Grain of Wheat

“‘The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:24-25 (NKJV)

The above passage comes from John’s gospel just before the Passion of Christ. Jesus is soon to head to the cross, where He will be crucified before the people. Three days later, the Father will resurrect Him and exalt Him to the highest position in the spiritual realm. What are the implications of this passage for our own spiritual process?

The key lies in the phrase, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it produces much grain.” This, of course, is the message of the Cross and the Messiah. Suffering produces character and character produces glory (the divine presence in and through us). The kernel of wheat is not only a symbol of the Messiah’s sufferings but a representation of man’s inner process of suffering and glorification. Death and suffering with God lead to life and resurrection.

“We always carry within us the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our mortal bodies,” Paul writes in 2 Corinthians. This “death of Jesus” is the putting off of the shell of the old man, which hung with Christ on the cross, and the putting of the new man, the True Self, the inner Christ. This process requires the death of our old identity paradigms and ways of thinking, so that God may be made manifest in us and through us.

As we submit our body, mind, and spirit to the Spirit of God, we are renewed into the divine image. This process requires suffering, temptations, and ordeals. The natural body, our old humanity, must die to make way for the truly spiritual man. Paul agrees in 1 Corinthians:

“‘How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?’ Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies… so also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption…the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual…as we have borne the image of the man of dust [Adam], we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man [Christ].” 1 Corinthians 15: 35-36, 42, 46, 49 (NKJV)

The resurrection of the dead is a transformation of our old humanity, full of sin and death, into a new humanity that brims with the life and power of God. This is what it means to inherit eternal life. Eternal life is the kingdom of God within us. Our efforts toward God in prayer and temptations sow seeds that ultimately produce spiritual fruit and glory in our lives.

The fruit of this process is the salvation of the soul and the putting on of the image of Jesus Christ. We have to understand that this requires a complete renovation of our way of being. It is a move from the pattern of this age into the pattern of heaven. All areas of our humanity are affected - mind, body, and spirit. If we surrender everything to Jesus, the Father will “honor” us. This means He will glorify and manifest His presence in us and through us.

“If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.” John 12:26 (NKJV)