Christ is the focus of God’s eternal purpose. In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, and the reality, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”
To experience Christ as the way and as the reality, we must first experience Him as our life. If I were to ask you how Christ can be our life, you would perhaps be at a loss for words. I doubt that many Christians know the answer, but this is one of the truths that God has recovered and that He wants us to experience. For Christ to be our life we need to know some aspects of who He is.
In John 1 Christ is portrayed as the Word who was in the beginning. This Word, who was God Himself, became flesh. Christ, then, is God incarnate. Why did He become a man? Verse 29 says, “Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!” For Christ to be our life, He first had to solve the problem of sin. Sin was separating us from God. This Man as the Lamb of God was our Redeemer whose blood was shed on the cross for our sins. This truth of redemption is the common belief of Christians.
“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” (John 12:24). Unlike redemption, the significance of this picture of Christ as a grain of wheat is not understood by most Christians. The grain of wheat does not pertain to redemption, since a seed does not have blood. A seed contains life. The grain of wheat is for the imparting of life. While the shedding of blood was for redemption, the imparting of life is for reproduction. What is the result of the grain of wheat falling into the ground and dying? The seed sprouts and grows to produce many grains. Christ was the single grain of wheat that fell into the ground and died. Then He sprouted in resurrection and became many grains. We are those many grains. What has become of the original grain? Not only is it within us, but it has also become all of us.
Dear ones, do you realize how precious is this truth of Christ as the grain of wheat? When I was saved, I repented of my sins, confessed to the Lord, and was cleansed by His blood. After I had been saved for a time, I began to wonder what more there was to the Christian life. Was Christ only the Lamb to take away my sins? The only answer I was given was that now that I was saved, I should try to lead a good Christian life. How far short of God’s intention such instruction falls! The Lamb for redemption is the grain for reproducing. By death and resurrection this grain has borne much fruit.
We need to see further who Christ is in order for us to experience Him as our life. In chapter fourteen John records these words of Christ: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever; even the Spirit of reality” (vv. 16-17). Christ Himself is the Comforter. The other Comforter to be sent is the Spirit of reality. This other Comforter is not distinct from Christ Himself. He is simply the reality of Christ, translating Christ from an empty term to a living Person for us. Without “another Comforter” Christ would not be real to us.
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