Similitudes of the Kingdom, Matthew 13: December 2020
Table of Contents
Theme text
The expression “kingdom of heaven” is derived from the Old Testament and appears in Matthew only, the gospel of the King. Our evangelist writes with a view to Israel and, therefore, lays hold of a phrase which is taken from the prophecy of Daniel, who speaks of the days coming when the heavens should rule. Before that (Dan. 2), we hear that the God of heaven is to set up a kingdom that should never be destroyed — the kingdom of heaven. There is a glorious Man to whom the rule of heaven will be entrusted. The Son of Man will not simply destroy what opposes God, but He will introduce a universal kingdom. The rejection of Jesus by the Jews led to the twofold form taken by the kingdom of heaven. While the old view of a kingdom established by power and glory, as a visible sovereignty over the earth, is postponed, the rejection of Jesus on earth and His ascension to God's right hand lead to the introduction of the kingdom of heaven in a mysterious form—which is, in point of fact, going on now. Thus it has two sides. When Christ went up to heaven and took His place as the rejected but glorified One there, the kingdom of heaven began. The Lord contrasted the kingdom of heaven, in a publicly manifest form, with that kingdom as opened to faith only — more blessed as known to faith than to sight. There has been no time in the ways of God so blessed for a soul as the ways of God now.
W. Kelly (adapted)
God's Declared Purpose and Present Moral Processes
Grace and faith are the characteristics of the present dispensation. But Matthew 13 gives the history. It began in sovereign grace, but because it was grace, man despised it, and it ends in judgment. Faith was the substitute for law, but man has become firmer in unbelief than before and increased his condemnation. True, Satan had first to bring his own material within the sphere of the kingdom, and unwatchful man soon gave the opportunity. Men slept and the devil sowed tares, which give character to the whole field, and the harvest appears outwardly as a harvest of tares. Thus, judgment is the public end of the field where the good seed was sown. Terrible is the perversion of the good given, when He, who gave in grace, is forced to judge the place that received it. The authority of the Word has been used to shelter the birds of the air, and the truth of the Word leavened with corruption.
The Best Becomes the Worst
Satan was foiled in his attempt to turn the King aside from His divine path, but he succeeded with the servants, and thus the highest and best gift of God has been the occasion for the development of the worst evil. Sadly, man under the responsibilities which flow from this dispensation of grace has done worse than during that of law. The wickedness of Israel caused the heathen to blaspheme the name of Jehovah, but now, within the sphere of Christian profession, a worse thing is found. The Jew always professed reverence for the law, though he practically disobeyed. What do we see now in so-called Christian lands? The Word of God is esteemed by some to be no more than a myth, classed with the legends of paganism. By others the Lord is spoken of as a good, though mistaken man, esteemed as a hero who really wished to raise man morally, but who allowed His disciples to believe and propagate a lie to accomplish the end He had in view. He is looked at as an enthusiast who suffered death rather than withdraw His pretensions. The literature of the present day teems with writings containing this horrible doctrine, a blasphemy as absurd as it is repulsive.
Despite to the Spirit of Grace
Nor is this confined to writers who are professed infidels, for the truth of the Word is undermined, if not openly denied, by those who take the place of being theological teachers. All such books, by traitorous teachers, are far more pernicious and dangerous than the vulgar infidelity of previous centuries. A distinguishing feature of the present day is that every shade of infidel thought has its representative and teacher. Atheism is made the groundwork of science and taught in its halls, and, being exalted to the rank of science, it is applied as a corrector of God’s Word. It does not stop at material things, but enters boldly into the moral domain and dares to judge what God must be and what He must not be; decides how much — rather how little — of the creation belongs to God and how much to “evolution.” This is not confined to the “scientific” few; it is popularized, and the masses, inclined by nature to say “no God,” readily receive the dictates of atheism and materialism. God bears with all this, for the present day is salvation, not judgment, and His long-suffering is the proof. Human wickedness has made the patience of God a means of deeper condemnation. If “he that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith He was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” (Heb. 10:28-29).
The kingdom of heaven is the rule of Christ from heaven over this world. But how does Christ reign when He is rejected? The principles of the kingdom were in grace made known to man, and after he had cast out the King, he used His name and the inherent subjugating authority belonging to it to establish a system for himself, where the name of the King is freely used, but His rights practically ignored. Instead of righteousness reigning, all the worst corruption of nature is dominant; the name of Christ may be on the lips, but the truth of Christ in its life-giving power is mostly unknown. Hence the present time discloses the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
Secrets of the Kingdom
A kingdom on earth as the scene of Christ’s power and glory was no secret; it was abundantly and clearly foretold by the prophets. Godly Jews were waiting for it, rejoicing in the hope of it. Further, it was predicted, though perhaps imperfectly apprehended, that the coming King should be despised and rejected, wounded in the house of His friends, valued at thirty pieces of silver — the price of a slave. But it was not revealed that the King should be nearly twenty centuries absent, and that during His absence men should arrogate to themselves His authority and establish human power by its use. Still less was it revealed by the prophets that the Jews’ rejection of their King should be, in the wisdom of God, the occasion for the calling out of a people for a heavenly portion, who, while here passing through a path of predestined suffering, would have “hope in Christ” for a heavenly portion (1 Cor. 15:19). It is these two things we see now — the absence of the Lord from the scene of His future glory, and the hidden working by which He secures to Himself a people who, in spite of suffering, are destined for a higher than earthly kingdom glory (2 Cor. 4:17). These are some of the secrets — the hitherto unrevealed things of the kingdom of heaven.
