Scripture Reading: Deut. 8:8a; John 12:24-26; Rev. 1:9; 2 Cor. 4:10-12; 10:13; Eph. 3:1; 4:1
Ⅰ
The wheat in Deuteronomy 8:8a typifies the incarnated, crucified, and buried Christ—John 12:24:
A
In His full ministry in the stage of His incarnation, Christ brought the infinite God into the finite man—John 1:1, 14:
１
As a finite man Christ in the flesh was limited in time and space—7:6, 10:
ａ
Although the Lord is the eternal, infinite, unlimited God, He lived here on earth as a man, being limited in the matter of time—v. 6.
ｂ
Although the Lord is the almighty God, as a man under persecution He was limited in relation to His activity—v. 10.
２
As a finite man Christ in the flesh was limited in knowledge—Matt. 24:36; Luke 2:40, 52; cf. John 7:15; Mark 6:1-3.
３
As a finite man Christ in the flesh had a natural, human life and a dependent existence—John 10:11, 15, 17; 6:57a; Matt. 14:19.
B
Christ's humanity through His incarnation became a shell that concealed His divinity and thereby concealed His glory—John 1:14; 12:23-24; Luke 12:50:
１
In His incarnation the Lord Jesus was exceedingly limited; He was constrained within His flesh, which He had put upon Himself in His incarnation—John 1:14.
２
Because the glory of His divinity was concealed by the shell of His humanity, the Lord Jesus was pressed and constrained, longing to be baptized with the baptism of His death for the release of the glory of His divinity—Luke 12:50.
３
The Lord needed to undergo physical death that His unlimited and infinite divine being with His divine life might be released from His flesh.
４
The Lord Jesus fell into the ground and died, and that death released Him from His human shell—John 12:24:
ａ
He fell into the ground and died so that His divine element, His divine life, might be released from within the shell of His humanity.
ｂ
The Lord Jesus, as a grain of wheat falling into the ground, lost His soulish life through death in order to release His divine life.
Ⅱ
In the midst of situations that limit us and press us, we may experience Christ as a grain of wheat—John 12:24:
A
When we contact the Lord in our limiting and restricting circumstances, we will realize that He is the infinite God who became a finite man and that there is power in Him to bear any kind of limitation—Phil. 4:13.
B
Christ our life is within us as a grain of wheat to live the life of the incarnate One, the limited One; He is our life to make us willing to be limited and to die and be buried—Col. 1:27; 3:4.
C
If we contact the Lord, we will experience Him as a grain of wheat, and in Him we will be content with our situation—Phil. 4:11-12.
Ⅲ
Experiencing Christ as wheat—John's line—John 12:25-26; Rev. 1:9:
A
"He who loves his soul-life loses it; and he who hates his soul-life in this world shall keep it unto eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there also My servant will be"—John 12:25-26a:
１
As the many grains, we also must lose our soul-life through death that we may enjoy eternal life in resurrection.
２
This is to follow Him that we may serve Him and walk with Him on the way of losing our soul-life and living in His resurrection.
B
"I John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus"—Rev. 1:9:
１
Jesus denotes the suffering and sorrowing Savior—Isa. 53:3.
２
The island of Patmos was the place where John was exiled when he saw the visions that compose the book of Revelation—1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10.
Ⅳ
Experiencing Christ as wheat—Paul's line—2 Cor. 4:10; 10:13; Eph. 3:1; 4:1:
A
"Always bearing about in the body the putting to death of Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body"—2 Cor. 4:10:
１
Paul was always being delivered unto death so that the life of Jesus might be manifested in his mortal flesh—v. 11.
２
The work of the apostles is to minister life by dying—v. 12.
B
"We will not boast beyond our measure but according to the measure of the rule which the God of measure has apportioned to us"—10:13:
１
The God of measure is ruling and measuring; therefore, we must stay within the limits of His ruling and measuring—vv. 12, 14; Rom. 12:3.
２
Paul conducted himself so as not to overstep the boundary of his measure; he was a good example of a person fully under God's restriction.
C
"Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus"; "I, the prisoner in the Lord"—Eph. 3:1; 4:1:
１
Bonds and imprisonment were God's sovereign restriction, and Paul neither transgressed this restriction nor rebelled against it.
２
Considering himself the prisoner of Christ Jesus, apparently Paul was confined in a physical prison; actually he was imprisoned in Christ—3:1.
３
Eventually, every faithful lover of Christ will be imprisoned not only by Christ but in Christ:
ａ
The more we love Him, the more we will be in Him to such an extent that He becomes our prison.
ｂ
Here in this prison we enjoy Christ to the uttermost—Phil. 4:4.