In His work on the cross the Lord Jesus died as a grain of wheat falling into death for the release of the divine life. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). Christ’s all-inclusive death released the divine life that was within Him. As a grain of wheat He died to release the divine life and to enliven God’s redeemed ones, to produce many grains that can be blended together in a loaf to be offered to God. This loaf is the church, the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:17).
The Lord Jesus fell into the ground and died so 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. The Lord Jesus, as a grain of wheat falling into the ground, lost His soulish life through death so that He might release His divine life in resurrection to the many grains.
On the negative side, Christ’s all-inclusive death has solved the problems of sins, sin, the old man, the old creation, Satan, the world, and the ordinances. On the positive side, Christ’s death has released the divine life from within Him. He was a grain of wheat, and there was no other way for that grain to increase except to fall into the ground and die. This is the way to have the multiplication of life. Therefore, in His death Christ was sown into the earth as a grain of wheat to produce a multiplication through the release of the divine life.
Furthermore, it was by dying to release the divine life that the Lord Jesus was glorified and glorified the Father. In John 12:23 the Lord said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified,” and in verse 28 He prayed, “Father, glorify Your name.” The Lord was glorified through death and resurrection because it was through death and resurrection that His divine element was released and manifested. God the Father was glorified by the Son’s being glorified. When the Son’s divine element was released and manifested through His death and resurrection, the Father’s divine life was released and manifested. Thus, the Father was glorified in the Son’s glorification through His death and resurrection. The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus glorified God the Father because Christ’s death released the divine element from within Him. This element was confined in His flesh, just as the life element of a grain of wheat is confined within its shell. In order for the life element of a grain of wheat to be glorified, the grain must die so that the element within it can be released. It is the same with the divine element within the Lord Jesus.
To glorify the name of the Father is to cause the Father’s element to be manifested. This element, which is the eternal life, was in the incarnated Son. The shell of the Son’s incarnation, His flesh, had to be broken through death so that the Father’s element might be released and manifested in resurrection, just as the life element of a grain of wheat is released by its shell being broken and manifested by its blossom. This is the glorification of God the Father in the Son’s glorification through His dying as a grain of wheat to release the divine life.
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