were bothered. He said in effect,--all your head questions will be
answered in good time, but this thing is higher up than that. It's a
matter of your heart. And so that word _believe_ becomes _love_, its
second shape. And with that is quickly coupled _obey_, the third outer
shape He gives the word believe that night.

It is all the same thing underneath. _Love_ is the heart side of
_believe_, the inner side. _Obey_ is the life-side of believe, the
outer, the action side. The love looks out the window of the life and
then _comes_ out and _walks_ down the street on an errand. Love doesn't
simply love: it loves _some one_. Love that simply loves isn't love.
Love comes to life only in the personal touch.

And love keeps in perfect rhythm of action with the one loved. That is
the other way of saying _obey_. Obedience is the music of two wills
acting together. _Believe_ me, _love_ me, _obey_ me,--this is the
three-noted music of the upper room; three notes but one music; a fourth
note to be added later. This is the wondrous closer wooing.

"I go to the Father. We, the Father and I, will send the Holy Spirit to
you. He will come in through this opened door of obedience. He will
abide in you, come in to stay. He will be everything and do everything
that you need in every sort of circumstance. Keep in closest touch with
Him: this is to be your one rule. Your part is simple. _Believe_; that
means _love_; that means _obey_."

So they talk around the table. Then there's thoughtful silence, which
the Master breaks by saying, "Arise, let us go."

The Great Vine Picture.

Now they're walking down the street, silently, the Master in the lead,
with John and Peter close by.[117] The moon is at the full. Now they see
the temple, the moonlight falling full upon it. And the great brass
grape-vine with which it had been beautified by Herod at his building of
it shines with wondrous beauty in the enchantment of moonlight.

And now the Master is speaking again. Very quietly the words come as
they still gaze at the beauty of the brass vine. Listen to Him, "I am
the _true_ vine, and My Father the vine-gardener." Here is the
illustration that exactly pictures what He had been saying in the upper
room. It supplies the fourth word, the fourth outer shape that word
_believe_ takes on, _believe_, that is--_love_, that is--_obey_, that
is--_abide_.

Look at the vine, then you have the whole story pictured, simple,
clear, full. Each of