The Lord’s Control Over Evil
In Matthew 13, all except the first parable are the mysteries — secrets — of the kingdom. The tare-field gives the fact that, where good seed was sown, the devil sowed tares, that both grow to the end, and then comes judgment. The aspect or form of the evil and its moral character are given in the mustard tree and the leaven. The first similitude — the sower — is history given in symbol, but perfect and complete in its brevity as divine wisdom alone could give it. Satan no sooner saw a new sphere of blessing opened for lost man than he hastened to bring in ruin. Just as he did when creation blessing and happiness were put into man’s hand, so now he seeks to turn away redemption blessings from man. He did spoil creation (yet only for a time), but redemption blessing rests upon a foundation which not all his power can touch. The floods of evil may rage and swell far more under a dispensation of grace than when law threatened from Sinai; the cunning and power of Satan may have now a wider field for display, but all this only proves how firm and impregnable is the Rock against which the mightiest waves of Satanic and human evil dash in vain. It is thus that the Lord reigns now, controlling the evil of Satan and of man by a secret power, which faith alone can recognize. Other secrets are brought to light by the tree and the leaven which show the tare evil in its double form —worldly power and doctrinal corruption.
Prophecy had announced the days when the God of heaven should set up a kingdom which is to subdue all other kingdoms and fill the whole earth, but it was never foretold that men would set up a power for their own glory and say it was the kingdom that God had announced. It is also said that righteousness will characterize the kingdom, but it was a secret that previous to its establishment an unrighteous power would prevail, giving harborage to the emissaries of Satan as the branches of a great tree to the birds of the air; that such a scene of evil through perversion of the truth would be presented within the sphere called Christendom, and that creedism would permeate the mass as leaven in three measures of meal. External grandeur and internal corruption! Truly, mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.
Judgment
Judgment is the only fitting termination. The Lord of the field is compelled to send the executors of His wrath upon the guilty and corrupt world, and the angels, like reapers in the harvest field, bind the tares in bundles for the fire. The angels “shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:41-43).
R. Beacon (adapted)
The Parable of the Sower
The parables of the kingdom of heaven found in Matthew give us a view of the present time when our Lord Jesus Christ, the King, is in heaven and His kingdom is on earth. The “kingdom of heaven” is a territorial term; it refers to the sphere on earth where there is the outward acknowledgement of heaven’s authority during this present time. The kingdom of heaven is within the scope of the kingdom of God (see Luke 19:12). As the kingdom of heaven, it was announced as at hand by John the Baptist and revealed by the Lord Jesus, but as we know, the rightful King was rejected. Then it became a kingdom in mystery. In this form it begins at Christ’s ascension. When the Lord gathers the wheat into the barn, at His coming, its character is changed and it is called “the kingdom of their Father” — the heavenly side of the kingdom. The kingdom of God is a broader term; it also was announced by John the Baptist. It began while the Lord was on earth, and it will continue through the millennium into the eternal state. The imagery of the first two parables in Matthew 13 is taken from Leviticus 23 regarding the grain harvest of barley and wheat — the feast of firstfruits and feast of weeks (Pentecost). This imagery of sowing and harvesting grain portrays how the gospel is preached and souls enter into the kingdom; then at the end of the age the Lord will gather out of the field (the world) His heavenly harvest.
The Common Imagery
The Lord Jesus introduces the subject of the kingdom of heaven with the parable of the sower. The imagery from two of the feasts of Jehovah is used here because these two feasts prophetically describe the same time — the present day when the Lord is gathering a people for heaven. The waving of the sheaf of firstfruits was connected with the beginning of the grain harvest. It represents the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead as the beginning of a new harvest. The grain harvest continued the following seven weeks until Pentecost when there was a celebration before the Lord. The parable of the sower in Matthew 13 builds upon this imagery to describe how people enter the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom as such could not exist until the Lord had risen from the dead. After his resurrection, He ascended into heaven and the kingdom of heaven began. This was unknown in Old Testament times, though it is hidden in the Scriptures in the imagery of the feasts of Jehovah.
No Monthly Dates
The feast of firstfruits and Pentecost found in Leviticus 23 have no monthly dates for their observance. The reason for this is that these two feasts are prophetic of the present time when heavenly things are our hope rather than earthly times and seasons. This is distinct from the other feasts which are prophetic of earthly events. These two feasts present a prophecy of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and the harvest for heaven which follows. The reference point of these two feasts corresponded to when the barley was first ripe. The Israelites could not eat the new grain until the sheaf of firstfruits had been waved before the Lord by the priest. It was a prophetic picture of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead. The first two parables in Matthew 13 expand on this theme, beginning with the sowing of the seed, and continuing until the harvest. During the present time since Christ has ascended into heaven, the kingdom of heaven is forming here on earth. He is gathering people into His kingdom. All who profess to know Him enter the kingdom of heaven. At the end of this age the harvest will be completed. But as we see in the following parable of the wheat and tares, many enter by profession. They are likened to the tares; they are not real. These will need to be separated from the wheat. At the end of this age, they will not enter into heaven.
“Flesh and Blood Cannot Inherit the Kingdom of God”
One significant feature of the grain harvest is that when the fruit is mature, the plant dies; this is distinct from the harvest of the vine or olive tree where the plant lives on from year to year. When the Lord contemplated going back to heaven after finishing His ministry here on earth, He said to His disciples, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12:24). This meant that unless He died as the grain of wheat, He could not have a people with Himself in heaven. The result of His death and resurrection is that He can have a people with Himself in heaven. A new life is necessary. Though “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Cor. 15:50), by receiving the word of the gospel we may enter the kingdom. For this to be possible, the Lord as the grain of wheat fell into the ground and died. Now through the message of the gospel we have the opportunity to receive this new life. With it we can enter heaven, though as yet we lack the transformation of the body. The good seed is sown in the hearts of men and women throughout the world with a view of having the grain harvest for heaven.
The Parable of the Sower
When the Lord Jesus related the parable of the sower, it was different from the previous messages. Instead of seeking fruit from man in his natural state, He offered something new. This was necessary because of the failure of man under law. The Lord begins His kingdom by sowing good seed. The Word of God is the good seed; the preaching of the Word gives new life. But there are hindrances to the reproduction of this fruit. The parable of the sower lists four types of ground where the seed could fall. The seed which fell on good ground produced varying amounts of fruit. But the seed in the other three cases failed to produce good fruit. Some fell “by the way side,” some on the “stony places” and other “among thorns.” These three cases portray what happens, in the first case, when Satan, the enemy, takes away what is sown in the heart; in the second case, what happens when the flesh is hard and unrepentant; and, in the final case, where the world chokes out spiritual growth.
