Authors: Watchman Nee
In considering John 12:24 we shall be touching the
mystery of the gospel. “Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it
abideth by itself alone; but if it
die
, it beareth
much fruit.”
So said the Lord Jesus.
This verse of the
Bible is most high and extremely important, for it reaches to the very purpose
of God. To what, here, did the Lord Jesus liken His death? He likened it to the
death of a grain of wheat. We never find the Scriptures employing wheat as a
means of representing or portraying the redemption of mankind from sin, since there
is no blood involved. On the contrary, Jesus’ use of the death of a wheat grain
points to the non-atoning side of His death. He is picturing himself here as a
grain of wheat. The wheat grain has a shiny outer shell which envelops the life
of the wheat inside. In order for the grain’s life within to be released the
wheat grain must first fall to the ground, be buried therein, and die.
If the outer shell of the wheat grain is not broken or removed,
the grain does not pass through death and will never have its inner life
released. But if that grain of wheat is buried in the earth, the latter’s
moisture will work upon the shell and crack it open. After a few days, the released
wheat life begins to sprout; and a few months later, it will bear hundreds of new
grains.
Jesus likened himself to a grain of wheat with life inside
it; and like the wheat grain, unless He dies, He will remain forever by
himself: for God has only one begotten Son who alone has God’s eternal life
within. Now when the living Word who was with God and was God (John 1:1), became
flesh on the earth (John 1:14a), and even though He is the Son of God with God’s
life within Him, nevertheless, that life was surrounded or enclosed by the
flesh. As long as this circumstance continued no one could obtain God’s life
and hence Jesus would be unable to bear any fruit. Originally there is but one
grain of wheat—even Jesus—who is the only begotten Son of God. But once His death
and resurrection occurs He, like the one fallen grain of wheat, is able to bear
much fruit. In other words, that original one grain of wheat now becomes the
first of many grains being brought forth or born. Before His death Jesus was God’s
only begotten Son, but now by the process of death and resurrection He becomes
the firstborn Son of God with many other sons of God to follow.
Let us please note again that before the death of Jesus
God had but the one begotten Son. After His resurrection, however, God will now
have many children. God’s only begotten Son becomes the one firstborn Son.
Formerly there had only been the one grain, but after its death that one grain
has brought forth many grains. Is there any difference, in the natural world, between
the first grain and the latter grains? Please note that when a mustard seed is
planted, it bears only mustard. Likewise, when a grain of wheat is planted, it
bears only wheat. Similarly, therefore, when Jesus is planted, what will He
produce? Of course, He will produce himself.
In Africa there was a particular elderly black sister in
the Lord who was most spiritual. Though she was uneducated and could not speak
clearly, many went to her for help in spiritual matters. Once a British pastor
went to her and asked of her what Christians were. Her answer was that they
were bits of Christ. How very true was her reply. No doctor of theology could probably
have answered as she had. How very true that every Christian has a bit of
Christ in him or her. The many grains of wheat all come from the One Original Grain
of Wheat. And thus it can accurately be said that the sum total of those numerous
grains is that Original Grain.
I am amazed by the Bible verse of I Corinthians 12:12. I
wonder if you might react in the same way. This verse tells us that though the
body has many members, it is one, and so also is the Christ. If you are like
me, we all might say to the author of this verse: “Well,
brother
Paul, you have written incorrectly, for you did not add the word church; you
should have said—‘so also is Christ and the church’.” Yet was Paul really stating
the matter incorrectly? Why did he not add “the church”? It is because the church
is the Christ, and hence, there was no need for Paul to say Christ and the
church.
Let us understand that in the Bible there are two ways of
speaking of Christ. Frequently the New Testament’s original Greek text speaks
of Christ
without
the definite
article “the,” and such mention of Christ refers to the Lord himself. Sometimes,
however, the definite article “the” is placed before the name of Christ; and in
such cases, the
corporate
Christ—the
church—and not the personal Christ
is
in view. Unfortunately,
in most of our translations of the New Testament this is not indicated. Perhaps
only Darby’s translation shows the difference. References to Christ and
the
Christ present two different meanings
in the Scriptures. The first of these two points to Jesus Christ the individual
whereas the second speaks of the church—that is to say, “the Christ” refers not
just to the one person Jesus, but to all who
are
one
in Him. In the present context Christ as an individual is not corporate;
rather, He is the Head, with all the Christians—the Christ-ones—being joined together
as His body. The personal Christ is the Head of the corporate Christ.
Jesus Christ died that He himself might be in us. In each
and every saved person there is a bit of Him. Each person has a little, the
fact of which is constantly being demonstrated whenever there is the breaking
of bread at the
Lord’s table
. The loaf thereon is
originally one whole, and thus God calls us to break the bread loaf so as to
allow each of us to eat a little. There is only one loaf in the presence of many
people. Were we to gather back together all the broken-off pieces to be eaten
by the many, there would once again be but the one
loaf.
In each and every believer there is a little, so all have a little portion of
Christ. Such is God’s will. Jesus was originally the only begotten Son of God,
but after He dies and is resurrected, He himself becomes the Firstborn of God
who begets many other sons who are now His brethren (Romans 8:29).
