Come Follow Me LDS- John 14-17 Part 2

'A Farewell, A Vine & 1 + 1 = One'

- Jesus continues his farewell address
- The covenant of 'Hesedh' (Love)
- Imagery of The Vine
- What does 'One' really mean?

 

 

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in this episode we cover a farewell and

one plus one equals one here we go

[Music]

so when episode 1 this week we covered a

little more about the Last Supper and we

began what we might call the farewell

address or the patriarchal blessing of

Jesus to his apostles and whoever else

might be there in the upper room with

them this is a formal gathering where

the sacrament has been instituted or

reinstituted and the address that we

have here from Jesus is a formal address

and it models what Moses did when he

left the Israelites before they came

into the land of promise into Palestine

the remainder of this address is found

in John chapters 14 through 17 so let's

go to chapter 14 and remember overall

this address is kind of under the

umbrella of has said which is the

covenant of love and so you will find a

lot of references to this bond this

bringing together under the English term

here love and so in some ways we get

this idea of a covenant something that

binds us together is not just an emotion

which would be a result an emotion of

love but our efforts toward one another

in that spiritual economy right where we

are creating spiritual transactions in

bonding ourselves one with another

through covenant and through our efforts

and through our actions of love so in

chapter 14 here if we look at verses 1

through 7 we get this message starting

off with courage courage for the journey

the separation that they're going to

have where Jesus is going to be leaving

them the hour is nigh at hand and he

says here in verse 1 let not your heart

be troubled you believe in God believe

also in me

in my father's house are many mansions

if it were not so I would have told you

I go to prepare a place for you mansions

we could also look at this as possibly

many rooms that would be here in the

mansion of the father

either way it's a representation of

theirs it's not just for Jesus right

it's not just a place for Jesus to go

the perfect being the Savior but it is a

place for all of us so the many rooms

available there or the many mansions

that are there are for all of us to be

able to go to we sometimes interpret

that as well as different degrees there

are different degrees of glory that we

may arrive at but Jesus's message is

clear here he wants his disciples to

know that he is going to be leaving them

but that he is going ahead of them he is

preparing a place for them where they

will then be able to meet with him again

this is his primary message this was the

same message that Moses gave in

Deuteronomy chapter 1 where he said the

Lord your God goes before you so it's

kind of we're not going to go deeply

into this but if you look through the

book of Deuteronomy especially all the

way from chapters 1 to 33 you're going

to see similar messages that we get here

in this address this farewell address

from Jesus to his disciples so then he

says to them in verse 3 and if I go and

prepare a place for you I will come

again and receive you unto myself that

where I am there ye may be also

so again wants them to be together in

this covenant of bonding together and

whether I go ye know and the way he know

and Thomas one of the Apostle says to

him Lord we know not whither thou goest

and how can we know the way and then we

get the famous scripture here in verse 6

which is I am the way the truth and the

life no man cometh unto the father but

by me

so we have a couple of examples here of

what he's talking about he is the

intercessory right we're about to have

the intercessory prayer that he's

basically gonna give to the father but

he is the mediator for us and what that

means is in that fluid hierarchy which

he's going to

cover extensively here he is our

advocate he is preparing the way for us

he is giving us the example of how to

live and the teachings of how to live

that we can follow and of course he is

creating the way through the sack his

sacrifice later this night later this

next day so he is the way he is the life

eternal life and he is the truth and

none of us can return back to the Father

except through him and so we're told we

should do all things in his name again

as an intermediary we pray in his name

we acting the priesthood in his name etc

and then we get these words that are

very these phrases that are very common

in will call them credo we'll call it

credo Christianity where we talk about

being one and how God is one or Jesus

and the father are one

and this is how he leads into this

Philip says to him show us the father

and it suffice with us so Jesus just

said I'm the way back to the Father and

and Philip says can you show us the

father they want to know him and Jesus

responds with have I been so long time

with you and he has thou not known me

Philip

he that hath seen me hath seen the