Life, Growth and Fruit
In Mark’s gospel, along with the parable of the sower, there is an added section telling us how the good seed grows and produces fruit, though not perceived by observers. “So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; and should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come” (Mark 4:26-29). In the growth and development of the wheat plant, there are three stages: “the blade,” “the ear” and “the full corn [grain] in the ear.” All three are needed for the plant to reproduce fruit. The three stages correspond to life, growth and fruit. All three are necessary in order to bear fruit, and, thus, the need to be watchful against the three corresponding hindrances to the good seed producing fruit. These three hindrances are the wicked one, the flesh and the world. The wicked one takes away the life-giving seed, then there is no life. The second attack is from the hard-hearted flesh which hinders growth, and without growth such cannot endure. Third, the world chokes out fruit, the things of the present life choke the Word and no fruit is produced. The Lord desires much fruit even as every good farmer will work hard to produce a bountiful crop.
D. C. Buchanan
The Parable of the Sower
It is most important for us to remember, that all that which is the power of death in the unbeliever is the hindrance to fruit-bearing power in the believer’s life. This is brought out into full light, with its specific remedy, in this parable. There is the case of the fowls of the air, the stony ground, the sowing among thorns, and in the good ground, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold. The first of these is the power of Satan — the power of death. When the Word (the power of life) is sown in the unbroken heart, the devil takes it away as soon as it is sown. The devil brought in death by a lie, and holds men in it; on the other hand, by the truth of God are we made alive.
But there is One (Himself the Word) who is specifically the quickening power, even the Son of God. “The last Adam [is] a quickening Spirit” (1 Cor. 15:45 JND). The Son of man sows the seed, but it is the Son of God which quickens. “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). He declares Himself, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25), and in this power He raises Lazarus from the dead. We have then the Son of God, by the Word, destroying the works of the devil in the power of death. This is the first case of the parable.
The Stoney Ground
But there is another case which is equally destructive — the receiving the Word into shallow ground. It was received superficially; it speedily sprang up “because they had no deepness of earth” (Matt. 13:5). It had no searching process of power in which it entered into the conscience and quickened the inner man. It rested in the natural affections and understanding, which are simply the flesh; it is received merely by the natural feelings, and therefore immediately acts with joy. Since it does not reach the conscience, the same natural feelings were as speedily acted on by trouble and persecution, and “by and by he is offended” (Matt. 13:21). This is all merely the flesh, and comes to nothing. To this we know how uniformly the Spirit is opposed — “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other” (Gal. 5:17). We need not multiply passages of Scripture to show the opposition of these two, but we have here in the Spirit the antagonistic power which overcomes the flesh, and assuming a man to have life, still does so. This case, however, is still the natural man, though affections or intellect may have been charmed with the marvelous plan of redemption.
The Thorny Ground
But the same point holds good in a believer. When they do not walk in the Spirit, they are profitless and low in their state. It is in mortifying the flesh by the Spirit that the fruits of the Spirit find comparatively free growth. This, then, is the contrast here — the flesh and the Spirit. The fairest form of the flesh, the apparently joyful reception of the Word, comes to nothing.
The third case is equally clear. The hindering power is declared directly: “the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word” (Matt. 13:22). The world, and the love of it, are continually opposed to the Father. “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). The hatred of the world to the Son showed that it was not of the Father. The children, as connected with the Father, were not of this world, even as Christ the Son was not of the world.
Every one acquainted with the Gospel of John has noticed the opposition between the world and the Sonship of Christ. Our Lord thus concludes the whole presenting of His work and His people to the Father: “O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me” (John 17:25). We well understand the opposition between the two. But in the believer, who recognizes at once the evil of the flesh, how often do we find the world holding a prevailing power and recognized title over the judgment or habit, and the fruitfulness, comparatively speaking, utterly marred!
Let us then recognize from Scripture, that the world is a positive hindrance to fruitfulness — the “much fruit” in which the Father is glorified. For this plain reason, our sonship, our inheritance, the kingdom, are often not recognized. The devil, who acts on us by the flesh, is the god and prince of this world; in contrast, the Spirit in them that are quickened, where not dimmed by the spirit of this world, bears witness that we are sons and heirs. Thus, at liberty, we cry by it, Abba, Father, and the fruits are a hundredfold. The energy of the kingdom is there, and hence, in deadness to the world, we have power over it.
The Devil, the World and the Flesh
Regarding the explanation of the parable, I would say a very few words more. The inseparableness of the evils is not in question; the devil, the world and the flesh are very intimately associated. Of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit I need not speak, but we must not forget their unity in every act, whether of creation or anything else. They invariably act in one, and as invariably in the same order; that is, by the Son, through the energy of the Spirit.
Another remark is necessary. Although we have looked at the love of the world as hindering the full fruitfulness of the children of God, we must remember that this knowledge in principle is the position of every believer. “I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father” (1 John 2:13). Otherwise we could not put all believers under this responsibility. But it will be found that the measure of the fruitfulness of the life depends much on their exercise in the truths we have noticed here. The apprehension of the Father in the full development of the Sonship glory attaches quite a new character to the whole course of the Christian’s life. This is our proper calling, and a defective apprehension of the principle of heavenly glory will somewhere or other break down the efficiency of Christian service. At the same time, we do appreciate the Son, as administering the power of the kingdom against “the wicked one”; the Spirit, as overcoming the deceitful power of the flesh, and the Father in contrast with the love of the world. The fullness of all was in our Lord. The fullness of all help is to be found in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and it is our practical responsibility to avail ourselves of this help. At the same time; the enjoyment of fellowship with them is our blessed privilege.
Neglect of Power
Ill-proportioned Christianity continually springs from the power of Satan, through neglect of the special power of one or another of the divine Persons, while indulgence of any of the evils is apt to throw us into the hands of Satan. Here is the wisdom of ministering to sick souls, for the source of the evil may be one; its manifestation may be another. A believer will be healthful and strong against the enemy, to the degree that he has just reverence to all.
