Keystone Christian Reading Room

Secured to the Vine

by William Vaught

December 1993

Prologue

"I am the true vine...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, and 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." (John 15.1, 4-5)

(The NIV says, "until he comes to whom it belongs, and the obedience of the nations is his. He will tether his donkey to a vine, and his colt to the choicest branch." )

This ancient messianic prophesy has tucked away in it the promise of transition: transition from the VINE (law of the old covenant) to the CHOICE VINE OR BRANCH (the new covenant). And this promise is centered in this ONE who fulfills the descriptive term " Shiloh ".

The doom-saying false prophets of the present era have taught man that God's purpose is to take a chosen few "to heaven" (so that they might escape hell) and condemn the rest to everlasting agony. NOT SO!! The Holy Spirit has made it quite clear that God's purpose is "that in the dispensation of the fullness of times He might gather together in one ALL things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him." (Ephesians 1.10)

Phillips translates Ephesians 1.9-10, "For God has allowed us to know the secret of his plan, and it is this: he purposes in his sovereign will that all human history shall be consummated in Christ, that everything that exists in Heaven or earth shall find its perfection and fulfillment in him."

It's very plain: God is summing up ALL THINGS in Christ, leaving no loose ends, so that the whole creation may clearly see the perfect harmony of God's plan for all ages.

Again the Holy Spirit says that His purpose is "...to make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according TO HIS ETERNAL PURPOSE WHICH HE ACCOMPLISHED IN JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence." (Ephesians 3.9-12, NIV, my emphasis).

"By faith we understand that the worlds (during successive ages) were framed -- fashioned, put in order and equipped for their intended purpose -- by the word of God...". (Hebrews 11.3, Amplified Bible.

God is never too early or too late for anything. He has measured and fitted the ages for a purpose and allotted an exact amount of time for accomplishment of His perfect, everlasting will: we read in Galatians 4.4 "...when the proper time had fully come, God sent His Son..." (Amplified Bible).

SHILOH CAME AND IS STILL COMING, "and to him shall be the obedience of the people." (The KJV reads "the gathering of the people.") They "gather" and "obey" because in Him alone shall they find perfection and fulfillment.

How many sermons, lessons, prophecies and heart harrowing ravings have we heard from the pulpits of the quacksalver fear ministry with the following scriptures as "text"?

For the vision (revelation) is yet for an appointed time,

It hastens toward the goal, and it will not fail.

Though it tarries, wait for it;

For it will certainly come, it will not delay.

(Habakkuk 2.3, NASB, my parenthesis)

Rather than the thunderings and threatenings that Babylon preaches concerning the vengeance of a mankind-hating God, let's rejoice in the certainty of the "goal" or "end" -- which we know will be accomplished by and in Him!!

Surely, we often feel that we are just "marking time", waiting for the vision to be fulfilled. It seems to us to tarry and move away from us tauntingly. BUT -- we may rejoice in the assurance that IN GOD there is NO lost motion, no wasted time, no mundane existence that He does not entirely control. EVERYTHING IN TIME, SPACE, AND ETERNITY IS FITTED TO HIS OMNISCIENT PURPOSE.

No matter how much we may in the past have struggled in the many forms of fearful unbelief we can KNOW that every situation is alive with the energy of God and His purpose is working in us.

From the moment you know, "In the beginning God created... and the Spirit of God moved (fluttered, hovered, brooded) upon the face of the waters..." (Genesis 1.1-2) until the marvelous, "Behold, I am making ALL things new," (Revelation 21.5, NASB), God has been actively and continuously hovering and brooding over His creation to bring forth that which He has purposed -- a people in HIS image, for HIS pleasure, with whom He shall share jointly in the fellowship of His love, His care, His omniscience and all the wonder of His creation.

It's toward this end that Jesus said in John 5.17, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." Even though we read in Revelation 3.21 that He said, "...I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne," -- sitting on the throne is not idling -- for we know that HE MUST REIGN UNTIL HE HAS PUT ALL HIS ENEMIES UNDER HIS FEET. (See 1 Corinthians 15.25 and verses following). It's in HIM that we see the glorious work of the plan of the ages and the warrant of total victory as God's successive ages run their course.

So, again we see that God has fitted the ages for working out His purpose, and that we are totally immersed in His plan -- the "apple of His eye" -- the true church and all -- yes, ALL.

