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. John 12:24.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Today’s conversation was with His disciples and the listening crowd five days before the Passover when Jesus would give His life for you so you would no longer be under the condemnation from Adam but have eternal life. And for the joy of setting you free from the sentence of eternal death that was on all born from the perishable seed of Adam, He endured the cross, despising the shame. He took your sins, your ills, your grief, your pains, your shame, your guilt, and bore them all in your place. He paid the judgment against you, which no man was able to pay, and took your sentence for you and went to hell in your place. And it gave Him joy to do that for you even though it made Him die to Himself because it gave new life to you and made Him the first born of many brethren in His resurrection from the dead with all sin gone before Me in those who receive My gift of redemption in Him. By the blood of the cross He made peace between Me and you and made you holy, blameless and beyond reproach before Me. In Him I give you eternal life and every spiritual blessing in Heaven in My everlasting Covenant of love.
He suffered your loss and gave you His gain.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9.
So let us look at the treasures you find in today’s conversation. This conversation occurred after Jesus had fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah and had entered Jerusalem riding on the foal of a donkey.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Zechariah 9:9.
A crowd had gathered and there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast; these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” John 6:20-21.
The words in the original Greek in which the New Testament was written give you more of an insight into the hearts of these Greeks who “wished” to “see” Jesus. The word used there that is translated “wish” is theló (θέλω), which means to will it as your firm intention, they willed to come to Jesus, this was the firm intention and desire of their hearts. We have discussed that no one comes to Jesus unless I draw them, so you know the hearts of these foreigners were inclined to Me.
They had their hearts set on seeing Jesus. And the word translated as “see” there is horaó (ὁράω), which goes beyond mere physical sight (the simple act of looking, or using one’s physical eyes only, is expressed by means of the verb βλεπω (blepo); the opposite of which is to be blind), though it includes that, to seeing with the mind and heart, to perceive and understand in a higher sense than mere physical sight. It is often translated “behold.”
You should also be aware that there is another word that is used for “see” and that is the verb ειδω (eido) which also denotes physical seeing, for instance a star (Matthew 2:2), amazing things (Luke 5:26), conflicts (Philippians 1:30), but specifically with a subsequent recognizing and understanding. Particularly, seeing that results in knowing a spiritual truth (“I saw” means “I know”). You see the difference between “blepo” and “eido,” in the quote of Isaiah 6:9: “… you will keep seeing (blepo) but you will not see (eido)” (Matthew 13:14, Mark 4:12, Acts 28:26). Or in the words of Jesus: “You know (eido) neither Me nor My Father; if you knew (eido) Me, you would know (eido) My Father also” (John 8:19).
Be aware that there is often more than you realize in Scriptures you do not read as originally written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But interlinear online concordances are available and that is why Jesus told His disciples that the more diligence and attention you give to My Words the more revelation that will be added to you.
Philip came and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip came and told Jesus about these foreigners who wanted to see Him. And Jesus answered them with an answer that seemed to them to not address their question. But it did and gave them more than they were asking for.
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 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 will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. John 12:23-26.
There is much for you to see here and to know.
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
Jesus knew that this would be His final Passover to close His mission as one of you on earth. I had given Him a word of wisdom on that, just as Peter and Paul knew the time of their departure, and it was the time for Him to be glorified so that at His Name every knee shall bow, but also glorified in the sense that My goodness could be released by your reconciliation with Me to flood your life with miracles of My love.
But the hour He is speaking of is the hour He spent in the Garden of Gethsemane. The hour He asked His disciples to spend with Him but they slept through it. It was the hour He took the chalice of My wrath away from you and drank it in your place. It was in that hour in Gethsemane that Jesus agreed and took every sin ever committed or that will ever be committed into His own flesh as your sacrificial lamb of sacrifice and gave you His righteousness in exchange. And once that exchange had taken place, He had to die for the sins were now on Him and the wages of sin is death. The chief priests, the Sanhedrin, and Pilate all thought they were condemning Jesus but what they did not realize was He had already been condemned the moment He accepted all your sins into His own flesh. And His sentence was from Me, it was the one I gave Adam for his treachery but now it was on the head of My Son.
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.
A seed just sitting dry on your tabletop does nothing. But if you plant it in the soil and cultivate it, it breaks open and the plan within it is released to became nourishing wheat. But the seed is gone. However its fruit remains and produces many more seeds that can do the same.
You must die to yourself to truly live and be fruitful, very fruitful. What does it mean to die to yourself? TO DIE TO YOURSELF MEANS YOU NO LONGER PERMIT YOUR EMOTIONS TO RULE YOUR LIFE.
