picture of the shepherd in Psalm 23, are, are not just simple
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poetic decorations. They are highly precise,
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divinely ordained instruments for communicating absolute
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truth. And that gap between the
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infinite and the finite? That is the precise place we
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have to begin. We're dealing with the
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incomprehensible self, existent creator of the cosmos.
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He possesses an infinite mind. We, on the other hand, are
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finite, fall in humanity. There's zero natural proportion
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between his infinite intellect and our limited capacity.
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So how does an infinite God communicate his immutable
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counsels to creatures who are confined to space and time?
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It seems impossible on paper. It really does.
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But the Holy Spirit graciously uses the medium of human
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language, specifically earthly, physical and historical imagery,
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to reveal transcendent realities.
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Historically, theologians have referred to this concept as
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divine accommodation. Let us unpack that concept of
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accommodation, because it is staggering when you really think
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about it. It is.
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John Calvin, the 16th century reformer, had a brilliant
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analogy for this. He observed that God in his word
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actually lisps to us. Yeah, that's a great way to put
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it. He adapts his speech to our weak
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capacities in the precise way a nurse or a mother alters her
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speech, changing her vocabulary and tone to communicate with a
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newborn infant. Right.
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Yeah, the vivid agricultural and domestic metaphors in the
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English Bible carry the full weight of divine truth, but they
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are brought down to our level. But going back to that toddler
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and the Internet analogy, here is where it gets incredibly
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fascinating to me. OK, where does it go?
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When we try to explain the Internet, we have to look around
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the playroom and borrow whatever toys happen to be lying.
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There, right, whatever is handy. But the creator did not just
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look around the physical world for a handy illustration, he
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actually designed the physical blocks.
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Yes, he did. He engineered vines, branches,
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sheep, and water specifically so they would perfectly mirror the
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spiritual realities he intended to communicate from eternity
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past. And the mechanical brilliance of
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that design is what we really must grasp today.
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This divine methodology engages the whole person.
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How so? Well, the Bible provides living
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pictures rather than just abstract academic propositions.
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It engages the mind through rigorous doctrine, sure, but it
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anchors the memory through sight and sensory experience.
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Oh, that makes sense. God could have handed down a
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sterile list of theological axioms.
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He could have just given us abstract definitions about
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sovereignty, dependency and judgement.
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Like a textbook. Just like a textbook.
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But instead he gave words that teach by making us see.
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He speaks of himself as a shepherd, a rock, a shield, a
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consuming fire. Vivid stuff.
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Very. He portrays our condition as
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wandering, as leprosy, as a severed branch.
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By doing this, the Holy Spirit close truth in a vocabulary that
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can be seen, believed, loved and readily preached across every
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culture and era. Because everyone knows we're
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wrong. Right.
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The earthly pictures carry maximum theological weight
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because the physical world was built to host them.
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So what does this mean for you, the listener?
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It means we have to look very closely at the specific
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historical and physical details of these images.
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We cannot just gloss over. Them No, we have to dig in.
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Let us move from the general concept of divine accommodation
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to a specific historical situation.
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We're going to look at the Gospel of John chapter 15.
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The vine and the branches. Right, the famous passage.
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To understand the sheer gravity of what Jesus is saying, we have
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to set the historical scene. The sensory details here are
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crucial. Put us in the room.
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So it is the night of the Upper Room discourse.
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The tension in Jerusalem is incredibly thick.
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Roman garrisons are on high alert because it is Passover and
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the city is flooded with pilgrims.
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Thousands of people everywhere. Yes, and the religious
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authorities are actively plotting to execute Jesus in
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that upper room. Jesus has just judicially
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excluded Judas Iscariot from the Apostolic band.
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That is a heavy moment. Very heavy Judas has taken the
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SOP and walked out into the darkness.
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The quintessential dead branch has been removed.
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Now Jesus and the remaining 11 disciples leave the room.