Now, an age is a specific span of time ordained by our LORD for the perfection of a specific segment of the overall plan, and each age is joined to the following one in succession until the whole is accomplished. We are now in a time of TRANSITION, an "overlap" of two ages, very similar to the overlap of the "law" age and "church" age during the first century of this era. We, though, are proceeding from the "church" age, with its CALLING OUT from the world, from man's riotous religions, man's hateful hypocrisy and his false labor in birthing the kingdom, and we are being joined to HIM who IS our LIFE. This joining is a passage into the "kingdom" age -- with its manifest rule of God, when His absolute LORDSHIP is realized and revealed in us.

This will surely not be done in one grand, Hollywood special effects sweep over all creation. It begins with a FIRSTFRUITS COMPANY and then expands through the ages still to come, because "...as in Adam All die, even so in Christ shall All be made alive. BUT EVERY MAN IN HIS OWN ORDER." (1 Corinthians 15.22-23). The specific purpose of the CHURCH AGE is to call out the FIRSTFRUITS. Afterwards the succeeding ages will unfold their workings until All are made alive in Christ: the last enemy, Death, is put under His feet and has no more authority.

Leaving one era, or realm, to enter another isn't done by one's self. There is the travail of birth pangs, the abandonment of the old, the shaking off of the trappings and mores of that which MUST be left behind, in order to press on and travel unfettered to the wonders of God placed before us. Concerning this transition Jesus once said, "No man sweet a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. And no man putted new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred; but new wine must be put into new bottles." (Mark 2.21-22).

Letting go of the old to embrace the new is especially difficult for most of mankind. Some even have told me they'd rather stick to the dogma they know than change to the revelation they don't understand; or they try to sew the new revelation onto last year's credendum. They only succeed in rending the old -- and causing greater confusion, more pain and suffering. A new revelation grafted on to the old only diminishes both: compromise doesn't bring peace when one tries to join old with new, but adds misunderstanding and frustration.

Here's an example: The Levitical order of priesthood must give way to the new order of Melchizedek. Nearly all will admit this is true, but, amazingly, many like to pick and choose little pieces of the new and work them into the old order: they want the life of the new while clinging to the dead form, the decomposing, fetidly horrifying ritual of the old. It just won't work! Pouring new wine into old wineskins breaks the wineskins, just as the duality of the present apostate church will break under the strain of the spirit's expansion.

Our Lord and Saviour bridged the two ages of His time, and He did it wonderfully. Remember, He healed the leper and sent him to the priests to offer the gift Moses had commanded as a testimony or witness to them. (See Matthew 8). How about that?! He who came preaching the Gospel of the KINGDOM, and who so gloriously demonstrated its power and LIFE in healing the leper, sent the leper to fulfill the old order according to the commandment of Moses! Yet Jesus fully knew that the time had come that IN HIM the transition was being made from old to new! Before Calvary there was an accommodation to the old order, but after Calvary and the resurrection a new, a higher and more fruitful dimension was added to life. HIS CROSS was one end of the bridge -- the death of the old, so that resurrection could take place and life become new.

"...if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you!" Jesus said in Luke 11.20. The King of the Kingdom of God was with them, yet the transition wasn't to be FULLY made until He broke the trail and blazed the way by His cross. HE TRULY IS the way, the truth, and the life; no man comes to God except through Him. (See John 14.6).

He FULFILLED THE OLD -- but He also taught the NEW. We have read many times, "It hath been said...but I say unto you..." (Matthew 5.31-32). "ye have heard that it hath been said by" (38) (43): according to the OLD ORDER it was thus (or at least the scribes and other bamboozling bunkum bezels said it was thus) but according to Jesus Christ's NEW ORDER it shall be and is different -- of a spiritual realm, a far higher and more perfect order. The people were ever hearing some pundit saying "it hath been said" -- but never did a man speak like Jesus when He taught them of the NEW way -- HIS WAY -- : HIM! "...they were astonished at His teaching, for He was teaching them as One having authority, and not as the scribes" (Mark 1.22, Concordant Literal New Testament).

(For a good example of what "had been said" and what Jesus refuted, see Deuteronomy 24.1-3; Matthew 5.31-32; 19.1-9, and Mark 10.2-9).