father and how sayest thou then shew us

the father so we're starting to give

this idea that we would get in

mainstream Christianity or creedal

Christianity where the father and the

son and Jesus and the father are the

same being and then he says believe us

now not that I am in the father and the

father and me the words that I speak

unto you I speak not of myself but the

father that dwelleth in me he doeth the

works believe me that I am in the father

and the father and me or else believe me

for the very works sake so what he's

actually doing here is not saying that

they are the same being right saying

that they're the same purpose-- the same

heart the same vision and at the same

time he's describing

that fluid spiritual hierarchy where he

is tying himself to the Father and

acting in his father's name who sent him

and that were then turning that toward

us supposed to do the same thing and

bond ourselves to Christ and act in his

name and so we get this message that we

already know the Father because we know

the Sun or the disciples already know

the Father because they know the Sun

this is an interesting term to know God

to know Jesus to know the Savior this is

what Jeremiah back in the time of Lehi

talked about when he spoke of the New

Covenant that there would be a new

covenant when the Savior came it's the

higher law the Melchizedek law and that we

would know the Lord and the Lord would

know us and so we get kind of this

reaffirmation of this idea of knowing

each other that we would know Jesus that

we would know the Savior because we are

introduced to him and understand him

better through the restoration of the

fullness of the priesthood and of the

fullness of the gospel and understanding

who he is and what his role and purpose

is and then in verse 15 Jesus says if ye

love me keep my Commandments remember

back when Jesus said to Peter if he love

me feed my sheep and here he says if he

loved me to his disciples keep my

Commandments we get the idea especially

in the Western world that the more an

idea of the of love as an emotion that

this is the result of how we feel for

something or especially for somebody but

when we read it in the scriptures we're

usually talking about something where

there is action it is a verb or a noun

that represents action so here we get

more of a verb with the word love if he

love me keep my Commandments so it's not

just we feel a bonding

to the Savior or a commitment to the

Savior but if we love him we're going to

be full of action in keeping the

commandments and feeding his sheep and

in being in service to our fellow man

that is love

it is the action and usually my

experience anyway is that the love that

you feel for someone even though you

feel something for someone up front the

love that you have that you feel is

greatly increased by what you actually

do for somebody that that's been my

experience and he says and I will pray

the father and he shall give you another

comforter that he may abide with you

forever of course this is the Holy Ghost

so since the Savior is leaving here

Jesus is leaving his disciples he's

saying I'm not leaving you alone right

you'll have the Holy Ghost here that

will give you comfort and inspiration

and a sense of truth just as the Savior

has done this for them and then he

reaffirms what he means by love and he

says here in verse 21 he that hath my

Commandments and keepeth them he it is

that loveth me so we can say we love God

we can say we love somebody even but do

we really right they're not talking

about an emotion here we're talking

about a commitment to someone we're

talking about action and Jesus here

is affirming that and he follows that up

with and he that loveth me shall be

loved of my father so we can see again a

spiritual transaction here where we are

putting our commitment and action in

play here that is our love and in turn

the father gives us additional action in

play here for us it's not just an

emotion and then we get another question

this is from Judas but it's not

Judas Iscariot this is Jude who writes

the letter in the New Testament called

Jude and he says Lord how is it that

thou wilt manifest thyself unto us and

not under the world and Jesus goes right

back into this into the term love and

defines it further and he says if a man

love me he will keep my words and my

father will love him and we will come

unto him and make our abode with him so

again we're talking about a covenant

here we're talking about has said which

is love this bonding together but for us

to have that we have to have action

which goes well beyond the idea of

traditional Christianity of just saying

I believe and I'm saved or just

accepting Jesus as your Savior the love

that we have for God as defined very

clearly here over and over again from

Jesus his our actions toward him or

commitment toward him and he follows

this up again with a message about the

Holy Ghost in verse 26 he says but the

comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom

the father will send in my name he shall

