Excepts Of Jesus (VIII.)
John 12:24: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, EXCEPT a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.
Our Lord compares Himself to a grain of wheat in this passage. He has just said: "The hour is come, that the Son on man should be glorified." (verse twenty-three). His death is necessary. He compares His sacrificial death to a "grain of wheat" sown and dying in the ground; and His resurrection is compared to the blade which springs up from the dead grain. When the grain of wheat thus dies — it brings forth new life and an abundance of fruit.
In other words, Jesus is clearly telling them, "I must die in order to be glorified." The hour was at hand for His atoning death and subsequent glorification.
All the beauty of the abundant harvest results from the initial fact that the grain sown had died. If it had not died...it would never have germinated or produced the glory of the yellow harvest. Therefore, Jesus is affirming that it is only by His own death that He would be glorified. By His sacrificial death Jesus made possible the salvation of man and the reward of heaven (Hebrews 2:9,10).
One of the most familiar facts in nature is that, in plants and seeds, life comes by death. The principal event which renders the grain valuable to man is its death. There cannot possibly be the fields laden with golden grain until there first take place in secret the death of the grain in the ground.
Jesus death was, and is the source of spiritual life. If we are to be fruitful hi life and service, we too, must die to self as well as to sin. How grateful we are for the glorification of the Son of man.
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