The Normal Christian Life by Watchman Nee Page B

then the only begotten becomes the first begotten.
    The divine purpose in creation and redemption was that God should have many children. He wanted us, and could not be satisfied without us. Some time ago I called to see Mr. George Cutting, the writer of the well-known tract Safety, Certainty and Enjoyment . When I was ushered into the presence of this old saint of ninety-three years, he took my hand in his, and in a quiet, deliberate way he said, “Brother, do you know, I cannot do without Him? And do you know, He cannot do without me?” Though I was with him for over an hour, his great age and physical frailty made any sustained conversation impossible. But what remains in my memory of that interview was his frequent repetition of these two questions: “Brother, do you know, I cannot do without Him? And do you know, He cannot do without me?”
    In reading the story of the prodigal son, most people are impressed with all the troubles the prodigal meets; they are occupied in thinking what a bad time he is having. But that is not the point of the parable. “My son . . . was lost, and isfound”—there is the heart of the story. It is not a question of what the son suffers, but of what the Father loses. He is the sufferer; He is the loser. A sheep is lost; whose is the loss? The shepherd’s. A coin is lost; whose is the loss? The woman’s. A son is lost; whose is the loss? The Father’s. That is the lesson of Luke chapter 15.
    The Lord Jesus was the only begotten Son, and as the only begotten He has no brothers. But the Father sent the Son in order that the only begotten might also be the first begotten, and the beloved Son have many brethren. There you have the whole story of the Incarnation and the cross; and there you have, at the last, the purpose of God fulfilled in His “bringing many sons unto glory” (Heb. 2:10).
    In Romans 8:29 we read of “many brethren”; in Hebrews 2:10 of “many sons.” From the point of view of the Lord Jesus, they are “brethren”; from the point of view of God the Father, they are “sons.” Both words in this context convey the idea of maturity. God is seeking full-grown sons; but He does not stop even there. For He does not want His sons to live in a barn, or a garage, or a field; He wants them in His home; He wants them to share His glory. That is the explanation of Romans 8:30: “Whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
    Sonship—the full expression of His Son—is God’s goal in the many sons. How could He bring that about? By justifying them, and then by glorifying them. In His dealings with them, God will never stop short of that goal. He set Himself to have sons, and to have those sons, mature and responsible, with Him in glory. He made provision for the whole of heaven to be peopled with glorified sons. That was His purpose in the redemption of mankind.
The Grain of Wheat
    But how could God’s only begotten Son become His first begotten? The method is explained in 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.” Who was that grain? It was the Lord Jesus. In the whole universe God put His one grain of wheat into the ground and it died, and in resurrection the only begotten grain became the first begotten grain, and from the one grain there have sprung many grains.
    In respect of His divinity, the Lord Jesus remains uniquely “the only begotten Son of God.” Yet there is a sense in which, from the resurrection onward through all eternity, He is also the first begotten; and His life from that time is found in many brethren. For we who are born of the Spirit are made thereby “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4), though not, mark you, as of ourselves, but only, as we shall see in a moment, in dependence upon God and by virtue of our being “in Christ.” We have “received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The