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Scripture Reading: Isa. 7:14; 9:6; 32:2; 40:5, 9; 53:2; Matt. 1:20b; John 1:1, 14; 14:10; 6:53, 57, 63
Since the fall of man, Christ began to be revealed in a very strange and wonderful way. In Genesis 3:15, immediately after the fall, He is revealed as the seed of a woman. Then He is later revealed as the root, which, as we know, issues from the seed. Moreover, He is further revealed as the branch. He is the seed, the root, and the branch. Fourth, out of the branch, He is revealed as the fruit. Any kind of fruit, according to God’s economy, is for man’s enjoyment. We do not enjoy the seed, the root, or the branch directly, but the fruit. Our Christ is the seed, the root, the branch, and the fruit!
We need to know all the verses that tell us of this divine revelation. The seed is in Genesis 3:15. The root is found in Isaiah 11:10. Here we see that Christ is the root of Jesse. Isaiah 53:2 tells us further that Christ is a root out of dry ground. Then there are several verses concerning Christ as the branch. Isaiah 4:2 declares Jesus as the branch of the Lord. He is the branching out of Jehovah! Then Jeremiah 23:5 tells us that out of David, God will raise up a branch. This is the branch of man. Christ is not only the branch of God but also the branch of David. He is not only the branching out of God but also the branching out of a proper man. Isaiah 11:1 says that Christ is the branch of Jesse. He is the branch of David because Jesse is the father of David. The fourth verse concerning Christ as the branch is Zechariah 6:12. Here we see the man whose name is the Branch. In this universe there is a man who is called the Branch. He is the seed, the root, and the branch.
The verse that speaks of Christ as the fruit is Isaiah 4:2. Here it says that Christ is the branch of Jehovah and the fruit of the earth. It speaks of the birth of Christ and the humanity of Christ. According to His divinity, He is the branching out of God, and according to His humanity, He is the fruit that comes out of the earth. Earth here represents humanity. When God branches out into humanity as the earth, He brings forth fruit. This is the food for us, food which infuses very much into us. Jesus is the most delicious fruit for man to enjoy. He is the food for man.
In John 6 Jesus is presented as the bread of life. But we must realize that the bread comes from the grains. If there are no grains ground into fine flour, there is no bread. The bread issues from the grains, and the grains come from the seed. Moreover, no seed can grow by itself. For the growth, the seed needs the soil. Sometimes I boast to the Lord, “Lord, You cannot grow without me.” Certainly, I need the Lord, but He also needs me. Without the Lord I am poor soil. I can grow nothing, and eventually I become a desert. I do need the Lord as the seed. He is the wonderful, heavenly, divine seed. But the seed also needs me as the soil. Praise the Lord that He is the seed, and we are the soil.
Genesis tells us that God made man out of the ground. Man is the earth. We do not like the earth, but God likes it. Humanity as the earth is sweet to God. He needs man as the soil. The seed without the soil can produce no bread. Bread requires the seed plus the soil. This seed is not merely added to the soil but mingled with the soil. When a seed is planted, it stretches out its element into the ground and at the same time absorbs some element of the ground into itself. This is the mingling of the seed with the soil, which brings the growth. The growth is just the mingling of divinity with humanity. Jesus is not only divine; neither is He merely human. Jesus is both divine and human. He is the mingling of divinity with humanity.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). But this is not all. It is wonderful, but we should not stop here. We must go on to John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father,) full of grace and reality.” The Word became flesh. This means that God became something else. He was God, but at a certain time He became something else. Have you ever considered that God became something else? Our God today is no longer merely God. If some Jewish friends were here, I would tell them that they lack something. They only have God, but we have God become flesh. Hallelujah!
The term flesh in our thinking is not good. But here in John 1:14 the word flesh is really glorious. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh. That means that God became flesh. It is only by His becoming flesh that He could tabernacle among man. This is the mingling of divinity with humanity.
When God became flesh and tabernacled among man, He came full of something. He did not come full of teachings and doctrines, regulations and forms. Neither did He come full of religion. No, God became flesh and tabernacled among us full of grace and reality. What is grace? Some Christians think that if we have a good car, that is really God’s grace. Then they give a testimony thanking the Lord for His grace. Others think that a good wife or a good family is God’s grace. But that is not grace. Grace is God Himself given to us freely for our enjoyment. This is grace.
But for God to give Himself to us is not so simple. It does not mean that one day God came down from heaven and said to man, “I give Myself to you.” If He were to do that, we would be extremely fearful, and we would dare not contact Him. His glory would consume us. But, praise the Lord, all His burning glory was concealed in the flesh. He came to us in exactly the same form as we are. And He came to us in this way to such an extent that it was difficult to recognize or discern that He was God. This is why the Pharisees had such a problem with Him. They wondered how He could be God. Was He not a poor man from Nazareth? Did they not know His mother, His brothers, and His sisters? He was a poor man, from a poor country, from a little town called Nazareth. How could He be God? But He was God. He was the Word become flesh. He was God in such a humble human form.
