[002] Message From A Poem – A Grain Of Wheat Dies

[002] MESSAGE FROM A POEM – A GRAIN OF WHEAT DIES

Not very long before the crucifixion Jesus spoke to Andrew and Philip. This is what He said – {{John 12:23-25 and Jesus answered them saying, “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 BY ITSELF ALONE, but if it dies it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal.”}}

Jesus takes an example from nature as every farmer knows. You sow the grain and you reap a harvest. The better the soil and the conditions, then the better is the crop. This is obvious from the parable of the sower – {{Matthew 13:23 “and the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”}}

Of course what the Lord meant when talking to Andrew and Philip was that HE HIMSELF is the grain of wheat, for His hour had come. By His death – the grain of wheat surrendering to the soil – then there has been a crop of much fruit. As the sacrificial Lamb, Jesus surrendered to the shearers as it were, and the harvest is great. If the Lord had kept His own life, then there would have been nothing and everyone would be in their sin still.

This poem examines Jesus as the GRAIN OF WHEAT who gave up His life for the world to bring salvation to all those who would believe.

The last stanza speaks of a principle. The same application applies to us. If we are going to live selfish lives to ourselves, then we produce nothing, but if we surrender to the will of God as living sacrifices according to Romans 12:1-2, then the blessings of the harvest will come. We are grains of wheat.

Here is the poem -

A GRAIN OF WHEAT DIES

A grain of wheat did fall,

Into the fertile ground.

It died unto itself,

But blessings did abound.

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It brought an hundredfold,

Of increase in the yield;

And multiplied itself,

In some unknown field.

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Had it retained itself,

A worthless loss would be.

But willingness to die,

Produced abundantly.

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Christ is the Grain of Wheat;

Himself He sacrificed.

His life was not withheld;

How highly we were priced!

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When called to take the cup,

His Father’s will obeyed.

He shrank not from the cause,

Nor was God’s will delayed.

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By dying to Himself,

Into sin’s ground He sank.

From that, there sprouted forth,

A harvest first in rank.

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The fruits of sacrifice,

Reaped from His death, we are;

A countless host of souls,

All gathered from afar.

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A principle is here,

Seen in the grain of wheat.

Our lives we can withhold,

Or lay them at His feet.

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19 July 1998 R E Ferguson 6-6-6-6