Jehoshua is on the throne of David in New Jerusalem and He is the King of a New Israel
John Chapter 15
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. The prophets depicted Israel as a vineyard or vine planted by God in order to produce the fruit of righteousness and justice that delights Him. Jehoshua is the new covenant vine that the Father Jehovah planted. In this parable the Messiah presents Himself as the true Israel. Whereas joining the nation of Israel was the way to be in covenant with Jehovah God in the old testament, being in Messiah is the way to be in covenant with Jehovah in the new testament. 2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Those professed Christians that do not bear fruit are removed from the vine by the Father which shows the error of the once saved always saved doctrine and that are works don't play a part in salvation. Those that endure are disciplined (purgeth) and bring forth more fruit. 3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. This verse is key in understanding the importance of keeping the teachings of the Son of God. Many churches today are teaching that the commandments of Jehoshua are only for the Jews. However, it is the very words of Jehoshua that wash us clean and His words are what husbands wash their wives with. This includes all of the King of Israel's teachings which are summed up in the sermon on the mount. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. Jehoshua exhorts us to abide in Him and this we must do in order to produce fruit. What does it mean to abide in the Messiah? It is not merely believing that Jehoshua is your Saviour and having an emotional attachment or a mere mental ascent in knowledge of who He is, but rather it is keeping the words that Jehoshua taught i.e. His commandments. Just believing with your mind that Jehoshua is Saviour doesn't produce fruit but rather following His teachings which is clear from verse 3 and will be clearer as we continue in this study. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. Jehoshua restates that He is the vine of Jehovah and that as His branches we must abide in Him in order to produce fruit. Without abiding in Jehoshua we cannot do anything. No profession of faith is worth it's salt if it is not accompanied by abiding in the Son of God. Again, to abide in the Son of God is not merely a profession of belief in Him but rather to be His disciple and keep His sayings. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. Those that merely profess a belief in the Messiah but not actually keep His commandments do not bear fruit and are cast off the vine (Jehoshua). They then wither and at the judgment they will be cast into the lake of fire. This parable of the King of Israel refutes easy believism and once saved always. This parable clearly shows that these ones cast off were once actually part of the vine (Jehoshua). 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. This verse clearly shows what it means to abide in the Son of God. Abiding in Jehoshua is evidenced by having His words in you meaning you keep His words which is demonstrated by your actions. His words are His commandments i.e. the sermon on the mount. This again easily refutes the evangelical churches teaching that a Christian need not keep Jehoshua's sayings but only Paul's. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. The Father is glorified when Christians don't merely believe (mental ascent) in Jehoshua but actually follow Jehoshua's doctrine (commandments). Only by keeping the teachings of Jehoshua do we have a right to call ourselves His disciples. Only disciples will enter into the Kingdom of the Father. 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. How the Father loves Jehoshua is how Jehoshua loves us. The next verse will tell us how we continue in the love of the Son of God. John 15:10 "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love." The Father loved Jehoshua because Jehoshua kept the commandments of the Father. This is how the Son abides in the Father in that He keeps the Father's commandments. This is exactly the biblical definition of love i.e. keeping the commandments of God (1 John 5:2-3). Biblical love is not based on sentimentality but rather obedience to God's commandments. Guess what? This is exactly how we are loved by the Son in that we keep His commandments (sermon on the mount). There is an "if" in terms of abiding in the Son's love and that "if" is based on our obedience to the Son of God's teachings. Jehoshua's words directly contradict the evangelical notion that Jehoshua loves us no matter how we live and that we abide in His love no matter what because He died on the cross. There are conditions to abiding in the love of Jehoshua and those conditions are keeping His commandments (John 14:15). Verse 11 of John 15: "These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full." This parable about the vine and the branches is not one of legalism as the evangelicals try to imply but rather it is a message of joy because those who keep the commandments of the Son of God will remain in relationship with Him and also have the peace that surpasses all understanding. There are blessings that come with obeying the Messiah. The joy of the Son is that He abides in the Father's love by keeping His