When reading God's Word, how do we read it?
To find the laws of do's and dont's (that is to find myself)?
... or am I reading, engaging to find Jesus?
Someone once said that ALL of God's Word is about Jesus - not about me. When I read the Bible I make sure to find Him, hear straight from Him and encounter His finished work. It is arrogant to try and find myself in scriptures and apply rules and laws for myself to follow in order to become and work my own righteousness. No. I find Him first. He is my righteousness. He finds me.
The scriptures says all of creation is not big enough to contain the greatness of God (will Elohim in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee 2Ch 6:18). Yet, in one Man - the Man Jesus, enough space was found to contain God in His entirety, to reveal ALL of God. And now He lives in me. Truely, All of God's Word is about Jesus, but all of Jesus is about me.
Can you see the difference in approach?
... which brings us to the vine in Ezekiel 15:
And the word of יהוה came unto me, saying,
Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?
Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?
Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned. Is it meet for any work?
Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned? Eze 15:1-5
This scripture essentially talks about God becoming fully fleshed and in doing so, was subdued to earthy and manly circumstances and trails and tribulations, living as man in every sense. As a Vine, He was not any different than any other man. These passages even graphically describe how He went to the cross and yes, descended into the depths of hell so that the other trees in the forest do not have to. It also describes the nature of man where God, in his original design never intended for man to work his own righteousness. How much more so following the perfect work of the cross, the descending into hell and the glorious resurrection of the One who did it all on your behalf.
... but the vine ...
Jesus said: I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Joh 15:1
Jesus is the Word of God. He is the True Vine. The word here in Ezekiel 15 is for Jesus, it is about Jesus and it is concerning Jesus. It even addresses Him as 'Son of man'.
The word for vine is from an unused Hebrew root word which means to bend - it is YHVH (יהוה) who in His amazing Love and Grace bent down to earth and manifested in the likeliness of human flesh, revealing ALL the fullness of who God is in the Man, Jesus.
The pictograph for the word vine (gephen or גּפן) is: to convey (or lift up or trans-locate) the message (or the Word or what God says) of life (or original start or beginning or original design or original plan) - Convey the message of life!
Wow!
God's original plan for us was that we have life. Death was never part of the equation. He came so that we may have abundance of life and so that no-one should fall away. Look at the picture: the Vine (blood) transfers the very Gospel Himself, Life Himself (Jesus) to man. The Word that was from the beginning, of Life, is conveyed in Human Flesh to man!
We see this even in the pictographs of God's Name and in the Jesus's Name:
Yahveh (יהוה) is Yahushua (יהושע):
יהוה - the Hand by Grace nailed by Grace IS יהושע - the Hand by Grace nailed consumed perceived (exhibited for all to see ... conveyed and lifted up!)
The story has a perfect result, because God is contained in man, even today.
Now He works in me. For it is יהוה which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Phi 2:13
Then Yahushua said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood [receive the Vine], ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. Joh 6:53-54
Even the old shadow confirms eloquently in Leviticus 17:11 and 14:
For the life of the flesh is in the blood (vine) ...
