Message One—The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in Gospels and Acts

THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE

The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ

Message One
The Experience and Enjoyment of Christ in Gospels and Acts

Scripture Reading: Phil. 3:8; Matt. 1:23; 9:10-13, 36; 16:16; 21:42; Gen. 28:12; John 1:51; 6:27, 32-35, 47-58, 63a, 68b; 7:37-39; 12:23-24; 15:1, 5

I. We look to the Lord that, He will bring us into the excellency of the knowledge of Christ; in this excellency of the knowledge of Christ, we will surely enter into the rich experience and enjoyment of Him; then we will have the expression of Him on earth in His recovery—Phil. 3:8.

II. We begin with the experience and enjoyment of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew—Matt. 1:23; 9:10-13, 36; 16:16; 21:42:

A. Experiencing and enjoying Christ as: Emmanuel—God with us—Matt. 1:23:

1. In His humanity, Jesus, God incarnate, is Emmanuel, God with us; He is not only God but God with us—v. 23.

2. He is now humanly divine to make us divinely human; in this way He, as the all-inclusive One, meets our need adequately and sufficiently in the most superior way—Rom. 1:3-4; Heb. 2:10.

3. Today Emmanuel is the very life-giving Spirit, who is the consummated Triune God as His presence with us moment by moment; He is not only with us outwardly but also with us inwardly in our spirit every minute of the day—1 Cor. 15:45.

B. The Physician: Matthew 9:10-13 indicates that we also may experience and enjoy Christ as the Physician:

1. He came to minister as a Physician, to heal, recover, enliven, and save us, that we might be reconstituted to be His new and heavenly citizens, with whom He is establishing His heavenly kingdom on this corrupted earth—vv. 10-13.

2. The Lord Jesus heals man’s spiritual illness, the illness of sin; the Lord Jesus forgives our sins and also heals us in every way—Luke 11:4.

3. As the Physician, the Lord Jesus is not for the righteous but for sinners; the healing of the Lord as our Physician is not mainly physical but spiritual; He is the One who heals our spiritual sicknesses—v. 4.

C. The Shepherd: the Lord Jesus considered the people as sheep and Himself as the Shepherd—Matt. 9:36:

1. The Lord Jesus is the Shepherd of the sheep that were “harassed and cast away;” they were in difficulties and were constantly suffering; they were cast away and were wandering, not knowing where to go; to such ones Christ came as the Shepherd; as the Shepherd, the Lord is not rough but is very fine—v. 36.

2. Matthew 9:36 tells us that when the Lord Jesus saw the crowds, He was “moved with compassion;” compassion is deeper, finer, and richer than mercy; mercy is somewhat outward, but compassion is inward; furthermore, compassion is longer lasting than mercy; compassion, therefore, is both deeper and longer lasting than mercy.

D. The Christ, the Son of the living God—Matt. 16:16:

1. The Christ is a title of the Lord Jesus according to His office, His commission; this title refers to the Lord’s commission for the accomplishment of God’s purpose to have the church; Christ’s commission is to accomplish God’s eternal purpose through His crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and second advent—v. 16.

2. The Son of the living God is His title according to His person; the Lord’s person as the Son of God is for the producing of the many sons of God to be members of the church—v. 16.

3. The church is built upon this revelation of the Christ and the Son of the living God; wherever we go, we must preach and teach the Christ and the Son of the living God so that many more sons may be produced to be the members of the church, the Body of Christ—v. 16.

4. The church built upon the revelation of the Christ and the Son of the living God deals with the gates of Hades and establishes the kingdom of the heavens—vv. 16, 18.

5. The church is built upon the revelation of the Christ and of the Son of God through our following Him—v. 16:

a. By denying our self: to deny our self is to forfeit our soul-life, our natural life— Matt. 16:25; Luke 9:24.

b. Taking up our cross, remaining under the death of Christ for the terminating of our self, our natural life, and our old man—v. 24.

c. In so doing we deny our self that we may follow the Lord; through this kind of following of the Lord Jesus the church is built up—v. 24.

F. The cornerstone of God’s building—Matt. 21:42:

1. In Matthew 21:42 Christ is referred to as the cornerstone, not as the foundation, because the emphasis here is on the cornerstone that joins the two main walls: the wall of the Jewish believers and the wall of the Gentile believers.

