This is Jesus, and as the seed, the branch, and the fruit, He is so subjective to us. All these points are fully revealed in the Old Testament, but not merely in an objective way. Jesus as a seed is altogether subjective to us. He is the seed, and we are the earth. The seed must get into the earth subjectively. How can the seed do anything in the earth unless it is sown into the earth?
There is much teaching today among Christians concerning Christ in an objective way. We all know that Jesus was crucified on the cross for us, and now He is resurrected and sitting on the throne in the third heavens as the Lord of all. This is indeed right, but it is only the objective side. He must get into us. On the cross, He bruised the head of Satan, objectively, and now as the seed this bruising One is within us subjectively. When He comes into us, He flows His bruising life into us. Today, Jesus bruises Satan within us. Many times when the enemy begins to rise up within us against the building of God’s house, this bruising life defeats him.
Today most of the Christian teachings are too objective. When I first came to this country, I immediately began to tell the Christians to turn to their spirit within them. Then I was asked why my teachings were always so subjective. I do not deny that there is the objective aspect. Jesus is really there in the heavens. But subjectively, He is in my spirit. Undoubtedly the electricity is in the power plant. But it is also installed in our homes. If the electricity were merely objective, we would be in darkness. If it were only in the power plant, it would not benefit us. We would have no way to apply the electricity. The application of the electricity is altogether involved with its entrance into our home. It has to be subjective.
If Jesus were only in the heavens, He would have nothing to do with us. But our Jesus is not only that kind of Jesus. On one hand He is in the heavens, but on the other hand He is within us. I can boldly say that my Jesus is within me. I can even boast that Jesus is within me! Jesus is within me as a seed to grow. Then He grows into a branch, and as a branch He branches God into me and bears fruit for others’ enjoyment. Hallelujah! It is this Jesus who builds God’s temple, who builds up the church. He does it not in an objective way, but in a very subjective way, by sowing Himself into us, branching God into us, and bearing fruit for others’ enjoyment within us. This is the Jesus that is prophesied in the Old Testament.
Now we come to the first page of the New Testament. “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations” (Matt. 1:1, 17). Forty-two generations are mentioned. This is quite meaningful. We have seen that Jesus is God in the Son as the divine seed to be sown into us. This sowing has not been easy. It needed forty-two generations as a preparation from Abraham through Isaac, through Israel, and through Judah, through many generations unto David, and through David’s sons and grandsons, even through the Babylonian captivity. Then, eventually, Jesus came. It took forty-two generations for this divine sowing, for Jesus to arrive here.
According to many hymns, it seems that Jesus merely descended from the heavens to the earth. But it was not like that. Matthew says that it required forty-two generations. Genesis says even more. Matthew counted from Abraham, but Genesis counted from the seed of the woman. The seed was mentioned in Genesis 3, but from that day it took a long period of time for this seed to enter into human soil. This is why the birth of Jesus was not merely a birth. It was the sowing of the divine seed into the human soil.