第三週•週三

w03d03-ch

晨興餧養

約十二23 ～ 24『耶穌回答說，人子得榮耀的時候到了。我實實在在的告訴你們，一粒麥子不落在地裏死了，仍舊是一粒；若是死了，就結出許多子粒來。』

人子耶穌的得榮耀就是祂的復活，也就是祂神聖的元素，神聖的生命，從祂人性的體殼釋放出來，在復活裏產生許多信徒，（彼前一3，）如約翰十二章二十四節所說，一粒麥子落在地裏，把生命的元素釋放出來，又從地裏長出，結出許多果實，就是許多子粒。（聖經恢復本，約十二23 註1。）

信息選讀

限制總是引到釘十字架。丈夫和妻子不但彼此限制，他們也彼此把對方釘在十字架上。每一個丈夫都釘死他的妻子，沒有例外。你若誠實，你會承認你已經把你的妻子釘在十字架上許多次。然而被釘死是何等的好！我們越被釘死，小麥便越在我們裏面生長。喫基督作小麥的路就是受限制和被釘死。你若不願意受限制並且被釘死，你就沒有小麥。你無須談論如何喫小麥，因爲你沒有小麥可喫。你必須先生長小麥，然後纔能喫。爲了要生長小麥，你必須受限制，並且被釘死。爲着這個受限制和被釘死，阿利路亞！

保羅說，『因爲我們這活着的人，是常爲耶穌被交於死。』（林後四11。）一天過一天，妻子和丈夫彼此把對方交於死。雖然你們的蜜月或許很甜美，我確信它沒有持續很久。…似乎蜜月時常變成了『醋月』。…在蜜月的頭幾天你可以說，『親愛的，我愛你。』但是過了那幾天以後，你似乎要說，『我要把你釘在十字架上，置你於死。』這種釘死不是一次而永遠的，乃是繼續不斷的。我的妻子已經釘死我許多次。甚麼時候我想這次釘死要一次而永遠的過去了，但幾天以後我又再一次被釘。這就是經歷成爲肉體和釘十字架的耶穌。當我們經歷耶穌作受限制的一位，以及被釘死的一位時，祂就像小麥一樣在我們裏面長大。（李常受文集一九七七年第一册，二九三至二九四頁。）

新約用生命的麥子象徵信徒。馬太三章十二節告訴我們，主耶穌要將糠粃與麥子分開，並要把麥子收在祂的倉裏：『祂…要揚淨祂的禾場，把祂的麥子收在倉裏，把糠粃用不滅的火燒盡了。』那些由麥子所表徵的人，裏面有生命；他們是神活的兒女。主耶穌要把他們浸在聖靈裏，（11，）並要把他們提去，收在空中的倉裏。我們要成爲神的兒女，必須藉着水浸到那靈裏。我們需要從水和靈生。（約三5。）首先，我們藉着水受浸，然後我們在那靈裏受浸。這樣我們就重生成爲神的兒女，成爲由生命的麥子所象徵的信徒；這些麥子要被收在主的倉裏。那些由糠粃所表徵的人，如馬太十三章二十四至三十節的稗子，裏面沒有生命，主要把他們浸在火裏，把他們扔到火湖裏。三章十二節的糠粃，是指不肯悔改的猶太人；十三章的稗子，是指掛名的基督徒。這兩班人永遠的定命是一樣的，就是在火湖裏沉淪。（40 ～ 42。）

我們是真麥子，這是甚麼意思？我們若領悟我們是有罪、墮落、失喪的，我們若真相信主耶穌基督—祂是神的兒子成爲肉體來作人；祂爲着我們的罪死在十字架上；祂在肉身和靈裏復活了；並且祂如今是賜生命的靈住在我們裏面，作我們的生命和一切—我們就必然是生命的麥子。（新約總論第五册，一○五至一○六、一○八頁。）

參讀：新約總論，第一百零七篇。

WEEK 3 — DAY 3

Morning Nourishment

John 12:23-24 And Jesus answered them, 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.

For Jesus as the Son of Man to be glorified was for Him to be resurrected, that is, to have His divine element, His divine life, released from within the shell of His humanity to produce many believers in resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3), just as a grain of wheat (John 12:24) has its life element released when it falls into the ground and grows up out of the ground to bear much fruit, that is, to bring forth many grains. (John 12:23, footnote 1)

Today’s Reading

Limitation always leads to crucifixion. Husbands and wives not only limit each other; they also crucify each other. Without exception, every husband crucifies his wife. If you are honest, you will admit that you have crucified your wife many times. But how good it is to be crucified! The more we are crucified, the more the wheat grows within us. The way to eat Christ as wheat is to be limited and crucified. If you are not willing to be limited and crucified, you will not have any wheat. There will be no need for you to talk about how to eat the wheat because there will not be any wheat to eat. You
must grow the wheat before you can eat it, and in order to grow wheat you must be limited and crucified. Hallelujah for this limitation and crucifixion!

Paul said, “We who are alive are always being delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake” (2 Cor. 4:11). Day after day the wives and the husbands deliver one another to death. Although your honeymoon may have been very sweet, I am sure that it did not last very long…It seems that the honeymoon often becomes a “vinegar-moon.”…During the first few days of your honeymoon you may say, “Dear, I love you.” But after those days you will feel like saying, “I will nail you to the cross and put you to death.” This kind of crucifixion does not take place once for all; it is continual. My wife has crucified me many times. Whenever I think that this crucifixion will be over once and for all, I am crucified again a few days later. This is the experience of the incarnated and crucified Jesus. When we experience Jesus as the limited One and as the crucified One, He grows in us as wheat. (CWWL, 1977, vol. 1, “The Kernel of the Bible,” pp. 220-221)

The New Testament uses the wheat of life to symbolize the believers. Matthew 3:12 tells us that the Lord Jesus will separate the wheat from the chaff and gather the wheat into His barn: “He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor and will gather His wheat into the barn, but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.” Those symbolized by wheat have life within; they are the living children of God. The Lord Jesus will baptize them in the Holy Spirit (v. 11) and gather them into His barn in heaven by rapture. In order to become children of God, we must be baptized through water into the Spirit. We need to be born of water and of the Spirit (John 3:5). First, we are baptized through water; then we are baptized in the Spirit. In this way we
are regenerated to become children of God, the believers symbolized by the wheat of life, which will be gathered into the Lord’s barn. Those symbolized by chaff, like the tares in Matthew 13:24-30, are without life. The Lord will baptize them in fire, putting them into the lake of fire. Chaff in 3:12 refers to unrepentant Jews, whereas the tares in Matthew 13 refer to nominal Christians. The eternal destiny of both will be the same—perdition in the lake of fire (vv. 40-42).

What does it mean to be real wheat? If we realize that we are sinful, fallen, and lost and if we truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ—that He is the Son of God incarnated to be a man, that He died on the cross for our sins, that He was resurrected physically and spiritually, and that He is now the life-giving Spirit dwelling in us as our life and everything, we are certainly the wheat of life. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1151-1153)

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 107