II. The Supernatural Stock:
II. The Supernatural Stock:
An Exploration of the New Roots in Which the Branches Are Ingrafted
Now let us consider the supernatural stock into which the branches are grafted after being cut off from the natural stock. Jesus Christ is sometimes called "The Branch" (Zechariah 3:8). He is so in respect to his human nature, being a branch and the leading branch of the house of David. Sometimes he is called a Root (Isaiah 11:10). We find both of these titles in Revelation 21:16, "I am the root and the offspring of David;" David's root as God and his offspring as man. The text tells us that he is the vine, meaning that he, as a mediator, is the vine stock of which believers are the branches. As the sap flows from the earth into the root and stock, and from there is spread throughout the branches, so through Christ as mediator, divine life is conveyed from the source to those united to him by faith (John 6:57). By Christ as mediator – not as God only, as some have claimed, nor as man only, as the papists generally maintain – but as mediator, God and man (Acts 20:28, Hebrews 9:14). The divine and human natures have their distinct actions but a joint operation in his performance of the mediator's role. This is illustrated by the metaphor of a fiery sword that both cuts and burns simultaneously: cutting while burning and burning while cutting; the steel cuts, and the fire burns. Therefore, Christ, God-man, is the stock of which believers are the branches, and they are united to a whole Christ. They are united to him in his human nature, as being "members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones" (Ephesians 5:30). And they are united to him in his divine nature, as the apostle speaks of this union (Colossians 1:27). Those who belong to Christ have the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9), and through him, they are united to the Father and the Holy Spirit (1 John 4:15). Faith, the bond of this union, accepts a whole Christ, God-man, and so unites us to him as such.
Observe here, O believers, your elevated privilege. You were once branches of a degenerate stock, just like others, but through grace, you have become branches of the true vine (John 15:1). You have been cut from a dead and destructive stock and grafted into the last Adam, who was made a life-giving spirit (1 Corinthians 15:45). Your loss through the first Adam is compensated, with considerable advantage, by your union with the second. Adam, at his best, was only a shrub compared to Christ, the tree of life. He was merely a servant, while Christ is the Son, the Heir, and Lord of all things, "the Lord from heaven." It is undeniable that grace was demonstrated in the first covenant, but it is far surpassed by the grace of the second covenant, as the twilight is by the brightness of midday.
What branches are taken from the natural stock and grafted into this vine? The answer is the elect, and no one else. They, and only they, are grafted into Christ, and as a result, only they are cut off from the destructive stock. For them alone he intercedes, "That they may be one in him and his Father" (John 17:9-23). Faith, the bond of this union, is given to no one else; it is the faith of God's elect (Titus 1:1). The Lord overlooks many branches growing on the natural stock, cutting off only specific ones and grafting them into the true vine, according to the determination of free love. He often chooses the most unlikely branch, leaving the topmost boughs, bypassing the mighty and noble, and calling the weak, base, and despised (1 Corinthians 1:26-27). Moreover, he frequently leaves the fair and smooth branches, taking the rugged and knotty ones instead; "and such were some of you, but you are washed," &c. (1 Corinthians 6:11). If we inquire why this is the case, we find no other reason but that they were chosen in him (Ephesians 1:4) and "predestined to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ" (verse 5). Thus, they are gathered together in Christ, while the rest are left growing on their natural stock, to be later bound up in bundles for the fire. Therefore, to whomever the Gospel may come in vain, it will have a blessed effect on God's elect (Acts 13:48), "as many as were ordained to eternal life, believed." Where the Lord has many people, the Gospel will have much success, sooner or later. Those who are to be saved will be added to the mystical body of Christ.