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Scripture Reading: Gen. 3:15; 22:18; 2 Sam. 7:12-14a; Isa. 4:2; 11:1-2, 10; 53:2; Jer. 23:5-6; Zech. 6:12-13; Matt. 1:17, 20-21, 23; 16:13-17; 18:20; 28:19-20
The Bible is a wonderful book with a wonderful person. We should never consider this divine book as being wonderful in anything else. Some think that the Bible is wonderful in doctrines and teachings. We do admit that there are good teachings in this wonderful book. But we must all realize that it is wonderful because it portrays to us a wonderful person. This wonderful person is Jesus Christ.
I am afraid that we know far too little about this wonderful person. There is no need for me to mention His depth and His unsearchable riches. Simply His name is wonderful!
Many of us do not know anything about His name. Have you ever heard that Jesus is called the Branch? “Speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The Branch; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord” (Zech. 6:12, KJV). This is one of the wonderful names of Jesus. Along with the Branch, Jesus is called another name in Jeremiah: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS” (23:5-6, KJV).
Jesus also has another name: the seed of the woman. This is seen in Genesis 3:15: “I will put enmity / Between you and the woman / And between your seed and her seed; / He will bruise you on the head, / But you will bruise him on the heel.”
Why is Jesus called the seed of the woman? To see this we must realize that in order to fulfill His purpose God created man as the center of the universe. It is not a small thing that we have been created in God’s image. Adam was made in the image of God. But God said that it was not good for the man to be alone. So He took a part of the man and built this part into a woman. This is God’s economy. Many times those of us who are husbands wish that we did not have a wife. Yet, on the other hand, we simply cannot go on without a wife. God’s economy destines us in this way. Hence, God prepared a wife for man.
But not long after God made a helpmeet for man, Satan entered. He did not make his first approach to mankind through the man, but through the woman. The husband may be likened to the front door, and the wife to the back door. Satan came in from the woman’s direction, not from the man’s. This may seem terrible, but it is really wonderful.
Forty years ago I heard a message by Brother Watchman Nee in which he said that in the entire universe God has an enemy, who may be likened to a mouse running loose in our house. How can we get rid of him? The best way is to set a trap. With the trap there is always a little door. The door to the trap is the woman. The trap-maker made the door. Then one day Satan came into mankind through this door. He thought that he had captured man, but God had caught the enemy in a trap. This is why in Genesis 3 God told the enemy that the seed of the woman would bruise his head.
So eventually we see that the woman is not so bad. Eventually, she is glorious. Though Satan came in through the woman, the seed who would bruise the serpent’s head also came in through the woman. Hallelujah! Jesus was not the seed of a man; He was the seed of a woman. All the sisters should be proud of this. Since the day Jesus came in through woman, there is the wonderful story of woman in the New Testament. Not long ago I fellowshipped with the sisters in Los Angeles about the six Marys recorded in the New Testament. Of course, the first Mary was the woman through whom Jesus was born. With Mary there is the seed of the woman, and her seed is Jesus.
Then we have another verse, which speaks about the seed of Abraham: “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen. 22:18). In the seed of Abraham, all the nations, not only Israel, shall be blessed.
Now we must see that this seed, Jesus, eventually becomes the branch, and this branch is called “the Lord our righteousness.” We have already seen this in Zechariah 6 and Jeremiah 23. Isaiah 4:2 then tells us that this branch is “the branch of the Lord” and also “the fruit of the earth.” “In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel” (KJV). Jesus on the one hand is “the branch of the Lord,” and on the other hand He is “the fruit of the earth.” Jesus is the branch that bears the fruit, and He is also the fruit that is brought forth by the branch. The branch is to bring forth the fruit, and the fruit is for our enjoyment.
We also see that this branch is the root. “In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious” (Isa. 11:10, KJV). This verse shows us that the branch is also the root, and this root is an ensign, a banner, or a standard for all the people of the earth. And the Gentiles, including you and me, will seek after Him. And His resting place is full of glory.