The old order was a way of living by the rules of external commandments -- a way still practiced by many naming themselves after Him. But HIS way of living is out of the heart, the spirit, and the mixture of outward and inward, of spiritual and carnal, is adulterous. It was and still is external observance opposed to the Spiritual State of Being: living out the life of Christ.

The religious people hated Him, (just as they hate anyone who demonstrates the new order) because He showed them the truth. His truth was NOT what the Pharisees taught so it totally upset their self-righteousness. It still does.

The Holy Spirit extended this New Dimension teaching: "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availed anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh through love", and further, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature" (Galatians 5.6 and 6.15).

Only the NEW CREATION REALM, a spiritual state of being, recognizes, comprehends, the "faith that worketh through love".

Carnal minds have explained that phrase in many different ways -- and hours upon hours upon hours have been spent in dogmatic preaching of its import. Some of the different translations of the phrase:

The fact remains: the OLD ORDER is based NOT on love, but on the WORKS OF MAN wrought by duty -- DO IT -- OR ELSE!! Man can outwardly obey the law to rigid carnal perfection in his own eyes, and do it without love. He obeys the old order insofar as he can simply because such is required in order to receive certain blessings.

Now, the NEW ORDER flows from the SPIRIT, in love, in faith, and it makes no accounting of the law's outward actions, because it is the nature of true love to give freely, as, freely, such love is received.

It's no wonder man finds it so difficult to make the transition from old to new -- and really, he CAN'T -- because without the Christ it's impossible. So we give thanks to a loving Father who sent His Son to BECOME the Way for us:

Our King came -- "having salvation". It's interesting to note that the Hebrew word used here is a participle, which, though it may be reflexive, is never active. This is supported by Psalm 22.20-21, and Hebrews 5.7-8. He was heard and delivered out of death and "...though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered."

The process through which His called-out are being prepared was FIRST wrought in HIMSELF. "Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and was heard in that He feared; and being made perfect, He became the Author of eternal salvation" (Hebrews 5.7-9). HIS COMING HAVING SALVATION reveals that He first experienced the working IN HIMSELF, and then became the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE for ALL mankind.

No man! No one else to make intercession, none capable of standing in the gap to bring salvation to creation. NO ONE BUT HE had the power and authority to CHANGE THE AGE, (to initiate another "dispensation", some say) and lead mankind from the old into the new. Men try to reform and re-structure the old; they adorn it with a "new look" to make it more appealing to the eye; "new" doctrines, "new" programs, -- all fail because the undergirding has been changed and carnality can't initiate a new spiritual age. Man is especially incapable of dealing with the inner nature of man, because this "new" age that our Saviour pioneered actually introduced a NEW CREATION SPECIES.

So He came, the very Son of God and Son of Man and laid out the transition process: SAVING HIMSELF!! -- Yes -- through His sufferings, His obedience -- He became and is becoming triumphant over enemies. "His righteousness upheld Him"! He is righteousness. He is holiness, Truth, Life and the Way.

His righteousness, His holiness, truth, life and way become the Foundation -- the undergirding for All the new creation to become as He is. (1 Peter 1.16).

He "was in all points tempted (tested) like as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4.15). No wonder HE is the Mediator of the NEW COVENANT! He HIMSELF experienced all the throes of the transition in ways far beyond our understanding. He experienced the depths of sorrow far exceeding our present capacity for suffering.

Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

(Isaiah 53.4-6, NIV)

Thus, He tasted death (by the Grace of God) for every man and was declared the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead. Rising triumphant in the power, the "spirit of holiness", He became the AUTHOR OF SALVATION -- in order to bring EVERY MAN into His very same glorious life.

"...then sent Jesus two disciples, saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them and bring them unto me. And if any man say aught unto you, ye shall say, The LORD hath need of them; and straightway he will send them." (Matthew 21.1-3).

He told the disciples to find dam and colt and say simply, "The LORD needs them". The Messianic prophesy in Genesis 49.11 was to be fulfilled: "Binding his foal unto the vine and his ass's colt unto the choice vine". Matthew 21.4-5 goes on to affirm this: "All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass".

Verse 7 says the disciples, "...brought the ass, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set Him thereon". The Greek is plain: The word translated "thereon" is plural. There are many useless dissertations available for those who wish to argue that He did or did not sit on one or both (or even none) of them, and whether the word "thereon" refers to the clothing or the donkeys. These same midget-minded manques will philosophize profoundly on the number of angels that may simultaneously dance on the head of a pin.