The believer will make spiritual progress from knowing the Father and the Son through the Spirit, and the manifestation of the power and glory of their work will gradually unfold itself. The quickening by the Son will make the believer discern well the operations of the Spirit against the flesh, and both of these find their full development in the manifestation of the Father’s glory, in the consciousness that His kingdom is not of this world.
The Spirit of Obedience
I feel too, in speaking this way, that I am treading on holy ground, but ground which our God in His mercy has opened to us, and on which we are set to walk. Let us also remember that the indulgence in one of these seemingly remote evils brings in the power of the others, for God is not there. Thus, Solomon’s indulging of the world brought in the indulgence of the flesh, and the consequence was the direct power of Satan in the idolatrous worship of his wives. Only one more thing it is important to remark. It is not either by speculation or knowledge these things are obtained, though they are ministered. Rather, we are sanctified “unto obedience” (1 Pet. 1:2). The Spirit of obedience is the great secret of all the present and practical blessings of the believer, for the Spirit is not grieved, and so becomes the minister of the grace and knowledge both of the Father and of the Son. The poorest, simplest believer, walking thus, enjoys the blessings of the pledged faithfulness both of the Father, and the Lord, and the Spirit, to the blessed purposes of love in which we stand, and of divine glory.
J. N. Darby (adapted)
The Similitude of the Wheat and Tares
Matthew 13:24-43
The parable of the wheat and tares is the first “similitude” of the kingdom of heaven. This “similitude” is a parable which tells what the kingdom of heaven is like. God uses, as in the parable of the sower, the imagery of sowing and harvesting grain to teach us about His kingdom. In this parable, good seed was sown in the field, but the enemy subtly sowed bad seed in the field. “The enemy that sowed them is the devil.” These are called tares; they represent those who are not true believers, for they do not produce good fruit. When tares first appear, they look the same as wheat, but later in the growth cycle it is easier to detect the difference. After the tares appeared, the servants suggested that it would be good to remove them. However, we may well consider that if one had failed to be vigilant to prevent the enemy from sowing the tares, would he be better at removing them from the wheat? No, there was the danger of damaging the wheat while uprooting the tares. The Lord knew this, and history confirms that men are not good at distinguishing the real from the false. The servants were told to let both grow together until the harvest. The Lord had a good purpose in allowing the tares to grow with the wheat. It is indicated in the parable of the treasure hid in the field. God has a treasure hidden in this world — the children of the kingdom. Since Christ was rejected and cast out of the world, He could not have His kingdom on earth. So, God chose to take for Himself a people from earth to heaven. His treasure is the children of the kingdom; they are hidden in the world, though in plain sight. The tares disguise the wheat. When the kingdom is complete at the end of the age, He will take His treasure to heaven. The children of the kingdom have a heavenly portion of reigning with Christ over the earth. The people of this world do not realize what is happening.
The Separation Process
In this parable we have portrayed an interesting series of closing events. At the time of harvest, the first event to take place is the reapers gathering the tares in bundles in the field. “The field is the world.” The bundles of tares are left in the field for burning at a later date. The Lord uses angels to do this work. “The reapers are the angels.” Then the wheat is gathered into the barn. “The good seed are the children of the kingdom.” After the wheat is gathered into the barn, the tares are burned. “The tares are the children of the wicked one.” And lastly, “then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The Father’s house is the destiny of those who are part of the heavenly kingdom.
The Binding of Bundles
“The reapers are the angels.” It appears to me that we are close enough to the Lord’s coming to see that the reapers are beginning to gather the tares into bundles within the sphere of Christian profession. In recent years, under the banner of Christianity, many new so-called Christian organizations are attracting people into false cults, organizations of worldly worship, lying miracles, and other ideologies which have “a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Tim. 3:5). By human contrivance, these groups attract people into following their cause, rather than Christ’s cause. It may be possible for real believers to be connected with these cults, but if they are, they will be removed from them when the Lord comes. Let all real believers beware of joining such groups. These groups are the bundles which will be left in the world after the Lord takes His own home.
The Wheat
In the Scriptures wheat is always connected with heavenly things. The Lord spoke of Himself as the corn [grain] of wheat which must fall into the ground and die in order to have a people in heaven with Himself. The wheat harvest of this parable develops this theme. The wheat is gathered into the barn. At the rapture, the Lord will take His people to heaven, even as He prayed for all those who would believe on Him through the word of the disciples in John 17:20. Then in verse 24, He added this request: “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory, which thou hast given Me.” And in John 14:2-3 He said, “In My Father’s house are many mansions. ... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Further details of the Lord’s coming are revealed to us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and 1 Corinthians 15.
The Burning of the Tares
After the wheat is gathered into the barn, which is the heavenly part of the kingdom, the Lord as Son of Man will send His angels to burn the tares. They are the false professors of Christianity who will still be on earth after the Lord comes. They, being still on earth, will be “gathered out of His kingdom” as offensive; any claim they have to be a part of His earthly kingdom will not stand. This is why it is so important to distinguish the heavenly calling of the church. Those who seek for a kingdom on earth with the Lord are liable to fall into the snare of the bundles of tares. Since the privilege of entering into heavenly things is so great, the judgment for the abuse of it is also severe. “There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Feast of Weeks
Returning for a moment to the feast of weeks (Pentecost) when all Israel went up to Jerusalem for the celebration of the grain harvest, we see a common imagery with the grain harvest of the parable of the wheat and tares. During the seven-week period the grain was gathered in. Then at the feast of weeks (Pentecost) all went up to Jerusalem before the Lord for a celebration. The celebration was to wave two loaves baked with leaven before the Lord Jehovah. These two loaves represent the heavenly saints presented before God. The loaves, along with the accompanying offerings for sin and sweet savor sacrifices, are presented before God. Though they have leaven in them, the accompanying sacrifices make them acceptable to Him. This is also a picture of what will happen at the rapture when the dead in Christ and living believers are presented to the Lord, as 1 Corinthians 15:23 states: “Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at His coming.” At that time they will be taken up into heaven, to be perfectly like Christ. The rapture of the living and dead was not revealed until Christ had ascended as Man into heaven, but here we see them being presented to the Lord. A comment comes to mind regarding what we have presented in this picture. It goes like this: “God found such delight in His Son Jesus Christ that He wanted many more just like Him.” The two loaves of Pentecost waved before the Lord are the result of the corn of wheat falling into the ground. Christ has His people in heaven with Himself. What a day that will be!
