Friday, October 8, 2010

The kingdom as yeast

It's amazing to discover that when we keep God's ultimate purpose for the world in mind, we begin to see so many bits of Scripture that are aligned with that purpose.

Take the little one verse parable in Matthew 13 : 33.  He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened."  [ESV]

If you've done any bread-making you would have seen for yourself how the small amount of yeast you add to the mixture eventually spreads through the whole batch of flour. 

And Jesus says that this is a picture of the kingdom of heaven. 

What other purpose could he have possibly had in mind for telling this one-sentence parable?  None that I can see.

He was telling us that the kingdom eventually spreads through the whole world, through everything, and God will be all in all in the end, just as he purposed. [see 1 Cor 15 : 28]

Let me rattle on.  I have no basis for this next bit other than an imaginative mind.
Why 3 measures of flour, and not another number??

There are three "occasions" for the kingdom (the rulership of God) to be seen.
1.  Jesus' life, ministry and resurrection on the earth.
2.  Us, the firstfruits of the crop, ruling and reigning with Christ in the kingdom age after the first resurrection.
3.  The main harvest, the vast multitudes at the Great White Throne who are to be judged and cleaned up after the second resurrection being made ready to step into eternity.

The kingdom (leaven) will have eventually worked its way through the whole lot of us by the end of the ages.

Isn't that really good news from a little one-liner?  Barry

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