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Scripture Reading: Deut. 8:8-10; 32:13-14; Num. 13:23, 27; 14:7-8; Judg. 9:9, 11, 13; Zech. 4:11, 14; Hosea 14:6-7; John 12:24; 6:9, 13; 15:5
We have seen that there are many types of Christ in the Old Testament, but only one is the all-inclusive type of Christ, that is, the land of Canaan. This land is frequently referred to as the good land. The Lord called it a “good land” (Deut. 8:10), and once it is called “an exceedingly good land” (Num. 14:7). We have considered how good it is in many aspects, such as its spaciousness, its transcendency, and its unsearchable riches. We have seen how rich it is in water, and now we will see its riches in various kinds of food.
The Lord in the Gospel of John said that He would give us the living water, and in the same Gospel He told us that He is the bread of life from heaven. He not only gives us the living water, but He is also the bread of life. Something to drink always accompanies food. If I invite you to a meal, I will give you something to drink, and I will also give you something to eat. Food and drink always go together.
Now you can understand why Deuteronomy 8 has such an order. It speaks first of water, several kinds of waters — springs, fountains, and streams. The waters are different not only in their stages, that is, the stage of the spring, the stage of the fountain, and the stage of the stream, but also different in various kinds of springs, fountains, and streams. We have already considered these. Then immediately after speaking about the waters of the land, it speaks about the food.
The matter of the food has much more detail. Let us look at verse 8:
A land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates; a land of olive trees with oil and of honey.
There are six items, all of which belong to the vegetable kingdom, and a seventh that is quite peculiar — honey. It seems that honey belongs partly to the animal kingdom and partly to the vegetable kingdom, for it is produced by bees; there is a mingling together of the two kingdoms. Let us name the various items: wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, olive trees, and honey. There are two kinds of grain, four kinds of trees, and honey. The first tree, the vine, produces wine, and the last tree, the olive, produces oil; so we have wine and oil. The second tree produces figs; figs were taken by the Hebrew people as food. The third tree, the pomegranate, produces a fruit of beauty and of bountiful life. So we have four trees — the vine, the fig, the pomegranate, and the olive; and we have two grains — wheat and barley.
What is the meaning of all these things? It is very easy to find a verse telling us the meaning of wheat. John 12:24 tells us that the Lord Himself is a grain of wheat. So wheat clearly represents the Lord Jesus Himself. What then does barley typify? Barley represents Christ too. I know you are certain what the vine represents. The Lord said that He is the true vine. The Lord Himself is the vine. Then who does the fig tree represent? Without question it is Christ again. And the olive tree also is undoubtedly Christ. All these things — the wheat, the barley, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree — represent Christ. But what aspects of Christ are typified by all these items? We need to spend some time to carefully consider this matter.
We must worship the Lord for His Word. He put wheat first, not the barley or the vine. What aspect of Christ does wheat represent? From John 12:24 we can see that the Lord is a grain of wheat falling into the earth to die and to be buried. The wheat represents Christ incarnated. Christ is God incarnated as man to fall into the earth — to die and to be buried. This is the wheat. It typifies the Christ who was incarnated, the Christ who died, and the Christ who was buried.
Then what does the barley represent? It represents the resurrected Christ. Wheat points to His incarnation, death, and burial, and following this the barley points to His resurrection, the resurrected Christ. How can we prove it? In the land of Canaan the barley always ripens first; among all the grains the barley is first. In Leviticus 23:10 the Lord said, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land which I am giving you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest.” When the harvest time came, the firstfruits of the harvest had to be offered to the Lord, and the firstfruits were clearly the barley. Now we must read 1 Corinthians 15:20: “Now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” All students of the Scriptures recognize that the firstfruits of the harvest typify Christ as the firstfruits of resurrection. We can prove by this that barley represents the resurrected Christ.
Wheat represents the incarnated, crucified, and buried Christ. Barley represents the resurrected Christ. These two kinds of grains represent two aspects of Christ, His coming and His going. They represent the Christ coming down to be the wheat and the Christ going up to be the barley. You must pay full attention to these two matters. Have you experienced Christ as wheat? And have you ever experienced Christ as barley? What kind of experience of Christ is wheat? And what kind of experience of Christ is barley?
