The Lord told us, in John 12:24, “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.” Was that just typical Jewish hyperbole? Obviously, the grain couldn’t really die, or there would be nothing to grow. There had to be something still there, some hidden spark. I’ve even wished that some botanical scientist would plant a seed, then aim some electronic instruments at it to catch any change at the moment it started to grow. (Maybe one has, but I don’t know about it!)
Then I realized that it is the same with people—there is an exact parallel. When someone dies their body, like the seed, disperses in the earth. But there is a part of them that never dies—the soul or spirit.
The seed, when it germinates, never goes out of existence, and the person, when he or she dies, never goes out of existence either. In the parable Jesus told, something new returns one day. He, Himself, is the proof, the firstfruits, the forerunner. His “natural” body died on that cross; His resurrected body is still physical, but to an infinitely heightened degree of new abilities and joys, the so-called “physics of resurrection”. As the Apostle Paul said, “The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” (1 Cor.15:42-44)
That’s where we’re going too, someday! And, just to round out the story, the seed really does die, but no more or less than a person ever does.
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