Thirtieth Meeting
(February 27, 1964 P.M.)
The
Gospel by Matthew, chapter thirteen, and verse
thirty-three: "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 it was all
leavened'" (ASV). This is the fourth parable on the
kingdom, and like the ones before it, it has two
interpretations. Bible teachers are quite divided on the
meaning of this parable. The most popular interpretation
is that the leaven is something good. Indeed, it is the
Gospel of the Kingdom, and the Gospel of the Kingdom is
going to spread all over the world until there is nothing
bad left. Indeed, the world is going to become wholly
good in this dispensation, I say, that is the most
popular interpretation. It is popular because it is just
what we would like it to be. We would very much like that
to be true. But is that the true interpretation of the
parable?
The much
less popular interpretation is that the leaven is
something bad. And that evil is going to spread more and
more over all the world. Well, that is not a popular
interpretation, and it is not popular because we do not
like that idea. However, it is never a matter of whether
a thing is popular or unpopular. A doctor's medicine is
not a popular thing because we do not like it, but it is
the right thing. And there are many quite nice things
that are not good for us. So it does not depend upon
whether the thing is popular. The thing is, is it true?
Which is the right interpretation?
For
myself, I come down on the second interpretation; that
the leaven is not something good, but something evil. And
I am going to tell you why I believe that is the true
interpretation. If you look into your Bible, and trace
this word leaven all the way through, beginning with the
first mention of leaven in the Book of Exodus, chapter
twelve, and moving right through the Bible, until you
come to the First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter
five, you will find that with one possible exception,
leaven is always something bad. It is always something
which God will not allow. In the Old Testament, God gave
very, very careful instructions about leaven. The
passover bread was to be unleavened bread. In every
Jewish household, to this day, on the eve of the passover
they light a lamp and the wife or mother takes the broom
and sweeps every room and every corner to see if she can
find any leaven. This is what they believe to be God's
attitude toward leaven. So that wherever this word is
used right through the Bible, it is almost, if not
altogether, an evil thing.
You will
remember that when we were speaking about the parable of
the mustard seed, we pointed to the law of consistency.
And we said that Jesus in His teaching never contradicted
Himself. Never did He, in one address, use the same thing
for two opposite meanings. So when we had the parable of
the darnel (the tares), the darnel was the work of the
evil one. When we had the parable of the mustard seed,
the birds of the air which lodged in that tree are the
same birds as in the parable of the sower. In the parable
of the sower, Jesus said, "The birds of the air are
the evil ones." In the parable of the darnel, it was
an evil one that did this thing. The law of consistency
demands that we interpret this parable of the leaven as
being something evil. Jesus is teaching that in this
dispensation, we are to expect to find evil things in
this world.
Now you
notice that these parables all relate to this present
age. And in the last parable, the parable of the
drag-net, Jesus says, at the end of the age, He will send
forth His angels, and they shall gather out of His
Kingdom all things that make to stumble. The law of
consistency demands that we say, they will gather out all
the leaven and destroy it. Now I want to know where you
stand on this matter. If these parables relate to this
present age, which ends with the coming again of the Lord
Jesus, is it true that the whole world is being
converted? Is it true that all evil is being taken out of
this world in this age? Is it true that the leaven of the
Gospel is transforming the whole of this world and
nothing evil is left in it? Is there anyone here tonight
who believes that? If I ask for a vote, I am quite sure
that everybody would say, 'There is more evil in the
world today than ever there was.'
The
final argument is this, the Bible does not teach that the
whole world is going to be saved in this dispensation.
But it does teach that "evil men will wax worse and
worse." It does teach that "because iniquity
shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." So
we are thrown back upon this second interpretation. We
come down upon what the Bible says about this. The leaven
represents evil, and leaven is everywhere forbidden in
relation to the things of God. I can only make that
statement, but if you would like to look at your Bible,
you will find it is quite true.
So we
are going to first of all look at the nature and the
effects of leaven. Of course, you know what leaven is and
what it is used for. If the brothers do not know, the
sisters do. It is that which you put into the dough to
make your bread. But what is its nature and what are its
effects? First of all, leaven always sets up
fermentation. Have you seen the effect of the leaven when
it is put into the dough? The dough was a very quiet
thing until you put the leaven in. There is no
disturbance and no excitement until you put the leaven in
the dough. But as soon as you have put the leaven in, you
find something begins to work up excitement. Everything
becomes disturbed. This leaven stirs up everything. Now
you know that this is the same principle of alcoholic
liquor. Alcohol is simply another form of leaven. And you
know quite well that if you take alcohol, you begin to
get excited. There is an inward disturbance. And if you
take too much, you lose your senses, and then want to
fight, and a lot of disturbance takes place. This thing
ruins homes. It ruins lives. It ruins businesses. Indeed,
alcohol is a curse. And that is only another name for
leaven, for it is the same thing. That is the nature of
leaven, and those are the effects of leaven to begin
with. Just keep that in mind and we will come back to it.