2. When the Jewish builders rejected Christ, they rejected Him as the cornerstone which joins the Jews and the Gentiles for the building of God’s house—v. 42.

3. Christ was rejected by the Jewish builders, He is trusted by the church for the producing of fruit; this is indicated by the Lord’s word in Matthew 21:43; “therefore I say to you that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and shall be given to a nation producing its fruit;” this nation is the church, which trusts in the Lord as the cornerstone—1 Pet. 2:6.

III. We will begin to consider the aspects of the experience and enjoyment of Christ revealed in the Gospel of John—Gen. 28:12; John 1:51; 6:27, 32-35, 47-58, 63a, 68b; 7:37-39; 12:23-24; 15:1, 5:

A. We may experience and enjoy Christ as the heavenly ladder; He is the fulfillment of the ladder which Jacob saw in his dream when he was fleeing from his brother—Gen. 28:12; John 1:51:

1. “Truly, truly, I say to you, You shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man”—John 1:51:

a. Christ, as the Son of Man, with His humanity, is the ladder set up on the earth and leading to heaven, keeping heaven open to earth and joining earth to heaven; as the ladder, Christ as the Son of Man joins God and man into one—v. 51.

b. In eternity past He was the Word, but in eternity future He will be the ladder; Christ is the way as the ladder; He is the stairway for us to be one with God—v. 51.

c. Today in God’s organic salvation, our regenerated spirit is God’s dwelling place, even the Holy of Holies of God, which Christ as our heavenly ladder takes as His base; whenever we turn to our spirit, we sense Christ bringing God (heaven) to us and joining us to God (heaven)—Eph. 2:22; Heb. 4:16; 10:19.

d. Today we may experience and enjoy Christ as the ladder that joins us to heaven and brings heaven to us so that we may be a heavenly people living a heavenly life on earth and inheriting all the heavenly things—John 1:51.

2. Christ’s being the heavenly ladder is not only for joining the earth to heaven but also for producing stones for the house of God; thus, wherever Christ is as the heavenly ladder in His humanity, there is the gate of heaven, and there is the building of God’s house with all the stones, that is, with all the transformed persons—John 1:42; Gen. 28:16-19.

B. Many verses in John 6 reveal that, for our experience and enjoyment, Christ is the bread of life; as the bread of life, He is the bread with eternal life—John 6:27, 32-35, 47-58, 63a, 68b:

1. The food which abides to eternal life is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; He came from the heavens not only to be our Savior—He came also to be our food—v. 35.

2. As the true bread Christ is the bread of truth, or reality; we need Christ as the true bread of life sent by God to bring us eternal life—v. 35.

3. Christ is the bread of God who, through incarnation, came down out of heaven and gives life to the world; as the bread of God He is God, He was sent by God, and He was with God; Christ is the very God, He became flesh in order to be the bread of life for us to eat—v. 35.

4. In verse 35 the Lord Jesus said, “I am the bread of life,” and in verse 51 He said, “I am the living bread;” Bread of life refers to the nature of the bread, which is life; living bread refers to the condition of the bread, which is living.

5. In 6:53-57 the Lord Jesus, the Almighty God and the Creator of the universe, exhorts us to eat Him; to eat Him is not a once-for-all matter; rather, we daily need to contact the Lord and eat Him.

6. Christ as the bread of life is embodied in the word of life; He is the Spirit embodied in the Word; if we receive the Word, we will have the Spirit; and if we have the Spirit within, we will have Christ as the inner supply of life—v. 35.

7. May we all realize that our need is Christ as our life supply and then daily contact Him as the life-giving Spirit embodied in the Word—v. 35.

C. John 7:37-39 speaks of the Spirit:

1. The Spirit of God was there from the beginning, but at the time the Lord Jesus cried out at the feast, the Spirit as the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, was not yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified. Jesus was glorified when He was resurrected—Gen. 1:1-2; Rom. 8:9; Phil. 1:19; Luke 24:26.

2. The Spirit who was “not yet” became the Spirit who now is; such a Spirit is now the all-inclusive Spirit of Jesus Christ as the living water for us to receive—John 7:39.

