Kingdom Parables

THE KINGDOM PARABLES
5.1 THE PARABLE
CHAPTER FIVE
THE LEAVEN
Matt. 13:33 He told them still another parable: "The kingdom of heaven
is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour
until it worked all through the dough."
This parable which also appears in Luke is usually explained as a figure
of how the presence of the Gospel in a wicked world permeated into it
and transformed it into a heaven. But if you critically look at it, that is
exactly what it is not.
Christ was not a reformer. His message was not one of reformation but
of rebirth. Creation of a new creature was his method of creating the
kingdom of heaven. Man with his sinful nature cannot be reformed into
a sinless creature. By gradual evolution even under ideal conditions men
do not become Gods. The sickness of man cannot be cured from inside
or from outside.
Jn.3:3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of
God unless he is born again." 4 "How can a man be born when he is old?"
Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to
be born!" 5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of
God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the
Spirit gives birth to spirit.7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be
born again.'8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot
tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."
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