The Secret of Abiding

I’m going to begin by telling you that I am a lover of old movies.  When I say old, I mean old - those great black and whites from the thirties through to the fifties.  In one of my favorites there stars a man who was as popular as any of his day.  That man was Edward G. Robinson.  There was only a small number of films that he starred in where he wasn’t cast as a gangster.  Some who remember him may be surprised to know that he once played the part of  an elderly Norwegian farmer, living in the state of Wisconsin.  It was called Our Vines Have Tender Grapes.  It was a beautiful story, as many were back in those days.  In it Edward G. Robinson was a very kind and good-hearted man.  His  family consisted only of himself, his wife, and a daughter somewhere about ten years of age.  Now I would have to say that there was one scene in this movie that really caught my attention.  It was around midday and the man of the house had come out from the field for a rest.  His aim was to head straight for the parlor, where he would throw himself down on the floor with the intention of grabbing a quick nap.  He had barely gotten comfortable when his young daughter entered the room.  She too got onto the floor, not leaving very much space between the two of them.  She began to speak to him.  Despite her father’s weariness, the old man was only too glad to respond.  Such was the look of peace and joy on the girl’s face, that you would think that lying near to him was the next best thing to heaven.  One would have surely bet that trading their present togetherness for anything else in this world would have been totally out of the question for the little lady.  It was only a matter of a few minutes and both were asleep. 

It must have been about six months or so after viewing this movie that I was driving down a highway.  I was alone in the car, returning from a church where I had been invited to speak.  As I recall, it was a good ride from Chicago.  Whenever the ride was long, I would just let my mind drift, not just on any old thing, but on the type of thoughts that the apostle Paul encouraged us to dwell on.  You know - the things that will last forever.  Whenever this happened I would always become aware of the presence of His Spirit.  As I rode along on that particular day I remember looking up towards the sky and off to the right a bit.  The clouds were beautiful.  But then I have always been a lover of clouds.  I started to notice that one was very much in the shape of a large head, broad shoulders, and a huge chest.  However, this didn’t appear to be in an upright position, but it was more like the figure of a man lying down.  Immediately the scene from the movie I had watched some months earlier came to mind.  It wasn’t long and I began to envision, not the old farmer, but our Heavenly Father, in perfect peace and rest somewhere in His infinite heavens.  Then I took it a step further.  Beholding the cloud, I began to visualize myself lying with my head rested upon His bosom, much like it was with the old man and his child.  Soon, and I was just sailing along, just Him and I.  Continuing on for a while in this manner was more than wonderful.  Do you know why it was so?  It’s because what I was doing was abiding.  I didn’t know that then, but I had learned of it some time later.  What does it mean to abide?  Though the scriptures have a good deal to say about the word, these three verses alone will unfold much to us: In I John 4:13 we read, By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.  In the gospel of John 15:9, Jesus says, As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. And this is what the 91st Psalm, vs. 1, tells us on the subject.  He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.  According to Webster’s Dictionary, the word abide means to remain stable in a state, or to continue in a place. 

To learn to abide in the God of the heavens and the earth is more important to us than we may realize.  It’s even greater than works.  Why would I make that statement?  It’s because the more time we spend abiding with Him, the greater our exploits will be - works.  True works will always come from out of an intimate union with God - abiding.  Do we truly love Him?  If so, then abiding should be second nature to us.  And the real works will always be born from out of abiding.  Yes, to lie with Him in perfect peace, love and joy, as it was with the little girl and her elderly father - this is as good as it gets.

Hear the words of Jesus: Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.  I am the Vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 

What is it that the Triune God looks for from us?  Simply it is a strong union with Him.  And then He looks for it to grow ever stronger.  If we should try to skip by this and head straight for the works department, we will eventually grow weary of the entire Christian experience.  Our bones will wax dry.  We will wonder what has gone wrong.  Hopefully it will come to us - no relationship, no intimacy, no fire in the soul. We have become like a vehicle that has run out of gas. 

The believer’s focal point should never be works.  Neither should it be our best efforts to conquer our sins and our weaknesses.  We shouldn’t even strive to become a powerful witness.  But always should the focal point be relationship.  If our union with the Lord is thriving, then all other matters will be taken care of, and that by the One who reigns on high in Power and in Glory.

God is never impressed with our feeble efforts to get places, with inadequacy being all that we have to offer.  But what He seeks for in us is a working union with Him.  Did not Jesus say Abide in Me, and I in you?  The obvious answer could only be yes.  But someone might add that He also told us to do the works that the Father has given us to do.  True.  However, He makes it clear, that if we are not abiding in Him as we ought to, then we will not be able to do those works as He would have them to be done.  When it comes right down to it, our call in Christ is all about our union with Him - all about abiding. 

