Thus far, we have seen the Word’s incarnation, the Son’s living on this earth, and the Son’s death on the cross. The Son’s death is all-inclusive, excellent, and mysterious. After death there is resurrection. The Son’s resurrection, which is the fourth item in God’s New Testament economy, is even more mysterious than His death.
In 1936 I was speaking to a group of university students in the old capital of China, Peking. Their university was one of the top universities in China. After I spoke, a young student came to me and told me that the thing that bothered him about the Christian faith was the teaching of resurrection. He could not understand how a man could die and be resurrected. In front of the window where we were standing was a wheat field. Pointing to the wheat field, I told him that it was full of resurrection. Then, I explained to him that when a grain of wheat is sown into the earth it dies. Then after it dies it grows up in resurrection. I told him that we could see resurrection everywhere in nature. I pointed out to him strongly that a grain of wheat dies, but it does not stop at death because through its death it grows; thus, its growth is by its death. Actually a grain of wheat grows by its death. As a result of this fellowship, this young student was caught by the Lord.
If we sowed a little rock into the earth, that little rock would never die and neither would it grow. The reason for this is that there is no life in the rock. Anything that does not have life can never die. A chair or a statue does not die because neither of them has life. The death of anything is a proof that that very thing has life. Death, however, is followed by resurrection. The New Testament tells us that Christ has resurrected (1 Cor. 15:4) and that we Christians all will be resurrected (1 Thes. 4:16-17). After the millennium, even the unbelievers will be resurrected (John 5:29; Rev. 20:5, 12). Because every man has life, every man will die and be resurrected. According to the Scriptures, there are different resurrections. The resurrection of Christ was the firstfruit (1 Cor. 15:20). Then at His coming back there will be another resurrection—the resurrection of the believers. After the millennium of a thousand years, there will be the third kind of resurrection—the resurrection of the dead and perished ones.
In John 12:24 the Lord Jesus told us that He was a grain of wheat who came to this earth not to live but to die. The Lord Jesus came to die and He lived to die. Christ was born to live and He lived to die. In Luke 12:50 the Lord told us that He was pressed until His death would be accomplished. This shows that He expected to die and that His goal was to die. The Word became flesh to die and His death was not an end but an initiation. His death ushered in resurrection. Peter, James, and John treasured the Lord as a grain of wheat, and when the Lord Jesus told them that He was going to die, they were bothered. They were disappointed to the uttermost. After the Lord told the disciples that He was going to be killed, Peter said, “God be merciful to You, Lord; this shall by no means happen to You!” (Matt. 16:22). Peter was satisfied to have the Lord merely as a grain of wheat, but Jesus was not satisfied with this. He wanted to die. Death was His initiation since through death He entered into resurrection. Death brings in resurrection and resurrection is the issue of life. If the grain of wheat did not have life and if it did not die, it would never resurrect. Because a grain of wheat has life, it dies and this death releases the life in resurrection.
We must see that Jesus Christ was the Triune God-man. He was not only the God-man, but also the Triune God-man. The constituents of this God-man were the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the Man Jesus. He was the Father-the Son-the Spirit-man. This Man Jesus, who was likened to a grain of wheat, embodied God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. When the Man Jesus was put to death, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit with this Man rose up from death. The Man Jesus was the shell of the grain and within this Man, this shell, were the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. While He was dying, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit were growing to rise up. What can restrict the Father, the Son, and the Spirit? What can put the Father, the Son, and the Spirit down? Nothing! Hallelujah! This wonderful Triune God-man died on the cross and resurrected.