Jesus' disciples spread their clothing on both animals and Jesus rode both of them.

We must keep in mind that Matthew's Good News is written from the Kingdom perspective.

The King of Kings comes into His city riding beasts of burden, thus, I think, fully identifying Himself with groaning creation.

The symbolism is splendid!! We see these people spread their garments on the animals -- these people who lived under the order of the law, the first covenant -- spread all their clothing, their covering, id est, THEIR righteousness, that was defined by the law. And HE SAT DOWN ON IT.

He "rode out" the old covenant and fulfilled all its types and shadows. He didn't fight it or condemn it, -- He just RODE IT OUT and brought it to its conclusion IN HIMSELF. But He placed his feet (I believe) on the NEW. The ass's foal, that was, no doubt following its dam closely, was not yet ready to bear the full load -- because the time of the first covenant had not yet fully ended. Thus, Jesus, seated on the OLD with His feet on the New, -- displayed, symbolically, that HIS WALK IN ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NEW ORDER had begun.

In Him "SHILOH" had come!

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, *until Shiloh come, And to him shall the gathering of the people be. (Genesis 49.10)

*Ferrar Fenton translates: "till Peace arrive, and the nations obey Him."

Truly, HE IS OUR PEACE; in Him Peace has come to man, just as the messengers of God declared, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth PEACE, good will toward men."

Young's Literal Translation says, concerning Shiloh, "till His SEED come, and His is the obedience of the people."

Galatians 3.8 tells us that Jesus is that SEED through whom ALL nations shall be blessed -- the SEED of the new creation into whose image we shall be conformed and in whose nature we shall participate -- without limit!

When we speak of a "New Covenant Spirit" as in 2 Corinthians 3.7, "Now the LORD is that Spirit: and where the SPIRIT OF THE LORD is, there is liberty", we speak of a New Covenant generation, He is the SEED of that generation; a new covenant security; He is that security and peace of the covenant. When we speak of a new covenant name (of which we have mind to write later) it is because we are joined to HIM -- and receive the manifold blessings of that union.

HE IS THE SHILOH!! He is the focal point and center of the new life -- and that's why it's stated, "unto Him shall the gathering of the people be." It is ALL IN HIM: "In Him, all fullness is pleased to dwell" (Colossians 1.19).

"Binding His foal unto the vine, and His ass's colt unto the choice vine". This is a matchless expression for the Old and New Covenants -- and they are blood covenants. In the Old we have the blood of animal sacrifices, but in the New there is the BLOOD OF CHRIST HIMSELF, very GOD, announced to be the blood of the EVERLASTING COVENANT in Hebrews 13.20.

A scholar in the Hebrew scriptures writes that the word we translate "binding", in that language means "to yoke", "to fasten, to set in array and make ready".

Israel was yoked to the old covenant because they took the vows which "fastened" them to that covenant at Mount Sinai. "Then Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, `All the words which the LORD has spoken we will do'." (Exodus 24.3, NASB).

The vow was made and the LAW OF THE GOD OF THE COVENANT WAS LAID UPON THEM -- a covenant that was agreed upon between LAW GIVER and law receiver -- for the benefit of ALL. Then the LAW was fully promulgated at Sinai and enforced by the parties thereto.

The Holy Spirit used Paul to illustrate this covenant vow, comparing it to the marriage vow: "Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law), how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth? For the woman who hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. ...Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." (Romans 7.1-2,4).

GOD, THE ONLY GOD, WAS IN CHRIST, and in that death on the cross He brought to an end the BINDING of the old covenant.

What a staggering wonder! -- truly mind-boggling!: DEATH at Calvary ended the old union and opened the way for a NEW UNION and a *NEW COVENANT for we read: "and for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where a covenant is, there must of necessity be the death of the one who made it. For a covenant is valid only when men are dead, for it is never in force while the one who made it lives." (Hebrews 9.15-17, NASB).

*(The word "covenant" is from a Greek word that also means "testament" or "will", and is so translated by a many ancient and modern translators.)