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Right, they head out. They're walking through the
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night streets of Jerusalem, heading toward the Kidron Valley
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and the Garden of Gethsemane. And if you think about the
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physical reality of that walk, it is amazing.
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As they move through the city in the dark, they would have passed
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near the Herodian Temple. And adorning the sanctuary doors
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of that temple was a legendary colossal golden vine.
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Wait, a literal vine made of gold?
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Yes, this was not a small piece of art.
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It was crafted from the finest gold, with clusters of grapes
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that historical records suggest were as tall as a man.
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Oh wow, as tall as a man. Yeah, it was massive.
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Wealthy patrons would donate gold leaves or gold grapes to be
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added to it. For 15 centuries, the physical
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nation of Israel had stood as the unique covenant people.
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In the Old Testament, Israel was repeatedly designated as the
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vineyard of Jehovah. So this gold vine was a big
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deal. It was the pride of Judaism.
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It represented national, physical Israel as the supposed
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source of divine favor. OK, I see where this is going.
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Yeah, it is right. Against this dramatic physical
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backdrop, perhaps even catching the moonlight as they walked
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past, that Jesus makes his revolutionary claim.
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I am the true Vine. Wait, I need to stop you there
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and push back on this scene because standing in the shadow
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of that massive golden symbol of Israel and calling himself the
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true vine, that feels incredibly offensive to the religious
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leaders of the day. Oh, it was highly offensive.
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Was Jesus just trying to be provocative and start a riot?
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Or is there a mechanical difference between what the
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temple vine did and what he is doing?
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Like is he just swapping out One Nation for a new religious
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organization? He is doing something entirely
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radical, far beyond being provocative.
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The distinction hinges on the specific Greek word he uses, al.
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Athenos al. Athenos.
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What does that mean? This word means genuine, real,
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or substantial, as opposed to something that is a shadow or a
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mere type national. Israel had been a typical
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vineyard, but if we look at the Old Testament prophets like
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Isaiah in chapter 5, they constantly lamented that this
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vineyard only produced wild sour grapes.
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Bad. Fruit.
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Bad fruit. It produced idolatry, legalism,
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and rebellion. The physical nation failed to
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yield the fruit of righteousness.
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Therefore Christ is the anti typical fulfillment.
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He is the real. Deal.
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Exactly what? Yes, he's a genuine, substantial
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source of life. By declaring himself the
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Alathino's Vine, he is establishing a completely
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spiritual Organism that is entirely separate from physical
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descent, bloodlines, or national identity.
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So it's no longer about being ethnically Jewish.
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Spot on the physical temple and the national structure.
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We're reaching the divinely ordained end.
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The exclusive source of covenantal blessing is now found
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only in vital spiritual union with Christ Himself.
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That sets up a completely different paradigm for the
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disciples. It strips away all their
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nationalistic reliance. Being born Jewish is no longer
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the guarantee of safety. Right.
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The ground completely shifted under their feet.
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And Jesus immediately introduces another figure in this metaphor
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to explain how this new spiritual Organism is managed.
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He says I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman or
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the vine dresser. Let us examine the active agents
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in these first 3 verses of John 15.
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Jesus is the exclusive vine and the Father is the vine dresser,
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which in the Greek is girgos. The term year goes denotes a
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land worker, a farmer, or a cultivator.
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It establishes what theologians call monarchistic salvation.
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OK, break that down for us. Sure.
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Mono means 1 and ergon means work.
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It means there's only one worker who accomplishes salvation.
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The Father exercises total absolute administrative control
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over the spiritual Organism of the Church.
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So it's not a team effort. Not at all.
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We are not dealing with a synergistic system where the
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branch does half the work in the vine dresser does the other
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half. The father is not a passive
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observer, sitting on a porch watching the branches grow.
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Right. Just hoping for the best, yeah?
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He is an active searching vine dresser who sovereignly
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distinguishes between the genuine fruit bearing branch and
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the dead nominal professor. This brings us to a critical
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mechanical distinction in the Greek verbs used in verse 2.
