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Withered Branch Apart From Christ, October 11
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.
John 15:6
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He [Judas] ... did not become transformed, and converted into a living
branch through connection with the True Vine. This dry sapling adhered
not to the Vine until it grew into a fruitful, living branch. He revealed that
he was the graft that did not bear fruit,—the graft that did not, fiber by
fiber and vein by vein, become knit with the Vine, and partake of its life.
The dry, disconnected sapling can become one with the parent vine
stock only by being made a partaker of the life and nourishment of the
living vine, by being grafted into the vine, by being brought into the closest
relationship possible.... The twig holds fast to the life-giving vine, until
the life of the vine becomes the life of the branch, and it produces fruit
like that of the vine
“I am the vine,” said Christ; “ye are the branches.” The closest pos-
sible connection is here represented. Engraft the leafless twig upon the
flourishing vine stock, and it becomes a living branch, drawing sap and
nourishment from the vine. Fiber by fiber, vein by vein, the sapling clings,
until it buds and blossoms and bears fruit. The sapless twig represents the
sinner. When united to Christ, soul is joined to soul, the feeble and finite
to the holy and infinite, and man becomes one with Christ
The apparently dry branch, by being connected with the living vine,
becomes a part of it.... The soul, dead in trespasses and sins, must experi-
ence a similar process.... As the graft receives life when united to the vine,
so the sinner partakes of the divine nature when connected with Christ.
Finite man is united with the infinite God. When thus united, the words of
Christ
abide
in us, and we are not actuated by a spasmodic feeling, but a
living, abiding principle
[292]
26
The Review and Herald, November 16, 1897
.
27
Testimonies for the Church 5:591
.
28
Testimonies for the Church 4:354, 355
.
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