The Righteous Shine
The explanation of the parable of wheat and tares ends with the expression, “Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt. 13:43). The saints in heaven will rejoice in relationship with their Father. These are the ones who entered into the kingdom of heaven while on earth, but now they are in heaven, so the terminology is changed. It is no longer called the “kingdom of heaven”; it is called “the kingdom of their Father.” They are with Christ in the Father’s house shining as the sun — witnesses of His glory. May the Lord encourage us to continue on faithful to Him until that moment when we are with Him at His coming!
D. C. Buchanan
A Seeming Contradiction
In the parable of the tares, Christ came into the world and sowed wheat; the devil sowed tares. This is not simply unconverted men, but the operation of Satan to injure and mar the work of God. There were unconverted men before Christ came, and Satan presented adequate temptation to man’s pride, covetousness, and self-esteem to guide them to his principles; this is the wise man of the world. But there is another thing now. Satan comes to introduce mischief where God had introduced good.
J. N. Darby
Leaven
In the third similitude of the kingdom of heaven, we have another negative aspect of man’s responsibility brought before us, but this time the perpetrator is pictured as a woman.
“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” (Matt. 13:33).
Leaven in Scripture speaks of evil, and especially the subtle working of sin; this is consistent throughout the Word of God. In the feasts of Jehovah in Israel, the feast of unleavened bread immediately followed the Passover. During the entire week of the feast, not only were they not to eat unleavened bread, but leaven was not even to be found in their houses (Ex. 12:15,19). Likewise, no leaven was to be offered with any sacrifice (Ex. 34:35). In the New Testament, Paul uses the same metaphor to describe the working of moral evil (1 Cor. 5:6) and doctrinal evil (Gal. 5:9). Many other scriptures could be mentioned to show clearly that leaven is unfailingly a picture of evil in the Word of God.
Insidious Evil
Here then we have a woman introducing that which is evil into “three measures of meal.” The woman in Scripture pictures something either very blessed or very evil, depending on the context. The fact that a woman does it speaks of that which is done in secret — that which works insidiously. What man does is in public; what the woman does is in secret. Satan sometimes does his evil work publicly, but other things he does privately, so that men are not aware of it. The spread of evil doctrine and practice in the profession of Christianity has taken place in that character — slowly, over a period of time, so that its effects were not immediately noticed. Doubtless there were faithful ones who saw the evil and spoke up against it, but in the main, bad teaching was introduced slowly until the leaven had spread to a large extent. Then it was tolerated and eventually accepted.
Corrupt Christianity
When we read the phrase, “until the whole was leavened,” this does not mean that everything in Christendom has been completely spoiled. If this were true, there would be nothing left but mere profession, characterized by bad doctrine and practice. Rather, it means that wherever there is a profession of Christianity, evil doctrine and practice can be found, for Satan has been clever enough to spread it throughout the kingdom of heaven. To the casual observer, Christendom appears totally leavened. Sadly, this condition of things has turned many away from Christianity. Mohandas Gandhi, the father of modern India, is alleged to have said, “If Christians would really live according to the teachings of Christ, as found in the Bible, all of India would be Christian today.” In his History of Civilization in Europe, Guizot remarks, “No society ever made such efforts as did the Christian church, from the fifth to the tenth century, to extend its sphere and smooth the external world to its own likeness.” This was the leavening process going on under the hand of the “woman,” for it was the spread of corrupt Christianity. When the main thrust is the desire of extending influence, doctrine itself does not remain sound. Thus, throughout Christendom, systematic Judaizing became the rule, often accommodating heathen rites and practices, and all in order to please the multitude and facilitate their so-called conversion. While this is surely no excuse for those who reject Christ, yet we who are Christians should be ashamed of this bad testimony.
We can be thankful for those who, in walking with the Lord, have clearly recognized this condition of things and have separated from it. But the fact remains that, in the sense which we have described, the whole has been leavened. In a coming day, after the Lord has come and taken every true believer home to be with Himself, there will be nothing left but empty profession. At that time, in an absolute sense, the whole will be leavened, for there will be no reality left.
The Three Measures of Meal
But the most serious aspect of all this is the fact that the leaven was introduced into “three measures of meal.” Meal in Scripture speaks of Christ, and especially of His perfect manhood, while still retaining all of that which pertained to His deity. “In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9). This is brought out in type in the meat (or meal) offering, where Christ in manhood is typified by the fine flour that was to be offered as a “sweet savor unto the Lord.” The same type is used in the time of Elisha, when he and the sons of the prophets were making pottage. When one gathered wild gourds, which were poisonous, and shred them into the pot, Elisha’s remedy was, “Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot ... and there was no harm in the pot” (2 Kings 4:41). So the antidote to the bad doctrine (pictured in the wild gourd) was to bring in Christ (pictured by the meal).
There can be different interpretations of the number three, for sometimes it speaks of abundant testimony. (Two is adequate testimony, while three is complete or abundant testimony.) Some have thought that here, in our parable, it could speak of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I would also suggest that three speaks of death and resurrection, for our Lord was in the tomb three days, and then He rose the third day.
Bad Teaching
When bad teaching is circulated amid the profession of Christianity, it is generally camouflaged under discussions of peripheral issues that are less objectionable. But Satan is not content with these lesser issues; what He wants is a direct shaft at either the Person of Christ or the work of Christ, and often both. I would suggest that this is what is pictured by the leaven being introduced into “three measures of meal.” Many false systems, at least initially, occupy souls with the importance of the keeping of certain days, or, otherwise, discussions about subjects such as details of prophecy, questions about keeping the law of Moses, or rules about dietary matters, but all the while they are undergirded by serious false teachings about the Person and work of Christ. These latter teachings are not seen at first, so that souls are taken off guard. Truly the leaven has been hidden in the three measures of meal and allowed to work unseen. By the time souls become aware of the bad teachings, they are already ensnared.