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Christ says every branch in me that beareth not fruit, He take
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it away, and every branch that beareth fruit he purgeth it.
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Taketh away and purgeth. Yes, The text uses a striking
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phonetic word play. The verb for taketh away is air,
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a which means to decisively cut off or remove.
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The verb for purgeth or prunes is cathere, which refers to the
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painful, loving discipline of removing superfluous growth so
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the branch can bear more fruit. Here's where it gets incredibly
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relevant for the listener, because I have heard a very
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different interpretation of that word air a.
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Oh, I bet I know which one you mean.
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I have heard popular modern seeker sensitive teachers claim
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that the word for cutting off airy actually means to lift up.
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Yes, the lifting up theory. They preach that when a branch
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is failing, getting dirty and dragging in the mud, the Father
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gently lifts it up, washes it off, and props it up to
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encourage it. They paint a very therapeutic,
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cozy picture of God refusing to cut anyone off.
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How does the actual historical text hold up against that idea?
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The text systematically dismantles the lifting up
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theory. It does.
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Completely. While it might sound highly
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comforting to modern therapeutic years, it is a severe exegetical
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error that obscures the holiness of God.
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That is a strong statement. Well, to see why, we only need
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to point the listener to verse six of the same passage.
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What is the actual destiny of these discarded fruitless
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branches? They are burned, right?
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Yes. They are not propped up.
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They are cast forth. They wither, men gather them,
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and they are cast into the fire to be burned.
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This is an explicit reference to Gehenna, eternal conscious
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judgement. So it's not a spa treatment.
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No, you cannot reconcile the gentle lifting up theory with
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the fierce judicial fire of verse 6.
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The Greek word eru in agricultural contexts refers to
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the decisive judicial excision of Deadwood.
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Because Deadwood is dangerous. Exactly.
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A 1st century vine dresser did not coddle Deadwood.
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He brought out the knife because Deadwood breeds disease that
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threatens the health of the entire vine.
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Furthermore, we have to address the phrase in me.
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People ask how a branch can be in Christ and yet be cut off and
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burned. Yeah, that sounds contradictory.
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It does, until you see the distinction between visible
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external association and internal reality.
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Judas Iscariot was in Christ externally.
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He was literally walking around with him, right?
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He attended the meals, he walked with the group, he heard the
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sermons, he even carried the Money Box.
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But he liked internal vital regenerating union.
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He was an empty professor within the visible church.
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That distinction between external association and
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internal reality is terrifying. It should make us all pause.
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It means you can sit in a Pew your entire life, know the
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songs, know the vocabulary, and still be Deadwood.
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Absolutely. It brings us to the law of
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spiritual biology that Jesus lays out in verses four and
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five. He examines the absolute
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helplessness of the natural man. He says, as the branch cannot
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bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can
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ye except ye abide in me. And then he delivers this
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crushing summary. Without me, you can do nothing.
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In the original Greek syntax, that phrase is terese, emu
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Dinas, the poen adenin. Let us breakdown the mechanics
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of that inability. The syntax there is incredibly
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forceful. It employs a double negative.
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Oh, really? Yes, it literally reads apart
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from me. You are absolutely unable to do
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nothing. It intensifies the negation to
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assert a state of absolute spiritual paralysis.
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Absolute paralysis. Let.
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Us look at the mechanics of a physical vine.
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A branch that is severed from the central trunk cannot
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generate its own SAP, it cannot heal its own wound, it cannot
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manufacture leaves, and it certainly cannot produce grapes.
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Just a stick. It is just a stick.
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It produces nothing but spiritual deadness.
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This statement is a devastating refutation of Armenian free will
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doctrines, which suggests man retains some inherent moral
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ability to cooperate with grace independently or to take the
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first step toward God on his own.
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Man has no ability. None.
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Christ declares that apart from the continuous active supply of
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regenerating grace flowing from the vine, the human soul is
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completely impotent to produce anything pleasing to God.
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Think of it like a desk lamp. OK, you can have a beautiful,
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expensive lamp sitting on a table.
