We now arrive at the seventh and final “I Am” statement of Jesus: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard " (John 15:1). When the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, the Israelites asked Moses for the name of the one who had sent him. The answer God provided to Moses was: “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you’” (Exodus 3:14). The expression 'I Am' translates the Hebrew word YHVH, vocalized as “Yahveh," which is translated into English as LORD. It was the personal name by which God revealed Himself, appearing over 6000 times in the Old Testament. The meaning of YHVH is not entirely clear to biblical scholars, but many believe that the name signifies, "I am who I am, or I will be who I will be."
When Jesus spoke the "I Am" name in connection with the words, the True Vine, He conveyed to His disciples that He would be the source of all blessings for those who trust in the God of Israel. His vocalization of the ‘I Am’ statements angered the Pharisees to the extent that they attempted to stone Him for blasphemy (John 8:58-59). They correctly understood that Jesus claimed to be the same YHVH who delivered the Jewish people from slavery. In this passage, the Lord declares that He is the True Vine. What did He mean?
Jesus spoke this passage after the disciples left the Upper Room following the Last Supper. As they walked toward the Garden of Gethsemane, they likely saw the golden grapevine hanging above the four columns at the entrance to the Temple. Each cluster of grapes was the size of a man. The Mishnah, a book embodying the oral tradition of Jewish law, states that people made freewill offerings to God by purchasing a golden leaf, berry, or cluster, which the priests would then attach to the golden vine. Jewish individuals who gave generously to the Temple had their names inscribed on the golden leaves. The concept of a vine or vineyard was a well-known symbol of the nation of Israel in the Scriptures.
The Lord Jesus said that God is the Gardener and that He planted His covenant people to testify to His Name. He looked for a crop of good grapes exhibiting justice and righteousness (Isaiah 5:7), but it yielded only bad fruit (Isaiah 5:2). When Jesus depicted Himself as the True Vine, He was perhaps contrasting Himself with the artificial vine hanging in the Temple, suggesting that if the disciples entered into a covenant relationship with Christ, the result would be an abundance of spiritual fruit. Jesus came to establish the prophesied New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31). He came to be the source of eternal life for all who believed in Him. As branches connect to a life source, such as the vine's trunk, Jesus Himself would be the True Vine. The time had now come for Jews and Gentiles to be grafted into the true Vine. Just as Christ was “One with the Father,” He knew that the only way for the people of God to produce fruit was for them to become spiritually connected to the source of life, Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Jesus came to give you His life. Only through His substitutionary death could we be grafted into the Vine of the life of God. Keith Thomas
Taken from the Gospel of John, study 30. Jesus, the True Vine
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