（申26）天国的种子 (Deut 26) The Seed of the Kingdom of Heaven

(ChatGPT was applied for translation from Chinese. 中文在后面）

Deuteronomy 26:10

“…Now I bring the firstfruits of the soil which You, LORD, have given me…”

The Israelites, in the wilderness for forty years, had no experience of farming the land, because that was a desolate place; the food they ate was supplied from heaven by the Creator. When they came into the land of Canaan and began farming the land, having firstfruits of the soil, the Bible taught them to thank the Lord for it. For many of them, the experience of farming was very new: a seed buried in the ground, as if dead, could actually grow into a new plant, producing fruit many times over. In the New Testament, this is used as a symbol of the dead buried in the ground being raised. Jesus, in John 12:24, foretold his suffering and resurrection by this, saying: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” Jesus is the first one to be raised from the dead into the kingdom of heaven. All who receive Jesus Christ, having received the seed of his eternal life, even if they die, are only asleep, and in the future will also be raised from the dead as he was. 1 Corinthians 15:20 says: “But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” Verse 23 says: “But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at his coming.”

Before I understood Christianity, when I heard Christians often say, “So-and-so has passed away, what a pity we did not share the gospel with him,” or, “So-and-so has passed away, fortunately she already believed in the Lord,” I did not really understand. A person has already died—what difference does it make whether she heard the gospel or believed in the Lord? Yet now I also often say this myself. It turns out, when a person dies, her soul is only asleep. The one who has believed in the Lord already has within the soul the seed of the kingdom of heaven. Although this seed is buried in the ground, in the future it will be raised in the kingdom of heaven, to live in the eternal new heaven and new earth.

A common plant, once cut down, even though its branches and leaves may for a while still remain green, because it has left its root and soil, will gradually wither and die. But the grain on the branch has life inside it; buried in the ground, it will grow into a new shoot. In this present life, a human being is like a plant that has been cut down. His body is like the branches and leaves, gradually aging and dying, but his soul is like the grain, able to sprout into new life. But this grain may be tares, or it may be wheat. What is used to symbolize the seed of the kingdom of heaven is wheat. Only the soul that has borne the seed of the kingdom of heaven can be raised into the kingdom of heaven. This kingdom of heaven refers to the earthly kingdom of a thousand years, where humanity gives up self-centeredness and wholeheartedly acknowledges the Creator’s reign. It continues on into the eternal new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem, foretold in Revelation chapters 20–22:

https://o-bible.com/gb/hgb.html

The seed of the soul in this present world—because most people do not even acknowledge the Creator’s authority, if they do not repent, they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven where the Creator reigns – such unrepentant souls can only be likened to tares. Only those who repent and receive the gospel, receiving from the Creator the seed of the kingdom of heaven that raised Jesus Christ from the dead, can have their soul’s seed changed into wheat, and will be raised into the kingdom of heaven.

This parable of tares and wheat was once spoken by Jesus Christ to people about two thousand years ago, recorded in Matthew 13. For resurrection from the dead, today we may have new parables. For example, during the pandemic, my mobile phone was replaced. That Huawei phone was very good to use, but after several years its battery swelled, and the screen split open and lifted up. I tied the screen down with a plastic cord and kept using it. But later, when the phone company upgraded to the 4G/5G system, my phone finally could not be used, and I had to replace it with a new one. In the old phone I had various files and apps. Many of them were useless, such as poorly taken photos, and I left them in the old phone to be disposed of. But the useful files, such as the addresses of relatives and friends, I transferred to the new phone. After the new phone was activated, the useful files and apps continued their function. This updating of the phone is somewhat like a person’s body and the material world in which it lives: each reaches the end of its usable life and must one day be renewed. But a useful file is preserved and transferred to the new phone. This is like a soul that belongs to the kingdom of heaven—when it can no longer be carried by the old body and world, the Creator will clothe it with a new body, so that it may live in the new heaven and new earth. An electronic file is powerless regarding the gradual damage of the phone that carries it, but for the human who made the phone and stores the file, giving it a new phone is certainly not hard. In the same way, resurrection from the dead seems difficult—but that is only from the human perspective. For the Creator who made the universe and placed the soul, it is certainly not difficult.

