Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

HE FELT THE KNIFE TOO

This entry was posted on 10-27-2008 and is filed under uncategorized.

Before we begin to look at the next few verses in John 15 (9-17), I want to share a thought with you that did not come to me until just last week when I was preaching to a church in Baltimore, Maryland. I was telling them how Jesus is the Vine and that His Father is the gardener (v. 1). As the gardener, God sometimes has to cut off the fruitless branches and cut back (or prune) the fruit-bearing branches. Right in the middle of my sermon the following thought came to me...

Our Lord came under the knife too! Why do I say that? Here's why. Look at Romans 11:17, 18. "But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches" (ESV). Paul is talking about the Gentiles (a wild olive shoot) being grafted in to the natural olive tree (the Jews). Whether it is an olive tree or a grapevine, the principle is the same. The pruning knife must cut into the tree/vine. In order for you and I to be grafted into the True Vine (Christ), God had to "cut" His Own Son. Not cut off or cut back, but cut into. Do not complain that it "hurts" when God prunes your life so that it may be more fruitful. He had to use the knife on His Only Begotten Son just to make you a part of Him. Our Lord felt the knife too! He was opened up that we might enter in. What a sin it is, therefore, to not remain in Him!

Prayer: Dear Father, my heart breaks at the thought that You had to use the knife on Your Son in order for me to be grafted into Him. May I always stay in vital union with Him, the True Vine!