3. Everyone who thirsts and comes to Christ and believes in (drinks) Him receives Him as the Spirit for his satisfaction, and out of his inner being shall flow rivers of living water—v. 38:

a. The Lord Jesus does not speak of just one flow but of rivers; the unique river of living water is the Spirit; out of this unique river, many rivers will flow out—v. 38.

b. These “rivers of living water” are the many flows of the different aspects of life of the one unique “river of water of life”, which is God’s “Spirit of life”; one river is the river of peace, and other rivers are joy, comfort, righteousness, life, holiness, love, patience, and humility—cf. Rom. 15:30; 1 Thes. 1:6; 2 Thes. 2:13; Gal. 5:22-23; Rev. 22:1; Rom. 8:2.

c. We do not know how many rivers there are; these rivers of living water flow out from the depths of our being; this is the experience and enjoyment of Christ as the Spirit—John 7:39.

D. John 12:23-24 reveals that Christ is a grain of wheat for His divine multiplication:

1. The Lord Jesus was the unique grain that contained His divine life with the divine glory, and His humanity through His incarnation became a shell to conceal the glory of His divinity; Christ’s all-inclusive death released the divine life and glory that were within the shell of His humanity—John 12:23-24.

2. Christ, who as a grain of wheat fell into the ground and died, grew out of death to produce many grains, which are the believers—vv. 23-24:

a. On the one hand, we the believers are grains produced by the death and resurrection of Christ; on the other hand, we are those who have been drawn to the Lord—Mark 1:17.

b. All those who are drawn to Him eventually become the many grains, the fruits produced by His death and resurrection. This indicates that the church life has been multiplied! —Acts 2:42.

3. As a grain of wheat, a container of the divine life, Christ was sown into the earth through death in order that He might be multiplied and thereby glorified—John 12:23-24.

4. The believers may enjoy Him as the life essence released through His death and dispensed through His resurrection; as the many grains, we also must lose our soul-life through death that we may enjoy the eternal life in resurrection—v. 25.

5. The Lord’s death not only releases the divine life but also multiplies it; in our function we should be the same as Christ for His multiplication; hence, we need to enjoy Christ as the grain of wheat by experiencing His life-releasing death for the multiplication of the divine life—v. 25.

F. The true vine: in John 15 we see that Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God is the true vine—John 15:1, 5:

1. As the many branches of the vine, the believers of Christ are members of the Christ of God to form the organism of the Triune God in the divine dispensing—John 15:5.

2. As the branches of the true vine, we are the multiplication of Christ, the duplication of Christ, the spreading of Christ, and the enlargement of Christ; this multiplication, duplication, spreading, and enlargement—the true vine with its branches—is the organism of the Triune God—v. 5:

a. The Father as the husbandman is the source, the author, the planner, the planter, the life, the substance, the soil, the water, the air, the sunshine, and everything to the vine—v. 1.

b. The Father, by cultivating the Son, works Himself with all of His riches into this vine, and eventually the vine expresses the Father through its branches in a corporate way—v. 1.

3. In John 15:2-8 we see that the branches in the vine are for the bearing of fruit to express the riches of the Father’s life in the divine dispensing:

a. The vine and the branches are an organism to glorify the Father, to have the intent, the content, the inner life, and the inner riches released and expressed from within—v. 8.

b. Our fruit-bearing is the glorification, the expression, of the Triune God from within; day by day we need to live a life that bears fruit, and in this way we glorify the Father; the more we express the divine life in fruit-bearing, the more the Father is glorified—v. 8.

4. Christ the Son is the vine, and we are the branches to bear fruit for the glorification of the Father, that is, the expression, spreading, and multiplication of the Father as its source and husbandman; all that the Spirit has is expressed in us, that is, in the branches, the church; the Triune God in Christ is expressed, manifested, and glorified in the church—v. 8.

Ministry Excerpts:

EMMANUEL—GOD WITH US

In His Humanity

We may also experience and enjoy Christ as Emmanuel. “‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel,’ (which is translated, God with us)” (Matt. 1:23). In His humanity, Jesus, God incarnate, is Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus was the name given by God, whereas Emmanuel was the name called by man. Jesus the Savior is God with us. He is God incarnated to dwell among us (John 1:14). He is not only God but God with us. Without Him we cannot meet God, for He is God. Without Him we cannot find God, for He is God incarnate. Therefore, when we call on the Lord Jesus, we have the sense that God is with us.

