The many grains of wheat are produced through the death and resurrection of Christ. 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. The divine life was in Jesus, just as life is confined in a grain of wheat. Because the life is concealed in the grain, the shell must be broken so that the inward life may be released. 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 in order to produce many grains.
The Lord Jesus fell into the ground and died so that His divine element, His divine life, would 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 produce 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 to the many grains. This is the life-releasing aspect of the death of Christ.
Christ’s death 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.
As a grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died, the Lord Jesus has brought forth much fruit in resurrection. This is a matter of germination through resurrection. Concerning this, Peter says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead” (1 Pet. 1:3). When Christ was resurrected we, His believers, were all included in Him. Hence, we were resurrected with Him (Eph. 2:6). In His resurrection He imparted the divine life into us and made us the same as He is in life and nature.
Through His death and resurrection the Lord Jesus has been multiplied and propagated. The many grains are the multiplication of the one grain, and this multiplication is the propagation of that grain of wheat. Therefore, the Lord’s resurrection was His propagation to produce the church as His reproduction.
The many grains of wheat produced through Christ’s death and resurrection are for the formation of one bread-the Body of Christ. After the many grains have been produced, they need to be crushed, ground into flour, and blended together in a loaf to be offered to God. This loaf is the church, the Body of Christ. “We who are many are one bread, one Body; for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor. 10:17). The Christ out of whom we have been produced and of whom we partake constitutes us into His one Body.
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