We may wonder in puzzlement how, in the natural world,
one grain of wheat can produce many new grains. Though we may not be able to
understand how this can occur, nevertheless, we know this becoming many from
one is a proven fact in nature. How wise Jesus was in using this circumstance
from nature to serve as a metaphor for the non-atoning side of His death. For
just as in the natural world one grain of wheat becomes many grains, so also in
the spiritual world the one Person, Christ Jesus, can become the many-membered corporate
Christ. This, too, is a fact. Jesus is God’s “seed” whom God plants in the
ground to be buried and die, and the result is that many new seeds—the
Christ-ones or Christians—are brought forth in rebirth.
In other words, by death and resurrection the
straightened and constricted Son of man was now able to release God’s life from
within himself to us who believe. And hence, at His resurrection the risen
Christ could now rightly say to His disciples, “I ascend unto my Father and
your Father” (John 20:17b). Originally God was only
His
Father, but after His resurrection God has also become our
Father, for Jesus, heretofore the only begotten Son of God, has now become the Firstborn
One among many new sons of the heavenly Father.
[‡‡]
“Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh: even
though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more”
(II Corinthians 5:16).
“I will pray the
Father,
and he
shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you forever, even the
Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not,
neither knoweth him: ye know him; for
he
abideth with
you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you. Yet a
little while, and the world beholdeth me no more; but ye behold me: because I
live, ye shall live also. In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and
ye in me, and I in you” (John 14:16-20).
In the Gospel of John we see that the Lord Jesus himself
was in the Holy Spirit as He called us to receive Him.
Once
Paul knew Christ after the flesh, but now he knew Him no longer in such a way
(II Corinthians 5:16).
For Jesus is the Living Word that
became flesh, being God clothed with flesh (John 1:1, 14a).
He came to
the world as a man. As it were, the flesh was His garment, He having been clothed
with flesh. But after His death and resurrection, Jesus is now clothed with the
Holy Spirit. As He formerly was clothed with flesh, so now He is clothed with
the Spirit. Before He went through death He had the Holy Spirit in Him, but after
His resurrection He is now in the Holy Spirit. When Jesus was on earth, the
Holy Spirit in Him was with the disciples; but after He was
risen
,
He now dwells in the believers by the Holy Spirit. Formerly it was the Holy
Spirit in Him but now it is Christ through the Holy Spirit. Formerly Jesus was
in the flesh but now He is in the Holy Spirit. Formerly Paul knew Christ after
the flesh, which means he knew Christ only in the flesh, but henceforth he no
longer knew Christ as such. What does this statement of Paul’s mean? It means
that he thereafter knew Christ as being clothed with the Holy Spirit.
There is a vast difference between Christ clothed with
flesh and Christ clothed with the Holy Spirit. As was pointed out last time, when
Jesus lived in the flesh He was always limited by time and space. If He happened
to be in Galilee He could not be in Bethsaida. While He was by the seashore He
could not be inland at the same time. Sometimes His disciples followed Him but
at other times they left Him; they were not able to be with Him all the time. Jesus
could only be in one place at one time. Were He in Judea and they in Galilee His
disciples could not follow Him. Because of His living in the flesh, Jesus became
an outside objective Savior. What, then, could people do? Perhaps they could go
to Jerusalem thrice a year to worship Him, but upon their leaving that place, they
were again separated from Him. At the right location a person could have been
with Him; otherwise, that person would have been unable to be with Him. Such,
then, was the situation for Jesus while He was in the flesh.
Today, however, the Son of man is no longer in the flesh,
having been released from it through death; for in resurrection Jesus took on a
spiritual body. By means of His resurrection He became clothed with a different
garment, having now
been
clothed
with the Holy Spirit and now living
in the Holy Spirit. It was at Bethlehem that the Son of God came into the world
for the first time, but He did so being clothed with flesh. After His death and
resurrection, however, Jesus put on the Holy Spirit and can thus dwell in us
who believe. The Holy Spirit is Christ Jesus. He who formerly lived on earth clothed
with flesh had the Holy Spirit in Him, but after His resurrection He is in the
Holy Spirit who is non-matter, and can therefore be, and is, omnipresent. And
thus Christ in the Holy Spirit is able to live in us, for by simply believing,
we can be born again and are able to receive Christ into us.
Can we grasp the significance of all this? When God the Son
came to be man, people were unable to receive Him into their spirits. But now that
He is in the Holy Spirit, people can readily accept Him to be their life. The
coming of the Holy Spirit is therefore most important, for without His coming,
Christ would not be in the Spirit, and thus man could never be united to the
Lord. Thank God! Today Christ is not just an outside objective Savior but is also
the life within us. Thank God that today we are in Christ and are already
united with Him in one Spirit. In realizing this we can see how complete
is the salvation of God
. He caused His beloved Son to die
and to rise again that His Son might live in us and accomplish the purpose
which Adam failed to reach.
