Many Christians say that we should not allegorize the Bible. However, if we do not know how to allegorize the Bible, it will be a closed book to us, for the Bible is full of allegories. There are many allegories in the Gospel of John. Take, for example, John 1:1. This verse says, “In the beginning was the Word.” Even this Word is an allegory. Certainly Christ as the Word is not a word composed of black and white letters. That is not the meaning of John 1:1. In John 8:12 the Lord Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” This also is an allegory. Jesus is not a light given off by the sun or by a lamp. The Gospel of John also tells us that Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:29). Certainly Christ is not a lamb with four feet and a tail. What nonsense it would be to say that! To say that Christ is the Lamb is to speak allegorically.
In the Gospel of John the death of the Lord Jesus is described in an allegorical way. It is very difficult to describe a person’s face. Not even a book of hundreds of pages could replace a photograph of a person’s face. If you want someone to know what you look like, do not write many letters describing yourself—send him a picture. Likewise, if you want an adequate understanding of the death of Christ, consider the figures used in the Gospel of John. John uses three figures to depict the death of Christ: the Lamb, the serpent, and the grain of wheat (John 1:29; 3:14; 12:24). Although we may use thousands of words to describe the death of Christ, without these three figures we would not know the meaning of His death in an adequate way. Praise the Lord for the allegories in the Gospel of John concerning Christ’s death. Christ died on the cross as the Lamb to redeem us. He was also crucified in the form of a serpent that He might destroy the enemy, Satan. Christ did not have the poisonous nature of the serpent; nevertheless, He was crucified in the form of a serpent. Christ also died as a grain of wheat in order to release His life. These three allegories give us a full picture of the death of Christ. They indicate that Christ died to redeem us, to destroy the enemy, and to release His life. If we did not have these three allegories, it would be very difficult to adequately understand the death of Christ. Hence, it is not right to say that we should not allegorize the Bible.
In this message we shall see how to eat Christ as wheat and as barley. Both wheat and barley are allegories of Christ. Christ is the real wheat and the real barley. If we would know Christ as wheat and as barley, we need to consider both the plain words in the New Testament and the pictures in the Old Testament. The New Testament says clearly that Christ is our life (Col. 3:4). But this statement is rather general. In what specific way is Christ our life? We need a picture to show us how Christ can be our life. Thus, we need the wheat and the barley to portray the meaning of Christ as our life.
In John 12:24 the Lord Jesus indicated clearly that He was a grain of wheat. This verse says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Wheat signifies Christ in His incarnation and crucifixion. To be incarnated means to be limited. Although in eternity Christ was the unlimited God, unlimited both in space and in time, one day He was incarnated and became limited. Oh, the unlimited God was limited in Jesus, a little carpenter from Nazareth! Although the Lord is the eternal, infinite, unlimited God, He lived as a man, limited even in the matter of time. When His brothers in the flesh encouraged Him to go into Judea, Jesus said, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready” (John 7:6). The Lord seemed to be saying, “I don’t have the freedom to go to Jerusalem; I am limited to stay in Galilee.” The Lord Jesus was not only limited in time, but also in space. It is difficult to believe that the unlimited God lived in the house of a carpenter for thirty years. This is Jesus as our life, the One by whom we may live. Thus, wheat signifies the limited Jesus.