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It can boast about how bright it is, how perfectly engineered its
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bulb is, and how much illumination it generates.
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But that lamp is completely ignoring the fact that if you
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reach down and pull the plug from the wall, it goes dark
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instantly. Right, the power source is
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external. The bulb has absolutely zero
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light of its own. It is just a vessel, A conduit
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for the electricity flowing into it from an outside source.
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If the connection is broken, the function ceases immediately.
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That is a great visual. That is what Jesus is saying
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about our spiritual lives. And Jesus also gives us the
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objective instrument of how this connection and purity are
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maintained. He says in verse 3, Now ye are
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clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
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The word there is Logos. It is not a mystical feeling.
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Cleansing happens through objective truth.
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This raises a critical point regarding how the Vine dresser
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maintains the health of the branches.
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How so? Well, the intimate of purity is
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the Logos, the objective spoken and written word of God.
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The purging of the soul, the cutting away of our sin and
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pride does not occur through subjective mysticism.
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We don't just sit in a dark room and wait for a feeling.
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Right. We do not look inward for a
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private whisper or rely on external mechanical rituals to
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make us clean. Cleansing occurs when the sharp
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knife of biblical truth is applied to the mind and the
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conscience. Ouch, the sharp knife.
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Yes, it cuts. If we connect this back to the
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terrifying judicial separation in verse 6, we see the contrast
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clearly. The nominal empty professors in
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the visible church ignore the objective word they.
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Don't want the knife? No, they rely on their own
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feelings or their outward attendance.
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They produce no genuine fruit of repentance and it leads to a
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prophetic certainty of judgment. They are gathered and burnt.
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And what about the true disciples?
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Contrast this with the promise to true disciples in verses 7
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and 8, their wills aligned with the Ramata, the specific sayings
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and commands of Christ found in Scripture.
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As a result, their prayers are aligned with God's will and they
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produce much fruit which visibly magnifies the glory of God the
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Father. It's all about His glory.
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Yes, the end goal of the pruning is not our comfort, but the
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visible glorification of the Father through our absolute
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dependence on the Son. So John 15 completely strips us
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of our spiritual independence. It demands that you acknowledge
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your absolute lack of autonomy. Which is hard for us.
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To swallow very hard. You are a dependent branch.
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You cannot generate your own life.
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But Jesus was not the first to use this kind of shocking
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dependent imagery, right? No, he was not.
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Israel already had this baked into their royal DNA.
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Let us transition our focus, because the Old Testament uses
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another equally vivid picture to teach this exact same lesson of
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dependency. Oh yes, Psalm 23.
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We are going to move from the agricultural plant biology of
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John 15 to the pastoral animal husbandry world of Psalm 23,
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from the vine in the branches to the shepherd and the sheep.
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It is a seamless progression in theological terms.
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Both metaphors aggressively confront human pride and
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self-reliance. How does Psalm 23 set that up?
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To grasp the weight of Psalm 23, we must establish the historical
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and geographical context. This Psalm bears the
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superscription, a Psalm of David.
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David was a literal shepherd who became a monarch in the ancient
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Near East. Shepherd language was royal
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covenantal language. Kings and Pharaohs were expected
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to guard, feed and guide their people like shepherds.
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So it was a political term in a way.
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It was so when David writes this, he is not just saying the
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Lord is like a nice farmer out in the country.
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He is concessing that Yahweh himself is the true king
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shepherd whose sovereign care exceeds all human rule.
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The king of Israel is bowing his knee and saying I am a sheep and
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God is my king. That is a massive paradigm shift
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and we also have to look at the real world landscape of Israel
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where David was actually working when he learned these lessons.
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The terrain is brutal. Exactly When modern readers in
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the West see the phrase green pastures, they imagine a lush
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rolling golf course or a pristine Meadow and Ireland
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where the grass is knee deep and it rains every other day.
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Just a nice picnic spot. Yeah, but the rugged geography
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of the Judean wilderness is entirely different.