When Jesus fed the five thousand, he fed them with five loaves made of barley. So many are familiar with the miracle of the five loaves, but very few are aware that those loaves were loaves of barley. This Scripture is really wonderful. If they were loaves of wheat, something would be wrong. But they were not wheat; they were loaves of barley. As barley loaves, they could feed five thousand people with twelve baskets of broken pieces left over. This is resurrection. Christ can only be rich to us in His resurrection. In His incarnation He is exceedingly limited, but in His resurrection He is so very rich. There is no limit to Him as the resurrected Christ. As Christ incarnated, He was just one grain, a little Nazarene, a humble carpenter. But when He came into resurrection, He was unlimited. Time and space and material things could limit Him no longer. There were five loaves, but in effect there were countless loaves. There was enough to feed five thousand, not counting the women and children, and the remains alone — twelve baskets full — were more than the original five loaves. This is barley. This is Christ in His resurrection. Christ in His resurrection can never be limited.
It is not my object just to give some doctrinal teaching. My burden is not for that. What I am driving at is the experience of wheat and the experience of barley. Let us consider the experience of wheat. Brothers and sisters, whenever you are put into a situation by the Lord’s sovereignty in which you are limited, in which you are pressed, you may experience the Lord as wheat. When in the midst of that limiting and pressing situation you contact the Lord, He is just as a grain of wheat to you. Immediately upon contacting Him, you can be completely satisfied with your situation and your limitation. That life which is Christ Himself within you is a grain of wheat. It is the life of the little carpenter, the incarnated One, the limited One. When you are in a certain environment in which you are restricted and suppressed, if you have a living touch with Christ, you will say, “O Lord, You are the infinite God, but You did become a finite man. There is power in You to suffer any kind of limitation.” You will experience Christ as the wheat.
One day a very good and spiritual sister came to see me. She had come from a rich family and had married a brother who had to take care of his mother. The mother was amiable to the son, but to the daughter-in-law it was another story. This young sister came to me, seeking some fellowship to see whether her experience was right or not. Then she told me how much she suffered day by day from her mother-in-law. She told me how she went to the Lord and asked the Lord to do something. Of course, she dared not ask the Lord to get rid of her mother-in-law, but she asked the Lord to deliver her from that situation. She said then that when she besought the Lord, the Lord immediately began to show her what kind of person He was on the earth. He showed her how much He was limited as a carpenter in that little family for more than thirty years. When she saw such a vision, she cried with tears, “Lord, I praise You, I praise You! Your life is in me. I am satisfied, Lord, with my present situation. I do not ask You to change anything. I just praise You!” She asked me if her experience was right, and I told her that it was most right. This sister experienced Christ as a grain of wheat. She was really a spiritual sister.
Some time later, this sister came to me again. This time she said, “Brother, praise the Lord, I am not only satisfied with the limitation of my family, but I have seen something more of the Lord Jesus. He was not only limited, but He was also put to death and buried. When the Lord revealed this to me, I told Him that I would not only be content to stay with the situation in my family, but I would even die and be buried in this family for His sake.” This was a further experience of Christ as a grain of wheat.
To many of us in many circumstances, the Lord Jesus is just as a grain of wheat. The more we experience Him, the more we realize that He is such a One. He lives in us. He 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.
Do you have this experience? What kind of experience do you have? Do you quarrel with your wife or your husband? If so, you are finished with Christ. You must experience Him in such a rich way. You must experience Him both as the living water and as the grain of wheat. If you would look to the Lord when you are so limited and perplexed, I am sure He will show you that He has been limited, put to death, and buried. He will show you that as such a One He lives in you. He will sustain you that you might be limited. He will support you that you might be put to death and buried. He will energize you to such an extent and strengthen you to be such a person. Then you will experience Christ as a grain of wheat.
But is this the end? No. Praise the Lord, following the wheat is the barley. The tomb was not the end of the Lord. He was resurrected. Barley followed the wheat. Wheat is the valley of death, but barley is the mountain of resurrection. Whenever you experience Christ as the wheat, be assured that an experience of Christ as the barley will follow.
Actually, in order to experience Christ as the grain of wheat, the limited Jesus, we must apply Him as the barley, as the resurrected Christ. It is the resurrected Christ who is living in us. This resurrected Christ possesses a life that has passed through incarnation, crucifixion, and burial, but He Himself today is the resurrected One. Christ in the flesh is always limited, but Christ in resurrection is unlimited and released. It is this unlimited Christ living in us that causes us to follow the limited Jesus. Today we are following the limited Jesus, but we do it in the power of the unlimited Christ. The unlimited Christ living within us is our enablement.
Let me ask you, when you are in your home or at your job, do you act as the resurrected Christ or as the limited Jesus? If you are a follower of Jesus, you have to be limited. When Jesus was on earth, He was always limited, limited by His flesh, limited by His family, limited by His mother in the flesh, and even by His brothers in the flesh. He was always limited. He was limited by space and limited by time; He was limited by everything. If we would live out the life of Jesus, we must also be limited. If we follow His steps, we will have no freedom, no liberty. What a blessing it is that we can be limited for the sake of Jesus.