teach you all things and bring all

things to your remembrance whatsoever I

have said unto you so you can imagine

you have been taught everything directly

from the Savior himself here if you're

one of his disciples and you've spent

the last three years most of them maybe

that he's speaking with directly with

the Savior living with him teaching with

him learning from him and now he's about

to be taken from them and so his message

is clear I will be gone personally

physically but you will have the Holy

Ghost you will have the comforter and so

you will have a teacher you will have

truth and you'll have a remembrance of

him

through the Holy Ghost and then we go

over to chapter 15 and here Jesus starts

off this chapter by saying the following

I am The True Vine this is rich rich

symbolism the disciples know exactly

what he is talking about and my father

he says is the husband

well here's some additional imagery on

this first of all think of the terms in

the Book of Isaiah that we get with the

stem of Jesse or the branch these

correlate directly with the vine

these are Davidic terms that is a

monarch of the monarchy and so he being

the vine he says the true vine he's

saying he is the Davidic King but more

importantly he is the King of Kings he

is Jehovah that was spoken of and

represented in the temple drama each

year in the Feast of Tabernacles and in

the temple of Herod on the eastern gates

there was a massive vine that came over

the walls a golden vine and Josephus

says that the clusters of grapes golden

grapes were so large there was as tall

as a man so there's a massive vine this

is part of the Assembly of the temple

and the Mishnah says that these clusters

of grapes in times of when the Treasury

the temple treasury was depleted they

would actually use these if they had to

purchase something and they didn't have

and the funds were low and so the vine

in a sense if you looked at it and you

had all these golden clusters of grapes

on it would be a sign of the wealth of

the temple and it's very possible that

that vine was also in the first temple

we don't know that but it could have

been I mean the terminology is already

there and you have this idea of the vine

here with a temple and then the Tree of

Life which also could be considered a

vine with branches and stems and then

the other tree of course in Temple

imagery would be the tree of knowledge

of good and evil or the vine of

knowledge of good and evil and so Jesus

saying he is the true vine just a couple

thoughts here could mean a couple of

different things one the vine that was

put up could have been just from Herod

in his temple

it's Herod's temple and so Jesus is kind

of contrast

Herod with himself and saying you have

Herod here who is the ruler but I am the

true ruler I am the true Davidic King

that the vine represents or also we

can look at the two different trees in

the temple and you had the Tree of Life

and the tree of knowledge of good and

evil the true vine the true tree would

be the Tree of Life and the tree of

knowledge of good and evil is a

representative of the lower law of the

Aaronic law think about that we haven't

gone into that yet I don't think but

that tree would represent the law

because with a knowledge of things that

are good and evil how would you have

that knowledge well your eyes can be

open but one way you have that knowledge

is actually receiving the law now that I

know the law I know what's good and bad

and so that's kind of a representation

of the law of Moses or the lower law

whereas the true vine or the Tree of

Life possibly is a representation of the

Savior and of a Divine Mother probably

who would be the throne remember she is

the throne and the branches of that tree

are the kings the Davidic Kings and so

you have a mother and a son

representation in the Tree of Life and

so we get this imagery you remember of

the Treasury of the temple in verse two

here it says every branch in me that

beareth NOT fruit he taketh away so that

could be a king and could be any of us

that has eventually the Melchizedek

Priesthood the royal priesthood and

every branch that beareth fruit he

purges it or think of the currant bush

right the typology of the

currant bush it's tested to grow

stronger that it may bring forth more

fruit and so you think of the fruit of

the golden vine out on the temple of

Herod was used as a Treasury it was used

people brought that fruit in people

brought them

or even possibly the gold and so you get

this imagery this temple imagery of are

you producing fruit or are you bringing

forth spiritual contributions and then

again the fluid hierarchy that comes in

this is repeated over and over again

where he's been talking about him and

his father are one or you if you know

the father if you know me you know the

father he then says here in verse four

abide in me and I in you as the branch

cannot bear fruit of itself so we can't

do it on our own we don't produce the

fruit the spiritual fruit on our own

