Analogy of Grain

During the last three weeks we have considered in succession the three main phases of the resurrection as stated by the apostle Paul (see 1 Cor. 15:23-24).

1. “Christ the firstfruits” – the resurrection of Christ Himself, together with those of the Old Testament saints who were resurrected with Him.
2. “Those who are Christ’s at His coming” – all believers who have died during the preceding ages and who will be resurrected at Christ’s second coming, prior to the establishment of His millennial kingdom.
3. “The end” – the final resurrection of all the remaining dead at the close of the millennium.

We shall devote most of this final week on this theme considering what the Scripture reveals about the nature of the body with which Christian believers will be resurrected.

In our earlier studies on this subject we have already pointed out that there is direct continuity between the body that dies and is buried and the body that is later resurrected. The basic material of the body that is to be resurrected is the same as that of the body that is buried. That is to say, resurrection is the raising up of the same body that was buried, and not the creation of a completely new body.

However, once this fact is established, we must also add that, in the case of the Christian believer, the body that is resurrected undergoes certain definite and tremendous changes.

This whole question is raised and discussed by Paul.

“But someone will say, ‘How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?’ Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain – perhaps wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body.” (1 Cor. 15:35-38)

Here Paul uses the analogy of a grain of wheat planted in the ground to illustrate the relationship between the body that is buried and the body that is raised up in resurrection. Out of this analogy there emerge three facts which may be applied to the resurrection of the body.

1. There is direct continuity between the seed that is planted in the ground and the plant that later grows up out of the ground from that seed. The basic material of the original seed is still contained in the plant that grows up out of it.
2. The plant that grows up out of the original seed undergoes, in that process, certain definite and obvious changes. The outward form and appearance of the new plant is different from that of the original seed.
3. The nature of the original seed determines the nature of the plant that grows up out of it. Each kind of seed can produce only the kind of plant that is appropriate to it. A wheat seed can produce only a stalk of wheat; a barley seed can produce only a stalk of barley.