Now we come to Christ as barley. The Bible is wonderful. If you do not know how to allegorize the Bible, you will never know the secret of the Bible. More than fifty years ago, I was taught that the Bible was inspired by God. For years I believed this doctrinally. But gradually, as I probed into the depths of the Bible, especially the allegories, I became thoroughly convinced that the Bible is indeed inspired by God.
Why does Deuteronomy 8:8 mention wheat first and then barley? Wheat must come before barley. After Christ was incarnated and crucified, He was resurrected. In the good land barley ripens earlier than any other grain. Because it ripens so early, it is the firstfruit of the harvest. The firstfruit is a type of the resurrected Christ (Lev. 23:10). First Corinthians 15:20 says, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruit of them that slept” (Gk.).
As the barley, Christ is unlimited. According to John chapter six, Christ fed more than five thousand people with five loaves of barley (vv. 9-10). And the fragments left over from these five loaves filled twelve baskets! This proves that barley is unlimited. On the one hand, we are growing the limited Jesus; on the other hand, we are growing the unlimited Christ. The riches of this Christ are unsearchable, and His power is profound. Like Paul, we can say, “I can do all things through the One who empowers me” (Phil. 4:13, Gk.). By this unlimited Christ I am able to bear my wife, my children, and all the elders.
The sisters who live by the resurrected Christ can bear their husbands and all their children. Every husband gives his wife a difficult time. Sisters, do not expect to marry an angel. Every husband is troublesome. We husbands simply do not know how to sympathize with our wives. What then shall the sisters do? They must say, “We wives are more than conquerors because we have an unlimited Christ. The resurrected Christ is now in us, and He can bear anything.” Learn to grow the limited Jesus and the unlimited Christ. I can testify that I have Christ as both wheat and barley. I have an abundance of both wheat and barley on which to feed and with which to feed others.
Although the wheat and barley are the two basic items, Deuteronomy 8 also mentions other foods. Bread may be the major food on the table, but we still need some marmalade or jam to put on the bread to make it sweet. In addition to the wheat and the barley, we have vines and different fruits. Praise the Lord, we have wine to cheer us up and to make us joyful, and we have figs to satisfy us (Judg. 9:11, 13). Thus, along with the wheat and the barley, the solid food, we have wine and figs to be our joy and satisfaction. Furthermore, we have pomegranates, signifying the expression of the riches of life, and olives, signifying the fullness of the Spirit. Therefore, we have the riches of life and the fullness of the Spirit. In our field we enjoy Christ as six items: wheat, barley, vines, figs, pomegranates, and olives. With the limited Jesus and the unlimited Christ we have joy, satisfaction, the riches of life, and the fullness of the Spirit.
In this message we have seen some hints concerning how to eat Christ as the solid food. Firstly, we must grow Christ. Christ as our solid food is not given to us; we must grow it. Everything has been prepared for us to grow Christ. We have the land and the seed, and the rain has been promised. Now we need to grow Christ as wheat, the limited Jesus; as barley, the unlimited Christ; as wine, the joyful Christ; as figs, the satisfying Christ; as pomegranates, the rich Christ; and as olives, the Spirit in fullness. Hallelujah, we can grow Christ in all these aspects and have a bountiful harvest! After we have reaped the harvest, we must set the top portion aside, bring it to the church meeting, and share it with the Lord and with the brothers and sisters. As we share this top portion of Christ, we eat it. In this way we eat Christ as the solid food that energizes us and equips us to fight the battle, to build up the temple, and to bring in the kingdom. When we eat Christ as the solid food, we are no longer wafers; we are stones, iron, and brass for God’s temple and for God’s kingdom.