Lesson Book, Level 2: The Triune God—The Triune God and the Person and Work of Christ, by Witness Lee

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V. The Grain of Wheat

All of the first four aspects of Christ’s death dealt with the negative problems such as sins and Satan. Now we must see that Christ also died as the grain of wheat. This is something on the positive side. In John 12:24, Christ described Himself as a grain of wheat: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." When you plant a seed in the ground, that is a kind of death, a burial. But what happens after that? Life comes up! It even bears fruit to produce more seeds.

The life of a grain of wheat is hidden inside its outer shell. When the grain falls into the ground, the shell breaks and the life inside is released. In the same way, Christ’s divine life was contained and concealed within the "shell" of His body. His death on the cross broke that shell so that His divine life could be released. His life was released so it could get into us! Before, He was the only God-man, a single grain. But through His death He has released His life. When we believed and called on the Lord Jesus, He came into us and we became His multiplication, the many grains! We became the many God-men just like Him. We can express God in our humanity as He did in His. How wonderful!

VI. AN ALL-INCLUSIVE DEATH

The Lord’s crucifixion was neither a small nor simple event. It was an all-inclusive death. When Christ died, He accomplished a work much greater than the creation. That cross was the focus of the entire universe. Through it God cleaned up every negative thing and released His divine life! That One on the cross was not a simple man. Christ died as the Lamb of God to take away our sins and release us from God’s judgment. He died as the brass serpent to crush Satan’s head, crucify our serpentine nature, and destroy the world. He died as the last Adam to terminate Adam and the old creation. He died as the peacemaker to end all of man’s differences and make peace. And He died as the grain of wheat to release His wonderful life into us.

If we had been at the Lord’s crucifixion watching with "spiritual" eyes, we would have witnessed a tremendous scene. God was there working out His eternal purpose, and Satan and all the powers of hell were there battling, trying to frustrate Him. What a war it must have been! But Christ triumphed over them, putting them to open shame (Col. 2:14-15). Every negative thing in the universe was nailed to the cross and God’s divine life was released. Hallelujah for Christ’s work on the cross!

QUESTIONS

  1. Explain the meaning and significance of Christ being the last Adam.
  2. What does Ephesians 2:14-16 reveal to us regarding Christ’s being the peacemaker?
  3. Why did Christ use the death of a grain of wheat to illustrate His death?

Quoted Portions from (Lee/LSM) Publications

  1. Life-study of First Corinthians, pp. 613-614.
  2. The Kernel of the Bible, p. 124.
  3. The Spirit and Body, pp. 20-21.
  4. Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 721-724, 728-729.
  5. Stream Magazine Book Two, pp. 1600-1601.
  6. Life-study of John, pp. 315-317, 517.
  7. Life-study of Colossians, p. 190.
  8. Life-study of Mark, pp. 423-427, 432-433.
  9. The Economy of God, p. 127.

(Lesson Book, Level 2: The Triune God—The Triune God and the Person and Work of Christ, Chapter 17, by Witness Lee)

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