The Hedge Removed and the True Vine

… Israel has passed without holy prophets. At times they were taken captive and went off to the land of the Persians and Medes together with their wives and those dearest to them. Yet when the Babylonians had at one time taken the famous Jerusalem, they did not go down into Egypt without holy prophets: the prophet Jeremiah was with them, ministering the words that came from above and from God.

But since they raged against Christ, they have remained without a hedge, and all their security has fallen. This, I think, is what is meant by saying that its wall is pulled down (Isaiah 5:5). Every word of the holy prophets to them has ceased, held back in a way like rain (Isaiah 5:6), and the voices of the saints have failed.

And this, I think, is what God said to them through one of the prophets: “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. And from the east to the west they will run about seeking the word of the Lord, and they will not find it” (Amos 8:11–12).

These things, as I said, have befallen those of Israel, and with good reason. For they thrust away the Lord of hosts, who waters souls and hearts in a spiritual way and enriches them with spiritual dews; blessed David also recalled these, saying, “Like the dew of Hermon that comes down on the mountains of Zion” (Psalm 133:3).

In its place a new vineyard has been raised up, made up of those called through faith to holiness. Of them the Bridegroom from heaven, that is, Christ, says: “The vines are in blossom; they have given their fragrance” (Song of Songs 2:13). He himself is the first, all-holy, and true vine, and we hang from him like branches, filled with the life-giving richness that comes from him.

Indeed, he said plainly: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes, so that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1–2).

Since we have grown onto him through kinship, clearly a spiritual kinship, we have been made fruitful. And he himself confirms us in this, saying: “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:4–5).

So I say that we must hold fast, through faith and love and readiness to obey in everything, to the true vine, that is, Christ. For he will make us fruitful; he himself will set a hedge around us, raise up the wall, and drive …