“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant…I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved Me. Make yourselves at home in My love. If you keep My commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in My love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in His love.”
John 15:4-8, 9-10 MSG
Abide. One giant of a little word, which is woven into the fabric of Jesus’ last words to His disciples over and over again. As God recently highlighted to me the Messianic title of Jesus, The True Vine, I meditated on the weight of these words. If Jesus shared this Name and these final words during His last days on earth with His closest friends, how earnestly must He want us also to be reminded in these last days of the primary desire of Jesus that we would “abide in Him,” the True Vine. 
The Hebrew words “שָׁכַן” (shakhan) and “יָשַׁב” (yashav) translate to dwell, reside, or settle, often describing God’s presence among His people. Shakhan” relates to the Shekhinah, the Divine presence, emphasizing the deep, relational aspect of God’s nature. In the New Testament, “abide” (μένω, meno in the Greek) is a key term used by Yeshua to describe the disciples relationship with Him. This isn’t just a mere acquaintance or even a friendship –the kind of relationship Jesus is looking for is that of the betrothed.
You might be wondering why this painting of Jesus as the True Vine includes the cup of communion. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure at first why this imagery kept coming to my mind as I contemplated this Messianic Title. However, after I finished, the meaning suddenly became clear. This is the cup of betrothal. The cup of abiding love. If we are to abide in the True Vine, we must also drink this cup.
In our culture, we are often unaware that it was customary in Jesus’ day, for a man to propose marriage to a woman by offering her a cup of wine. If she accepted, she would also drink from the cup and they would be considered legally bound in the marriage covenant. 
During His last Passover feast with His disciples, Jesus made His own proposal with this cup of betrothal – a New Covenant based on his blood and perfect sacrifice. As the faithful Husband, He proclaimed this third cup of the Passover Seder, the cup of Redemption, to be the legally binding covenant of marriage between Him and His Bride. It comes as no surprise, that shortly after this, Jesus begins to emphasize their need to abide in Him, The True Vine. And not only that, but specifically to “abide in His love.” (John 15:9)
As we enter into the last of the last days, I feel more strongly than ever, the call of the Bridegroom that we would “make ourselves at home in His love.” This is not a human love which we can wrap our minds around, or even begin to grasp with our finite understanding. This love transcends our ability to even define with language or emotion. If you have ever experienced His love, you know what I mean. You can never put it into words. What if we were to live from this love, drink continually of His love, and love one another as He has loved us? I believe we would experience what the book of Acts describes and what sustained the early church through much persecution.
If we will do this, as is depicted in the painting, our roots will grow down deep into the soil of His sacrificial, laid down love and we will be a generation which will not be shaken. And this is His promise: when we love and lay down our lives as He did for us, we will produce fruit which will remain (John 15:16). 
I know my heart can be lured into the deception that success is outwardly impressive and to gain a following is what will leave a legacy. However, when I look at the life of Jesus, this is not what I see. Instead, I see a man who was not impressive, was rejected, despised, homeless, misunderstood and yet He still chose to love. How did He accomplish this? Only because He made His home in His Father’s love. 
May this be our real legacy my friends—a legacy of abiding in the Vine of True Love, accepting and drinking the cup of betrothal and covenant love He has offered us, and laying down our lives as Jesus has done for us.
“Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]; 2 and walk continually in love [that is, value one another—practice empathy and compassion, unselfishly seeking the best for others], just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God [slain for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.” 
Ephesians 5:1-2