The natural mind will never comprehend that cataclysmic event of the crucifixion at Calvary! It's no wonder that hades raged and the earth trembled! HE who came riding on the ass and binding it to the vine became the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believes (Romans 10.4) and IN HIM we have the conclusion of the whole Old Covenant "Dispensation". Then, wonder of wonders, by His death and resurrection He also ratified the New Covenant -- , He put it in force so that now IN HIM we see all the grace, the mercy, and the vast, unconditional, age-during love of God for His creation. And He has BOUND US TO THE CHOICE VINE: "For it is in Him that all the fullness of Deity continues to live embodied, and through UNION WITH HIM, you, too, are filled with it". (Williams Translation of 2 Corinthians 2.9-10).

(In whose body is the fullness of the Deity? Think about it!!)

The death-throes of the old have become the birth-pangs of the new and herein, again, we witness the unfathomable WISDOM and POWER OF GOD -- to the glory and praise of His unbounded grace.

You recall that after what man is pleased to name "the Lord's Supper", Jesus took the cup and said to His disciples, "This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. (Luke 22.20, NIV) HE IS THE CHOICE VINE -- and He said "I am the vine; you are the branches", (John 15.5), and joined to HIM we participate jointly and fully, NOT OF THE OLD VINE, but in the glorious reality of the CHOICE NEW COVENANT -- for which HIS NAME WILL BE BLESSED FOREVER!!

There's another ancient prophecy and illustrative parable that is cogent here because of its clarity in truth. Isaiah's record in Chapter 5, first through seventh verse is worthy of comment. First the entire text:
I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard.
My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside.
He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it and cut out a wine press as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.
Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
What more could have been done for my vineyard than I have done foWhen I looked for good grapes why did it yield only bad?
Now I will tell yI will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled.
I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds not to rain on it.

The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Again I defer to Hebrew scholarship beyond my ken for clarification of the phrase "a fruitful hillside". Apparently it has its basis in "keren" translated "hillside" only here in verse one, but always " horn " in the other seventy-five times it is used. "Horn" is symbolic of power, authority and a "raised position" and is used often as such in our Bible. The Hebrew for "a very fruitful" is literally "oil's son", or "son of oil" id est: "anointed son" or "anointed first-born".

These "sons of oil" are figurative of the people God exalted to be His own peculiar treasure as recorded in Deuteronomy 7.6 and especially in Psalm 105.14-15 where it is written, "He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea, He reproved kings for their sakes; saying, Touch not Mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." Here He identifies His anointed, His "oil's sons".

Yes, they are only the FIRST or OLD covenant vine, but His people, and He had a covenant relationship with them that required His care and stewardship.

But look at verse 2!! Such is Israel's woeful record. WILD, -- BAD -- GRAPES! FILLED TO THE HEART'S BRIM WITH REBELLION! GOING THEIR OWN STIFF-NECKED WAY; WORSHIPPING IDOLS OF PAGAN GODS; REJECTING AND STONING GOD'S PROPHETS. The sacred writings are full of such acts. When He looked for good fruit He didn't find it. So what was He to do?

Verses 5-7 tell us what surely happened. Israel was scattered among the heathen, the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, the people slain or taken into captivity -- and their separate identity obliterated. Discipline and purging was the order of the day.

God has a plan that is being fulfilled. Look at Romans 11.32, "...God has locked up ALL in the prison of unbelief, that upon ALL ALIKE He may have mercy" (Weymouth). He locked all up in disbelief, (a real death process), then sent His Son to become the SEED of a New Creation -- a completely NEW ORDER. Romans 11.5 says there is a "remnant" that He draws to Himself, chosen or elected, ACCORDING TO HIS GRACE, and Acts 15.14 tells of how He shows His concern by taking from the nations (Gentiles, heathen, et cetera) a people for Himself. These elect by grace HE BINDS TO THE CHOICE VINE -- merging them into the New Covenant relationship with Himself.

I have already made mention of the various meanings of the word "bind" or "binding" in the original Sacred Writings: "TO YOKE" for instance, where Jesus said, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me." (Matthew 11.29) -- He says, in effect, "Come and be bound unto Me, embrace Me and learn of Me -- of the REALITY of the New Covenant I have established by My grace."

Because of the hang-dog negative programming by our religious systems, many have come to view the "yoke" as a burden rather than what it truly is. You'll hear people say that they already have more than they can handle so they don't need to be encumbered with another "yoke" of obligation or hindering responsibility.