It is for this reason that Isaiah 9:6 is such a precious verse to us. “A child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.” A child is born to us, but His name is not called a wonderful man. His name is called Mighty God. And a Son is given to us, and His name is called Eternal Father. Is He the Son or the Father? Is He the child or the mighty God? Now we are clear. He is both a child and the mighty God. He is both the Son and the Father. That little child born in a manger at Bethlehem was the mighty God. The Jewish people believe in God, but they do not believe that the child born in a manger at Bethlehem was God.
But we believe! Hallelujah! That little child was God. He was not God in divine form, but He was God taking a human form. His purpose in doing this was that He might be sown into mankind. He took man as the soil to produce something for our enjoyment. Hence, the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace (enjoyment) and reality. He came full of the riches of divinity for us to enjoy. This is grace.
Now we must see that for God to be our enjoyment, there was the need of the process of incarnation. If God was not incarnated, He could never have been our food. When Jesus said that He was the bread of life, He was already processed. He was God who was processed to become flesh. The second step of the process was after He had become flesh: He became the life-giving Spirit. As God He became flesh. Then as the flesh He became the life-giving Spirit. “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45b). Jesus as God became flesh, and as the flesh He became the life-giving Spirit. Can you see the process?
This is why we say that our Jesus is a “processed” God. Our God today is not a “raw” God. He is fully processed. Now He is on the “dining table” for us to eat. All good food is processed food. The cooking is a process. Praise the Lord that He passed through all the “cooking”! Now He is on the table. Everything is ready. We only need to come and dine.
Our Jesus is indeed wonderful. He is the seed, the root, the branch, the fruit, and the bread for eating. In the theology of today’s Christianity, there are many studies concerning Christology. This is the study of who Christ is. Throughout all the centuries, there have been many disputations regarding the person of Christ. All the different concepts have caused great division. Some have said that Christ was only divine, without any humanity. There were some so-called Christians even in the first century who did not believe that Christ was man as well as God. They could not believe that Christ as God became flesh. Some others believed that Christ was merely human, without any divinity. Church history shows us that in the first four or five centuries there was much dispute among the great teachers of Christianity concerning the person of Christ.
The Bible gives us an all-inclusive revelation of Christ. Christ is not only one thing, neither a few things. Christ is everything! He is all in all. He is the Father, He is the Son, and He is the Spirit. I realize that this offends the theology of Christianity, but I have some verses from the pure Word as the ground to say this. We have already read Isaiah 9:6, which clearly says that a Son is given to us, yet His name is called Eternal Father. Is He the Son or the Father? It is so clear that He is not only the Son but also the Father.
In John 14 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us” (v. 8). His request really surprised the Lord. “Jesus said to him, Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, Show us the Father?” (v. 9). It is just as if someone came to Brother Benson this morning and said, “Brother Benson, please show us Benson Phillips, and we’ll be satisfied.” But if you have seen Brother Benson, you have seen Benson Phillips. The Lord said to Philip, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works” (v. 10). The Lord was saying, “I speak, but the Father works.” It is equivalent to saying that Brother Benson speaks, and Benson Phillips works. This simply proves that Brother Benson and Benson Phillips are one. It is the same with the Son and the Father. For the Son to speak and the Father to work means that the Son and the Father are one. From these verses we see that Christ is both the Son and the Father.
Now we must look at the verses which show us that Christ is also the Spirit. We have already read 1 Corinthians 15:45b, which says that the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit. We must also read 2 Corinthians 3:17: “The Lord is the Spirit.” These verses tell us clearly that the Lord Jesus is now the Spirit. After His death and resurrection He has become the life-giving Spirit.
I realize that there are some who will argue with me by asking, “If the Son is the Father, how then could the Son pray to the Father?” But this is just mental analysis. We have already seen in Isaiah 9:6 that a child is born to us and His name is called the mighty God. This means that He is the mighty God. Then Isaiah 40:9 says, “O Jerusalem, who brings glad tidings; / Lift it up, Do not be afraid. / Say to the cities of Judah, / Behold your God!” All Bible students agree that this verse speaks of Christ. When Christ comes, there will be the announcement and declaration, “Behold your God!” It is clear that the coming Christ is God. Then Isaiah 53:2 tells us that Christ grew up in the presence of God. If He is God, how can He grow in the presence of God?
