The third figure used in the Gospel of John to portray the Lord’s death is “a grain of wheat”:

“Truly, truly, I say unto 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

This aspect of the Lord’s death is what the prophet Isaiah is referring to when he tells us,

The LORD was pleased
To crush Him.
— Isaiah 53:10 (NASB95)

Isaiah’s word here is so remarkable that some modern versions change it, translating it instead as, “it was the will of the LORD to crush him” (ESV; cf. RSV, NIV); they cannot accept that it would actually “please” God to crush His beloved Son.

Yet, the basic meaning of this Hebrew word, ḥāp̄ēṣ, (Strong’s #H2654) is exactly that, “to please.” As Strong’s says, it means “to delight in, take pleasure in, desire, be pleased with.” It is often used this way in the Old Testament, as when we are told that Jonathan “greatly delighted” in David (1 Sam. 19:1).

So, what is Isaiah’s meaning here?

He is not saying the Father delighted in the Son’s suffering; surely not. He is saying, however, that the Father did indeed delight greatly in the result of that suffering, namely, the “crushing” itself.

This is because it was through that crushing that the very life of God, which had been in Him from the beginning in eternity past (John 1:1, 4), could be released for human beings to receive. That eternal, divine life had been concealed within the humanity of Jesus through the incarnation (John 1:14), just as the germ of life is concealed within the shell of a grain of wheat. Through the process of His death and resurrection, the outward shell of Jesus’ humanity was broken open, just like a grain of wheat is broken open when it falls into the ground, so the divine life could come forth from within Him. As a result, all His fellow human beings who believe in Him can now receive that life and thus be born anew as the genuine children of God (John 1:12-13).

This was the Lord’s meaning when He said He must fall into the earth as a “grain of wheat” to produce the many grains in His resurrection. And this is the aspect of the Lord’s death, the “crushing,” that was indeed so pleasing to the Father.

For a further consideration
of this topic, see
“Andrew Murray: The Spirit of
the Glorified Jesus”

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—  2 November 2024 —