This is like a short analogy, shortest to the point chapter. Jerusalem is worthless without God, we all are. At first I read this chapter of Ezekiel’s chastisement of wandering Idolaters of Jacob’s flock as ‘oh there’s a connection to Jesus as the Vine’ in the new testament. Then I read the chapter 15 (below) and realized it’s deep and pertains to today too, it’s that without God, the people are lost!!! Lost, and it’s that the vine, especially broken up, or used as a fire starter or anything else is going to burn them all – and life away from God is not working out for them – so God’s going to turn His face away and they will suffer even more…

So, I add thoughts of the ‘Vine and branches’ scripture from Jesus (John 15, also below) as contrast in growth and usefulness. Jesus as FORGIVENESS power revives and re-vines the fruitfulness of the people who follow Him. There were wandering people but made clean by the Word, Jesus, instilled in them. People and disciples then and now, made clean by Jesus. Jesus restores the usefulness of the vine. 

Jesus even calls Himself the Son of Man like God called Ezekiel, and it’s a true moniker for being among the people. Jesus protects (think of Daniel’s description of Jesus in the fire with the three standing against King Nebuchadnezzar’s command to worship him falsely), AND Jesus restores (a King, a true King, on David’s throne), AND Jesus is the inner fruitfulness to be expressed in each of us (I am the Vine, You are the branches, remain in Me)…

Jesus restores unfaithfulness, unfruitfulness, unrealized life. 

Vine us back Lord.

Keep us growing for Your Work. 

In Your Name, in Your Word, in Your Power, we pray.

Amen

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Ezekiel Chapter 15 – Jerusalem as a Useless Vine

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, how is the wood of a vine different from that of a branch from any of the trees in the forest? Is wood ever taken from it to make anything useful? Do they make pegs from it to hang things on? And after it is thrown on the fire as fuel and the fire burns both ends and chars the middle, is it then useful for anything? If it was not useful for anything when it was whole, how much less can it be made into something useful when the fire has burned it and it is charred?

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As I have given the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest as fuel for the fire, so will I treat the people living in Jerusalem. I will set my face against them. Although they have come out of the fire, the fire will yet consume them. And when I set my face against them, you will know that I am the Lord. I will make the land desolate because they have been unfaithful, declares the Sovereign Lord.”

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John 15 – The Vine and the Branches

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.