VIII. DYING TO PRODUCE MANY GRAINS
The Son, as the grain of wheat (John 12:24), expected that He would die (Luke 12:50) to have His shell of humanity broken that His divine glory might be released with His divine life to produce many grains, that is, many believers as His increase for the constituting of His Body for the glorification of the Father. In Luke 12:50 the Lord said, "But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am pressed until it is accomplished!" His undergoing physical death was the baptism referred to here. He was pressed, constrained, in the shell of His humanity, and He longed to be put into death, which was a baptism to Him. This death broke His human shell so that His unlimited and infinite divine being with His divine life might be released from His flesh, which was His glorification in resurrection.
IX. THE HOUR FOR HIM TO BE GLORIFIED
BY THE FATHER
At His last entry into Jerusalem under the exaltation of the people of Israel, some Greeks came to exalt Him, but He told them that that was the hour for Him not to be exalted by man but to be glorified by the Father, that is, to die to have His divine glory and life released in His resurrection (John 12:12, 20-24). John 12:23 says, "And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." For Him to be glorified is for Him to be released from the shell of His humanity through death and resurrection.
X. FOR THE DISPENSING OF HIS DIVINE LIFE
TO HIS BELIEVERS
It is in the second section of this book from 12:20 to 20:29 that the Son was crucified to have His human shell broken and His divine glory and life released in His resurrection for the dispensing of His divine life to His believers with which they could glorify the Father also. This matter is referred to in 12:23, 28; 13:31, 32; 14:13; 15:8; 17:1, 5, 10, 22, 24. It is also referred to in 7:39 and 12:16.
XI. THE SON’S PRAYER TO GLORIFY THE FATHER
The Son prayed to the Father, "Glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You" (John 17:1). The Father glorified the Son by putting Him to death and resurrecting Him. The Son’s human shell was broken by death so that the concealed God could be released, glorified. The Father would thus be glorified in Him. Because the Son’s human shell was broken, the Father was released for His glorification.
(Crystallization-Study of the Gospel of John, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee)