except it abide in the vine or in the

Savior no more can ye except ye abide in

me so we can't bring forth the fruit the

spiritual fruit without being tied

directly to the Savior who is tied

exactly and truly perfectly with the

father so again all part of this

covenant of has said love of love that

he's talking about and the Covenant that

bonds us together is a hierarchy that

eventually leads all the way back to the

Father and he says for without me ye can

do nothing and then again in verse nine

as the father hath loved me so coming

from the father as the father hath loved

me so have I loved you so from the

father Jesus and then he says continue

ye in my love in other words you need to

go do the same thing you need to

replicate what I have replicated in

verse 10 if he keep my Commandments ye

shall abide in my love

bonding yourself through the Covenant

through the commandments to this

covenant and then just a little bit more

specific this is something we've all

heard in verse 12 this is my commandment

that ye love one another as I have loved

you again he's bringing that love

directly from what he received from the

Father and turning and giving that to us

and we need to do that now

everybody else we are replicating a true

path as Jesus says he is the way the

life and the truth paraphrased and then

he falls with this and he says greater

love hath no man than this that a man

lay down his life for his friends well

what is he about to do he's about to lay

down his spiritual life his spirit

completely for all of us here in just a

few hours and then he's going to give

his physical life up for each one of us

both of which he is taking the punches

so to speak and taking on the

responsibility for all of us that's love

greater man greater love hath no man

than this then he lay down his life for

his friends he gives a definition of his

friends ye are my friends if you do

whatsoever I command you it's kind of an

interesting point we don't always we

always want to think about this

unconditional type of a relationship and

certainly there's it's unconditional in

the sense that we all always have

forgiveness and the opportunity to move

forward but in talking about friends

he's talking more about this covenant

and so if we are following the

commandments then we are his friends

that makes sense to me

and then he quickly goes into

persecution we've talked about this

previously that they are probably going

to be persecuted he says don't be

bothered by it he says you're not of

this world

I'm not of this world and because

you're tied to me you're not of this

world and the world hates me and so the

world is going to hate you in other

words they're living different rules

different planes of being and they don't

work together they don't mesh and he

says this kind of interesting thing here

in verse 22 he says if I had not come

and spoken unto them it's the world

everybody else they had not had sin well

how is that well again go back to the

idea of the tree of knowledge of good

and evil if there was no knowledge of

the law then Adam and Eve

he would not have been able to sin they

can't sin against something they don't

know but with the law and now we can say

even with the higher law here they're

told what is right and they're told what

is wrong they know what is right they

know what is wrong and now they're able

to sin and they have as he says an

interesting word here he says but now

they have no cloak for their sin a cloak

for their sin in other words no cover

remember what the day of atonement is in

Hebrew Yom Kippur the day of covering so

they no longer have this because they

are rejecting seems to me they're

rejecting the savior and without him

just like King Noah and his priests knee

whore and core whore and probably laman

and lemuel when you reject the Savior

there's no way to have a covering for

your sins now that you know what is

right and what is wrong think about Adam

and Eve going back again they partake of

the fruit from the tree of knowledge of

good and evil they know now what is

right and wrong think of it as receiving

the law so they're going to go

automatically into a fallen state

because they're not perfect beings so

what does the Lord do immediately he

creates a covering and provides for Adam

and Eve garments of skin so they are

immediately covered or cloaked for their

sins but those that reject him reject

the Savior they don't have this covering

they don't have the cloak and then we

get something interesting you know we

think it oftentimes over here in chapter

16 we think often times about good and

evil that there's good people and

there's bad people and we think that

some are god-fearing and they're the

good people of the people that are not

god-fearing are bad people but that's

not usually where most of the evil comes

from not necessarily the worst evil

comes in the name of God and this is

what Jesus says

here he says these things have I spoken

unto you that ye should not be offended

in other words things are gonna happen

