In His resurrection the Lord Jesus produced many grains for His multiplication and glorification. As a grain of wheat (John 12:24) He had a human “shell,” by which He was restricted and under which His divine element was covered and concealed. When He died, the divine life was released from within the shell of His humanity to produce many grains in His resurrection. This means that in resurrection He did a work to have Himself multiplied from one grain to many grains. By being multiplied in this way He was glorified. His multiplication was His glorification.
Jesus Christ is God incarnate. When He was incarnated, He entered into humanity and put on humanity as a shell. As a result, Christ’s divine life and nature were confined and concealed within the shell of His humanity. Through incarnation He became a seed that needed to bear fruit. This fruit-bearing was to be Christ’s glorification. The only way for a grain of wheat to be glorified is for it to fall into the ground and die and then grow up. In this way the life within the seed is released to bring forth much fruit, and this fruit-bearing is glorification. By going through this process of death and resurrection the Lord Jesus terminated the old creation and germinated the new creation in resurrection. In this resurrection He produced many grains. Those who believe in Christ are these many grains. Therefore, the Lord Jesus fell into the ground as a grain of wheat and rose up in resurrection to have Himself released and expressed in the many grains. This is what it means for the Lord Jesus to be glorified.
In John 12:23 the Lord Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Here the Lord was concerned for His glorification. In verse 24 He went on to explain what this glorification is: “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” The Lord Jesus was glorified by dying as a grain of wheat and then growing up in resurrection to produce many grains. He 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, 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. Therefore, glorification is a matter of dying and rising so that many grains may be brought forth. This indicates that Christ’s glorification was His multiplication, and His multiplication was His glorification. The Lord Jesus was glorified in the producing of many grains, which are for the building up of His Body. Hence, for Christ to be glorified is for Him to bring forth many grains as His multiplication in resurrection.
In John 13:31 and 32 the Lord Jesus spoke again concerning His glorification: “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.” Here we see that the Father is glorified in the Son. This means that when the Son is glorified, the Father is glorified as well. In John 12:28 the Lord Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify Your name.” To glorify the name of the Father is to cause the Father’s element to be expressed. The Father’s element, the divine element, which is eternal life, was in the incarnated Son. It was necessary for the shell of the Son’s humanity to be broken through death so that the Father’s element might be released and expressed in resurrection. This is the glorification of God the Father in the Son. The Father is glorified in the Son’s glorification because in this glorification the Father is expressed.
After speaking the words recorded in John 13:31 and 32, the Lord Jesus went on to give the lengthy message recorded in John 14 through 16. Actually, this message began in 13:31, which speaks of the glorification of the Son. Both the Lord’s message in chapters fourteen through sixteen and His prayer in chapter seventeen are on the subject of glorification. In His message He spoke concerning glorification, and in His prayer He prayed concerning glorification.
In John 17:1 the Lord Jesus prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You.” Here we see glorification as the subject of the Lord’s prayer. He was God incarnate, and His flesh was a tabernacle for God’s dwelling on earth (John 1:14). His divine element was confined in His humanity, just as God’s shekinah glory was concealed within the tabernacle. Once, on the mountain of transfiguration, His divine element was released from within His flesh and expressed in glory (Matt. 17:1-4). But it was concealed again in His flesh. Before the prayer recorded in John 17, the Lord indicated that He would be glorified and that the Father would be glorified in Him. The Lord Jesus knew that He would pass through death so that the concealing shell of His humanity might be broken to release His divine element, His divine life. He would also resurrect so that He might uplift His humanity into the divine element and that His divine element might be expressed. Then His divine being, both divinity and humanity, would be glorified. In this way the Father would be glorified in Him.
In John 17:5 the Lord Jesus went on to say in His prayer, “Now, glorify Me with Yourself, Father, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.” Before His incarnation Christ as the only begotten Son of God was with the Father in glory and enjoyed this glory with the Father. But when He put on flesh through incarnation, this glory was concealed in His flesh. His humanity was a shell that covered and confined the divine life and nature, along with the divine glory, that were within Him. The divine glory, the expression of the divine life and nature, was therefore confined and concealed within the Lord’s humanity. Outwardly, He appeared to be a Jew, even a despised Nazarene. That was the appearance of the shell of Christ’s humanity. But within this shell the divine life, nature, and glory were concealed. Through His death and by His work in His resurrection, Christ released the divine life from within Him to produce many grains for His glorification. This is a crucial aspect of Christ’s work in His resurrection.
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