I am the true vine - Perhaps the vines which they met with, on their road from Bethany to Gethsemane, might have given rise to this discourse. Some of the disciples were probably making remarks on the different kinds of them, and our Lord took the opportunity of improving the conversation, according to his usual manner, to the instruction of their souls. He might here term himself the true vine, or vine of the right sort, in opposition to the wild and barren vine. Some MSS. and several of the fathers read the verse thus: I am the true vine, ye are the branches, and my Father is the husbandman. Some think that, as this discourse followed the celebration of the Eucharist, our Lord took occasion from the fruit of the vine, used in that ordinance, to introduce this similitude.

true.

John 1:9,17 That was the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world...

John 6:32,55 Then Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven...

1 John 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write to you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past...

vine.

Genesis 49:10,11 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come...

Psalm 80:8 You have brought a vine out of Egypt: you have cast out the heathen, and planted it.

*etc:

Isaiah 4:2 In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious...

Isaiah 5:1 Now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well beloved has a vineyard in a very fruitful hill:

*etc:

Jeremiah 2:21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then are you turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine to me?

Jeremiah 12:10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot...

Ezekiel 15:2-6 Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest...

Hosea 10:1 Israel is an empty vine, he brings forth fruit to himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he has increased the altars...

Zechariah 3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you, and your fellows that sit before you: for they are men wondered at: for, behold...

Matthew 21:33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and dig a wine press in it...

Luke 13:6 He spoke also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.

husbandman.

Songs 7:12 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth...

Songs 8:11,12 Solomon had a vineyard at Baalhamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers...

Isaiah 27:2,3 In that day sing you to her, A vineyard of red wine...

Isaiah 60:21 Your people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands...

Isaiah 61:3 To appoint to them that mourn in Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning...

Matthew 20:1 For the kingdom of heaven is like to a man that is an householder...

Mark 12:1 And he began to speak to them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and dig a place for the winefat...

1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are laborers together with God: you are God's husbandry, you are God's building.

December 16 Evening
The deep things of God.--I COR. 2:10. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.--It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. We have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

May 13. "Abide in Me" (John xv. 4).
"Abide in Me" (John xv. 4). Christianity may mean nothing more than a religious system. Christian life may mean nothing more than an earnest and honest attempt to follow and imitate Christ. Christ life is more than these, and expresses our actual union with the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is undoubtedly in us as the life and source of all our experience and work. This conception of the highest Christian life is at once simpler and sublimer than any other. We do not teach in these pages, that the purpose …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

February 25. "I am the vine, Ye are the Branches" (John xv. 5).
"I am the vine, ye are the branches" (John xv. 5). How can I take Christ as my Sanctifier, or Healer? is a question that we are constantly asked. It is necessary first of all that we get into the posture of faith. This has to be done by a definite and voluntary act, and then maintained by a uniform habit. It is just the same as the planting of a tree. You must put it in the soil by a definite act, and then you must let it stay put and remain settled in the ground until the little roots have time …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth