Limitless Word

The Vine and the Vineyard

WEBKJVBSBESVNKJVNASBNLT

Israel the vineyard that disappoints — and Jesus the true vine that bears fruit.

God plants a vine — Israel — and tends it with care, but again and again it yields wild or bitter grapes; the prophets sing of a vineyard that breaks its owner's heart. Then Jesus says, quietly and astonishingly, "I am the true vine." Where the nation failed to bear fruit, he succeeds — and those who abide in him share his life. The trail runs from the songs of a failing vineyard to the abundance of the vine who never fails.
  1. 1

    A vine out of Egypt

    Psalms 80:8

    You brought us from Egypt like a grapevine; you drove away the pagan nations and transplanted us into your land.

    Psalm 80 remembers Israel as a vine God planted and asks why its walls are broken down.
  2. 2

    The song of the vineyard

    Isaiah 5:7

    The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. The people of Judah are his pleasant garden. He expected a crop of justice, but instead he found oppression. He expected to find righteousness, but instead he heard cries of violence.

    Isaiah's vineyard yields wild grapes — injustice instead of righteousness.
  3. 3

    A choice vine gone wild

    Jeremiah 2:21

    But I was the one who planted you, choosing a vine of the purest stock—the very best. How did you grow into this corrupt wild vine?

    Jeremiah: planted as a pure vine, the people became a corrupt, wild one.
  4. 4

    "I am the true vine"

    John 15:1

    “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.

    Jesus is the vine that bears the fruit Israel could not; his people abide in him.

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.