Scripture Reading: John 12
In the previous chapter we saw that the first sign in John 12 is the sign of the house in Bethany, a house which is a miniature of the church life. In this chapter we will go on to consider the other signs in this chapter.
The next sign in John 12 is the sign of the resurrected Lazarus (vv. 1-2, 9-11). This sign is a testimony of resurrection life. Verse 9 says that the people came “that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.” Lazarus was a living testimony of resurrection life.
Actually, Lazarus did not do anything; he simply was a testimony of resurrection life. Martha was serving, and Mary was expressing her love for the Lord. Lazarus, however, was simply reclining at table with the Lord Jesus. The testimony of Lazarus became the center of people’s attention. As a testimony of resurrection life, Lazarus attracted others.
The principle is the same today in the church life. The most attracting factor in the church life is our testimony of resurrection life. For example, someone may testify to his relatives, “You know what kind of person I was. You could even say that I was dead and buried. But now I am a resurrected person.” Today the Lord does not mainly want us to do things for Him. He wants us to be His testimony, a testimony of resurrection life.
To some extent, people are moved by Mary’s love. They may look at this dear sister and appreciate her love for the Lord. But the church life is not centered on this love. The center of the church life is a living testimony of resurrection life. This testimony, of course, is not of the natural life but of a resurrected life, a new life.
I wish to emphasize the fact that the center of the church life must be persons living no longer by the natural life but living by resurrection life. It is not necessary for a resurrected person to do anything. He may simply recline at table, and others will be satisfied to see him.
We should not think that any kind of religious service can attract others. Neither should we think that our love for the Lord will be the primary attraction. If our love is not a love that comes out of resurrection life, it will never be a means of attracting people. The central attraction, which is also the focus of the church life, is resurrection life. If we all live this resurrection life, we will become those who attract others to the Lord.
Other people appreciate resurrection life. If a young person tries to tell his parents how much he loves the Lord, this may offend them. Parents want to see that their child is living a certain kind of life. Your parents may not care about religious service or even appreciate your love for the Lord. But they will appreciate the fact that you are living another life, a resurrection life, a life that has brought you out of the tomb. Therefore, resurrection life should be our focus.
Sometimes certain people have advised me to give messages on a particular subject. For the most part I respond to these suggestions by saying, “There is no need for me to give messages on these subjects, for many others are speaking on these things. However, many Christians do not pay any attention at all to resurrection life. For this reason, I am burdened to minister life to the Lord’s people.”
Because it is our burden to minister life, our Bible studies are called life-studies. Many years ago we coined the term life-study, realizing that what the children of God need today is a life-study of the Word. Because God’s people need life, year after year we publish the Life-study messages. It is not our intention to pass on mere Bible knowledge that will cause others to exercise their mentality. Our goal is to minister resurrection life from the written Word to God’s people. This is what we need. We need resurrection life.
The third sign in John 12 is the sign of a grain of wheat (vv. 23-26). In verse 24 the Lord Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” At the time the Lord spoke these words, many visitors had come to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of the Passover. Many wanted to see the Lord Jesus and Lazarus, and the name of the Lord Jesus became well known. At this time, “Jesus, having found a young donkey, sat on it, as it is written, ‘Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King comes, sitting on a donkey’s colt’” (vv. 14-15). A crowd took branches of palm trees, went out to meet Him, and cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” (v. 13).
Not long afterward, certain Greeks who had come to Jerusalem to worship at the feast came to Philip and said, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (v. 21). Philip came and told Andrew, and then Andrew and Philip told Jesus. No doubt, they were excited to see their Master exalted and gaining a great name. They were pleased that others wanted to see Him. However, the Lord Jesus did not take this opportunity to get a name for Himself. He answered Andrew and Philip, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (vv. 23-24).
The Lord Jesus seemed to be saying to His disciples, “I will not accept this kind of exaltation. After six days I will be crucified. I’m not here to be exalted — I’m here to die. I know that the hour is coming for Me to die. This is according to the will of My Father, and I will not seek to escape it. I must die on the Passover as the Lamb of God. I am ready for crucifixion. This is not the time for Me to be exalted. Now is the time for Me to fall into the ground and die as a grain of wheat. But when I fall into the ground and die, I will rise up with many grains.”
The Lord knew that the miniature of the church life in Bethany was very good. But that church life was too small and too limited. Hence, there was the need for Christ’s multiplication through death and resurrection. It was impossible, of course, for Lazarus, Martha, and Mary to produce this multiplication. This was the reason the Lord Jesus said that He would be a grain of wheat falling into the ground to die and then to bring forth many grains.
The Lord knew that through His death many things would be accomplished. However, most people think that nothing can be accomplished by death, for they regard death as the end, as termination. But with the Lord Jesus, death is not the end. On the contrary, by passing through death, He accomplished many things for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Therefore, in John 12 the Lord Jesus was not willing to be exalted. That was not the time for exaltation. That was the time for Him to be sown into the earth as the grain of wheat to produce multiplication through death and resurrection.
In 12:27-34 we have the sign of the all-inclusive death of Christ.
The Lord’s all-inclusive death was for the release of the divine life. Just as a grain of wheat releases its life by falling into the ground, so Christ released the divine life within Him through death. The life of a grain of wheat is concealed in the grain. Likewise, Christ’s divine life was contained and concealed within the “shell” of His flesh. Through His death on the cross, that shell was broken, and the divine life contained and concealed within it was released.
