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18 Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.” 20 Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.” ~ Luke 13:18-21
Being fairly convinced the Lord Jesus was the Christ, the disciples had left everything to follow Him. At this point in the narrative, though, His mission appeared to not be all that successful. This is why the Lord Jesus uses two object lessons in today's text to describe His kingdom.
In v.18-19 we read, "Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches."
This first object lesson the Lord Jesus uses here is the mustard seed, the smallest seed in that day. The Lord Jesus tells a short story about a man who planted the seed in his garden, and it became a tree, and the birds nested in it.
There is a species of mustard called the Khardal mustard, which is a shrub. It's a bush, and it can grow pretty tall for a bush, like fifteen feet tall. It's still pretty flimsy, though. But, it is strong enough to support birds that would nest in its branches.
Now, in another parable, which Jesus, incidentally, called the key to all of the other parables, the parable of the sower and the seed, He said, "Some of the seed fell by the wayside and the birds of the air came and snatched it away."
When the Lord Jesus explained the meaning of the birds of the air, He said, "Whenever the truth is sown in people's hearts, Satan comes and snatches it away." So, in that parable, He equates birds with evil or with Satan.
In Revelation 18, we read, "Babylon, Babylon has fallen, the dwelling place of demons, the prison of every foul spirit, and the cage of every foul and hated bird."
Every time birds are used in prophetic or symbolic literature, it's always evil. When it comes to trees growing in unusually large ways, we have only to look at Ezekiel 17 and Daniel 4, where we are given visions describing trees which represent this enormous, worldwide, dominating power, and the growth of worldly nations.
So, the church will grow, certainly, the kingdom of God won't happen immediately in all its glory, but it will when He comes again. And, that will happen during the Millennium after the seventieth seven of Daniel 9. The seventieth seven is inaccurately called the Tribulation. It will be a seven year time of Tribulation but the Lord never calls it the Tribulation.
In the meantime, His kingdom is slowly growing. And, it will involve unusual growth. And it's going to grow, certainly, and it's going to be larger, which means that even evil people and evil forces, because of its growth, can lodge in its branches. It's like a warning. If you look at much Christian television today, not all of it's bad, but there's enough of it that isn't good.
And when I see the Lord Jesus misrepresented by certain programs that I have seen, I think to myself, "Boy, there are some strange birds that have landed in our tree that pass themselves off as spokespeople for the kingdom." So, yes, it will grow, but not all growth is good growth.
Now, this brings us to the second parable, which is yet again, another description of the kingdom of God. Whereas the first parable accentuated the external nature of the kingdom, this second parable gives us a glance into the internal nature of the kingdom.
In v.20-21 we read, "20 Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough."
This second object lesson used here is yeast. Yeast was kept and used to bake bread. When we put the yeast saved from the previous loaf, into the loaf, the whole loaf is permeated, causing it to rise up. The old saying is, "A little leaven leavens the whole lump."
The growth of God's kingdom is never fast, but over time He permeates our existence. Whereas the dough is illustrative of the world, the yeast is illustrative of the kingdom. It's hidden in the world. The world, they can't even see it.
But while they don't see it, God is influencing the world through our lives, through our story the Lord is giving us with Him. Lives being touched, lives being changed, and just like yeast that permeates, the Lord is reaching and changing lives around us through our yielded lives. And sometimes we are aware of it.
The difference between religion and a personal relationship with God is like night and day. Religion is rules-based, harsh and stifling. In contrast, our relationship with the Lord Jesus is personal, open, warm and liberating. An egg broken from the outside is destroyed, but an egg broken from the inside causes life.
God changes a society through hearts that have been changed. He changes our hearts by revealing His heart in and to us. A few years ago there was an article on the quest of American farmer to produce the biggest, reddest, and most luscious-looking strawberries through cross breeding and genetic modification. They succeeded! American growers engineered huge, red strawberries that delighted the eyes, but not the mouth. In the process of focusing so much on the looks of strawberries they sacrificed their flavor and sweetness.
The same is true of the human heart. This process, the winning of the human heart by God, is slow and methodical. In a progressive way God wins our hearts as He reveals His heart to us.
God changes lives one heart at a time. And, He does not put a price tag on His love. This is how He works. In a progressive way, God accomplishes the changing of our hearts by revealing Himself slowly and daily. As we encounter impossible moments and we commune with Him, He works in our lives, all the while revealing Himself to us. As this happens, we grow in our trust of Him and we give Him more and more of our hearts.