This, then, is the “another Comforter” (John 14:16a). Why
“another”? This word indicates that the Holy Spirit is the second Comforter.
There was one already, now here is another. Jesus himself is a Comforter, and the
Holy Spirit is also a Comforter. Christ in the Holy Spirit becomes Comforter
that we might not be left desolate as orphans (John 14:17c, 18a mgn), but are
given strength for the journey ahead as the pilgrim sons of God. Today, each
and every believer is able to have Christ dwelling within as the life of God.
We not only have our sins forgiven and the old man crucified but we also have
God’s life living in us. And in the Bible this life is represented to us by the
use of the term “flesh” in contrast to the term “blood.”
We have already considered together the four facets of
the death and resurrection of Christ. First, blood; second, crucifixion—that
is, co-death; third, flesh; and fourth, bearing the cross. We have also considered
the difference between co-crucifixion and blood. We next are going to discuss the
difference between the flesh and the blood. Let us recall from Exodus 12 how
God ordered the Israelites to slay a lamb and put its blood on the two side
posts and the lintel of their homes. When He passed by and saw the blood, He
would pass over all their homes so that they would not die. In the light of
this event we can conclude that blood is wholly for God. As that original Passover
began, the children of Israel took their staffs and prepared to go on their
journey out to the wilderness. The blood had completed their redemption;
therefore, the people of God should now run the race that is set before them.
Thus, as soon as people get saved they should pursue the kingdom course with
their backs towards the world just as the Israelites had turned their backs on
Egypt. As soon as the blood is applied, the earthly pilgrim journey of God’s
people immediately starts.
Yet where
came
the strength for
the Israelites’ journey? How did they leave Egypt? Here we can see how God had prepared
them—and us, today, for that matter—for this second step. Blood is to redeem God’s
people of their sins before God. He the righteous God must judge sins, so He
requires blood. Blood is therefore exclusively for God. But when a lamb is
slain, there is not only
blood,
there is also flesh
that is brought into view. So God instructed the children of Israel to roast the
lamb’s flesh and eat it so that they would have the strength to go on their
journey to Canaan. Hence, blood is for God whereas flesh is for His people.
Blood is to be exhibited before God but flesh is for His people to consume. So
today blood is to satisfy God’s righteous judgment and flesh is to give us
believers
strength to walk on God’s pathway by that flesh being
our inward life.
Suppose you ate some meat last night; by the next day it has
become your life. In other words, last night’s meal of flesh has become you, it
having become your inward strength, power and life. In spiritual terms,
therefore, we Christians live by eating the flesh of the Lamb of God. We can
thus conclude that the blood of the Lamb of God is objective to us in its
impact whereas the flesh of the Lamb is subjective in its effect upon us. Jesus’
blood is exhibited outwardly to God as the basis for His forgiving us of our
sins, while Jesus’ flesh is to be consumed inwardly by us, and by so doing we
have the strength to make our way along life’s journey which lies ahead for
each of us.
The problem in today’s church lies in the fact that
believers depend on the blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins but they have
not depended on His flesh for providing the strength to walk. God has not given
us Christ just to redeem us of our sins; He has given us Christ also to be our
very life. In the Bible this truth and reality is represented by the flesh. Yes,
the door posts and the lintel had to have the slain lamb’s blood applied
thereon, but let us not overlook the fact that the children of Israel had also
to eat the lamb’s roasted flesh—a picture of how it is also necessary for God’s
people today to receive Jesus the slain Lamb of God into themselves to be their
life. All Christians today have their sins forgiven, yet many of them are weak
in their Christian walk: they cannot overcome and are unable to press on:
Jesus’ blood has been applied but His flesh—He himself—has not been eaten, and hence
this weakness. In view of this condition in their Christian experience, people
should not depend on Christ’s blood alone but must also eat His flesh. All who,
as it were, take no meat cannot satisfy God’s heart. A weak life in a believer
in Christ is not God’s life.
Two years ago I was in Kaifeng. I asked a group of
Christians there what in the Bible
is the meaning of Christian
life
.
A sister said, “It means
that a believer does not love money, never does wrong, never loses his temper,
and never criticizes others. No one who is of the world could do so.” Correct,
for none can; but God has never asked us believers to exert our own effort to
accomplish such a life. For it is not God’s will for us to live out man’s life;
rather, He wants us to live out His life. He never requires us to do what we
cannot do, for in and of himself man can only live man’s life and do man’s
work. Instead, God gives His life to us; so that in us there is the life of God
that is able to do all which we cannot do. Hence, it all depends on whether we
Christians shall allow the life of God within us to be lived out from us.
The problem today lies in many having assurance of their
salvation but being weak in their experience. Yes, indeed, they have depended
on the blood of Christ, but they have never taken in the flesh of Christ to be
their life. They therefore live in the world in as weak a state as do the people
of the world.
Such is not God’s purpose. He wants man to have His holy,
victorious and separated life. God does not want us to be man alone. He puts
His life in us that we may do what we cannot do in and of ourselves but can only
do by His life in us. The question therefore becomes, Have you eaten Christ’s flesh?