Christ’s all-inclusive death was also for the glorification of God the Father. In verse 28 the Lord Jesus prayed, “Father, glorify Your name.” This verse goes on to say, “Then a voice came out of heaven: I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” To glorify the name of the Father is to cause the Father’s divine element to be expressed. The Father’s divine element, which is the eternal life, was in the incarnated Son. The shell of the Son’s flesh had to be broken through death so that the Father’s divine element could be released and expressed in resurrection, just as the life element of a grain of wheat is released by the breaking of its shell and expressed by its blossoming. When the divine life concealed within the Lord Jesus blossomed and brought forth many grains, that was the glorification of God the Father, the glorification of the divine life.
We may use a carnation seed as an illustration of the glorification of the Father through the death of Christ. If a carnation seed is kept in a package, nothing will happen to the seed. But if the seed is sown into the earth, that seed will release the life that is within it. After this life has been released, it will grow and eventually blossom. The blossom will be the glorification of the carnation seed.
When the Lord Jesus was in the flesh, He was like a carnation seed. Others regarded Him as nothing more than a Nazarene, for they did not know that the divine life was within Him. In order for this divine life to be released from within the Lord Jesus, it was necessary for Him to die. His death and resurrection was the glorification of the divine life, and this glorification was the glorification of God the Father Himself. This was the reason the Lord Jesus prayed in verse 28 for the Father to glorify His name, that is, to glorify His person.
When the Lord prayed for the Father’s name to be glorified, the Father answered that He had glorified it and that He would glorify it again. Through Christ’s all-inclusive death the divine life, the life of God the Father, was released. Then in Christ’s resurrection this life blossomed and was glorified. This is the glorification of God the Father, who was the divine life within the Lord Jesus.
The Lord’s all-inclusive death was also for the judgment of the world. In verse 31 the Lord declared, “Now is the judgment of this world.” When the Lord Jesus was crucified, the entire old creation, including our old man and the satanic world, was crucified with Him. Hence, the Lord’s crucifixion was a termination of the satanic world. Therefore, in Galatians 6:14 Paul could say, “Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.”
Christ died an all-inclusive death. In the sight of God, that death may be compared to a great broom that God used to “sweep” the entire universe. Through the death of Christ on the cross, all the negative things, all the things of the old creation, were judged.
In John 12:31b the Lord Jesus said, “Now shall the ruler of this world be cast out.” This indicates that Christ’s all-inclusive death was for the casting out of Satan, the ruler of this world. Satan thought that he was wise in having the Lord Jesus crucified. Actually, by doing this, Satan caused himself to be destroyed. The cross was the way used by God to destroy Satan. Hence, through His death Christ destroyed Satan and his work (Heb. 2:14). Through His death on the cross Christ destroyed the devil, the one who had the might of death.
In John 12:32 the Lord Jesus said, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” This indicates that Christ’s all-inclusive death was for the drawing of all men to Himself.
All those who are drawn to Him eventually become the fruits produced by His death and resurrection. On the one hand, we are those who have been drawn to the Lord. On the other hand, we are grains produced by the death and resurrection of Christ. Praise the Lord that we are the grains and that we are the drawn ones! Praise the Lord that the church life has been multiplied! In fact, this multiplication is still taking place, for many are still being drawn to Christ.
What we have covered in the foregoing chapter and in this chapter is an extract of chapter 12 of the Gospel of John. In this extract we have a miniature of the church life, which is the outcome of Christ as the offerings. In this church life we enjoy Christ as the sin offering, the trespass offering, the burnt offering, the meal offering, and the peace offering. The quality of this miniature of the church life in John 12 is perfect, but the quantity is too small, too limited. Therefore, there is the need of multiplication through Christ’s death and resurrection. The very One who is the offerings is here portrayed as a grain of wheat falling into the ground to die in order to release the life from within Him to produce many grains. As we have pointed out, through His death many have been drawn to Him. Whoever is drawn to Christ will become a grain as Christ’s reproduction. These grains will be blended together to be one loaf, which is the church, the Body of Christ.
In 12:35-50 we have the negative sign of religion’s blindness. In verses 35, 36, and 46 we see the rejection of the light, and in verses 37 through 50, the unbelief of the hardened heart. Religion always is a matter of blindness. If you are religious, you are blind. Religion may be the highest product of human culture, but as far as Jesus Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God, is concerned, religion is blind. Religion preoccupies people, veils them, and blinds them. In the previous chapter we pointed out that in the Gospel of John there were two kinds of worship: one in the temple in Jerusalem and the other in the house in Bethany. The worship in the temple in Jerusalem was religious, a worship according to religious regulations, rituals, ceremonies, and forms. The worship in the house in Bethany was without rituals, regulations, or forms. Where was God at that time? He was not in the midst of the formal worship in the temple in Jerusalem; rather, He was in the midst of the informal feasting in the house in Bethany.
According to John 12, those who were blinded by religion were even plotting to kill the incarnated God and also Lazarus, one of those who were enjoying Him. Do not think that the religious situation is different today. In principle, it is the same now as it was in John 12. We know this from our own experience. Although we love the Word of God and spend much time in it, we are criticized, slandered, and falsely accused. We are opposed by certain ones who do not see the matter in the Scriptures concerning the Triune God dispensing Himself into our being to be our life and life supply so that we may be His expression. Today also, the religious ones are blind and hardened in heart. This is the significance of the sign in John 12 of religion’s blindness.