The next
effect of leaven is inflation; it makes things
unnaturally big. I have noticed that in your market and
outside your churches there are a lot of men selling
balloons, hundreds and hundreds of balloons. Well, they
are made to look very attractive with many pretty colors,
but what are they? Well, you take this very thin skin and
you begin to blow into it. You fill it with wind and you
make it larger and larger with wind. And then you take a
very little pin, and you prick it, and the whole thing is
gone. It is an artificial inflation that cannot stand up
to anything. It is something which has been made
unnaturally big. An artificial increase of size.
When I
was a very little child, I was sometimes sent to stay
with my grandmother. And on Friday night, in the kitchen,
the servants always made the bread for the next week.
They made the dough in a big bowl, and having put the
leaven in, they worked it with their hands and with their
fingers, and then they just put it in the bottom of the
bowl and they covered the whole thing over with a cloth,
and they went to bed. The next morning I was up early, I
went into the kitchen and I lifted the cloth, and the
dough had filled the whole basin. In the dark, it had
grown and grown. It had become something very big, the
leaven made it do that. Hold that and we will come back
to it.
Another
thing that leaven does, it breaks things up, it
disintegrates. You see the holes coming in the bread. The
leaven tears the dough asunder. It makes the loaf into a
thing with many, many parts and many holes in it. It just
breaks things up and divides. Hold that and we will come
back to that.
Then the
last thing, unleavened bread is not very pleasant to the
taste. Leaven is put in to make the bread taste nice. It
is something to make an appeal to the natural taste.
Unleavened bread is not very nice to taste, and so that
we may be very pleased, we put leaven in. It appeals to
our natural taste.
Now do
you see the meaning, the nature and effects of leaven?
There has come into this universe something that disturbs
the universe. All these terrible wars, about which you
know something, are the result of this disturbing
influence which has come into the universe. There is
something in this universe that stirs up human nature.
Like alcohol, it makes men fight against one another. It
keeps the world in unrest. It produces all this
excitement of the human evil nature. Then, again, this
something that has come into this universe results in an
enlargement that is quite unnatural - a false
development. That is a thing that we have seen in these
last few years. In the case of the wars, there has been
an attempt to develop this world in an unnatural way.
Anything that results in unnatural development and
enlargement is evil.
The
Apostle Paul said, "Through the grace given unto
me, to every man that is among you, not to think of
himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think
soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the
measure of faith." Anything that makes
us unnaturally big is evil. Whether it be the individual
life, or whether it be what is called the work of God,
trying to make it bigger than its real spiritual measure,
inflating it beyond its genuine spiritual degree, that is
something evil, that is leaven.
Anything
that results in divisions and breaking up -
disintegration is evil. Do not let us excuse our
divisions. Do not let us look favorably upon the
divisions amongst the Lord's people. If there are only
two of us who are divided, let us not make excuses for
that, let us say, 'This is wrong, this is evil, this
ought not to be, there is some evil at work to divide
us.' And what may be true between just two people, is
true amongst all the Lord's people. We must not look upon
divisions as being good, they are bad. And we must know
that God is against divisions. He does not accept this
working of leaven.
Then
what about this leaven that makes things appeal to our
natural taste? Paul said to Timothy, "The time will
come when they will not endure sound teaching; and they
will heap to themselves teachers, having itching
ears." And he goes on to say that they will believe
the lie instead of the truth. Why is that? Because these
teachers appeal to the natural life. These teachers cover
over evil. Indeed, they will sometimes call evil good.
People do not like the teachers who tell them what is
wrong, that this thing and that thing are contrary to
God. They like leavened bread, it pleases the flesh.
Well,
these are the effects of leaven. And I am quite sure that
there is no one here tonight who will argue that any of
those things are good. You see, it is all bad. Now let us
look at the symbolism of leaven: We will listen to the
Lord Jesus and then to the Apostle Paul on this matter.
Jesus gave three warnings to His disciples. First, He
said, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees." And what did He say
was the leaven of the Pharisees? He said, it is hypocrisy
- pretending to be something that you are not, something
that is quite artificial and unreal. You have only got to
watch those Pharisees to see it. They make long prayers
in public. They look at a poor sinner and they say,
"O God, I thank thee that I am not like that
man." They send somebody in front of them to blow a
trumpet and say this wonderful righteous man is coming
along; Jesus says, it is all hypocrisy. It is all false
and unreal. And if there was one thing that Jesus hated
more than another, it was unreality - pretending to be
something that you are not, making a lot of noise amongst
the people of God with nothing behind it. Indeed, the
life behind is quite a contradiction.
Well,
that is capable of a very wide application, but that is
the principle of the Pharisees. Jesus said, "Beware
of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."
I do not know what the word means in your language, but
in the Bible language, it means, acting a part. It is the
picture of an actor on the stage. He may be dressed up to
represent a great king, but he is not a great king. It is
only his dress. Or he may be there acting the part of
something else, but he is not that something else. He is
just pretending to be that. And that is the real meaning
of the word hypocrisy. Jesus said, "Beware of
play-acting in the things of God."