For God to Meet Our Need in Every Way

Christ is the complete God becoming a perfect man. Hence, He is both the complete God and the perfect man, possessing genuine divinity and real humanity. As the almighty God, He has the capacity in His divinity and the capacity in His humanity to meet all of our need in every way. We need Him in His divine capacity that we may be divine as He is. We need Him in His humanity that we may be human as He is in the highest standard of humanity. Therefore, by Him, with Him, and in Him we can be not only a proper and uplifted man but also a God-man, a divine man, as He is. He is divine becoming human that we may be human becoming divine. He is now humanly divine to make us divinely human. In this way He, as the all-inclusive One, meets our need adequately and sufficiently in the most superior way.

Christ passed through the processes of incarnation and resurrection in order to dispense Himself into us. Through incarnation Christ could be Emmanuel outside of His believers, but this would fulfill only part of His intention in being with us. His being with us outwardly does not fulfill His purpose to dispense Himself into our being, so He had to go through another process. The second process was His death and resurrection. In resurrection His physical form became a spiritual form. Through death and resurrection, He as the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). As the life-giving Spirit, He is Emmanuel, the presence of the Divine Trinity. This presence is always with us in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), not only day by day but also moment by moment. To live with Christ, we need to be in His divine presence (Gal. 5:25a). The divine presence is the life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the Triune God. This presence is Emmanuel, who is the real, practical Jesus, the Triune God with the tripartite man.

We live with Christ as Emmanuel and walk by Christ as the life-giving Spirit. In order to walk by Christ as the life-giving Spirit, we must live with Christ as a person, who is Emmanuel. Today Emmanuel is the very life-giving Spirit, who is the consummated Triune God as His presence with us moment by moment. We have to realize that all day long we have another One with us. He is not only with us outwardly but also with us inwardly in our spirit every minute of the day. We do and say things one way when we are alone, but when we have someone else with us, we do and say things differently. We must ask ourselves, “Are we doing things in our own way, or are we doing things in another way because we realize that another One is with us?” If we realize that another One is with us, everything we do will change.

There are very few Christians who walk, live, speak, and do things with Emmanuel as another One with them. We have the doctrine of Emmanuel, but we have very little experience of Emmanuel. If we had more experience of Emmanuel, we would not do many of the things we do today, such as gossip. The presence of the Lord changes our life. We all must have the realization and sensation that the Lord Jesus, who is our Savior, is also Emmanuel. He is the Triune God with us, the tripartite men. We should not say or do anything in ourselves or by ourselves. We need to experience Emmanuel. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 266)

THE PHYSICIAN

Matthew 9:10-13 indicates that we also may experience and enjoy Christ as the Physician. In calling people to follow Him for the kingdom, the Lord Jesus ministered as a Physician, not as a Judge. A judge’s judgment is according to righteousness, whereas a physician’s healing is according to mercy and grace. If the Lord Jesus had visited us as a Judge, we all would have been condemned and rejected. None of us would have been qualified, selected, and called to be the people of the heavenly kingdom. However, He came to minister as a Physician, to heal, recover, enliven, and save us, that we might be reconstituted to be His new and heavenly citizens, with whom He is establishing His heavenly kingdom on this corrupted earth.

Healing Man’s Spiritual Illness, the Illness of Sin

“But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (v. 13). The Lord’s word here, addressed to the Pharisees, indicates that the Lord Jesus heals man’s spiritual illness, the illness of sin. Sin came first and death follows. Between sin and death there are all kinds of illnesses, diseases, and infirmities. The Lord Jesus forgives our sins and also heals us in every way. As sinners, we are sick absolutely, for we are sick physically, spiritually, morally, and mentally. But Jesus, the Forgiver and the Physician, is able to heal all our sicknesses.

As our Physician, the Lord heals us mainly in our spirit and in our soul, not mainly in our body. The tax collectors and sinners in Matthew 9:10 were not physically sick; they were spiritually sick. While the Lord Jesus was feasting with them, He was healing them spiritually. Likewise, although the Lord may or may not heal us in our body, He is always ready to heal us in every part of our spirit and soul.

