LABORING ON THE ALL-INCLUSIVE CHRIST TYPIFIED BY THE GOOD LAND FOR THE BUILDING UP OF THE CHURCH AS THE BODY OF CHRIST, FOR THE REALITY AND THE MANIFESTATION OF THE KINGDOM, AND FOR THE BRIDE TO MAKE HERSELF READY FOR THE LORD'S COMING
Message Three
A Land of Wheat and Barley
Scripture Reading: Deut. 8:8a; John 11:25; 12:24-25; 1 Cor. 15:20; Eph. 1:20
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—1:1, 14:
1. As a finite man, Christ in the flesh was limited in time and space—7:6, 10:
a. The Lord is the eternal, infinite, unlimited God, but 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. 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—v. 50.
2. The Lord needed to undergo physical death that His unlimited and infinite divine being with His divine life might be released from His flesh.
3. 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.
C. In the midst of situations that limit us and press us, we may experience Christ as a grain of wheat—v. 24:
1. Whenever we are put into a situation by the Lord's sovereignty in which we are limited, in which we are pressed, we may experience the Lord as wheat— Rom. 8:28.
2. 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.
3. Christ our life is within us as a grain of wheat to live the life of the incarnated One, the limited One—Col. 1:27; 3:4.
4. 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.
5. As wheat, Christ is our life to make us willing to be limited, willing to die, willing to be buried, willing to be nothing; this is the experience of Christ as wheat—John 12:24-25.
II. Whereas wheat signifies the incarnated, crucified, and buried Christ, barley signifies the resurrected Christ—Deut. 8:8a:
A. In the good land, barley ripens earlier than any other grain; therefore, it is the first-fruits—1 Cor. 15:20:
1. Because barley ripens early, it is the firstfruits of the harvest—a type of the resurrected and unlimited Christ—v. 20.
2. We rejoice to learn that Christ is the barley, the resurrected Christ within us, and that He is able to meet every situation.
3. Christ as the firstfruits of resurrection is the Firstborn from the dead that He might be the Head of the Body (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:20-23); since He, the Head of the Body, has been resurrected, we, the Body, will also be resurrected.
4. As the firstfruits, Christ has become the bread of life; hence, barley loaves signify Christ in resurrection as food to us— John 6:48:
a. The number five signifies responsibility; this indicates that the resurrected Christ is able to bear responsibility.
b. As we feed on Christ as the barley loaves, we become a loaf of barley to feed others with the Christ whom we have experienced.
5. With five barley loaves, the Lord Jesus could feed five thousand people with twelve baskets of broken pieces left over; this is resurrection—Matt. 14:14-21; John 6:9, 13.
B. As typified by barley, the resurrected Christ is unlimited—Phil. 4:13:
1. Wheat points to Christ's incarnation, death, and burial, and following this, the barley points to His resurrection, the resurrected Christ— John 11:25; Eph. 1:20.
2. On the one hand, we may experience the limited Jesus as signified by wheat; on the other hand, we may experience the unlimited Christ as signified by barley— John 12:24; 6:9, 13:
a. In His incarnation Jesus was exceedingly limited, but in His resurrection He is unlimited—Luke 12:49-50; 24:5-6, 26, 34, 46.
b. Whereas wheat is the valley of death, barley is the mountain of resurrection.
3. In order to experience the wheat, the limited Jesus, we need to apply the barley, the unlimited Christ; we follow the limited Jesus in the power of the resurrected Christ—Heb. 13:12-13.
4. We can do all things in the One who empowers us because He is the resurrected and unlimited Christ—Phil. 4:13.
5. Whenever we experience Christ as the wheat, we are assured that an experience of Christ as the barley will follow—Deut. 8:8a.
6. Actually, in order to experience Christ as the grain of wheat, the limited Jesus, we must apply Him as the barley, the resurrected Christ— John 12:24-25.
7. We cannot meet our needs in ourselves, but within us a barley loaf, a portion of the unlimited resurrected Christ, meets every need and may even produce a surplus—11:25.
8. The resurrected Christ is the loaf of barley; nothing can hinder or limit Him.
9. If we remember that Christ is barley in us, when we come to a meeting, we can apply Him as barley to feed others by our prayer or our testimony.