“Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” (Matt 13:33)

PROFESSING CHURCH ASSUMES BABYLONISH CHARACTER (Excerpt taken from The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom, October 1921)

“Into these “three measures of meal” the woman of the parable is seen putting leaven, or evil, corrupting teaching. The woman undoubtedly represents the false Church, which is frequently in the Scriptures symbolized by a woman; a pure, chaste woman representing the true Church, and a corrupt, harlot woman, the false Church. — Rev. 12:1; 17:1-6.

In the parable of the mustard seed becoming a great tree, etc., we have represented the Babylonian character which the professing Church assumes in the days of the Christian (?) emperors, patterning at this time, in its earthly administration, after the kingdoms of the world.

It is very significant in this connection that the figure of a tree is used to describe the great world empire, over which Nebuchadnezzar is depicted as ruling. (Dan. 4.)

“These were the visions of my head while on my bed: I was looking, and behold, A tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew and became strong; Its height reached to the heavens, and it could be seen to the ends of all the earth. Its leaves were lovely, its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all. The beasts of the field found shade under it, the birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.” (Dan 4:10-12)

We thus have most clearly depicted the reigning world-church, like the world-empire, making its own laws and promulgating its own doctrines. It is in this way that the leaven necessarily comes into the meal. How remarkable, and true to history is the picture here presented. The woman, the false Church, has in her hands the doctrine of Christ, the unadulterated meal, the Christian doctrine. As one has very forcibly described it:

“She has authority over it (the doctrine of Christ) she can knead and mold it at her will, she can add her traditions, her unwritten law, equal in authority to the written Word; she can interpret and fix its meanings. Here is the leaven: it is the leaven of Church-teaching, the essential error which wherever found, in whatever modified forms, quenches the Spirit of God, deforms and mutilates the Word of God, gives the conscience another master other than the Lord Jesus Christ, and does all this cunningly in His name and by His authority, so that the souls of His people even bow to the forged decrees and shudder at the thought of resistance.

[Let him that reads understand!] For this is ‘Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth;’ and her merchants are the great men of the earth, and by her sorceries are all nations deceived.”

Returning to the original article:

“We have now reached the end of the series of parables delivered to the multitudes gathered near the Sea of Galilee. If we glance back once more at the disclosures made therein respecting the nature and growth of the Kingdom of Heaven, they arrange themselves in the following order:

The first and second parables, “The Sower” and “The Tares” set forth the manner in which the Kingdom of Heaven was even then being founded by our Lord, and the obstacles it must encounter. The sphere from which both parables are taken is well suited to bring out the radical distinction between the manner in which this Kingdom was to be founded, and the manner in which all other kingdoms are established. They were in every case founded by the sword; this one, by the Word. Not force, but persuasion, was to be the weapon. Accordingly, there is placed before the minds of the disciples, not a warrior hastening to battle, but a farmer, sowing seed. The field is the world — the world of human hearts, and the seed is the Word of the Kingdom. It is good seed and, therefore, it ought to be welcome; but there are serious obstacles in the way.

The first parable set forth the obstacles encountered in the soil itself. Some of the soil is hard, some shallow, some over-charged with other things. Only the good soil yields a satisfactory crop.

There are, however, other obstacles than those found in the nature of the soil. There is the diligence of the enemy, and the impossibility of getting rid of those who have come under his influence, as set forth in the second parable –the Parable of the Tares.

The third and fourth parables, those of the Mustard Seed and the Leaven, continue to indicate the trend which this evil influence will take.

We have seen, too, that these four parables parallel in their teaching, that of the first four messages to the Churches in the Revelation. And we have had little difficulty in tracing a chronological fulfillment.

The Parable of the Sower and the message to Ephesus represented the Apostolic Age.

The Parable of the Tares and the message to Smyrna found their fulfillment in the decline from the primitive purity of the Church which came about as the result of the pagan persecutions.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed coincided with the message to Pergamos, when the Church joined hands with the world in the Age of Constantine and his successors.

The Parable of the Leaven hidden in the three measures of meal found confirmation in the message to Thyatira, and chronological fulfillment in the rise of Romanism (the Papacy) and the Antichrist.

The four parables we have been considering were uttered, as already noted, in the presence of the multitude. There is now a pause in our Lord’s discourse. (He leaves the multitude, enters the house, and the remaining three parables are spoken to the disciples alone.”

We will take a look at these in our next post.