Immanuel -- God with Us
Bibiography
Chapter Eleven
1 John 12:21.
2 John 12:24.
3 John 12:32.33.
4 The Desire of Ages p622.623.
5 Mark 4:28.
6 The Desire of Ages p623.
7 Ibid p623.
8 Ibid p624.
9 Ibid.
10 Ibid.
11 John 12:27.28.
12 John 12:28.
13 The Desire of Ages p625.
14 Ibid.
15 John 12:29.
16 The Desire of Ages p625.
17 Ibid.
Immanuel -- Chapter 1
Immanuel -- Chapter 2
Immanuel -- Chapter 3
Immanuel -- Chapter 4
Immanuel -- Chapter 5
Immanuel -- Chapter 6
Immanuel -- Chapter 7
Immanuel -- Chapter 8
Immanuel -- Chapter 9
Immanuel -- Chapter 10
Immanuel -- Chapter 11
Immanuel -- Chapter 12
Immanuel -- Chapter 13
Immanuel -- Chapter 14
Chapter Eleven
THE GRAIN OF WHEAT
On the Saviour’s last day in the temple, certain Greeks asked to see Jesus. When He heard the eager request – ‘Sir, we would see Jesus’, His heart rejoiced. 1
Christ was about to leave the temple forever in what seemed a cruel defeat, but in the request of these strangers, He saw the pledge of a great harvest.
To them He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” 2 This parable illustrated Christ’s soon-approaching death.
“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” 3
“Like the grain of wheat, the Son of man must be cast into the ground and die, and be buried out of sight; but He was to live again.” 4
Season by season, the sower plants his seeds of grain. They are buried in the ground, and for a time are hidden beneath the soil. Then, a little shoot appears, “first the blade, then the ear and after that the full corn in the ear.” 5
“The seed buried in the ground produces fruit, and in turn this is planted. Thus the harvest is multiplied. So the death of Christ on the cross of Calvary will bear fruit unto eternal life. The contemplation of this sacrifice will be the glory of those who, as the fruit of it, will live through the eternal ages.” 6
But the growth of the seed cannot take place unless the grain is buried out of sight, hidden, and to all appearances lost.
“The grain of wheat that preserves its own, can produce no fruit. It abides alone. Christ could, if He chose, save Himself from death. But should He do this, He must abide alone. He could bring no sons and daughters to God. Only by yielding up His life could He impart life to humanity. Only by falling into the ground to die could He become the Seed of that vast harvest – the great multitude that out of every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, are redeemed to God.” 7
When a seed is buried in the ground, its blessing of nutrition is forfeited. It seems a waste, for its life-giving properties are apparently thrown away – to die and rot in the ground.
But no, the good seed, although it ‘dies’, and its outer shell is cast off, it lives to produce a harvest. Within the seed is life that is able to reproduce itself. If a seed is truly dead, it can produce nothing. When planted at the right time, and with the blessing of God in sunshine and rain, the Spirit of God speaks to the life in the fertile seed and bids it begin its new life. Eventually, it bears fruit for the sustenance of man.
The request of the Greeks to see Jesus foreshadowed the “gathering in of the Gentiles”, and this brought to the mind of Jesus His entire mission.” 8
As He pondered the work of redemption, a cloud began to hover over His head. A sense of gloom enveloped Jesus. He “was already drinking the cup of bitterness.” 9
“His humanity shrank from the hour of abandonment, when to all appearances He would be deserted by God, when all would see Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. He shrank from public exposure, from being treated as the worst of criminals, from a shameful and dishonoured death.
A fore-boding of His conflict with the powers of darkness, a sense of the awful burden of human transgression, and the Father’s wrath because of sin, caused the spirit of Jesus to faint, and the pallor of death to overspread His countenance.” 10
Then, in divine submission to His Father’s will, He said, “For this cause came I unto this hour; Father, glorify Thy name.” 11
As Jesus said the words, the voice of the Father spoke from the cloud, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 12 This is the third time the Father had spoken publicly to Christ, setting His “seal to the mission of His Son.” 13
“As the voice was heard, a light darted from the cloud, and encircled Christ, as if the arms of Infinite Power were thrown about Him like a wall of fire.” 14
The people looked on in amazement. No one spoke. When the cloud lifted, some said it thundered. Others, that an angel had spoken to Him. 15
But to the Greek inquirers, it was a “message of hope”. They “saw the cloud, heard the voice, comprehended its meaning, and discerned Christ indeed; to them He was revealed as the Sent of God.” 16
This experience was “the crowning evidence of Christ’s Messiahship, the signal from the Father that Jesus had spoken the truth, and was the Son of God.” 17