At the Lord’s table on the Lord’s day we sang one of my favourite Hymns which seems to get richer and richer – Hymn #203, which is a Praise of the Lord for His Increase (listen to it online, or read the lyrics online).
1. In the bosom of the Father,
Ere the ages had begun,
Thou wast in the Father’s glory,
God’s unique begotten Son.
When to us the Father gave Thee,
Thou in person wast the same,
All the fulness of the Father
In the Spirit to proclaim.2. By Thy death and resurrection,
Thou wast made God’s firstborn Son;
By Thy life to us imparting,
Was Thy duplication done.
We, in Thee regenerated,
Many sons to God became;
Truly as Thy many brethren,
We are as Thyself the same.3 Once Thou wast the only grain, Lord,
Falling to the earth to die,
That thru death and resurrection
Thou in life may multiply.
We were brought forth in Thy nature
And the many grains became;
As one loaf we all are blended,
All Thy fulness to proclaim4. We’re Thy total reproduction,
Thy dear Body and Thy Bride,
Thine expression and Thy fulness,
For Thee ever to abide.
We are Thy continuation,
Thy life-increase and Thy spread,
Thy full growth and Thy rich surplus,
One with Thee, our glorious Head.
In Stanza 1 & 2 we see that Christ was the only begotten Son of God i.e Before incarnation He was the Son of God in His divinity in eternity past. By incarnation He put on the human flesh (which had nothing to do with divinity) – that part of Him needed to be sanctified and uplifted by passing through death and resurrection.
In resurrection He became the Son of God with a new element added to Him – He is now possessing both humanity and divinity, He became the firstborn from the dead and the firstborn Son of God. In His resurrection all the believers were regenerated and as the Hymn says “many sons to God became / Truly as Thy many brethren / We are as Thyself the same.”
In Stanza 3 we see John 12:24 which tells us that if a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it abides alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Through His death and resurrection the only grain became many grains. The Hymn says “once though was the only grain Lord, falling to the earth to die, that thru death and resurrection, Thou in life may multiply.”
At the end of stanza 3 we see that we become many grains to become one loaf by being blended. “We were brought forth in Thy nature / And the many grains became / As one loaf we all are blended / All Thy fullness to proclaim”.
In Stanza 4 we see the high peak of the divine revelation: The issue of God’s full salvation that His believers become His total reproduction, His body, His bride, His expression, His fullness, His continuation, His increase, His spread, His full growth, His rich surplus…. We become the same as He is not through behaviour “being good” but through the organic union of being “One with Thee, our glorious Head”. Awesome!
Isaiah 53:10 says
But Jehovah was pleased to crush Him, to afflict Him with grief. When He makes Himself an offering for sin, He will see a seed, He will extend His days.
The footnote for this in the Recovery Version of the Bible says:
The seed refers to Christ in His resurrection. The seed here, a corporate seed, is the church as the Body of Christ, comprising all the believers produced as many grains by the death of Christ as the one grain and by His reproductive resurrection. Christ as the servant of Jehovah is the resurrected Life-giver, the life-giving spirit, to produce a seed for the building up of His Body as His continuation for Jehovah’s pleasure and for Christ’s satisfaction. Today Christ is extending His days by living in His believers as His Body who are His extension.
Praise the Lord, may this week be a week of enjoying the resurrection life of Christ by enjoying Christ as the life-giving spirit so that we will be all the things in Stanza 4 for God’s good pleasure and Christ’s satisfaction. Amen. [guest post, bro. Moh]
