The vine is an image found frequently in Scripture. Jesus compared Himself to a vine and His disciples to branches in the vine, because we depend wholly on Him for life and fruitfulness (John 15). Without Him, we can do nothing. Revelation 14:17–20 speaks of “the vine of the earth,” a symbol of corrupt Gentile society at the end of the age, ripening for judgment in the winepress of God’s wrath. But the image of the vine is often applied to the nation of Israel (Ps. 80; Isa. 5:1–7; Jer. 2:21; Matt. 21:28–46; Luke 20:9–19). In fact, Ezekiel will bring the image of the vine into his parable about the “shoots” (Ezek. 17:6–8).
When you study the references listed above, you learn that Israel was a lowly vine when God planted her in the Promised Land, but by His blessing she increased and prospered. During the reign of David and the early years of Solomon, the vine was fragrant and fruitful, a witness to the Gentile nations of the blessing of the God of Israel. However, Solomon introduced idolatry into the nation, the kingdom divided, and the Jewish people began to bear “wild grapes” (Isa. 5:2) instead of fruit for God’s glory. Subsequent kings, both of Israel and Judah, worshipped idols and engaged in the evil practices of the neighboring nations. God allowed the Gentiles to invade the land and eventually destroy Jerusalem and the temple (Ps. 80:12–13). The holy vineyard was defiled and devastated.
Ezekiel’s contribution to the “vineyard story” is to point out the worthlessness of the vine if it doesn’t bear fruit. If a tree becomes useless, you can at least cut it down and make something useful out of the wood; but what can you make out of the wood of a vine? You can’t even carve a tent peg or a wall peg out of it! It’s good for only one thing, and that’s fuel for the fire. If the wood was useless before it was thrown into the fire, it’s even more worthless after it’s been singed and marred by the flames.
Ezekiel saw the nation’s first taste of the fire in 605 BC when Nebuchadnezzar took the temple treasures to Babylon along with some of the best of the young men, including Daniel. In 597 BC, there was a second deportation of exiles, Ezekiel among them, so the fire was growing hotter. The siege of Jerusalem began in 588 BC and the fire began to blaze; and in 586 BC, the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the temple and took thousands of Jewish captives to Babylon. The vine was burned at both ends and in the middle! The inhabitants of the Holy City certainly went from the “fire” of invasion and assault to the literal fire of destruction. “Then they [the Babylonians] burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious possessions” (2 Chron. 36: nkjv).
Those of us who are branches in Jesus Christ, the true vine, need to take this lesson to heart. If we fail to abide in Christ, we lose our spiritual power, wither, and fail to bear fruit for His glory. The fruitless branch is tossed aside and eventually burned (John 15:6). I don’t think this burning means condemnation in the lake of fire, for no true believer can be condemned for sins for which Jesus died (John 6:37; 10:27–29; Rom. 8:1). The image of the burning branch is that of a worthless life, a life useless to God. John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, prayed, “Lord, let me not live to be useless!”