The leaven began to work early in the church, for even in Paul’s day, in Corinth, there were those who denied the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:12-19). Later, when things had progressed further, John had to warn believers that “many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). In his second epistle, he had to warn the elect lady and her children that “whosoever ... abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God.” He told them, “Receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed” (2 John 5,9-10). The Arian heresy, which came later, was a natural outgrowth of the Gnosticism which was already extant in John’s day. It actually began in the third century A.D., but was championed by Arius in the fourth century, and essentially denied the deity of Christ. As we well know, many other heresies have followed down through the years, as the leaven spread.
All of this has been written for our instruction and warning, in order that we may discern the condition of the kingdom of heaven today. The multitude, in whose presence these first three similitudes were spoken, did not understand, but the Lord expects His own to be spiritually intelligent and to recognize what has become of the Christian profession under man’s responsibility. This spiritual intelligence causes us to be sober and watchful, on the one hand, but also at peace, as we see that God is over all, has told us all beforehand, and also shown us the end of it all.
W. J. Prost
The Mustard Tree
“The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Matt. 13:33). It is the process of leavening which is prominent here, resulting in a leavened mass. The Lord had previously given the reason of His teaching in this way. “Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matt. 13:13). The truth concealed under the parable will be elicited only by the spiritual, and conclusions of the most opposite moral bearing will be drawn from the same parable by the acuteness of intellect and by the spiritual mind. The same parable is like the pillar of the cloud in the night time: darkness to the Egyptians and light to Israel. It blinds the acutest intellect, but it gives deep instruction to the humble, who depend upon the teaching of the Holy Spirit.
Before our eyes Christendom stands out as a leavened mass. The leavening process has gone on and is still proceeding; a result has been produced, and that result is by common consent called Christianity. There are two principal modes of corruption traceable both in the history of Israel and that of the church. Both involved the same principle — the loss of their separation, which was, in fact, their glory and their strength. Israel wanted to be as the nations, when “to dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations” was their real glory. Israel leaned on an arm of flesh, on Egypt or Assyria, their house of bondage or prison-house, when the arm of the Lord was their strength and salvation. Thus also Israel changed their glory for that which did not profit, adopting the idolatry of the nations into the worship of the true God. “Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord. For My people have committed two evils; they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jer. 2:12-13). It may be difficult practically to separate the two evils one from the other, either in the case of Israel or with respect to the church. There is an intended distinction in the figure of the woman putting leaven in the mass and the harlot with the “golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication” (Rev. 17:4). It is the difference between what the woman does with that which is committed to her charge and what the woman receives for the favors she bestows, “for they give gifts to all whores” (Ezek. 16:33). Both the household woman and the harlot help on to the rearing of Babylon, but in different ways; the quiet plausible way of the housekeeper is less suspected, but not less dangerous, than the barefaced evil of the harlot. In plain words, the gradual way in which the church has insinuated itself into the world is by no means so transparent an evil as the open manner in which the church has received the world into itself.
J. L. Harris
Leaven in the Meal
“The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Matt. 13:33). Here we find that there would be the spread of doctrine within, assimilating to itself whatever came in its way. “Leaven” is used in the Gospel of Matthew, as well as occasionally elsewhere, for doctrine. The three measures of meal are not legitimately assumed to mean the whole world; they are, I suppose, a certain defined space devoted to the action of the leavening doctrine, throughout which the doctrine spreads effectively. Whenever “leaven” occurs symbolically in the Word of God, it is never employed save to characterize corruption which tends to work actively and spread.
I believe that the leaven here sets forth the propagandism of dogmas and decrees, after that Christendom became a great power in the earth (answering to the tree, which was the case, historically, in the time of Constantine the Great). We know that the result of this was an awful departure from the truth. When Christianity grew into respectability in the world, instead of being persecuted and a reproach, crowds of men were brought in. A whole army was baptized at the word of command. Now the sword was used to defend or enforce Christianity; no doubt it was thought that earthly reward and imperial favor might quicken the downfall of heathenism. All this prepared the way for the spreading of the leaven, but not for the sound truth of God, nor for His grace.
W. Kelly (adapted)
Leaven
In another article in this issue, we have seen how Satan sought to spoil the work of the Spirit of God by sowing tares among the wheat. Now we come to another of his devices, in the parable of the mustard tree.
“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. 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” (Matt. 13:31-32).
When Christianity began, it was indeed like “a grain of mustard seed.” The Lord Jesus had been rejected as the rightful King, and His own nation had demanded that He be crucified. Accordingly, the kingdom of heaven took on the character of a kingdom in mystery, with only a small number who recognized the rightful King and were ready to own His claims while He was absent. Indeed, ever since sin entered this world, those who valued God’s claims and walked with Him have always been in the minority. Whether before the flood of Noah, in the time of Abraham, or even in Israel, God’s chosen people, there were only a small number who really followed the Lord. The world system that began with Cain has dominated the earth, for “the carnal mind is enmity against God” (Rom. 8:7).
When our Lord Jesus was rejected, man’s trial was over, and God pronounced judgment on man. But then, through the work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, God provided a way of escape from coming judgment. More than this, He began to form His church from every race, ethnic group and nation, calling them to be separate from this world. They were to give up earthly position and prestige to be a heavenly company and to wait for their Lord to come and take them to be with Him in heaven. They were sent back into the world as witnesses to God’s grace, and thus they were to be IN the world but not OF the world. As such, those in the kingdom of heaven were to be like “the grain of mustard seed” — of no account in this world. Their power would be of a moral and spiritual nature, as when the Jews in Thessalonica complained about Paul and Silas to the authorities, “These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also” (Acts 17:6). But they did not seek the world’s fellowship or approval, for to preach a rejected Christ was not popular.