Not only is this One the root of Jesse, but He is also the seed of David. “When your days are fulfilled and you sleep with your fathers, I will raise up your seed after you, which will come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. It is he who will build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he will be My son” (2 Sam. 7:12-14a). He is the seed of David, but on the other hand, He is the Son of God. God said that He would be His Father, and He would be His Son. He will build a house for God, and God will establish the throne of His kingdom forever.
Who is this wonderful person who has all these names and who will accomplish the building of God’s house? It is Jesus! But now we are clear that He is much more than we thought. First of all, Jesus is a kind of seed. This seed is God in the Son to be sown into mankind. Man is the fertile soil to this seed. For this seed to grow, we need the soil. God in the Son as the embodiment of life is the seed, and we are the soil. We are God’s soil for God’s growth.
This is not my thought or concept. Matthew 13 shows us that Jesus came as the seed of God Himself and sowed this seed into the human heart. Thus, humanity is the soil for the divine seed to grow. Did you ever see this in the Bible? God in the Son is a divine seed, and we are the soil for Him to grow in us. It is easy to gather the doctrines and stories in the Bible, but to enter into the depth of the Bible is not easy. To know the teaching of the Bible is not difficult, but to realize the life that is conveyed in the Bible requires divine revelation. Jesus is the divine seed that has been sown into our heart. We are the soil in which Jesus can grow. The seed is sown, and something has sprung up.
After the seed, we see that Jesus is also the branch. The verses we have read show us that He is the branch of the Lord. By this we can realize that this man Jesus was the very branching out of God. God branches out in Jesus. Jesus is the branch of God, and we are the branch of Jesus. Jesus branches out God, and now we are branching out Jesus. John 15 tells us that Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. Hallelujah! Jesus is the branching out of God.
To say that Jesus is the Savior and Redeemer is altogether right but too shallow. Jesus is not merely our Savior and Redeemer; He is the branching out of God, and He has branched out to us. We all have been caught by Jesus. One day God branched Jesus into us. Eventually, this branch bears the fruit. Jesus as a branch is not for a column or beam of a building. Jesus is the branching out of God to bear fruit for our enjoyment. And now we are the branches of Christ to branch out Christ for others’ enjoyment.
Jesus today is not only the seed but also the branch, and this divine branch bears the fruit of the earth. This means that Jesus is the branching out of the Lord into us as the earth. Divinity branches out into our humanity. And through humanity, this branch bears fruit for man’s enjoyment. This is Jesus. It is this Jesus who builds God’s temple. The Bible shows us that today God’s temple is a group of living persons framed together and built up as God’s habitation in the spirit. The only One who can build this temple is Jesus, and the way that He builds it is by being the seed, the branch, and the fruit.
Hence, Jesus as the seed is the branching out of God to bear fruit for our enjoyment. This seed will also bruise the head of the serpent, and in this seed shall all the nations be blessed. It is the branching out of this seed that will build God’s temple, and it is this branch that bears the priesthood and the kingship. “Indeed, it is he who will build the temple of Jehovah; and he will bear majesty and will sit and rule on his throne; and he will be a priest on his throne; and the counsel of peace will be between the two of them” (Zech. 6:13).
This is Jesus, and as the seed, the branch, and the fruit, He is so subjective to us. All these points are fully revealed in the Old Testament, but not merely in an objective way. Jesus as a seed is altogether subjective to us. He is the seed, and we are the earth. The seed must get into the earth subjectively. How can the seed do anything in the earth unless it is sown into the earth?
There is much teaching today among Christians concerning Christ in an objective way. We all know that Jesus was crucified on the cross for us, and now He is resurrected and sitting on the throne in the third heaven as the Lord of all. This is indeed right, but it is only the objective side. He must get into us. On the cross He bruised the head of Satan, objectively, and now as the seed this bruising One is within us subjectively. When He comes into us, He flows His bruising life into us. Today Jesus bruises Satan within us. Many times when the enemy begins to rise up within us against the building of God’s house, this bruising life defeats him.