Not for the Righteous but for Sinners

As the Physician, the Lord Jesus is not for the righteous but for sinners. The Lord “did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” There is none righteous, not even one (Rom. 3:10). All “the righteous” are self-righteous like the Pharisees (Luke 18:9). The Lord came to call not them but sinners.

The Lord’s use of the word righteous in Matthew 9:13 is related to the matter of sins. This word also indicates that the healing of the Lord as our Physician is not mainly physical but spiritual. He is the One who heals our spiritual sicknesses. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 268)

THE SHEPHERD

“Seeing the crowds, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and cast away like sheep not having a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36). Here we see that the Lord Jesus considered the people as sheep and Himself as the Shepherd. When Christ came to the Jews the first time, they were like lepers, paralytics, demon possessed, and all manner of pitiful persons, because they had no shepherd to care for them. Therefore, He ministered to them not only as a Physician but also as a Shepherd, as prophesied in Isaiah 53:6 and 40:11. As such a Shepherd, the Lord Jesus did miracles to take care of the needy ones. He said, “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; and the dead are raised and the poor have the gospel announced to them” (Matt. 11:5). This is the compassion exercised by the Lord as their Shepherd to take care of them. As a minister of the Lord, we should learn how to be concerned for the needy ones.

The Shepherd of the Sheep
That Were “harassed and cast away.”

The Lord Jesus is the Shepherd of the sheep that were “harassed and cast away.” They were in difficulties and were constantly suffering. They were cast away and were wandering, not knowing where to go. To such ones Christ came as the Shepherd. As the Shepherd, the Lord is not rough but is very fine.

Being Moved with Compassion

Matthew 9:36 tells us that when the Lord Jesus saw the crowds, He was “moved with compassion.” Compassion is deeper, finer, and richer than mercy. Mercy is somewhat outward, but compassion is inward. Furthermore, compassion is longer lasting than mercy. Compassion, therefore, is both deeper and longer lasting than mercy. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 269)

THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD

In Matthew 16:16-19 we see that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The revelation here is crucial, for it concerns God’s economy, His eternal purpose.

The Christ Referring to His Commission for the Accomplishment
of God’s Purpose to Have the Church

In Matthew 16:16 Peter, receiving revelation from the Father, declared concerning the Lord Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The Christ is a title of the Lord Jesus according to His office, His commission. This title refers to the Lord’s commission for the accomplishment of God’s purpose to have the church. Christ’s commission is to accomplish God’s eternal purpose through His crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and second advent.

Christ is the anglicized form of the Greek word Christos, which is equivalent to the Hebrew word Messiah. Both Messiah in Hebrew and Christos in Greek mean “the anointed One.” According to the Old Testament principle, anyone used by God to carry out His administration had to be anointed. For the carrying out of God’s administration, the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the anointed One.

The Son of the Living God Referring to His Person
for the Producing of the Many Sons of God
to Be Members of the Church

Whereas Christ is the title of the Lord according to His commission, the Son of the living God is His title according to His person. His commission is a matter of God’s work, and His person is a matter of God’s life. The Lord’s person embodies the Father and issues in the Spirit for a full expression of the Triune God.

The Lord’s person as the Son of God is for the producing of the many sons of God to be members of the church. Christ is the One to accomplish God’s purpose to have the church. The Son of God is the One who produces many sons of God to be the many members formed into the church as the one Body. It is in this way that God has the church.

The Church Being Built upon This Revelation of the Christ
and the Son of the Living God

The church is built upon this revelation of the Christ and the Son of the living God. Immediately after Peter confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord said, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church” (v. 18a). This rock refers not only to Christ Himself but also to the revelation of the Christ and the Son of the living God which Peter received from the Father. First, the rock refers to the wonderful person of Christ, the Son of the living God. Second, the rock refers to the revelation of this person. When we see this revelation, it becomes the rock upon which the church is built. Wherever we go, we must preach and teach the Christ and the Son of the living God so that many more sons may be produced to be the members of the church, the Body of Christ.