Through the words that the Lord spoke to us on that day, He was painting a picture of a simple truth.  He was telling  the people that He was as a grapevine, and all who believed in Him would be as branches coming forth from Him.  The function of each branch would be to have and maintain a connection with the Vine.  Why?  This is how they would be nourished.  However, if the Roots did not draw up nutriment from the soil, then the branches would never receive from the Vine, since the Vine would not receive from the Roots.  But in this matter we may forever rest.  Why is this?  Because I’m sure we wouldn’t be carrying the analogy too far if we were to see the Holy Spirit as being the Roots of the Vine.  He then, through all eternity, will not fail to fill the Son with Life and with Power.  And to this there will be no end - no end, no beginning; such is the nature of the Triune God. 

According to the account in the book of Genesis, one can easily come to the conclusion that the Lord God had planted a great assortment of trees in Eden’s garden.  Yet there are only two called by name.  The first is the tree of life.  Then we hear of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  We all know that it was the latter that would  become the downfall of the human race.  Though little is said of the tree of life.  We only know that cherubim were to guard it so that the man and the woman would not eat of it and live forever.  Often have I wondered about this tree.  Will it have a place somewhere in that city of gold?  If so, will we eat of it, and by it benefit in some way?  Though we have good reason to believe that the tree of life is an actual tree, I can’t help but feel that it is something more.  But what more can it be?  Could it not be a foreshadower of the Son?  Let’s try looking at it this way.  For what reason was it to be kept guarded by cherubim?  It was so that the man and the woman would not partake of it and live forever.  Is it not Jesus who today we are called to partake of for eternal life?  And so again I ask. Was this tree meant to foreshadow the Son of God?

Some years ago I would imagine in my mind’s eye a Tree growing from out of the earth and reaching unto the heavens - a great fruit bearing Tree.  Its branches could not be counted.  From time to time I would think of this Tree; and when I did I’d see every branch as a living branch, with the very life of God flowing through them.  Great was the fellowship among the branches and eternal life was in them.  From where did this Life come?  It came from the Spirit - the Roots of the Tree.  This is the Father’s Tree - the Tree that will never die.  Why will it go on forever?  It will go on forever because the Spirit’s flow of Life to the Son - the Great Trunk from the earth to the heavens - will always be.  In turn, the Son’s flow to all of the branches will never end.  This is the Tree who is God.  Never will any branch cease to produce the works of the Father’s love in that Day.

It is in more than one way that Jesus spans the great gap between heaven and earth.  The patriarch Jacob received a dream from God as he slept one night.  In this dream he envisioned a Ladder rising from the earth unto the heavens.  The angels of God were ascending and descending upon it.  We all know that Ladder to be Jesus.

Surely King David was a man well acquainted with the Spirit of God - and this in an Old Testament world.  David saw the Lord as his High Tower - his refuge in times of trouble.  How high did his tower ascend?  Since David was a man with eyes to see, I have no doubt that he beheld a tower breaking through to the heavens; and there he learned to abide in the Son.  Even as Jacob’s Ladder reached from the earth unto the heavens, I believe that David’s High Tower did likewise.  For it is none but Jesus who spans the great gap for all of the faithful, that He may bring them to God.

From the Roots to the Trunk; from the Trunk to the branches.  And when the proper season comes along, the branches produce the works of God - the fruits of His Spirit.  The people taste of them and are glad.  We have given one another to eat.  Praise Him for His marvelous plans and wonders. 

It is not a burden to learn to abide, but it is in fact a great joy.  If you would have seen the old farmer and his young daughter that I told about earlier, you would have detected that the child was anything but burdened while lying close up to this man.  Pure delight would have more described it, both for the girl and her elderly father.  He was as the trunk of a tree and she was as a connecting branch; surely was she receiving of all of his goodness.  This would one day cause her to become a beautiful fruit bearing branch; therefore the people would partake of her and be blessed. 

Abide in Me, and I in you, were the words of the Lord to His disciples on that day.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.   I am the Vine, you are the branches.  He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Where do we begin, once we have become born from above?  Do we pound the pavement, looking to do, and to do, and to do still more?  I think not.  But if one should come our way, it would surely be a good thing to testify to them of the miracle that God has done in us.  Yet for the most part, abide.  Talk to Him.  Learn of Him.  Observe Him.  Wonder over Him.  But most of all, draw always more near.  Recline upon His bosom; and now will we come to Love Him.  Now have we learned the secret of abiding; and every true work is born of abiding. 

J. Pecoraro