“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life" (John 12:23-25).
These words spoken by Jesus come just after the triumphal entry. It is time for him to lay down his life.
I had always read this verse and marveled at the literary beauty of the analogy Jesus is making—just like a seed has to die to allow for future generations of life, Jesus had to die to bring repentant sinners from death to life.
In reflecting again on these verses, though, something so obvious struck me. John 1:1-3 says "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made."
Nothing has been made apart from the Son! So the principle of a seed dying to bring forth new life is not just an analogy that conveniently fits to represent the sacrifice of Jesus—seeds, themselves, were designed in this way to reveal the character of our God and to bring him glory!
Let us continue to conform our minds to the reality that God is the sovereign creator of everything. Psalm 104:24 exclaims, “O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.” Look, truly look today, and allow the natural beauty around you to turn your mind back to God.
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