Dealing with the Gates of Hades—the Power of Satan—
and Establishing the Kingdom of the Heavens

The church built upon the revelation of the Christ and the Son of the living God deals with the gates of Hades and establishes the kingdom of the heavens. In verse 18b, the Lord, speaking of the church, says, “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” The gates of Hades refers to Satan’s authority or power of darkness. Because Satan’s power of darkness attacks the church, there is spiritual warfare between Satan’s power, which is his kingdom (12:26) and the church, which is God’s kingdom. The gates of Hades cannot prevail against the church built upon the revelation of the Christ and the Son of the living God. God wants to have the church with the intention, the goal, to deal with His enemy Satan and his power.

Such a church not only deals with the gates of Hades but also establishes the kingdom of the heavens. This is indicated by the Lord’s word in 16:19: “I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatever you bind on the earth shall have been bound in the heavens, and whatever you loose on the earth shall have been loosed in the heavens.” The kingdom of the heavens here is used interchangeably for church in verse 18. This proves that the genuine church is the kingdom of the heavens in this age.

These verses reveal that the church has a twofold purpose. On the negative side, the church deals with the power of Satan. On the positive side, the church establishes the kingdom of the heavens.

Through Our Following Him

The church is built upon the revelation of the Christ and of the Son of God through our following Him. “Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me” (v. 24). Before the Lord’s crucifixion the disciples followed Him in an outward way. But after His resurrection we follow Him in an inward way. Because in resurrection He has become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45) dwelling in our spirit (2 Tim. 4:22), we follow Him in our spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25).

By Denying Our Self

We follow the Lord by denying our self. To deny our self is to forfeit our soul-life, our natural life (Matt. 16:26; Luke 9:25).

In Matthew 16:23-25 three things are related: the mind, the self, and the soul-life. Our mind is the expression of our self, and our self is the embodiment of our soul-life. Therefore, to lose the soul-life is the reality of denying the self.

Remaining under the Death of Christ
for the Terminating of Our Self,
Our Natural Life, and Our Old Man

In Matthew 16:24 the Lord Jesus speaks of the taking up of the cross. The cross is not merely a suffering; it is also a killing. Christ first bore the cross and then was crucified. We, His believers, have first been crucified with Him and then we bear the cross today. To us, bearing the cross is to remain under the killing of the death of Christ for the terminating of our self, our natural life, and our old man. In so doing we deny our self that we may follow the Lord. Through this kind of following of the Lord Jesus the church is built up. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 271)

THE GRAIN OF WHEAT

John 12:23-24 reveals that Christ is a grain of wheat for His divine multiplication. In verse 24, Jesus likened Himself to a grain of wheat: “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” As such a grain of wheat, Christ is the divine seed to produce many grains (the people who receive Him) to become His many members who constitute His organic Body which consummates in the New Jerusalem.

Falling into the Ground and Dying

In this chapter, according to the worldly view, Jesus was in His golden time. A great crowd of Jews esteemed Him highly and welcomed Him warmly (vv. 12-19), and even the Greeks were seeking after Him (vv. 20-22). However, the Lord neither accepted this kind of exaltation, nor took this opportunity to get a name for Himself; nor did He seize the golden opportunity as the means to have His increase. Rather, knowing that the way for a grain of wheat to multiply is not by being welcomed and honored, but by falling into the ground and dying, the Lord preferred to fall as a grain of wheat into the ground and die that He might produce many grains for the church.

The Lord Jesus was the unique grain that contained His divine life with the divine glory, and His humanity through His incarnation became a shell to conceal the glory of His divinity. Christ’s all-inclusive death released the divine life and glory that were within the shell of His humanity. Just as a grain of wheat releases its life by falling into the ground, so Christ released the divine life within Him through death. Through His death on the cross, the shell of His flesh was broken, and the divine life contained and concealed within it was released. If Christ had not fallen into the earth to die, He would have remained one grain. But He fell into the earth and died, and He brought forth many grains as His multiplication.

Growing out of Death to Produce Many Grains

Christ, who as a grain of wheat fell into the ground and died, grew out of death to produce many grains, which are the believers. The Lord Jesus fell into the ground and died that His divine element, His divine life, might be released from within the shell of His humanity to produce many believers in resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3), just as a grain of wheat has its life element released by falling into the ground and growing up out of the ground to bear much fruit, that is, to bring forth many grains.