commandments. When we follow the obedient example of the King of Israel then we will have the same joy Jehoshua has. Verse 12 of John 15: "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." Just as the Father's commandments are rooted in love (1 John 5:2-3), the Son of God's commandments (sermon on the mount) are rooted in love. Jehoshua up's the ante in how we are to love each as brethren. We are to love each other as Jehoshua loved us which is a self denying sacrificial love. The whole sermon on the mount was about denying self for the benefit of others. This love that Jehoshua talks about is not a wishy washy sentimental Churchy type of love promoted by the evangelical churches but rather a type of love that causes one to lay down his life for his friends as noted in verse 13 of John 15: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." While the evangelicals will say "see Jesus commandments are only that we have to love each other". They say this trying to get out of having to obey His actual teachings and thinking that there once a week fellowship at a church building putting on a smile and being nice is the type of love Jehoshua is talking about but they are wrong. The type of love that is equated to keeping the Son of God's commandments is the love that will literally lay down it's life for the brethren as Jehoshua Himself did. Verse 14 of John 15: " Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." Another conditional promise, we are only Jehoshua's friends if we keep His commandments. Our relationship with Jehoshua is based and rooted in keeping His commandments. His commandments are summed up in the sermon on the mount and also include everything He taught. Today's evangelical will say they are friends of Jehoshua and at the same time say that we don't have to actually Keep His commandments. They are self deceived. Our friendship with the eternal Davidic King is exactly based on our obeying His commandments. Verse 15 of John 15: "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." This is a very important verse to comprehend. Jehoshua did not hide anything from His apostles and in turn they did not hide anything from us. This eliminates any possibility of post biblical revelation. Everything we need to know is written in scripture. This eliminates the false belief that the trinity was progressive revelation after the apostles died. Jehoshua clearly said He made known unto the apostles everything that He heard from the Father. If God was a trinity Jehoshua would have taught it. Same thing regarding the Sabbath, if it was no longer relevant Jehoshua would have said so and this includes Sunday as the supposed "Lord's day". The fact that Jehoshua mentions none of these things eliminates these doctrines from being true. Also, the virgin birth is hurt by this because nowhere in scripture does Jehoshua or His apostles teach this and yet the Son of God said He kept nothing from the Apostles. Verse 16 of John 15: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you." It is the Father that initiates the salvation process and His Son, working in union with Him, also elects us. This shows that ultimately salvation comes from God and comes through His Son. The Father and Son are one in Spirit, plan and purpose (John 10:30). Understanding this eliminates any pride we can have in our salvation. When we are chosen by the Son of God, we are then ordained as kings and priests via the Holy Spirit. This takes place at our conversion which involves faith, repentance and baptism. From the time of our conversion we are then to bear much fruit for the Kingdom. Our fruit will remain as our righteous works will follow us (Revelation 14:13). These righteous works will be rewarded on judgment day (Revelation 11:15-19). If we bear fruit for the Kingdom then we can boldly ask anything of the Father in the name of the Son of God and expect to receive it. This of course isn't a license to treat God as a Santa Claus but rather ask according to His will. Verse 17 of John 15: "These things I command you, that ye love one another." All of the Father's and Son's commandments are rooted in love. Many use this verse to eliminate the need to actually keep the specific commandments of God and His Son by saying "all we have to do is love". This ignores the truth that to fulfill the commandment to love one another includes actually following the specific instructions given by God and His Son Jehoshua. When we look at the actual commandments given by the Son of God on the sermon on the mount, we see that love is at root of them. Keeping the teachings of the Son of God, given on the mount, is practicing love because those sayings are instructions on how to love people. This statement in verse 17 takes us back to verse 12 where Jehoshua says "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you." So while the evangelical Christian tries to excuse himself from actually keeping Jehoshua's teachings and uses this verse (17) to do so, he runs into the problem of verse 12 where the command to love another is to love one another the way Jehoshua did. We must ask ourselves, how did Jehoshua love us? He laid down His life and died for us. He washed the feet of His disciples. He gave instruction with patience. Even though He was the King of Israel He didn't seek to be served