The
second warning was, "Beware of the leaven of the
Sadducees." Now we are told that the Sadducees did
not believe in angels or spirit or resurrection. They
said, 'There are no such things as angels, there is no
such thing as spirit, there is no such thing as
resurrection.' What did that mean? They ruled out the
whole reality of the supernatural. They set aside
everything that was spiritual. Therefore, they were pure
materialists. They lived only for the present time
because they did not believe there was anything
afterward. They lived only for this world because they
did not believe there is another one. For them, there was
nothing supernatural, all was now - just material - in
this life on the earth.
You see,
that is a very convenient philosophy of life. It is very
convenient for this reason, that it will not accept
future judgment. If there is no resurrection, if there is
no life after this one, if there is no other world after
this one, then there is no such thing as judgment.
Judgment goes, that is a very convenient doctrine. Jesus
says, 'Beware of that'; there is such a thing as the
supernatural. God Himself is Spirit, He is the greatest
reality in this universe. There is a life after this, for
we shall all be raised: "Those that have done evil,
unto the resurrection of condemnation, and those that
have done good, unto the resurrection of life."
Jesus says, 'Beware of anything that contradicts those
great realities.'
Then He
gave a third warning. He said to His disciples,
"Beware of the leaven of Herod." What kind of
leaven is the leaven of Herod? Herod was a man who
believed in great worldly splendor. He ruled his world by
a great show of magnificence. Everything that looked
wonderful was Herod's idea. His was a reign of earthly
glory. But this other thing also comes to life with
regard to Herod; behind all that outward show, was a life
which was absolutely corrupt. John the Baptist told Herod
of his corrupt life, and Herod beheaded John the Baptist.
Here is a life of outward show, with the inward life
absolutely corrupt. Jesus says, 'Beware of anything like
that. That is leaven. It must not come into touch with
any of the things of God.'
The
scribes and the Pharisees came to Jesus one day, and they
said to Him, 'Be gone, get away, Herod will kill You.' Of
course, they wanted to get rid of Jesus. What did Jesus
say? "Go and tell that fox, that I work today and
tomorrow, and the third day I am perfected." Go and
tell that fox. You know what a fox is? Well, he is one
who makes a great show, a great pretense. He looks like a
very nice animal. But you let him get in amongst your
chickens and see what he will do. His nature is a
contradiction to his appearance. Jesus says, "Beware
of that leaven."
Now just
a word about this that Paul has to say. In 1 Corinthians,
chapter five, you have it. Something had happened in the
church of Corinth. A man had committed fornication, and
by his fornication he had brought evil into the church,
and the church had not done anything about it. The church
had not taken account of this evil as represented by this
man. They let him stay there. They even let him come to
the Lord's Table. A man whose background of life was
evil. Now Paul wrote to the church about that man. And he
said to the church, 'You must judge this thing, and you
must put that man out and forbid him the Lord's Table
until he repents, because he is leaven, and he defiles
the whole church by his presence, and the presence of
that evil is robbing the church of its spiritual power.'
So Paul says, "Purge out the old leaven."
Fornication and uncleanness must not come into the house
of God. And, it certainly must not come to the Lord's
Table. And Paul says the church is responsible for
dealing with that thing. While the church allows that,
the church is defiled, God's blessing cannot be upon it.
It will, therefore, lose its spiritual life and its
spiritual strength. Purge out the old leaven, all that
sort of thing is just the working of evil in the church.
Now we
must gather this up and come to a close. In the parable
of the leaven, Jesus is saying that right through this
present age until He comes again, this thing will be in
the world. Evil will spread everywhere like leaven. But
as in the other parables, Jesus said about the sower and
the seed, that while three parts of it would be bad,
there would be a fourth part that would be good. As in
the parable of darnel, there was the work of the evil
one, but there were also the children of the Kingdom. So
in this parable, He says, there will be leaven, will be
corruption and defilement everywhere, but the teaching of
the New Testament is: Keep yourselves pure. See that your
garments are not spotted. Walk in this sinful world as
those who do not belong to its nature. Although there is
leaven everywhere, you be the unleavened bread. But, the
world may not like you, the world will not like
unleavened bread. It does not please the flesh, but the
bread which is pure is pleasing to God. And in the end,
He will gather out all that which offends. He will gather
out the offending leaven, and He will burn it with
unquenchable fire; but the children of the Kingdom, the
unleavened bread of God, the pure in heart and in life,
He will gather into His eternal Kingdom.
The Rule
of Heaven will divide between the evil and the good,
between the leavened and the unleavened bread. I think
you will agree that this is the right interpretation of
the parable. Because it is true to the Bible, it is true
to history, it is true to what we see in the world; but
it carries the warning, let us offer to God that which
has none of this leaven in it.