Yet our parable says that while the mustard seed is “the least of all seeds,” when it is grown, “it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree.” Bible scholars have constantly looked for a naturally occurring plant that agrees with this description, and they have generally failed to find anything suitable. There are various kinds of mustard plants, and some, under the right circumstances, may even grow to resemble a small tree, but one that is both an herb and yet grows into a tree is difficult to find. I would suggest that this seeming difficulty is deliberate on the part of the Spirit of God, for He never intended the small herb of Christianity to grow into a tree. Just as it is unnatural for the mustard plant to grow from an herb into a tree, so it is not normal for Christianity to become great in this world. Yet it has happened. Satan has done a good job of bringing Christianity down to the level of a worldly religion, for he knows that it will then lose its power.
What began in the upper room on the day of Pentecost, with only 120 believers, has since mushroomed into the “great house” of Christendom we know today, with its impressive hierarchies, beautiful buildings, material wealth, and, sad to say, its mixture of believers and unbelievers. False doctrines and bad practices have also permeated the profession of Christianity, and thus we find that the “birds of the air come and lodge in the branches” of this mustard tree.
In a general way, a tree in Scripture is that which affords protection and shelter, sometimes in a good way and sometimes in a bad way. In Ezekiel 17:22-24, we have the Lord in a coming day exalting the “low tree” of the house of David, while bringing down the “high tree” (probably the Gentile nations). In this tree “shall dwell all fowl of every wing” — a picture of millennial blessing. However, in this same book, in Ezekiel 31:3-14, we find the Assyrian likened to a great tree, where “all the fowls of heaven made their nests” (vs. 6). Later in the chapter Pharaoh and his hosts are described in the same way. Here the fowls are typical of proud and arrogant leaders, for whom the tree afforded at least temporary protection. This same metaphor is used in describing the final apostate condition of the professing church in Revelation 18:2: “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 our parable, the fowls again have a bad connotation — a picture of haughty and self-important leaders, who are frequently Christians only by profession, yet who find protection in the large systems that have developed under the banner of Christendom. Several years ago I read of a man who was a self-confessed atheist, yet he was ordained to preach in a large Christian denomination because he was a graduate of one of their seminaries. Such are the fowls who lodge in the great mustard tree.
All this began when the church began to abdicate its heavenly calling and to ally itself with the world. It all sounded good, but when the church seeks to work with the world, it must work on the world’s principles, for the world can never rise to embrace Christian principles. The church must come down to the world’s level, and then she loses her testimony. Another has aptly remarked that when the church loses the sense of her heavenly calling, humanly speaking, she loses everything. This is true, for it is not the calling of the church to set the world right. Rather, she is to be calling men to separate from a doomed world for heavenly blessings. Moreover, the world will not be set right by the gospel; rather, “when Thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:9). The church’s character now is properly that of an ambassador, not an activist. Yet how many believers have embraced this latter character and are using their energy and resources in a wrong direction!
As we have already mentioned in connection with the tree in Ezekiel 17, there will come a day when the Lord Jesus will come in power and glory to execute judgment. In that day, His church will come with Him, not as that which is despised by the world, but displayed in glory with her Bridegroom. In that day, “He [the Lord Jesus] shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe” (2 Thess. 1:10). But for now, we should be content to be like the “grain of mustard seed” — “the least of all seeds,” as far as this world is concerned. True Christianity will not be popular in the world, nor will it seek worldly greatness and influence. It will be characterized by spiritual power — a power that God continues to use for blessing in this world of lost sinners. Such power is far more effective than material power, for it is the way that God is working today. When we are living and working in the current of God’s thoughts, all His power is behind us.
W. J. Prost
The Mind of Christ About the Seed Sowing
In the first of the parables in Matthew 13, we find the Lord going forth sowing the seed. The six following parables have a very distinct character. The first three unfold what goes on in the world, consequent upon the sowing of the seed; and the last three, the mind of Christ internally as regards the effect.
J. N. Darby
Satan Sows Mischief
The Sower is given in three Gospels; four casts of the seed, of which three are the same in result, as recorded by each Evangelist. But there is a marked difference in the result of the fourth, and each is in harmony with the Spirit’s teaching in each Gospel. In Matthew the return from the good ground is “some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” In Mark, the order is reversed; “some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.” Is this difference of order a mere accident? No, it is designed, and there is a divine purpose in it. In both Gospels there is the diversity of fruit-bearing, which, doubtless, is to be seen among Christians at all times. But the order of the words in Matthew points to the declension of the corporate body of profession, even in the fruit-bearing of the good seed. Not through defect in the good seed, which is the Word, but through some bad quality in the good ground. In Mark the emphasis is on the servant character of our Lord, and on the individual responsibility of the disciples. In every dispensation, as the corporate body of profession declines, individual faithfulness shines brighter than ever. It was so in Israel, and it is so in the profession of Christianity.
R. Beacon
The Good Ground
“Let both grow together until the harvest” (Matt. 13:30).
“Come out from among them, and be ye separate” (2 Cor. 6:17).
That there are no real contradictions in the Word of God we are well assured, though there are passages that present a contradictory appearance to the superficial reader. On closer inspection however, the contradiction disappears and some rich spiritual instruction comes to light. A case in point is furnished by the two scriptures noted above.
In Matthew 13, all attempt on the part of the servants of the parable to separate between the wheat and the tares, by rooting up the latter, is forbidden — the wheat representing “the children of the kingdom,” and the tares, “the children of the wicked one.” In 2 Corinthians 6, a separation between the believer and the unbeliever is strictly enjoined. There certainly seems to be a contradiction here.
It cannot be urged that different eras are contemplated in the two passages, and that the solution of the problem lies in that. The parable of the tares in the field is one that shows how the kingdom of the heavens in its present form has taken on its very mixed character, which is to be ended by the coming of the Lord. This shows that the mixture must persist throughout the present period. Paul’s instructions as to separation are valid for just the same period. Both passages apply to the present epoch in which we live.
The Kingdom and the Church
We do notice however that it is the kingdom of heaven which is likened to this inextricable mixture of wheat and tares in the field, while the instruction to come out and be separate from the unbelievers is addressed to “the church of God which is at Corinth.” There is a difference here.