But what is the energy for us to be limited? The strength enabling us to be limited must indeed be great. It is easy to be angry, but patience requires strength. It is easy to lose our temper, but longsuffering demands the energy of heaven. The power that enables us to be limited is the power of His resurrection. I need the resurrected Christ living in me in order to be strengthened for just a little patience. To apply the resurrected Christ as my patience is to experience Christ as the barley.
Perhaps you will say to me, “Brother, I know I have to be limited all the time. I must be limited by my wife, by my children, by my boss, by the brothers, and especially by a certain brother. I am limited by this, and I am limited by that; all day I am limited. And I expect tomorrow and the next day to be worse. How can I meet the situation? I realize that the resurrected Christ is living in me, but I have so little of Him. I don’t even have five loaves; I have just one loaf.” Yes, you may have only one loaf, but remember, it is a barley loaf; it is a loaf of the resurrected Christ who can never be limited. It seems that you just have a little, but it does not matter, because He has no limitation. A little is more than adequate to meet the situation. You say that you cannot meet the situation. This is right. You surely cannot. But there is One who can — the One who is the barley. A barley loaf is within you; a little bit of the resurrected Christ is in you — that is good enough. The resurrected Christ is unlimited. Apply Him to the situation. He can never be exhausted. By the power of the resurrected Christ you can follow the steps of the incarnated Jesus. With the life of the resurrected Christ, you can live out the life of the limited Jesus.
Sometimes a brother says, “I feel burdened to give a testimony, but I am so weak.” It seems that the need is for five thousand people to be fed, but the supply is only five loaves of barley. Nevertheless, you have to go ahead by faith. Although your portion is seemingly so small and the demand is so great, you must realize that what you have is nothing less than the resurrected Christ. You can do all things in Him who empowers you, because He is resurrected and knows no limit. Apply Him.
When a brother comes to see you, remember that Christ is within you as the barley. You have to apply Him in your fellowship with this brother. Sometimes you just forget this. When you meet the brother, you talk about Vietnam, about the world situation, or about the weather. You remember the weather, but you forget Christ. You fail to apply Christ in your fellowship with the brother. When he leaves, you feel hungry, and not only hungry, but sick — sick from not applying Christ. You have to grasp every situation as an opportunity to apply Christ. Apply Him and apply Him and apply Him. Then when you come to the meeting, it will be very easy for you to give praise or a testimony; you will have many loaves of barley to offer to the Lord.
Brother Watchman Nee once told us that when some young co-workers come to a meeting, they look around to see if any senior brothers are there. If not, if all the attendants are new believers, they have the boldness to pray and exhibit what they have. But if they see some senior brothers there, they shrink back with fear. This is not something of the resurrected Christ. If you have the resurrected Christ, even if the apostle Paul were there, you will say, “Praise the Lord, my brother has the resurrected Christ, and I have Him too. He may have five hundred loaves, but I have at least one loaf. Hallelujah!” As long as you have a little bit of the resurrected Christ, you have more than enough to meet every situation. He is the loaf of barley; He is the resurrected One. Nothing can hinder Him; nothing can limit Him.
When you come to the meeting with the brothers and sisters, you must realize your responsibility. You must share in the meeting with others. You must give some thanks and praise; you must offer some prayer. This is your responsibility. You say, “Oh, I am too weak!” In yourself you are weak, but in Christ you are not weak. You say, “I have nothing.” Yes, you have nothing, but in Christ you have everything. You say, “Oh, I am too poor!” Yes, you are poor in yourself, but you are not poor in the resurrected Christ. Remember that Christ is the barley in you. When you come to the meeting, apply Him as the one loaf of barley to feed all the others by your prayer or by your testimony. Try it. Practice it. You will see how enriched you will be. Originally, you had only one loaf, but eventually, you may well have one hundred loaves. You will be enriched by practice. Never say that the meetings are not your business. If so, the meetings are finished. You must learn to apply Christ; you must make use of the Christ you have.
Jesus said to His disciples, “You give them something to eat” (Matt. 14:16). The disciples said, “There is a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are these for so many?” (John 6:9). The Lord replied, “Bring them here to Me” (Matt. 14:18). As long as they are barley loaves, as long as they are something of the resurrected Christ, that is good enough; that will meet the situation, and there will be a surplus.
Brothers and sisters, if you will take my word, believe in the resurrected Christ, and apply Him, you will find that the remainder abiding in you is more than that with which you started. This is the barley. This is not just a teaching but something for us to experience and apply every day in every situation. Apply the resurrected Christ, the unlimited, inexhaustible One. Tell Him, “Lord, I cannot meet the need; I cannot face the situation. But how I praise You, You can. I go ahead trusting wholly in You, counting wholly upon You.”