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It is full of arid, dry terrain. It is marked by steep waddies,
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dangerous rocky ravines and aggressive predators like lions
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and bears. It is a wasteland.
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Finding green pastures and still waters in that harsh environment
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was not a guarantee of the weather.
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It was a miracle of the shepherd's guidance.
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The sheep could not find those places on their own.
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Because sheep are helpless. Let us be honest, sheep are
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incredibly vulnerable creatures. Calling a sheep is actually a
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massive blow to human intelligence.
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It really is an insult if you think about it.
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If a sheep falls on its back, it cannot right itself.
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It will lie there and suffocate. If left alone, they will
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literally walk off cliffs or eat poisonous weeds.
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And that vulnerability is the core of the metaphor.
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Sheep do not possess strategic mastery or navigational skills.
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Not at all. They require a shepherd who
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understands the weather patterns, knows the hidden safe
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paths through the rocks, and possesses the strength to
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protect them from the constant threat of starvation and
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predators. They need total oversight.
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Yes, when David says the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
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He is speaking out of this harsh, unforgiving reality.
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He knows what it takes to keep a flock alive in the desert.
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I want to challenge a common cultural perception right there,
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because I shall not want is one of the most misunderstood
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phrases in the English Bible. Oh, absolutely.
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When people hear it today, they often treat it like a divine
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blank check for a life of luxury.
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You see this in prosperity gospel circles all the time.
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The health and wealth teaching. Right.
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It is interpreted as because God is my shepherd, I will never
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lack money, I will never get sick, and my career will always
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be successful. How does the reality of a
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literal sheep in the Judean wilderness correct this
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prosperity mindset? The reality of the wilderness
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entirely dismantles the prosperity interpretation.
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I shall not want does not mean the sheep will have an easy,
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luxurious life free from exhaustion, pain or danger.
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Just look at David's life. Fought on David himself, the
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author of the Psalm faced famine, brutal warfare, betrayal
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by his own son, and years of fleeing for his life in the
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wilderness. He spent years hiding in caves.
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Yes. What the phrase actually means
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is that the sheep possesses total sufficiency based on
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divine ownership. It means the Shepherd will
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provide exactly what his divine wisdom deems necessary for the
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journey. Not what the sheep wants, but
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what it needs. Right.
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It is a confession of belonging. It stands radically opposed to
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modern autonomy and covetousness.
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The believer security rests not in self rule and insulated bank
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account or perfect health, but in the objective fact that they
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belong to the covenant King. The Shepherd is sufficient even
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when earthly circumstances are scarce or painful.
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Let us follow the path the shepherd actually takes.
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In verse 3 it says He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness
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for his name's sake. This is so crucial.
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The guidance has a stripped moral shape to it.
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Yes. It is not a random walk.
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The shepherd does not lead the sheep into a swamp of sin and
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call it grace. It is not antinomian indulgence
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where you just live however you want, chasing your own desires
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because you seem God will just forgive you anyway.
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Right, that is a modern distortion.
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He leads in righteous holy paths because his own name, his own
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reputation as a holy God, is on the line.
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And then the path descends. It goes down into the valley of
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the shadow of death. And right here, a brilliant
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literary shift occurs in the text, the pronouns completely
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change. This is one of the most
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structurally staggering moments in the entire Psalter.
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Break it down for us. In the first 3 verses, David
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speaks about God in the third person.
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He says He maketh me to lie down.
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He leadeth me, He restoreth my soul.
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It is an accurate, beautiful observation of the Shepherd's
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provision. Like he is talking to the
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audience. Yes, but in verse 4, as the
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darkness of the valley closes in, the grammar shifts abruptly
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to the second person. David says, I will fear no evil,
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for thou art with me. The danger does not create
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distance, it creates an intense personal proximity.
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It is absolutely fascinating that the moment the danger
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peaks, the theology stops being an observation and becomes a
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direct conversation. The darkness literally drives
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the sheep into prayer. That is a great way to put it.