to you because you're tying yourself to

me just like they're happening about to

happen to me because I'm tied to the

Father he says in verse two they shall

put you out of the synagogue's yea the

time cometh that whosoever killeth you

will think that he doeth god's service

so this is a principle that is applied

always in society and that is the

killing or the destruction or the evil

that is done in God's name and we think

I think a prime example of this is going

back to laman and lemuel we oftentimes

think of them as just evil people but I

don't think that's the case they were

evil in God's name I believe in other

words we don't ever see that they are

against the Sabbath or any of the law of

Moses they don't have problems with this

they may be absolute fundamentalists

with the law of Moses but they have

rejected Christ and that is the message

of Lehi and so they are willing to kill

their own father and Nephi for what for

blasphemy and do it in the name of God's

service that seems to me what's

happening there and the high priests and

elders and scribes here and others are

at a minimum going to use that that is

God's authority that they pretend to

have and in God's name they are going to

kill the savior of the world and then he

says going back to knowing him and

knowing the father he says and these

things will they do unto you because

they have not known the father nor me so

like Jeremiah says about a new covenant

that will be coming and being restored

which is the Savior and the higher milk

acidic law those that reject that are

the ones that don't know him and they

will do these things to the Christians

here because they do not know or accept

the higher Melchizedek law with Jesus

has the center with it with his

sacrifice he says something kind of

interesting here in verse 10 he says

that he's talking about the comforter

and that I need to go away because you

need to have the comforter here you need

to work through the Holy Ghost and not

just through me here that's a

part of the process for all of us but he

talks about it you have to do this for

righteousness sake of pretty much in

other words what he's saying is you

can't have a fullness of righteousness

unless you work through the Holy Ghost

it's pretty interesting I mean he's

right there this is Jesus Christ that is

with them constantly and yet he's

telling them you can't be fully

righteous unless I leave and you work

through the Holy Ghost it's a great

lesson I think for all of us we need to

learn to work through the spirit and in

verse 20 he talks about the upside down

so to speak the way that you have a

spiritual economy and the temporal

economy the higher and the lower laws

and he says verily verily I say unto you

that ye shall weep and lament it's

talking about because what's gonna

happen to him and he's gonna leave but

the world shall rejoice so they're going

to be sad and lamenting and the world is

going to be happy about it and ye shall

be sorrowful but your sorrow shall be

turned into joy so as you go through

this process you will eventually be able

to have joy I think that's the true for

all of us we all need to pass through as

Eve says we all need to pass through the

bitter to be able to have the sweet

that's what happens exactly in that

cedar meal that they probably just had

where they dip the stop into the

horseradish that is what Jesus did and

Judas did it right at the same time so

that's the bitter and then they have

after that they have they have the Apple

or something sweet that comes in right

after that so the bitter has to happen

first and then you can have the joy and

then lastly in chapter 17 here we have

the intercessory prayer think of that as

an intercessory prayer it's exactly what

we've talked about it

the fluid hierarchy that is constantly

being described to us an understanding

that a path has been created for us a

trail has been blazed by the Savior

already who is tied directly to the

Father and now we need to tie ourselves

to him that is the intercession he is

our advocate and hopefully we are tying

ourselves to him and following him he

says here in verse one as he lifts up

his eyes to the sky father the hours

come glorify thy son that thy son also

may glorify thee and thou hast given him

power over all flesh that he should give

eternal life to as many as thou hast

given him so again comes from the father

the power is given to the son the son

then can use that power to grant eternal

life to us and then of course verse 3

here and this is life eternal that they

might know thee right these are the

words of the Covenant Jeremiah the

higher law covenant the New Covenant the

only true God remember Jesus said he was

The True Vine and Jesus Christ whom thou

has sent and then we get a description

here kind of culminating this covenant

of his said of love with the term of

being one and this is something where we

have a big difference in our theology

from credo Christianity what we are

talking about being one in purpose and

even deeper than that Jesus says here in

