Text: Matthew 13: 31-33
"31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took,
and sowed in his field:
32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds:
but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree,
so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom
of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures
of meal, till the whole was leavened."
Today, we want to check out two parables found in Matthew 13. These two parables talk about "the kingdom of heaven," the church. They talk about how the church started and how the church changed. The interpretation of these parables differ depending on the interpreter's view about the church. In other words, it differs depending on his view of the church in the end times. That is to say, its interpretation differs depending on whether he thinks the church will be better in the end times or worse.
Concerning these parables of the mustard seed and the leaven, many interpreters say that it symbolizes the church's growth and prosperity. They think church will be found faithful in the end times. But, interpreters such as Watchman Knee and J.N. Darby think differently. They hold that sin will spread in the church and that the church changes and degenerates in its nature from her original purity. They think these parables foreshadow a figure of ecclesiastical deterioration.
Parable Of The Mustard Seed
Mustard seed is a small sized seed. But it symbolizes faith. Compare Luke:
Luke 17:6 " And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you."
Therefore, a grain of mustard seed stands for the smallness of the first church and her purity at the beginning. But, after it grows, the grain of seed changes. It changed to "a tree" because it grew up. This stands for something special. If a mustard seed grew as "a vegetable" grows, there should be no problem. Because it would start as a vegetable and end as a vegetable. There is no change in its nature. But the mustard seed changed to "a tree." Vegetables and trees are completely different things. During creation God created vegetables after its kind. Trees and vegetables are completely different kinds of things. And this mustard seed crosses over this distinction. It is something abnormal. The basic kind of mustard seed is a vegetable. And it symbolizes the small but pure faith of the church. Therefore, the mustard seed should grow bigger but with without a change in its nature and only a growth in quantity; but it doesn't because it is used to denote a change that should not take place in the future but does. As the mustard seed appears to change its natural "kind," it symbolizes the change of the church towards a completely different "kind" of its own, an apostate church.
As you can understand from the history of kingdom of Israel, God's people may change from its first pristine purity after a certain lapse of time. As a consequence, the people of God become susceptible to spiritual contamination as symbolized in the lodging of the birds of the air upon the tree branches. Lodgin on the tree does not mean something beautiful. Please recall "The Parable Of The Sower" in the same chapter. There were birds in this parable too. The birds eat the seed of God's word. This is the work of Satan. In addition, concerning birds, there is the following scripture in Revelation:
Revelation 18:2 "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."
In light of this scripture the meaning of this parable is that the church initially starts as an assembly of small but pure members. But, after she grows up, she degenerates in her spiritual nature. Because her faith - grain of mustard seed has changed to a different kind. In addition, she became a lodge for birds (evil spirits) on her.
The Parable Of The Leaven
Let's look at another parable, "The Parable Of The Leaven." In the Bible, leaven always acts as "sin."
1 Corinthians 5:8 "Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
Galatians 5:9" A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump"
In holy communion, we also eat unleavened bread. We practice this communion without leaven,that is, without sin. In addition, if we look at the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob or some other saints in the old testament, we will see that every of them ate or offered God bread without leaven. In the old testament, when scripture talks about bread, it is always unleavened bread. Of course, we can find an interesting scripture dealing with leavened bread that on the surface appears to be an exception to this rule but is not.
Amos 4:4, 5 "Come to Bethel, and transgress;
at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning,
and your tithes after three years:
5 And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving
with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh
you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord GOD."
This scripture talks about leavened bread. But in it, God is speaking in irony against a stiff minded people; This is a rhetorical design to symbolize their waywardness. They might as well bring their forbidden and sinful leaven to sacrifice before the Lord since they love it so much. Of course God does not really want such a sacrifice, but says it in the hope of shocking the people into repentance. Even here leaven stands for sin.
Even in the new testament, this principle that leaven=sin is at work. Scripture always relates leavened bread to sin or false teaching as in "the leaven of the Pharisees or the Sadducees." The Bible never describes leaven as something good. Therefore, if someone reads "the whole was leavened" and thinks it refers to a growing church, his claim is in opposition to the scriptural view. Those who interpret "parable of leaven" as church prosperity or growth are in effect neglecting this biblical principle and seeing the Bible with human eyes only. How can anyone claim this scripture indicates leaven as "something good" while all other scripture points to "leaven" as sin or false teaching? If leaven sometimes stands for "sin" and other times stands for "something good" then God's word has no principle.
Does this view that I have expounded on the degeneration of the church through the spread of false teaching in it during the end times as symbolized by the mustard seed and the birds seem unbiblical and not within the hiddenness of the parable? Does this view collide with your common sense or feelings? The type of sin is not actually mentioned outright in the parable, but this parable alludes to the spread of sin in the church according to the church's growth.
There are other parables in Matthew chapter 13, and their topics are similar to the parables of the leaven and the mustard seed. Concerning the parable of the sower, this parable indicates the fact that only one of four kinds of seed grow and bear fruit. In other words, this parable indicates that three of four seeds never bear fruit. The parable of "the tares and wheat" also indicates that not every plant growing in the field is wheat, or the true church; the tares stand for the apostate church. The same can be said of the story in the parable of the fish. This indicates there are both good and bad fish in the church. Both wheat and fish mean Christians. Therefore, these are parables concerning the church.
What God is telling us in this parable is this: The early church is pure and good. But, after time passes and the church grows, sin is increased in her. The tares increase, and the bad fish increase in the church. There will be a distinction made between wheat and tares, and the tares will be burnt up in the end time. But, until then, both wheat and tare, faith and unbelief, holy and unholy go together within the same church. And the Bible says the tares will be burnt in the end time. This may refer to the judgment of the church in the end time; for, as Peter wrote, judgment starts from the house of God.
Let's do the Lord's will in this end time.
end.
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