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When times are good and the sun is shining, we talk about God.
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We discuss theology from a distance.
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But when the Valley hits, when the medical diagnosis comes back
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positive or the job is lost, we talk to God.
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That is a precise summation of the believer's experience.
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It demonstrates that true comfort and suffering does not
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come from a therapeutic coping technique or a Stoic philosophy
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where we just grit our teeth. We don't just tough it out.
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No, the deepest need of the human soul in the valley is the
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actual covenant presence of God. And David mentions 2 specific
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instruments of comfort in that dark valley by Rod and thy
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staff. They comfort me.
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The rod and the staff. Let's talk about the mechanics
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of those tools. We need to understand how they
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work. The rod was a heavy wooden club,
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often with a knob on the end, used to strike predators like
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wolves or lions, and occasionally used to discipline
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a wandering sheep by throwing it at their heels to startle them
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back to the path. So it's a weapon, essentially.
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Yes, a weapon of defense and discipline.
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The staff was the longer stick, with a crook on the end used for
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support and to gently hook a sheep's leg or neck to pull it
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out of a crevice. OK, so a tool of rescue.
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Together, they represent active governing authority.
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In our modern culture, we often view authority, discipline and
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rules as the exact opposites of comfort.
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Oh, totally. We think comfort means doing
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whatever we want without consequences.
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Right. But David says the shepherd's
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governing authority, his willingness to correct and
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protect, is the comfort. Discipline and defense are not
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contrary to pastoral tenderness. They are the definitive proof of
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it. True love does not abandoned the
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sheep to the wolves or let it walk off a Cliff in the name of
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freedom. So the shepherd leads us through
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the valley using the rod and the staff, and then the imagery
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shifts again in verses 5 and 6. Yes, a new scene.
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We move from the pastoral world of shepherding out in the wild
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to the royal world of hospitality indoors.
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David says, Thou preparest a table before me in the presence
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of mine enemies. The Lord acts as the royal host.
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What stands out to you about the mechanics of this specific
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scene? What is highly significant is
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the environment of the banquet. The table is prepared in the
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presence of mine enemies. Notice that the enemies are not
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erased from the landscape. They're still right there.
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The believer is not taken out of the world or shielded from all
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hostility. The critics, the spiritual
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forces of darkness, the physical dangers, they are still there.
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Instead of removing them, they are entirely displaced from
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control. They are forced to watch.
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Yes, they are forced to stand on the periphery and watch as the
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Lord honors, feeds, and sustains His guest.
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The Lord does not wait for a perfect peaceful vacuum to show
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His favor. He displays His provision right
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where the hostility remains visible, but completely impotent
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to stop the feast. That is a powerful image.
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And he anoints the head with oil, a symbol of gladness and
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honor, and provides a cup that runs over this overflowing cuck
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signals the sheer abundance of covenant favor.
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It is not bare survival. It is dignified, abundant,
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welcome. And that leads into the final
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verse. Surely goodness and mercy shall
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follow me all the days of my life.
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I have a question about the Hebrew context here, because the
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English translation feels a bit weak.
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It does lose something in English.
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The word follow sounds so passive in English, like a stray
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dog trailing behind you hoping you drop a crumb.
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Is that what the original text implies?
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Are goodness and mercy just quietly tagging along?
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Not at all. The English translation follow
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is quite mild compared to the actual Hebrew verb used used
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here, which is rat F. This word carries the intense
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aggressive force of a pursuit. It is almost exclusively used in
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military contexts for an army chasing down a fleeing enemy to
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conquer them. An army chasing an enemy that is
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aggressive. Very.
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David is using a wonderful, staggering irony here.
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His physical enemies may pursue him with the intent to destroy
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him, but the ultimate decisive pursuers in his life are the
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steadfast mercy and goodness of God.
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So God is hunting him down with mercy, yes.
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The believer is actively haunted down, relentlessly pursued by
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the loyal grace of the covenant Lord all the days of their life.
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You are completely surrounded, front and back.
