THE PARABLE OF THE GRAIN OF WHEAT

"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (John 12:24).

When Jesus said this, He was referring to how much His death would bear much fruit. Yet the same statement can carry immense lessons to us.

It is a must that Jesus had to die because sin is consequential (Romans 6:23). That Jesus offered Himself to be surety in place of the rest meant that He couldn't have escaped death. Man being a sinner was meant to die. But the righteous Jesus placed Himself in place of the sinner.

Rather Jesus became the advocate for the sinful man so that the sinner through Jesus could be accepted by God the Father.

In Christ we are regenerated and made anew. For we have all sinned and have all fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Yet in Christ, everyone is given another opportunity to escape past human faults.

Thus while the rest were pretty oblivious of what he could have meant, being the high priest at the time, Caiaphas made a statement that even he (personally) didn't understand what exactly the hidden meaning of it was for. For he said; it was better for one person to die in order to save the nation (John 11:50-51).

Jesus ought to have died so as to make meaning of His mission. The mission was to save man from eternal spiritual death. Thus it is pretty of much significance that when Jesus gave up His Spirit, many saints were resurrected and were seen on the streets of Jerusalem (Matthew 27:50-53).

Equally so, we (Christians) have to keep track with Jesus. We ought to to keep to Him in His death on the cross (and the human shame therewith) (which is but to bring us life). We ought to die to sin and rise with Him (Jesus) to a holy and righteous life which is but to the glory of the Father. In this way, we can be of use to save many others.

But away from simply looking at it in terms of numbers, it also pretty teaches us many lessons in terms of answering many questions concerning death and eternity. For apart from having many come to Jesus (the billions of Christians), there is the part that He made it pretty real that there is life after death.

Jesus' death and His subsequent resurrection brought Him indisputable glory, but it brought us (His followers) assurance that the fact that He resurrected (which only comes after death), if we yield to Him in faith, He surely brings us eternal life (John 3:16; 5:24; 11:25; 14:6).

A grain if sowed in the earth can't live again unless it allows dying. It is thus after this earthly life that one can live the life after death (1Corinthians 15:35-38).

 By what He went through, Jesus assured us that the mortality of the flesh is not an end in itself. Thus, much as those who refuse to embrace Jesus will resurrect to eternal damnation, the rest of us who have accepted and followed Him will resurrect to eternity in heaven with the Father (John 5:28-29).

Thus, because Jesus accepted to die so He could resurrect, should make us have the confidence of life after death, though ideally the fear of death (the state of unconsciousness) can't completely be done away with.

Jesus had pleaded with the Father to avoid it (death) (Matthew 26:39), (Mark 14:36), (Luke 22:42). Yet He had to die because He was the seed that would give birth to many more seedlings. And because He (Jesus) died, He has borne more fruit in us. Yet after death, Jesus is now risen.

There was no another way for Jesus to do it. Equally so, there is no another way for you to go to heaven unless you are subjected to mortality, or you are caught up in the rapture (if you are sure you unceasingly stand well with the Lord).

But this also teaches us that in the literal world and life we are, when we come to Christ, it is pretty a requirement that we die to the former self and thereby assume another life in Jesus Christ (2Corinthians 4:10). The way of life that allows us to bear fruit.

Jesus came to save us from the consequential sin which we inherited by being the offspring of Adam (the first man to live on earth). Thus if we insist to remain in the life that we lived before we met Christ, then we can't bear fruit. We can’t bear fruit because we have not died away. Thus Jesus went on saying; "Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12:25).

For just as the grain of wheat will remain the same if it doesn’t allow dying, so it will be that if one doesn’t allow the sinful part of him to die off a complete death, he remains as he is and thereby unprofitable.

The old nature of us has to die off so that we are filled with the new nature of Christ (Romans 6:5-7). And if we can't bear fruit, then we can't be accepted of the Father. Yet that Christ is alive, it is so that if He died and rose again from the dead, we (who submit to Him) are also alive together with Him in faith (Romans 6:8-10).

You need Jesus to live

Thus when a person is Born Again, he is a new creature and all the old has gone and the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:16-19). In this then, we begin to live a life that is not of us, but which is of Christ which enables us to live profitably and to the glory of God. And by doing this, the non-believers will come to learn of our God and the power in yielding to Him (God). Such a way of life will draw them near to God. For the life of a Christian must be transparent and should be there for everybody's view (Matthew 5:13-16).

But also, if a grain dies in earth (when sown) so that from it a new plant germinates and grows, does it mean it has gone into oblivion? The answer to this question is "yes" and "no". It is "yes" because it has given away itself so that it can bear fruit. And that means that to be able to bear fruit for God, there is something to give up on. Rather fruit may never be borne if one does not give away certain things. Watch out what is failing you in your spiritual progress. That part of you which is failing you is the one to die away so you can bear fruit.

And it is "no" because it has not gone all away. For it has only undergone a process of transformation so that it can give way to the better part of it.  It is that transformed person that God is looking for in us. That person can only be in Jesus Christ. So then, the fear of going into oblivion is only sourced in the devil. For it is simply a process of transformation, but not going out of existence.

And when the old grain dies away, and grows into a plant, it multiplies pretty much (more seeds come into being). Thus to say; it is only the old sinful man who is to die away and thereby give way to a new man who in Christ Jesus bears fruit and lives a renewed life. So then, the same person remains but the form of that person has been allowed to be transformed into another person who can bear fruit. This is how we can live a life but to the glory of the Father.

We ought to note that we are the ambassadors of the heavens. An ambassador is a government of one country in another country if to say. Rather an ambassador represents what the home government stands for. Having not been like Him (Jesus or God for that matter), yet by coming to Him, we are given an opportunity to share in both; His suffering (though we may not have to hang like He did) and victories. 

When we come to Jesus, it is so that we accept that He died for the right cause and do share in it. In this, it so is that He (Jesus) exchanges life for death for us (Galatians 2:20).

Thus then, when one is Born Again, he begins to appear in the Crucifixion and resurrection of Christ (but figuratively). The former and sinful man is let go and another man with the life and righteousness of Christ (the man to live eternally) is let to protrude.

In all this, there is the great element of SACRIFICE. Have you made a sacrifice in your life? How much was it? For who was that sacrifice?

 

It is how you answer these questions that you will know if the self wishing part of you has died away and given way to a person who can confidently and reliably say; “follow me as I follow Christ” (1Corinthians 11:1).

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