Today most of the Christian teachings are too objective. When I first came to this country, I immediately began to tell the Christians to turn to their spirit within them. Then I was asked why my teachings were always so subjective. I do not deny that there is the objective aspect. Jesus is really there in the heavens. But subjectively, He is in my spirit. Undoubtedly, the electricity is in the power plant, but it is also installed in our homes. If the electricity were merely objective, we would be in darkness. If it were only in the power plant, it would not benefit us. We would have no way to apply the electricity. The application of the electricity is altogether involved with its entrance into our home. It has to be subjective.
If Jesus were only in the heavens, He would have nothing to do with us. But our Jesus is not only that kind of Jesus. On one hand, He is in the heavens, but on the other hand, He is within us. I can boldly say that my Jesus is within me. I can even boast that Jesus is within me! Jesus is within me as a seed to grow. Then He grows into a branch, and as a branch He branches God into me and bears fruit for others’ enjoyment. Hallelujah! It is this Jesus who builds God’s temple, who builds up the church. He does it not in an objective way but in a very subjective way, by sowing Himself into us, branching God into us, and bearing fruit for others’ enjoyment within us. This is the Jesus who is prophesied in the Old Testament.
Now we come to the first page of the New Testament. “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham...Thus all the generations from Abraham until David are fourteen generations, and from David until the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon until the Christ, fourteen generations” (Matt. 1:1, 17). Forty-two generations are mentioned. This is quite meaningful. We have seen that Jesus is God in the Son as the divine seed to be sown into us. This sowing has not been easy. It needed forty-two generations as a preparation from Abraham through Isaac, through Israel, and through Judah, through many generations unto David, and through David’s sons and grandsons, even through the Babylonian captivity. Then, eventually, Jesus came. It took forty-two generations for this divine sowing, for Jesus to arrive here.
According to many hymns, it seems that Jesus merely descended from the heavens to the earth. But it was not like that. Matthew says that it required forty-two generations. Genesis says even more. Matthew counted from Abraham, but Genesis counted from the seed of the woman. The seed was mentioned in Genesis 3, but from that day it took a long period of time for this seed to enter into human soil. This is why the birth of Jesus was not merely a birth. It was the sowing of the divine seed into the human soil.
When the divine seed entered into human soil, the issue was a person who is the mingling of divinity with humanity. His name is both Jesus and Emmanuel. “She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins...‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel’ (which is translated, God with us)” (Matt. 1:21, 23). On the one hand, as a man, He is Jesus. But on the other hand, as God, He is Emmanuel, God with us.
Now we may realize what a wonderful person Jesus is! I simply do not have the utterance of what is within me, but I look to the Lord that He will reveal something to all who are reading this. Our Jesus is such a wonderful person! This wonderful person is the mingling of divinity with humanity.
After Jesus as such a wonderful person had dwelt with His disciples for a period of time, He asked a question: “Who do men say that the Son of Man is?” They answered, “Some, John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Then He asked, “But you, who do you say that I am?” And Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (16:13-16).
This is the problem among men today. Who is Jesus? However, even to know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, is not so unveiling. We all have received help from Peter’s word. Little did we know that Jesus is the branching out of divinity and the fruit of humanity that comes from the branching out of divinity. We did not realize so clearly that this Jesus is the divine seed sown into us as human soil and that we must be so subjectively one with Him. We must go on to see more of this wonderful Jesus.
After Matthew 16 Jesus goes on to reveal more concerning Himself in chapter 18: “Where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst” (v. 20). In Matthew 1 the Lord’s name is not only Jesus but also Emmanuel, God with us. Now in Matthew 18 He promises that whenever we meet, He is in the midst. But how is He in the midst? We must realize that He is in our midst not in an objective way but in a very subjective way. He is within us. When I come in, Jesus comes in. When you come in, He comes in. When we all come in, Jesus comes in. When we say Amen, He is Amening within us and within our Amen. If Jesus is not within us and therefore not in our midst, why do we come together? We have no other reason. Jesus is here! Jesus is within us, and therefore, He is in our midst. We all come together with Jesus. When we come, He comes. That is why His name is Emmanuel, God with us.