After unveiling Himself as a grain of wheat falling into the ground to produce the many grains, in John 12:32 Christ goes on to reveal Himself as one being lifted up from the earth to draw all men to Himself. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all man to Myself.” In one respect, the Lord’s death was His falling into the ground, as revealed in verse 24; in another respect, it was His being lifted up on the tree (1 Pet. 2:24). His falling into the ground was to produce the many grains; His being lifted up was to draw all men to Himself. The many grains produced by His falling into the ground are the believers, the “all men” drawn by His being lifted up on the tree. On the one hand, we the believers are grains produced by the death and resurrection of Christ. On the other hand, we are those who have been drawn to the Lord. We are the grains, and we are the drawn ones. All those who are drawn to Him eventually become the many grains, the fruits produced by His death and resurrection. This indicates that the church life has been multiplied! In fact, this multiplication is still taking place today, for many are still being drawn to Christ.

For His Multiplication—Glorification

Christ is the grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died, that grew out of death to produce many grains for His multiplication, His glorification. According to John 12:23-24, the Lord’s glorification is a matter of His multiplication. Verse 23 indicates clearly that the Lord was concerned for His glorification, and verse 24 explains what this glorification is. In verse 23 He said to the disciples, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” In verse 24 He went on to say, “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” This indicates that glorification is a matter of dying and rising so that many grains may be brought forth. This means that the Lord’s glorification was His multiplication, and His multiplication was His glorification. Since a field of ripe wheat has a certain kind of glory and all the ripe ears of wheat are the glory of the grains of wheat that have been sown into the ground, the multiplication of a grain of wheat is its glorification. Likewise, as a grain of wheat, the Lord Jesus died on the cross to bring forth the multiplication of Himself, and He is glorified in the producing of many grains, which are for the building up of His Body. As a grain of wheat, a container of the divine life, Christ was sown into the earth through death in order that He might be multiplied and thereby glorified.

The Believers Enjoying Him as the Life Essence
through His Death and Resurrection

The believers may enjoy Christ as the life essence through His death and resurrection; that is, they may enjoy Him as the life essence released through His death and dispensed through His resurrection. The Lord, as a grain of wheat falling into the ground, lost His soul-life through death that He might release His eternal life in resurrection to the many grains. As the many grains, we also must lose our soul-life through death (v. 25) that we may enjoy the eternal life in resurrection. To lose our soul-life is to follow Him that we may serve Him and walk with Him on this way, the way of losing the soul-life and living in His resurrection. This is indicated by the Lord’s word to the disciples in verse 26a, “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there also My servant will be.” Thus, we need to pray, “Lord, grant me the grace to be willing to die. Lord, I want to follow You. You said that wherever You are, there will Your servants be. Lord, since You are in death, we must be in death also.”

One difference between Christ as the one grain and us as the many is that He was willing to fall into the ground, but we are not. Instead of falling into the ground to die, we like to be uplifted. However, if we are lifted up, there will be no multiplication. The only way for a grain to multiply is to fall into the ground and die. Otherwise, it will remain alone, perhaps in a high place. All genuine Christians are grains, but not many are willing to fall into the ground and die. There might be a huge crowd, but there might be very little life because few are willing to experience the death of Christ. Since nearly everyone is unwilling to die and prefers to receive glory, no life is imparted into others. It is easy to have a crowd but difficult to impart life into others. To do this, we need to die. In the Lord’s recovery we do not need a crowd; we need the death that releases life. We need to experience this aspect of Christ’s death.

Enjoying Christ as the Grain of Wheat
by Experiencing His Life-releasing Death
for the Multiplication of the Divine Life

The Lord’s death not only releases the divine life but also multiplies it. The shortage of life among the believers is due to the fact that we have not died enough to minister life to one another. Life comes out of death. The divine life is within us, but how much this life is multiplied depends upon how much death we undergo. The more death we experience, the more life will be released from us. Only death can bring about the multiplication of the divine life; power cannot do it. Today’s Christians devote their attention to power instead of to life. But only the death of Christ can multiply life. He is the unique grain of wheat, and we are the many grains of wheat. In our function we should be the same as Christ for His multiplication. Hence, we need to enjoy Christ as the grain of wheat by experiencing His life-releasing death for the multiplication of the divine life. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 282)