When a branch is to be grafted in to the stump of a vine, the vine is cut back to a stump and left to bleed. After a number of days an incision is made into the stump and a fresh branch grafted in and bound. The graft takes its life from then on from the stump and in time the graft becomes part of the vine.
This is the illustration from nature that Jesus took to inform our imaginations of what being in him means. Being in Christ is a Christian’s idenity and through Jesus’ death and resurection we are in spirit and truth joined to the people of God. Being grafted in we draw our life from Christ and inherit his everflowing nature; one with the Son yet fully us. The promised flowing of life is God the Spirit.
There is an even deeper truth. It is God…