SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/22/2014
9:18 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The
Worthless Vine
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ezekiel
15:1-8
Message of the
verses: “1 Then the word of the LORD
came to me, saying, 2 "Son of man,
how is the wood of the vine better than any wood of a branch which is among the
trees of the forest? 3 “Can wood be taken from it to make anything, or can men
take a peg from it on which to hang any vessel? 4 “If it has been put into the
fire for fuel, and the fire has consumed both of its ends and its middle part
has been charred, is it then useful for anything? 5 “Behold, while it is
intact, it is not made into anything. How much less, when the fire has consumed
it and it is charred, can it still be made into anything! 6 "Therefore, thus says the
Lord GOD, ’As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have
given to the fire for fuel, so
have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 7 and I set My face
against them. Though they have come out of the fire, yet the fire will consume them.
Then you will know that I
am the LORD, when I set My face against them. 8 ’Thus I will make the
land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,’" declares the Lord
GOD.”
We begin chapter five in Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on
the book of Ezekiel, as we follow along in his outline from his commentary, and
we begin and finish the eight verses of chapter fifteen in the book of
Ezekiel. Wiersbe entitles his chapter
name “Pictures of Failure,” and the reason is that in chapters 15-17 we will
see Ezekiel speaking in “parables” that he receives from the Lord. The exiles do not believe what Ezekiel is
saying about the destruction of Jerusalem, and they do not want to really
listen to Ezekiel, but they do when he uses his action sermons, and when he
tells his so called stories as they are entertained by them. They listen with their ears but their hearts
are far from what the Lord is teaching them through Ezekiel’s messages. We will be looking at the parable of “The
Worthless Vine” as seen in Ezekiel chapter eight. Israel has been seen as a vine in the past,
but now they will be seen as a worthless vine.
Now one other thing to remember and that is since the third chapter of
Ezekiel he has remained silent unless the Lord gives a message to him to relay
to the exiles.
Now we not only see Israel as a vine from the pages of
Scripture, but Jesus speaks of Himself as a vine in John chapter fifteen, and
in that same chapter he sees His disciples as branches. Why is Jesus seen as a vine? Well the branches are totally depended upon
the Vine for their spiritual nourishment and so were His disciples and for that
matter so are we as He born-again believers.
Revelations 14:17-20 speaks of “the vine of the earth,” and this is seen
as a symbol of the corrupt Gentile society at the end of the age who is
ripening for their judgment from the Lord.
As we mentioned Israel is often seen as a vine as we will see in today’s
SD from chapter 15 and then again in chapter 17 we will see them as an image of
“shoots.”
Israel was first a lowly vine that the Lord had the Lord
had planted in the Promised Land, and this is seen in some of the chapters
where the vine is used as a picture of Israel.
The vine, Israel, did not do too well in the early part of their
existence as we see in the book of Judges, but then when we see the Lord raise
up David the vine began to prosper, but after David the vine began to have
great difficulties until now we see it on life support during the time when
Ezekiel speaks this parable to the exiles.
Israel began to produce “wild grapes” as their downward spirial began
with Solomon.
Now in chapter fifteen we see in Ezekiel’s parable of the
vine as Israel that they are at the point of worthlessness and do not bear any
fruit at all. Remember what Jesus said
of those branches that did not produce fruit, that they would be thrown into
the fire and burned. Now to be honest I
believe that those branches that our Lord was talking about were what has been
called “Judas branches.” I say that
because Judas had just left the fold to go and betray the Lord, as Judas was
the worst form of being an apostate, and the branches that Ezekiel speaks of
were also apostates and must be burned too, however the shoot will begin to
produce fruit again as the line of David will continue even when Israel is in
exile, and as it returns to the land of Israel again and the Lord Jesus Christ
will be born some 400 plus years later as we are about to celebrate His birth
later on this week, but for the most part the nation of Israel was dead
spiritually during the time of Ezekiel.
During his time the branches were only good for one thing and that was
fuel for the fire. This began in 605 BC
and then again in 597 BC and finally the destruction comes to its fullest in
586 BC when Jerusalem is burned and the temple destroyed as we see the vine
being burned in its fullest. The problem
the false prophets in both Jerusalem and in Babylon that of the exiles, did not
believe this as they held to the false hope that the Lord was obligated not to
have Jerusalem or the temple destroyed. They
taught that because of the Lord had made a covenant with the house of David to
always have a king on the throne that Judah would never be destroyed, but God
destroyed the temple and also kept the line of David intact as our Lord was
born into the line of David as we see from the pages of the gospels in the NT.
Dr. Wiersbe finishes his commentary on this chapter with
the following: “Those of us who are
branches in Jesus Christ, the true vine, need to take this lesson to
heart. If we fail to abide in Christ, we
lose our spiritual power, wither , and fail to bear fruit for His glory. The fruitless branch is tossed aside and
eventually burned (John 15:6). I don’t
think this burning means condemnation in the lake of fire, for no true believer
can be condemned for sins for which Jesus died (John 6:37; 10:27-29; Rom. 8:1). The image of the burning branch is that of a
worthless life, a life useless to God.
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, prayed, ‘Lord, let me
not live to be useless!’” As I said
earlier, and I think that this does go along with what Dr. Wiersbe said that
the branches that will be burned will be the apostate branches of which it is probably
the ones that Ezekiel was preaching this message to.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I wish to use an
endnote for this section: “Parables and
allegories are given primarily to elucidate one main truth, and it’s dangerous
to build one’s theology on imagery that is supposed to illustrate
theology. The major truth in John 15 is
the believer’s need to abide in Christ, through prayer, meditation in the Word,
worship, and obedience. Our union with
Christ never changes because the Holy Spirit abides with us forever (John
14:16), but our communion with Him does change.” I want my communion to be the best as I walk
with the Lord today and every day.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I will use a quote from a man who is now with
the Lord: “Walk with the King today, and
be a blessing.”
Memory verses for the
week: 2 Peter 1:5-6.
5 Now for this very reason
also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in
your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in
your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance godliness,
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “He was killed in battle” (1
Kings 22:29-30).
Today’s Bible
question: “Where was the faith of the
Romans spoken about?”
Answer in our next SD.
12/22/2014 10:33 AM
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