（申26）天国的种子

申命记26:10 “… 现在我把你所赐给我地上初熟的土产奉了来。…”

以色列人在旷野里四十年没有种地的经历，因为那是荒凉的所在，他们吃的口粮由造物主从天上供应。当他们来到迦南地，开始种地，有了初熟的土产，圣经就教导他们要为之感谢主。种地的经验，对他们中很多人来说是很新颖的，种子埋在地里，像是死的，竟然能长出一颗新的植物，结出很多倍的果实。这在新约里，被用来象征埋在地里的死人复活。耶稣在约翰福音12:24以此预言他的受难与复活，说，“我实实在在地告诉你们，一粒麦子不落在地里死了，仍旧是一粒。若是死了，就结出许多子粒来。” 耶稣是第一个从死里复活到天国里的人，所有接受耶稣基督的人，因为得到了他永恒生命的种子，即使去世，也只是睡了，将来也会和他那样从死里复活。哥林多前书15:20说，“但基督已经从死里复活，成为睡了之人初熟的果子。” 15:23说:“但各人是按着自己的次序复活。初熟的果子是基督。以后在他来的时候，是那些属基督的。”

以前我不了解基督教时，听到基督徒经常说，谁谁谁去世了，可惜没有能给他传福音，或者说，谁谁谁去世了，还好她已经信了主，就不太理解，人都已经去世了，有没有听过福音或信主，还有什么区别吗？然而现在我自己也常常这么说。原来，人死了，她的灵魂只是睡了，信了主的人，灵魂里已经有了天国的种子，这种子虽被埋在了地里，将来却要在天国复活，生活在永恒的新天新地。

一般的植物，一旦被割下，即使枝叶暂时还是青色的，因为离开了根和土，就会慢慢枯干死去。但枝子上的籽粒，里面却有生命，埋在地里会长出一颗新苗。人在今生，就像被割下来的植物，他的肉体像枝叶，会慢慢老化死去，但他的灵魂却像籽粒，可以长出新的生命。但这籽粒可以是稗子，也可以是麦子。用来象征天国种子的是麦子。只有结了天国种子的灵魂，才能复活在天国。这天国，指的是人类放弃以自我为中心而衷心拥戴造物主掌权的千禧年的地上天国，它一直通向永恒的新天新地新耶路撒冷，这在圣经启示录的20-22章有预言https://o-bible.com/gb/hgb.html。今世人类灵魂的种子，因为大多数根本不承认造物主的权威，所以若不悔改是不可能进入造物主作王的天国的，这种尚未悔改的灵魂，只能是以稗子作比喻；只有悔改接受了福音，接受了从造物主而来的让耶稣基督死里复活的天国种子，人类灵魂的种子才能换成麦子，将来复活在天国。

这稗子与麦子的比喻，耶稣基督曾经对约两千年前的人讲过，记载在马太福音13章。对于死里复活，我们今天可能有新的比喻。比如说在疫情期间，我手机被更换了。那个华为手机很好用，但是用了好几年后，电池鼓起来了，屏版开了縫翘了起来。我用塑料线绑住屏版，继续使用。但后来，电话公司更新成4G/5G系统，我的手机终于不能用了，只好换新的手机。我在旧手机里有各种文件和应用。其中很多没有用的，比如照得不好的相片，我就在留在旧手机里被处理掉了，其中有用的文件，比如亲友的地址，我把它们转到了新的手机。在新的手机启用后，有用的文件和应用继续发挥它们的作用。这手机的更新，就有点像是人的肉体和它所生活的物质世界，它们先后会到达使用寿命，将来要被更新，但那些有用的文件，会被保存转移到新的手机，这就有点像是一个属于天国的灵魂，当它无法被旧的身体和世界继续承载，造物主就会为它穿上一个新的身体，让他生活在新天新地。一个电子文件，对承载它的手机的逐渐损坏，自己是无能为力的，但对造手机和储存文件的人类来说，为它换一个新手机却肯定不难。同样，死人复活，看上去难，但那只是对人类来说的；对创造宇宙和安放灵魂的造物主来说，却肯定不难。