Moreover, Isaiah 32:2 says, “A man will be like a refuge from the wind / And a covering from the tempest, / Like streams of water in a dry place, / Like the shadow of a massive rock in a wasted land.” How can a man be streams of water in a dry place? It is because this man is also God. In our mental concept we think that if He is God, He is God; if He is man, then He is man. To say that He is both God and man is not reasonable or logical. But this is why Jesus is wonderful. He is all in all. He is everything. You can never analyze Him according to logic or reason.
There is a word that I do not like to use, but for lack of a better one I will use it, that is, hybrid. Jesus is a hybrid. A hybrid, we know, is two things grown into one. When a branch of an apple tree is grafted into a peach tree, the fruit produced from that branch will be a hybrid. It looks like an apple, and it also looks somewhat like a peach. Which is it, an apple or a peach? We have to say that it is an apple-peach or a peach-apple. It is both! It is the same with Jesus. Is He God or is He man? He is both. He is the God-man and the man-God. We should never use our limited, mental capability to try to analyze Jesus. This is the problem with so-called theology today.
How could Jesus be the root and also the branch? To our thinking it is illogical. If you are the root, you are the root. If you are the branch, you are the branch. How can someone be both the root and the branch simultaneously? Yet we must remember that Jesus is everything. He is not only the seed but also the root. He is also the branch and the fruit. In the same principle, He is not only the Father but also the Son. And He is not only the Son but also the Spirit. He is everything! If you have Jesus, you have the seed, the root, the branch, and the fruit. And this is not all! If you have Jesus, you have the Father, you have the Son, and you have the Spirit! Jesus is all in all! He is truly wonderful.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. And this Word became flesh. Now, as the Word become flesh, He is not only the Son but also the Father. And He is also the Spirit. Such a One comes and presents Himself to us as bread. He said in John 6:35, “I am the bread of life.” We can realize now that this bread is not so simple. He is full of ingredients. All kinds of divine and human elements are in this bread. And this bread is fully processed and cooked. It is ready for eating.
When I was a child, I was taught much concerning Jesus coming and dying on the cross for us. This is right, but if you stop here, it is very superficial. Jesus passed through death and resurrection not only to redeem us but also to put Himself into us. So again I say that Jesus must be so subjective to us. He said that He is our bread of life. Could any food be our nourishment if that food remains objective to us? As long as it remains on the shelf or in the refrigerator, however much we love it, it has nothing to do with us. But though we hate it, as long as we eat it, we have it, and it is being wrought into our being.
It is for this reason that Jesus presented Himself to us as food. Nothing is so subjective to us as food. Eventually, the food becomes so subjective to us that it becomes one with us. We are what we eat. Everything we eat becomes us. The chicken, oranges, apples, and meat that we eat become us. We are the composition of all that we eat. Our weight at birth was about seven pounds, but now we may weigh one hundred and seventy pounds. All the varieties of food that we ate added the weight, not in an objective way but in a very subjective way. The food was swallowed, digested, and assimilated. It became our cells and our tissues. Hence, we are simply a composition of what we eat.
Now we can understand why Jesus said, “As the living Father has sent Me and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (v. 57). It is only by eating Jesus that we can live by Jesus. He is the all-inclusive bread. When this all-inclusive bread enters into us, it becomes so subjective to us and even becomes us. This is absolutely not a religion. Religion merely teaches others to serve God in an outward, objective way. This is not God’s economy, and this is not God’s divine purpose. God’s economy is that this Jesus should enter into us to become our very being. He will come into us and grow in us and transform us into something different. Then we will be shining with Jesus! This is the branching out of Jesus!
Teachings, doctrines, instructions, and degrees will not help us. We can talk about a chicken, study it, and know everything about it, but unless we take the chicken into us, it does us absolutely no good. The Bible does not reveal to us merely an objective Christ. There is the objective aspect, but the Bible reveals more of the subjective aspect. This is why Jesus said that He is our food. Nothing could be so subjective to us as food, for it becomes us. Jesus said, “I am the bread of life...He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me.”
If I did not eat breakfast this morning, it would be difficult for me to speak here. But since I ate that breakfast, I am now living by what I ate. This is why I am so energetic. Likewise, if we eat Jesus, we will live by Jesus. Jesus is the all-inclusive meal. He is whatever we need. He is full of the finest ingredients. This is why He is the all-inclusive food. He is not simple bread; He is all-inclusive bread. In this bread are all the attributes of divinity and all the virtues of humanity. What a bread He is to us!
No words can tell what Jesus is in a full way. We can never exhaust telling what He is. He is truly marvelous! He is both God and man. He is the One who prays, and He is also the One who answers. He is the One who sows the seed, and He is also the One who grows. He is the small root, and He is also the branch. He is the root that came out of the dry ground, and He is also a tender plant. He is the seed, the root, the branch, and the fruit. Now He presents Himself to us as the bread of life. If we eat Him, we will live by Him. All the divine, spiritual ingredients are in Him. Hallelujah for such a Jesus!