verse 11 as he continues to pray for his

disciples specifically he says and now I

am no more in the world but these are in

the world so think about us as his

disciples here he's advocating for us

and I come to thee Holy Father keep

through thine own name those whom thou

hast given me so again he's interceding

for us he's advocating for us that is

his role that they may be one

as we are one so this is a scripture

that's very important to know and to

understand what is meant by the Father

the Son and the Holy Ghost being one

obviously the disciples are not part of

that and yet Jesus here is saying

specifically that they may be one as we

are one so how can the father and the

son be one and then also the disciples

be a part of that one

well it's through covenant it's through

the covenants that we make and then keep

where we become one the other thing to

understand here when we talk about 1 we

need to think about the beginning

in other words day 1 of the creation is

the beginning remember in the beginning

of Genesis in the beginning God created

cetera etc etc well the temple was

created based on that what we would call

a creation liturgy so the holy of holies

represents the beginning day one and

that is different from all of the other

days it's described differently in other

words it's a title and means the

beginning or the state of things before

the fall and so Jesus says he is now

leaving his disciples to return to the

Father to return to the glory that was

experienced before coming into mortality

going back so to speak to the Holy of

Holies he is saying that the disciples

also are one with them where they will

return to the Holy of Holies or back to

the beginning with the father and the

son in a state of glory so when we think

about the father and Jesus being one

it's not just one in purpose but that

one is a state of being and it's the

state of being that the Holy of Holies

represents in the beginning and then

down in verse 15 as we skip down

a little bit he says I pray not that

thou should has take them out of the

world so you're saying I have to go now

but I don't want you to take them but

that thou should just keep them from the

evil so in other words we all have to

experience mortality we all have to

experience the laws and the rules

the chaos of this world the lower laws

that is necessary so he's saying don't

take them from that but help them stay

away from the evil in other words help

them to make good decisions and that's

what the Holy Ghost would be for and

then in verse 20 he follows up with a

definition of one and he says neither

pray I for these alone so the disciples

whoever's there with him at the Last

Supper but for them also which shall

believe on me through their word so

again that would be everybody that they

teach and of course those words are

found in the scriptures so that's us as

well he's praying for us who are the

chosen why are we the chosen it's not

because of bias or discrimination but it

is because that is the term used

sometimes interchangeably with the elect

so he elects something an election

you're choosing the elect are those that

are under the Covenant here that he is

talking about and then he follows it up

on verse 21 with that they all may be

one as thou father art in me and I in

thee that they also may be one in us so

God being one the father and the son is

the same idea as us being one with him

back to the original state of things

back to the state of glory back to the

Holy of Holies back to the celestial

room that the world may believe that

thou hast sent me and the glory which

thou gavest me I have given them a

hierarchy the transmission from one

level to the next of the spiritual

capital that they may be one even as we

are one

so as the father is one and Jesus is one

one plus

one equals one because they're both in

the same state in the beginning and as

Jesus is one and we are one with him and

the father then one plus one plus one

plus one equals one we are all going

back to the original state if we keep

those covenants of the higher law and he

finishes up here in verse 25 and 26 he

says a righteous father the world hath

not known thee hasn't accepted the

higher law but I have known thee and

these have known that thou hath sent me

again he always keeps it not he didn't

say that they have known the father

directly again he's always keeping

it in this hierarchical structure it's

part of the gospel it's how it works and

I have declared unto them thy name and

will declare it that the love wherewith

thou hast loved me may be in them and I

in them so beautifully he finishes up

this address this patriarchal blessing

this farewell succinctly by talking

about the love that exists between him

and the father and those that follow the

commandments with him it is the Covenant

of his said it is the covenant of love

it is charity which is part of the

higher law and absolutely required to

return into that state of being one with

a savior and with the father

I'll talk to you next time