We first saw that everyone needs to repent, and true repentance must have corresponding actions, and we also saw that repentance is very effective. Second, using the analogy that people are like fruit trees, we determine not to judge people by ourselves but to judge like Jesus. Fruit trees that do not bear fruit are only worthy of being cut down by gardeners. Third, we look at the matter of Jesus healing the hunchbacked woman on the Sabbath. He obeyed the true meaning of the Sabbath, not the letter of the law. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, and you should know that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. Finally, we see that the kingdom of God is like the parable of the mustard seed and the leaven, and the two parables refer to the same thing. This is a controversial topic, unlike the usual conclusion that is looking in a good direction with the thinking that the kingdom of God must grow like mustard seed and leaven. From the perspective of the consistency of the Bible, we see that the kingdom of God has indeed developed quite rapidly, but the desire of church members is uneven, and we regard this parable as a fact and a warning.
1. All who do not repent will perish
“Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.””(Luke 13:1-5)
We saw the need for all to repent, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”(Romans 3:23) But God is a gracious and merciful God, so He has a plan of salvation and gives everyone a chance to be saved. In the plan of salvation, repentance is the first step. It is as said, “Now in those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.””(Matthew 3:1-2) Again, it is said, “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.””(Matthew 4:17) Repentance is very effective, just like the scriptures said, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”(1 John 1:9) We must repent. True repentance must take action, which is clearly stated in the book of Acts: “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”(Acts 2:37-38)
2. What happened to the unfruitful fig
“And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’””(Luke 13:6-9)
The fig tree that was supposed to bear fruit didn’t bear fruit, and from a human point of view, the man had already given it a long time! But God is a gracious and merciful God. He is very patient. We often feel that we are impossible, but God still gives us opportunities. Of course, there will be no opportunities after death, so we must grasp the opportunities while we are alive. In this parable we see that the gardener has to be sure that the fig tree is truly barren before he cuts it down. Using the example of figs to describe people, we must make sure that we are not judging ourselves as said in the verse, ““Do not judge (G2919) so that you will not be judged.”(Matthew 7:1) Instead, judge like Jesus, “You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me.”(John 8:15-16) It is the Father who was judging. Please note that the Chinese translation of the same word G2919 is sometimes very different. It depends on the context to know which is the correct Chinese translation. The teaching “right or wrong is not important in the family” may not always be correct. This is not a blank check statement, and it should depend on the situation. Sometimes you have to stick to the truth, or how can you discern the difference between right or wrong? But sometimes you have to obey this teaching. For example, if a couple can’t agree on how a thing happened, on top of that both of their recollections may be different from how it really happened. How can you talk about right and wrong in this case? At this time, this will no longer be an issue of discernment. Don’t insist that you must be right in this case, don’t get bogged down in judgments, right or wrong really doesn’t matter! Of course, if the same person calls a deer a horse every time and opposes for the sake of opposing, this will be another issue. A normal person would not do this! I happened to think of this question before sharing, and when I saw the judgment mentioned here, I brought it up by the way.
If we refer to Ecclesiastes 3:1-17, we know that there is an appointed time for everything, such as the healing of the hunchbacked woman which will be shared later is immediate, and the healing of the woman with bleeding that we have shared is also immediate (cf. Luke 8:43-44) But generally there is a process. Because even when prayers are answered, they don’t always come true right away! An explicit example from the Old Testament is given in the following. “…I have now been sent to you. …Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.”(Daniel 10:11-13) And we know, ““For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”(Isaiah 55:8-9) The gardener has to be sure that the fig tree is truly barren and that it isn’t because God’s time has not yet come! Don’t judge by yourself. On this point, Paul knew very clearly, “But to me it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I do not even examine myself. For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God.”(1 Corinthians 4:3-5)
3. Jesus Heals the Hunchbacked Woman in Sabbath
“And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And there was a woman who for eighteen years had had a sickness caused by a spirit; and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” And He laid His hands on her; and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, began saying to the crowd in response, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead him away to water him? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham as she is, whom Satan has bound for eighteen long years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” As He said this, all His opponents were being humiliated; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.”(Luke 13:10-17)
The hunchbacked woman has been tied up for so long and we see her reaction too! What’s more, “Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.””(Mark 2:27-28) How could Jesus not do this? It is permissible to do good deeds on the Sabbath. “And He said to them, “What man is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.””(Matthew 12:11-12) Jesus obeyed the true meaning of the Sabbath, not the time in the law. Regarding the true meaning of the Sabbath, Isaiah makes it very clear, ““If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot From doing your own pleasure on My holy day, And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, And honor it, desisting from your own ways, From seeking your own pleasure And speaking your own word.”(Isaiah 58:13)
4. The parable of the kingdom of God with the mustard seed and the leaven
“So He was saying, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.” And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.””(Luke 13:18-21)
This is a controversial topic, and there are basically good and bad ways to look at this passage. Thinking in a positive direction, everyone hopes that the Great Commission will be accomplished, because “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”(1 Timothy 2:4) Hope that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed turned into a big tree, and it grows like a lump of leaven. This is why some churches count the number of people attending, hoping that everyone will believe in Christianity, but this is impossible! How many miracles did Jesus perform when he was on earth, and how many people believed that He was the Son of Man? Especially when such churches don’t pay enough attention to the quality of the attendees, it will give people a negative impression, and it is necessary to pay more attention to quality than quantity. We will look at what God wants to tell us through the Bible from the consistency in the Bible, instead of thinking from a human perspective, so that we can truly understand this passage of scriptures.
