Daily Devotional for January 13
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. (1 John 2:1)
IF we find that through lack of faith or weakness of the flesh a wrong step has been taken, contrary to the Lord's will and our best spiritual interests, no time should be lost in retracing the steps and in calling upon the Lord. We have an altar consecrated with the precious blood of Christ, far superior every way to that which Abraham consecrated with the blood of typical animals, and the apostle exhorts us, "Let us come boldly [courageously--full of faith] to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in every time of need."--Hebrews 4:16 Z.'01-233 R2848:3
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Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. (John 15:8)
THE Lord announced himself as the true vine and his Father as the true Husbandman who planted the true vine, and his followers as the true branches of that vine. The expression “true vine” suggests a false vine, and this thought is accentuated and elaborated in our Lord's last message to his people in the symbols of Revelation. There he speaks of the gathering of the fruitage of the “vine of the earth,” and the casting of the same into the winepress of the wrath of God at the end of this age. (`Rev. 14:19`) There was, therefore, a deeper meaning in our Lord's words, “true vine,” than the apostles could have possibly gathered from them. We who are living at a time when both the true vine of the Father's planting and the false vine of the earth, earthly, have developed, have opportunity for noticing also that the vine of the earth is a counterfeit of the heavenly vine. In proportion as we see this matter clearly it will assist us not only in the understanding of the Lord's parable, but also in our application of it in our daily lives. We will be in less danger of misunderstanding, misconstruing and being deceived by the false vine, or by the false branches and the false principles represented in connection with its development, for it is not under the divine Husbandman's care. `Z'05-121` R3544:2 (Hymn 70)
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