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You are led from ahead by the Shepherd, and you were chased
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from behind by His mercy, culminating in the final
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permanent promise, dwelling in the House of the Lord forever.
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We have looked at these two massive pictures in depth, the
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vine in John 15 and the shepherd in Psalm 23, but we cannot stop
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there. No, we have to tie them
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together. We have to bring both of these
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metaphors to their redemptive climax.
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We have to look at the Christological fulfillment.
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How do these ancient pictures find their final reality in the
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person of Jesus Christ? They find their fulfillment not
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through arbitrary allegories, but through rigorous canonical
27:06
progression. Jesus Christ steps into history
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and explicitly claims these titles right in John 10.
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He says I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his
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life for the sheep. He is the ultimate substitute.
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The true King Shepherd actually became the lamb who bears the
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sin of the flock. The rolls flipped.
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Completely. In the Old Testament system, the
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sheep died for the shepherd's sins on the altar.
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In the New Covenant, the dynamic is entirely reversed.
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The shepherd dies for the sheep's sins.
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That is staggering. Furthermore, to provide that
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overflowing cup of blessing that David Satin enjoyed at the
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banquet table, Christ first had to drink a very different cup.
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The Cup of Wrath. Yes, he had to drink the
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terrifying cup of divine wrath in the Garden of Gethsemane.
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He sweat drops of blood, anticipating it, and on the
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cross he drained it to the dregs.
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He passed through the deepest valley of abandonment, crying
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out, My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
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So that his people would never have to face God as an angry
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judge in their own valley. Let us connect that back to the
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vine, because there is a mechanical link here.
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We throw around theological terms like active and passive
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obedience, but what does that actually look like for someone
28:15
listening right now? It is the core of the gospel.
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Because Jesus drank that cup of wrath and secured that
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righteousness, He becomes the true vine.
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He supplies the life, giving SAP to us through both His active
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and passive obedience. Let me see if I can break this
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down and you tell me if I am off track, go for it.
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Passive obedience is not about Jesus being lazy.
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It comes from the word passio, meaning suffering.
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It is his death on the cross, paying the debt, taking the
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punishment that removes the curse we deserved as dead
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branches. Right, it zeroes out our debt.
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But if he only died for our sins, our account would just be
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at zero. We would be innocent, but we
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would have no positive record of righteousness to enter heaven.
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That is where the act of obedience comes in.
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Spot on. His act of obedience is living
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the perfect, sinless life under the law that we failed to live.
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That perfect record is the SAP of the vine.
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The SAP that flows into us is literally the merits of Christ's
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perfect life and death credited to our account.
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You nailed it. That canonical fulfillment
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proves a severe point. We cannot claim the comforts of
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Psalm 23 or the fruitfulness of John 15 while rejecting the
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crucified and risen Lord. You can't separate the benefits
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from Christ Himself. No, there is no generic
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universal shepherd out there who watches over everyone regardless
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of their faith in Christ. The comfort of the rod and staff
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belongs exclusively to those who are grafted into the true vine
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by faith and who follow the Good Shepherd.
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Christ is the one who entered the true valley under the shadow
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of judgement. He's the one who rose again to
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secure the House of the Lord for us.
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So we have all this incredible theology.
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We have looked at the linguistics, the history and the
29:54
mechanics. But what does it actually mean
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for you, the listener, as you walk into your church this
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Sunday or face the pressures of your wheat?
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Application is everything. Let us synthesize these
30:04
teachings and apply them directly to the modern visible
30:07
church. When you look at this forces you
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to look in the mirror. It makes me realize how often I
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try to generate my own spiritual success.
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We all do it. The biblical text makes it clear
30:17
that these robust, objective truths stand in direct
30:20
opposition to several prevailing contemporary errors that we see
30:24
everywhere today. The imagery refutes moralism, it
30:28
refutes mysticism, and it refutes pragmatism.
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Let us examine those refutation systematically, because they are
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incredibly relevant today. Start with moralism.