Let’s look at what Matthew said, “He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened.” All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.””(Matthew 13:31-35)
This passage is obviously the same as what Luke said in his Gospel, but at this time it was said that the hidden things were to be revealed with parables, so what are these parables talking about? Let’s look at leaven first in terms of the consistency in the Bible. When it comes to leaven, the Bible basically refers to bad things, as the scriptures say, “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to be left over until morning.”(Exodus 34:25) Therefore, in general, sacrifices should be without leaven. With the only exception, “With the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving, he shall present his offering with cakes of leavened bread.”(Leviticus 7:13) This is a peace offering for thanksgiving. Experience tells us that man cannot be completely unleavened, that is to say that man cannot be totally out of sin, but God’s grace still allows us to bring leaven for peace offering, so there is such an exception.
When the New Testament mentions leaven, it also refers to bad things, such as “How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:11-12) Another example is, “A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is.”(Galatians 5:9-10)
So there should be no exceptions here. The leaven mentioned in the scriptures here does not refer to good things, but just a fact. The development of the kingdom of heaven is indeed like leaven, and it develops very quickly, but it contains leaven. How should we deal with it in a situation like this? The Gospel of Matthew before these verses makes it very clear, “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’””(Matthew 13:29-30) We know, “…the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.”(Matthew 13:39) Because the tares and the wheat are too similar in appearance before they are ripe and fruitful, and they cannot be distinguished!
In this case, the church will indeed develop quite quickly, but we also really need to be discerning. For example, among the seven churches in the Book of Revelation, at least the first six churches have more or less overcomers. We must not be like the church in Laodicea, where there is no overcomer, but they think in Revelation 3:17a “…I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.” I believe from a human point of view they must have done a lot in the name of Jesus, otherwise they would not think so, at least they know not to stop gatherings as the Bible says! But it is obvious that many things are not what God wants them to do but what they have to do, because from the perspective of God, “…you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”(Revelation 3:17) So it’s useless to do things only formally in the surface, like the purpose of reading the Bible is to gain life, as Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”(John 5:39-40) I used to read the Bible only because others asked me to read it. This is hay and straw like work. Once it is burned by fire, nothing will be left. Yes, we have a great commission that we have to lead by example so that others will see and envy our good deeds, and then we’ll automatically “…make disciples of all the nations, …”(Matthew 28:19)! We can see that God is a merciful and gracious God. Even though the door is shut, He still waits patiently outside. As the scriptures say, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.”(Revelation 3:20)
Let’s now look at the analogy of the mustard seed. It is compared with a vegetable (G3001). It should be a vegetable, but it grows into a tree (G1186). That means that its native quality has been changed, not the same any more. Isn’t this similar to the situation of quite a few churches today? Like the philosophy of success, it teaches people that as long as they believe in the Lord, everything will go well. This is not according to the teaching of the Bible, which says “…In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”(John 16:33) And probably unknowingly, like the church in Laodicea, the Lord Jesus is not put in the first place, making the kingdom of God uneven, but in the end only the wheat will be harvested in the barn.
(Verses refer to those in NASB unless otherwise specified.)
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