Our Jesus is such a person! He is God with us. The Bible is not mainly a book for teaching and instruction, showing us how to do this and that. The Bible is a portrait showing us such a wonderful person. He is the branching out of God and the fruit of human soil. He is so subjective to us because He has sown Himself into us, and now He is growing up within us. He is branching God into us, and He is also branching God out from us. Eventually, in this way He will build the church as the temple of God. He sets up God’s kingdom, and He bears the priesthood and the kingship. Hallelujah! He does it not by teaching or outward correction and adjustment but altogether by the inward sowing, the inward branching, the inward growing, and the inward bearing of fruit. It is always inward. This is why, when we come together, He is in our midst.
The first chapter of Matthew says that His name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us. In the middle of the book (18:20), He says that He will always be in our midst. Then at the end He says that He will be with us forever. “Behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age” (28:20). He is not only with us today but all the days. He is with us until the consummation of this age. But even the consummation of this age is not the consummation of His presence. He is with us now in this way. In the next age He will be with us in another wonderful way. His being with us could never be terminated. Hallelujah! This is because He is Emmanuel, God with us.
For God to be with us does not mean that we are sitting around Him, and He is among us in our midst. Emmanuel means that this divine seed has been sown into us. Divinity Himself has been sown into us. Divinity is the seed, and humanity is the soil. This divinity must then be wrought into the human soil, and some of the element of the human soil must be brought into the divine element. Eventually, we will see that what is brought forth by this mingling of divinity with humanity is the church.
Hallelujah for such a wonderful person! Do you love Him? I love Him. Since I was a little boy, I learned to sing that little hymn, “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, For the Bible Tells Me So.” At that time I was taught to love Him because He died for me. That is good, but we must not merely love Him because He died for us. That is not sufficient. Oh, we love Him because He is so lovable! If He would throw me into hell, I would still love Him, because He is altogether lovely. I care more for what He is! I just love this person.
If we love Jesus merely because He has done so many things for us, our love is imperfect. I have heard many stories of wives loving their husbands because they had money. But once their husbands lost their money, the love was gone. Why do we love Jesus? It is not only because of what He has done but more because of what He is. Hallelujah! He is wonderful! He is far, far beyond our description.
I hope that you will pray-read all the above verses that you may see all the things He is. He is the seed of the woman that bruised the head of the serpent. He is the seed of Abraham that all the nations may obtain the blessing. And He is the branch, branching out God into us. This branch, then, even mingles with us to produce the fruit. He is in us, and we are in Him. He and we become one people. Where I am, there He is. I simply cannot get away from Him. He is such a wonderful person. Then when we all come together, He is there; and we become the church with Him. It is really wonderful.
Eventually, it is difficult to say who we are. We are parts of this wonderful person. This wonderful person is not only within us but growing in us, branching in us, bearing fruit in us, and causing us all to be the church. This is wonderful!
And He is our righteousness. It is not a matter of behavior, because it is not our righteousness. He Himself as such a subjective One in us becomes our righteousness. Martin Luther fought for the doctrine of justification by faith, but today we do not need to fight for the doctrines. Jesus is the reality of all the doctrines. When we have Him, we have everything, including righteousness.
Therefore, if you would ask me who I am, I would at least say that I am part of Christ. In Philippians 1:21 Paul says, “To me, to live is Christ.” And he says in Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.” Hallelujah! We are the corporate Christ. Any seed is not only for that seed itself. It is for multiplication and reproduction. Now Jesus is no longer just a seed. We are now His reproduction and multiplication. So we are the corporate Christ.