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First, moralism. Moralism is the exhausting idea
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that we can generate our own spiritual fruit by simply trying
30:44
harder, by sheer willpower, ethical improvement and self
30:47
help techniques. Pulling ourselves up by our
30:49
bootstraps. Well yes, that is the mindset,
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but the imagery of the vine shatters this completely.
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A branch cannot grit its teeth, try really hard and pop out of
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grape. It's mechanically impossible.
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It is entirely mechanically dependent on the SAP flowing
31:03
from the trunk. We cannot generate our own
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holiness. It is exclusively a fruit of our
31:08
union with Christ. OK, what about mysticism?
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Second, it refutes mysticism. Mysticism is the tendency to
31:15
look for an inward voice, a subjective feeling, a shiver
31:19
down the spine, or a private revelation, to feel clean or
31:22
guided. Looking for signs in the clouds.
31:24
Right, but Christ said, now ye are clean through the Word.
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The objective written scripture is the nice the vine dresser
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uses, and it is the voice the shepherd uses to guide us in
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paths of righteousness. So it's outside of us, not
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inside. Yes, the truth is objective.
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Finally, it refutes pragmatism. Pragmatism is the market driven
31:43
worldly strategy that says we must use whatever methods draw
31:46
the biggest crowds or generate the most excitement to
31:49
manufacture spiritual growth. Treating the church like a
31:51
business. Yes, but Jesus said without me
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ye can do nothing. You cannot use worldly
31:57
entertainment, psychological manipulation, or corporate
31:59
growth strategies to grow a genuine spiritual vineyard.
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You will only produce a crop of unregenerate dead branches fit
32:06
for the fire. In framing it that way, it
32:08
really brings it home as we look at these truths.
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It is not about scolding anyone, but it is an invitation to ask
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ourselves the hard questions. Very hard questions.
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Does my life demonstrate the genuine fruit of a living
32:18
branch, or am I just resting in the dry formalism of showing up
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to a building on Sundays? Am I resting my security on a
32:26
past emotional experience at a youth camp 10 years ago, or is
32:30
there an abiding, continuous dependence on the Word of God
32:33
today? That is the real test.
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Am I actually producing fruit? Repentance.
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Love for the brethren? Obedience to the Scriptures?
32:41
The difference between external association and internal reality
32:44
is literally eternal life versus the fire.
32:47
The necessity of asking those questions cannot be overstated.
32:50
True assurance is not found in looking inward at our own
32:53
wavering emotions or our own track record of good deeds.
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We fail too often for that. We do.
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True assurance is found only in casting oneself entirely upon
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the mercy of the true vine. It is found in submitting to the
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righteous, sometimes painful paths of the Hepherd and
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recognizing that the vine dresser's pruning knife, the
33:10
trials, the losses and afflictions of your life are not
33:13
signs of His hatred. They are acts of love.
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Yes, they are acts of supreme pastoral love designed to cut
33:19
away your reliance on the world so you can bear more fruit.
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We must look to Christ alone, trusting in His mediated life,
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His act of obedience, and His sovereign keeping grace.
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We have covered a staggering amount of ground today.
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We have seen the immense theological weight carried by
33:36
these simple earthly pictures. It changes.
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How you read the text? It really does.
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The vine is not just a plant, it is a declaration of sovereign
33:44
grace and our absolute dependency.
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The shepherd is not just a rustic farmer, he is the
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sovereign King. Who guides, protects, and
33:52
aggressively pursues us with relentless mercy through the
33:54
darkest valleys? Amen.
33:56
These are precise instruments of divine truth, designed before
33:59
the foundation of the world to communicate the mechanics of our
34:02
salvation. As you go through your week,
34:04
consider this. If the Creator explicitly
34:06
designed physical realities like vines, branches, and flocks of
34:09
sheep to perfectly mirror His eternal decrees, what else in
34:13
the ordinary natural world around you is secretly acting as
34:16
a silent witness to the character of God just waiting
34:18
for you to notice?