After a considerable time, perhaps five or six years, the sister who experienced Christ as a grain of wheat in her family testified of another experience. This time it was Christ as the barley. She testified that her mother-in-law and many of her relatives were brought to the Lord through her. She had become a barley loaf to feed many people. She had experienced Christ in resurrection.
This kind of experience not only causes you to know Christ inwardly as the wheat and as the barley, but by this experience you become a grain of wheat; you become a loaf of barley. Then you are food for others. You are able to feed others by what you have experienced. So many people were fed by this sister. Whenever she came to the meeting, even without opening her mouth, all the brothers and sisters sensed the ministration of Christ, the ministry of life. When she uttered a prayer, all the spirits and hearts were satisfied. She became a grain of wheat among the Lord’s children. And she herself became a loaf of barley to satisfy and feed many people. She experienced Christ as wheat and as barley, so she herself became a grain of wheat and a loaf of barley.
Now let us see something concerning the trees. The first is a vine tree. What does the vine represent? In Judges 9:13 the vine said, “Shall I leave my new wine, which cheers God and men?” In one sense it depicts the sacrificing Christ, the Christ who has sacrificed everything of Himself. But this is not the main point. The main significance is that out of His sacrifice He produced something to cheer God and man — new wine.
Have you had such an experience of Christ? I believe most of us have had some experience of this kind, but probably we have not paid much attention to it. Sometimes under the Lord’s sovereignty we are put into a certain situation in which we must sacrifice ourselves to make others happy and the Lord happy. When in this situation we come to contact the Lord, it is then that we experience Him as the wine-producing vine; we experience Christ as the One who gives cheer to God and cheer to others. Out of this experience we become the vine; we become the producer of something that cheers both man and God. I know you have had this kind of experience. There are different aspects of Christ to meet every need in every situation. Christ is so rich. He is not only the grain of wheat and the loaf of barley, but He is also all the trees, and the first is one that produces happiness for God and happiness for others. If all the brothers and sisters are happy with you, I am sure that to a greater or lesser degree you are experiencing Christ in this aspect; you are experiencing Christ as a wine producer. Christ as the sacrificing Lamb lives in you, energizing you to sacrifice yourself for others to bring them cheer.
Several years ago when I was in Taipei, Taiwan, a good number of brothers and sisters came and stayed with us to receive some spiritual help. One sister among them was always murmuring, always complaining. When she took a bath, the water was not hot enough; when she ate a meal, the food was too cold. All day long it was, “Why this?” and “Why that?” She gave all of those who were living with her a headache. No one was happy with her because she simply had not learned to sacrifice herself. She had never learned how to apply the sacrificing Christ to her situation. She herself was not a happy person, and she did not make anyone else happy. She was short of wine. She had no experience of Christ as the wine producer, sacrificing Himself to produce wine for others and for God.
If you experience Christ in this aspect, you yourself will have much wine to drink, and you will be drunk. Then you will be crazy with Christ. You should be a person who is drunk and crazy with Christ. You should be able to say, “I am so happy, Lord, I am so happy. I don’t know what selfishness means; that is a foreign language to me. Day by day I am drinking the wine of Christ.”
The most happy person is the most unselfish one. The most selfish people are always the most miserable. They are always crying, “Have pity on me; treat me a little better!” They are just like beggars, begging all the time. The sacrificing one is the happy one. How can we sacrifice? We have no energy to sacrifice, for our life is a natural life, a selfish life. Only the life of Christ is a life of sacrifice. If you contact this Christ and experience His sacrificing life, He will energize you, He will strengthen you to sacrifice for God and for others. Then you will be the most happy person; you will be drunk with happiness. This is the experience of Christ as the vine tree. By this experience you will become a vine to others. All of those who contact you will be happy with you, and you will bring cheer to God.
What must be done to the grapes to make them wine? They must be pressed. To make God and others happy, you must be pressed. You rejoice to learn that Christ is the barley, the resurrected Christ within you, and that He is enough to meet every situation. You say Hallelujah! But do not say Hallelujah too easily, for immediately following the barley is the vine. The grapes must be pressed to bring cheer to God and man. You too must be pressed. The more you drink the wine of Christ, the more you will realize that you must be pressed. You must be broken in order to produce something in the house of the Lord to make others happy.
You see the order: first the wheat, then the barley, and then the vine. Our experience proves this. I say again, do not take these things just as a doctrine or teaching. Remember the ways whereby you may realize Christ in different aspects and apply Christ in your daily living.
