Charles Spurgeon Commentary 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." — John 12:24 (ASV)

Verily, verily, I say unto you. Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

This was Christ's way to glory, and it must be our way to glory too. The grain of wheat must fall into the ground and die, or else it cannot bear fruit. Just so must it be with you and me, and as we learn to die to self, we shall live to the glory of God.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

He was telling them that the source of his glory would be his death. The reason the people would hear of him and come to him was that he would be hanged on the cross.

The grain of wheat, when put into the ground, if it remains as it is, will never increase; it must die if it is to produce fruit. What is death? The end of existence?

Only thoughtless persons imagine that. Death is the resolution of any living substance into its primary elements. It is the division of the soul from the body; originally, it was the division of the soul from God.

In a grain of wheat, death is the separation of the particles of which it is composed, so that the life-germ may feed on what was provided for it. If it die, in the true sense of the word, in being separated into its constituent elements, then it bringeth forth much fruit.

Christ's way to glory was through the grave; he had to go down so that he might ascend to the throne.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)

The preservation of the corn is the prevention of its increase; but putting it into the ground, losing it, burying it, is the very means of its multiplication. So our Lord Jesus Christ must not care for himself, and he did not. He surrendered himself to all the ignominy of the death of the cross; he died and was buried in the heart of the earth, but he sprang up again from the grave, and ever since then myriads have come to him through his death, just as these Greeks came to him in his life. Now, as it was with Christ, so it is to be with us; at least, in our measure.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

He knew that he must die, for his living, and preaching, and miracle working would never produce such results as his death would accomplish. He must go down into the ground, out of sight, and there must lie like a buried grain of wheat, that out of him there might spring a great harvest to the glory of God; and these Greeks were like a first handful, a wavesheaf to God, a promise of the great harvest that would be the result of his death: If it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.