CORN OF WHEAT

In the aftermath of the amazing miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus, there was a great commotion made concerning the Lord Jesus. The crowds in Jerusalem, who were assembled for the feast of Passover, were all discussing this wonder-working Rabbi from Galilee. Even some Greek proselytes showed an interest in making the acquaintance of the famed Teacher, John 12. 20-21. The Pharisees were perturbed at the growing following that Jesus had accumulated, saying: ‘Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after Him’, v. 19.

One might expect that all this popularity would elate the Son of God. In fact, the Lord unexpectedly began talking of glorification through His impending crucifixion at Jerusalem, v. 23. He was not deluded by the sudden warm reaction from the fickle crowds towards Himself. He had always distinguished false disciples from genuine followers of the truth. John 2. 23-25; 6. 64. Furthermore, He was fully aware that His divine mission as ‘the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world’, John 1.29, required His vicarious death for sin on the cross, Matt. 16. 21. He knew that the pathway to glory led first to the cross. The crowds would soon turn on Him, and cry out, ‘Crucify him, crucify him!’, John 19. 6. In accordance with ‘the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God’ He would be delivered into the hands of sinners, and would lay down His life as a propitiation for sins, Acts 2. 23.

The Lord Jesus described His coming death and its results through the use of the agricultural metaphor of the corn of wheat, v. 24. The ‘death’ of the wheat does not end its work; rather, it enables it to bring forth much fruit. Being sown in the ground, it later bursts forth with new life, bringing forth an abundant harvest. To the gaze of man, it appeared that the crucifixion and subsequent burial forever ended any prospect of fruitfulness that the Lord Jesus may have had. In reality, by His death Christ would bring ‘many sons unto glory’, Heb 2.10. His death and resurrection would be the first fruits of a great harvest, 1 Cor. 15.20, out of’every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation’, Rev. 5. 9.