Actually, to be YOKED to God is NOT an additional weight of duty or onerous care but just the opposite! A yoke's purpose is to share the load, thus making the load easier to bear. HIS YOKE IS AN INSTRUMENT OF MERCY.

All mankind must carry the general burden of natural life, and to many it is a weariness, fraught with disappointment, failure, tragedy, pain, and struggle. HIS cry to those is, "Carry as I carry! Take My yoke, learn of Me and you'll find it easy. My yoke fits just right and My burden is light".

We have staunchly ridden the first donkey, id est, the Old Covenant, with all of its arduous works of the flesh, its wearisome wrangling over various lifeless interpretations of doctrine, it's useless toil. We have indulged our fleshly appetites for ritual and ceremonial vagary to the point of satiety, and have not been able to produce even one peaceable fruit of righteousness which HE desires. We have certainly seen more wild grapes than good grapes, but now we desire deeply to be "bound to the Choice Vine", to live out the New Covenant. We have been buried with HIM by baptism into death in order that as He, the Christ, was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we, too, may live and walk in His life. (See Romans 6.4).

Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson?
Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength?
"It is I, speaking righteousness, mighty to save."
Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress?
"I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the nations no one was with me...". (Isaiah 63.2-3, NIV)

He was alone in the beginning of His outworking, breaking and plainly blazing the trail for us to follow -- but now He calls us to Himself so that we may "know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death" (Philippians 3.10).

It is essential that we experientially share with Him a dying out of the old man so that we may lay hold of the new and fully comprehend our identification with His CROSS. We need no longer fight the old order, because of His cross -- His PEACEMAKING CROSS -- and in the terms of His Peace we "ride out the old" with Him, knowing full well that we may begin to "walk in the new" -- the newness of LIFE IN HIM.

There are those who have become weary of the old order and completely convinced of its vanity, but they continue to fight it, to "resist" it, and some even try to "heal" it. The inworking of His cross frees us from all the bondage of the old, and we are able to let it go its way as OUR FATHER planned it should go. We have in our heart the vision of the new CHOICE VINE of His fullness of life.

"Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread we break a participation in the body of Christ? Because we are one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf." (1 Corinthians 10.16-18, NIV).

This great joint-participation, this mystic (and I use the word in its true meaning) sharing or communion is made real to us as we enter into the fellowship of His sufferings, and are made conformable to His death. This route was the very one the Father ordained for His Son to bring an end to the Old Order and birth to the new. It shall, MUST, likewise work in us: suffering and death to SELF, and will surely bring an end to our self-righteousness and ceremonial quasi-cleansing of the flesh.

Not only does this participation in His discipline (which transforms us into His very image, the forth-shining of the Father's glory) bring an end to works of the flesh, but it also ends our struggle to be LIKE HIM, to be an imitation of Him, a sort of counterfeit Jesus!! Having died to the old we begin to realize that there is NOTHING we can do to raise ourselves up in the life of the new -- BECAUSE OUR TRANSFORMATION IS AN OUTFLOWING OF HIS LIFE. The Holy Spirit used Paul to declare this great truth: he says in a letter to us: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me." (Galatians 2.20).

What tremendous, unfathomable love He revealed when HE came to dwell in us!! What a wonderful wisdom HE displayed when He rode out the old covenant to its fore-ordained conclusion and fulfilled, in HIMSELF, all the righteousness of the LAW!! He went further and promised, "I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom" (Matthew 26.29). He truly drank (shared) with us so that we might NOW DRINK WITH HIM -- sharing, participating in the New Vine, the CHOICE VINE of the New Covenant -- the KINGDOM OF GOD.

Certainly we desire to drink deeply of the new now, and many have taken a sip and been richly blessed. But when they found out they couldn't drink deeply by walking in the fullness of life, they returned to the old order. Then they tried by works to bring the new into being -- but the old methods and systems will NEVER produce the new. It is totally GOD ALL THE WAY: It is IN CHRIST, OUR SHILOH, OUR PEACE, the SEED, that we find blessed reality.

He has bound us to the choice vine and shall we ever be satisfied with anything less than its fullness? We reach out to embrace Him, knowing full well that to do so means embracing His cross, before we receive and enjoy the power of His resurrection. We welcome His YOKE, for it is the way of joy, of peace, of life and REST.

Let us cease from our own works; let us enter into HIS rest because HE is the CHOICE VINE and the FINISHER OF OUR FAITH.