John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son... 20:17 Jesus said to her... go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God. Romans 8:29 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers;
He was the Only Begotten Son, but now He has become the Firstborn Son of many sons. Before His death, He was the only Son of God without any brothers. But after His resurrection, the Only Begotten Son became “the Firstborn among many brother s”.
Consider the illustration of a grain of wheat. After it falls into the ground and dies, it is resurrected and multiplied into many grains. Where is the original grain of wheat ?
It is now in the many grains. In chapter twelve Christ was the one grain, but in chapter twenty He became the many grains. This was made possible only by death and resurrection.
Before chapter eighteen, He was the Only Begotten Son of God, the only manifestation of God. Throughout the whole universe and among the entire human race, there was only one Person who was the very image and manifestation of God. But after chapters eighteen and nineteen, we have many sons of God and many manifestations of God.
Through the death and resurrection of the Only Begotten Son of God, the many sons have been produced. The one grain has now been multiplied into the many grains. Thus, all the Lord's disciples have become His brothers.
These brothers can now be the very manifestation of God and can now represent the Triune God. They have been committed with the divine, heavenly mission to do something on this earth whereby they can express and manifest God.