The kingdom of heaven is of course not heaven but rather that sphere on earth where the rule of heaven is acknowledged. All those who profess and call themselves Christians profess to be under the authority of the Lord who has taken His seat in the heavens. In this parable “the field” is explained by the Lord as being “the world,” and it is by the sowing of the good seed in the world that the children of the kingdom have been brought forth. By the enemy’s sowing of tares in this same field the children of the wicked one have been produced. All are in the same world and thoroughly mixed together, especially in those parts which we may speak of as Christendom.
The Removal of the Tares
Now this parable makes it very clear that it is not the business of the Lord’s servants today to attempt to disentangle the children of the wicked one and clear them out of the world. They will be disentangled from the children of the kingdom and cleared right out when the Son of Man comes and inaugurates the era of the kingdom displayed in power, and the work will be done by angels and not by men. To clear the evil out of Christendom is no business of ours.
Many Christians cling to the idea that to the church has been committed the mission of converting the world; that the Christian gospel, supplemented by Christian education and influence, is going to reduce the tares and ultimately eliminate them, and that so the millennium will be introduced. There is no support for this idea in the parable, but the very reverse. The suggestion made by the servants of the householder was that they should root the tares out of the field, but he expressly forbad this. He saw that they lacked the necessary discrimination and skill, and that their efforts would result as much in rooting up wheat as in rooting up tares.
The Inquisition
There was a prophetic warning in this. We have only to read a little history to learn what efforts have been put forth; principally by the great Papal system, but by others too, to root the tares out of the field — in other words, to eliminate “heretics” from Christendom. In no country was the Papacy more successful in this work than in Spain. They piled the faggots around the “heretics” and burned them by the score, calling the solemn occasion “auto-de-fe,” which means “an act of faith.” The irony of it all was that they were actually destroying those who really had faith. The Inquisition ended with the triumphant feeling that they had rooted all the “tares” out of the land, when in reality they had rooted up every visible blade of “wheat.”
So, a brief summary of the parable of the tares of the field would be this: while the kingdom of heaven persists in its present form, the human servants are forbidden to attempt to rectify matters by rooting out of the world the children of the wicked one.
Fellowship with Unbelievers
But in 2 Corinthians 6 the church is in view and not the kingdom. Those who are members of Christ, and of His body, are not told to root the ungodly out of the earth. However, they are told to be separate as regards all “fellowship” with the ungodly. Although we are not called upon to put things right in the great “field” of the “world,” we are called upon to let a strong line of demarcation exist, and be very visible, between ourselves and the world. The truth here is not contradictory of Matthew 13, but complementary to it.
We are not to be “unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” The word “unequally” might more accurately be translated “diversely.” It is an allusion to Deuteronomy 22:10, where it is forbidden to plough with such animals as an ox and an ass together. They are diverse in nature and hence thoroughly different in habits and gait. It would be an utter misfit and entail misery for both animals. Now there is a fundamental diversity of nature between the believer and the unbeliever, which forbids anything like a yoke between them. Of course, we move among unbelievers and have much contact with them in our daily callings, and oftentimes even in the home. We are called upon to behave with the utmost grace and to let our light shine before them. But we are not to be yoked with them.
Unequal Yokes
The question may be asked — What exactly constitutes a yoke? The verses in 2 Corinthians 6:14-16, containing a series of questions, help to answer this “What fellowship ... what communion ... what concord ... what part ... what agreement?” These five words show what kind of thing is forbidden. Moreover, they are followed by the positive instruction to “come out ... be separate ... touch not the unclean” — three other words which reinforce the five questions. We are not to involve ourselves in any fellowships or partnerships which would yoke us to unbelievers and commit us to the unclean things with which their world is filled. Without any question marriage is a yoke of that kind, and business partnership is another; other things too come under the scope of this word. Again and again we have to ask ourselves when commitments are proposed to us, Will this thing involve me in an unequal yoke?
Many a godly Christian has had to suffer as to his worldly prospects because he obeyed this scripture. He could perhaps have made a lot more money if he had consented to partner some ungodly man and share in his enterprises. This is just what the closing words of the chapter contemplate. We may be losers as to the things of the world, but we shall not ultimately lose, for the Lord God Almighty will take us up and father us in a very real way. We may always rely on Him.
In connection with this such scriptures as 1 Corinthians 5:13 and 2 Timothy 2:19-21 have their place. Both show that flagrant evil — whether moral or doctrinal — is not to be accepted in the church of God. Not only is there to be a clear-cut line of separation between the saints and the world, but evil of the types mentioned in these two passages is to have no place in their midst. And this is the more urgent and important because we are found in the midst of such a mixed state of affairs in the world. Just because we cannot root the tares out of the world field, it is so important to maintain the line of separation, which is warranted and enjoined by the Scripture.
Rightly understood then, the two passages, cited at the outset, support and reinforce each other.
F. B. Hole (adapted)
The Leavened Lump
The moment we dally with, and then palliate, evil, the senses become blunted as to what is due to the Lord, so that we have the melancholy spectacle of so-called Christians today reaffirming bad doctrines which their fathers refused and for which they went to the stake. Let us consider this and be wise. “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:6). Christendom bids fair to become, in a shorter time than we think, that “leavened lump” of which the Lord foretold, when He spoke of the mysterious woman who introduced the leaven into the three measures of meal till the whole was leavened (Matt. 13:33). This will occur, doubtless, in the full sense of the passage, when the church has been taken away by the Lord at His coming for His own (John 14:3; 1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thess. 4:16-17). But the spirit of iniquity is already at work, and it is only the presence of the Holy Spirit in the church which hinders the full manifestation of the mystery of iniquity. Then the false church will come out in her true colors, and as Babylon the Great, will receive her doom from the Lord God who will judge her (Rev. 17).
W. Lavington
The Seed Sower
He who works in the field of the world
Must work with a faith sublime,
For the seed which he sows must lie in the ground
And wait God’s own good time;
But nevertheless the harvest is sure,
Though the sower the sheaves may not see;
For never a word was spoken for Him,
But shall ring for eternity.
Unknown