Too many of you live subject to your emotions. And emotions are very poor guides. You can be very happy and then the same day be very sad, and sometimes for no other reason than you are still in the flesh. There are times fear tries to take over, times when anger and offense try to guide you, times when regret and bitterness try to take root in your heart, and if you give in to these, they will boss you and take you on a devastating course. You must learn to take your thoughts and emotions captive and controlled so they work for you and not against you. I have given you the Holy Spirit, and just as in the beginning He hovered over a chaotic void of darkness waiting for My Word to be spoken to turn that darkness into light and the void into a place of splendor and beauty with everything working in perfect order to keep replenishing the earth, so too, you can take My Word and speak it in contradiction to the darkness, chaos and emptiness and watch the Holy Spirit in you cause your words to come to pass and your soul be flooded with light, peace, and fruitfulness. Get My Words of victory, healing, provision, authority, and power into your heart and vocabulary and use them. I sent My Word to heal you and deliver you from all your destruction. My Covenant is to raise you up to be like Me and the way I do that is I have put My Words in your mouth and My Spirit in and on you. Do not neglect so great a salvation. Make use of it. Live it and when they see your joy and strength others will want to have what you have.
It is time you realized you do not have to let your emotions, cravings, and desires rule you, you can stand up and rule them so that they work for your good and not evil. You just have to answer them with My Words that address the issue they have raised against you in your mind or circumstances, cast them out for they are from unclean spirits, and then cast your cares on Me in joyful prayer, knowing I have already taken care of your problems, you only need to take the solution I have there for you by faith, and then celebrate with Me that I have already provided just what you need right at the time you need it. And it is there for you, all prepared since the foundation of the world in Jesus. Celebrate your deliverance with joyful songs and praise and watch it come to pass.
He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.
This may sound contradictory for I am love and I want you to be love as well, but what I am telling you here is the one who seeks only himself, only loves his own self to the detriment, exclusion, and enslaving of others, will lose what he is trying to hoard for himself alone. A glutton is only focused on feeding his flesh and anything that gets in his way he hates and scorns but finally he is so obese he ruins his health and cuts his life short, the same with an alcoholic or drug addict. A proud person who looks down on everyone but himself and scoffs at others ends up with no friends and no love in his life because of this intense love for himself that has driven others away.
I would also like you to note that the word translated “life” here is not the word for life, it is the Greek word “psuché (ψυχή), which means your soul, which encompasses emotions, desires, and the will. You soul consists of your mind, your will, and your emotions. It is not your spirit. And whether your soul goes with your flesh or with your spirit for direction depends on what you are feeding it, whether by My Words that are spirit and life or the words of the world which are carnal and death. So you could say, “the one who loves his soul, that is, allowing his thoughts and emotions to control him, loses his soul.” And remember what Jesus said at another time? “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?” That man let too much of the world in and kept the things of the spirit out. And the world with its lusts and seductions is passing away but the one who does My Will endures forever. My Word is My Will, so you are always safe standing on My Word, and if you do, stand you will. And that is hating your life lived only in the lusts of the world. Don’t you hate your life on days that you have spent indulging in depression, fear, anger, and regret? Hate that and turn away from it, you will truly enjoy and love the life that is lived onto Me. And you will never lose that abundant life filled with grace and truth.
And here is an excellent summary by the “disciple Jesus loved,” of what he heard from Jesus here, but remember the Holy Spirit teaches you all things and reminds you of all that I have said:
Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17.
And to finish the last line of this paragraph before we close this Life Lesson:
If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. John 12:26.
Keep your eyes on Jesus and follow Him. You are to do the works He did and greater. What are those works?
You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him. Acts 10:38.
And as I was with Him, so I am with you. I have poured My love and My power in your hearts by the gift of My Holy Spirit, I have anointed you with the oil of joy, and covered you with the shadow of My mighty hand.
Jesus is your good shepherd and He always leads you out of darkness into the light. You cannot follow Him and stay living in the darkness of depression, fear and illness. You must rise up and rebuke those and walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received. Jesus was always reaching out with compassion, He never sat around gossiping or speaking evil of another. If you are following Him and are in the places He is You must organize your days and walk in paths of righteousness with Him as your guide. There are places you cannot go that are filled with evil and compromise your purity if you are going to follow Him and be where He is. Let Me find you busy about Kingdom business when I return for you and I will honor you.
I love you. It all comes down to where your heart is. It is not hard to run the way of My commands when you have enlarged your heart and purposed to do so. There is a time, and now is a good time, to say no to your emotions and feelings and just say “yes” to My Word. My Words are much more pleasant, they are spirit and life.