but rather served others. He allowed Himself to be reviled and beaten without striking back. The command to love one another is not a passive emotional feeling but rather an active sacrificial self denying type of love. This is where the teachings of Jehoshua come into play as they lay out the specifics of what that love looks like. Verse 18 of John 15: "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you." This is the comfort of those of us Christians who experience hatred from those in the world. The same people who hate Christians today would have hated the Messiah if they lived in the first century or if He was here now. Verse 19 of John 15 "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." This again shows the sovereign election of God through His Son as we are chosen by them to be taken out of the world and translated into the Kingdom (Colossians 1:12-13). Because we are no longer of the world we are not loved by them. Just as the world hated Jehoshua they hate us. This is because Jehoshua's ways are in absolute contradiction to the ways of the world. The ways of Jehoshua's Kingdom expose the evil ways of the world's kingdom. Darkness does not like to be exposed by the light and the subsequent reaction of those in darkness is hatred and reviling. Verse 20 of John 15: "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also." Many Christians often forget about this, just as Jehoshua was persecuted by those in the world, we as His servants will also be persecuted by those in the world. Many Churches place themselves above the Messiah by teaching that Christians don't have to go through persecution in order to truly follow the Son of God. This is false as going through tribulation and suffering is actually a sign that we are worthy of the Kingdom (2nd Thessalonians 1:4-5). Verse 21 of John 15: "But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me." Why does the world persecute Christians? It's simple, because they don't know God. They do not have a relationship with Jehovah God the creator of this world. Verse 22 of John 15: "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin." The Messiah's ministry in Israel, like the preaching of the gospel in various nations today, removes the excuse of men's ignorance and provokes their antipathy. Verse 23 of John 15: "He that hateth me hateth my Father also." Many people claim to love God but they reject Jehoshua. You find this in many religions, notably Judaism which claims to worship the God of Israel but yet rejects it's Messiah. No one who rejects the King of Israel Jehoshua gives true worship to God no matter how devoted he may be to his own religion. Verse 24 of John 15: "If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father." Jehoshua was unique in that He did works which no other man did. Now that Jehoshua has been made known throughout the world via the gospel men do not have any excuse for rejecting Him. To reject Jehoshua is to hate Him and His Father. This includes the Messiah rejecting Jews and their Rabbi's. Verse 25 of John 15: "But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause." This quote comes from Psalm 69:4 which David wrote. Just as King David was hated and had many enemies, his offspring Jehoshua was hated even though He was sinless. Psalm 2 was, in it's immediate context, about King David and his persecution by the rulers of this world yet it was ultimately fulfilled in Messiah. The same applies to Psalm 69:4. Jehoshua only did good to mankind but for all His love and kindness they hated and crucified Him. Verse 26 of John 15: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me" The Comforter was to come to the Church after the Messiah ascended to heaven. It would be the Son who would send it (Acts 2:33). The Comforter would originate from the Father, being sent from Him. This is the Holy Spirit which is called the Spirit of truth. Keep in mind that Jehoshua is also called our Comforter in 1 John 2:1 (advocate, same Greek word as Comforter). Jehoshua as says He is the way, the TRUTH and the life one chapter earlier in John 14:6. The Holy Spirit is the very Spirit of the Son of God as Romans 8 states. It is also the Spirit of the Father. The Spirit of the Father and Son testify of Jehoshua Messiah. The evidence that someone has the Holy Spirit is if they testify that Jehoshua is the Messiah of God and Son of the living God. Verse 27 of John 15 "And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning" The apostles were to take the message of Jehoshua to all the nations (Matthew 28:19). This is the definition of prophecy from a new testament perspective. Prophecy in the new testament is testifying of Jehoshua. This includes what He taught during His earthly ministry, who He is in identity as well as the speaking of the old testament prophecies about Him. The book of Revelation says that the testimony of Jehoshua is the Spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10). Many churches today leave out the testimony of Jehoshua by not teaching His commandments and what His true identity is, which is being the seed of David according to the gospel (2 Timothy 2:8). Revelation 12:17 says that the remnant Church would keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jehoshua Messiah.
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