18<\/strong> – 21<\/strong>. The Mustard Seed and the Leaven.<\/p>\n 18<\/strong>. Unto what is the kingdom of God like?<\/em> ] For this solemn introduction see Isa 40:18<\/span>.<\/p>\n See these parables explained in the notes at Mat 13:31-32<\/span>.<\/P><\/p>\n Luk 13:18-19<\/span><\/p>\n Unto what is the kingdom of God like?<\/em><\/p>\n —<\/em><\/p>\n On the kingdom of God<\/strong><\/p>\n The kingdom of God is an expression of various significations in the sacred volume. Sometimes is meant by it the universal dominion of the Deity; sometimes the final blessedness to which the saints are heirs; and in a more confined sense it frequently signifies the gospel state, or Church of Christ. In this last sense, it is used in the text; and the thing signified is illustrated by a comparison, remarkable for that aptness and beauty, with which all our Saviours parables are distinguished. <\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> The first is, that this is one of those singularly important comparisons or parables which are not only illustrative but prophetic. <\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> Another important inference from what has been said is, that the gospel is the object of constant providential care. <\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> The last inference I shall make from our Saviours lively representation of His kingdom is, the encouragement it is calculated to afford to His pious people. (Bishop Dehon.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n It is like a grain of mustard-seed<\/strong><\/p>\n The mustard-seed<\/strong><\/p>\n The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard-seed–which indeed is is the least of all seeds. It is no exception to the law of growth which prevails throughout nature, and exemplifies how what is mightiest is often the product of what is apparently feeblest. Not only the giant oak, capable of defying the fiercest storms, but whole forests which yield materials for a nations fleets, may have lain wrapped up within a single tiny acorn. In history, whatever has been most enduring and has exerted most influence, has been born in obscurity and feebleness, and grown up by almost imperceptible stages–whereas, whatever has, like the gourd of Jonah, arisen to its full height of a sudden, has withered and died away with the same rapidity that it arose. But Christianity is the most striking instance of the kind. Its fountain-head is the manger of a stable in a small Judeau town. There is a strange unobtrusiveness about the character and mission of the Author and Finisher of our faith. When we know who He was, the only begotten Son of God, and what His purpose was–the salvation of the world–we might expect to see Him take up a position full in the worlds view, attracting to Himself mans whole attention, making kings His deputies, and philosophers His apostles, and orators His heralds, and armed captains His attendants. But no! the manger of a stable was His cradle–poverty, hard labours, great sorrows, keen sufferings, were His constant companions. It was the little seed-corn which had to be dropped into the ground and die ere the earth could bear a harvest of righteousness and peace. It was that by the preaching of which a few poor, illiterate Galilean fishermen were called upon to brave anal overcome the opposition which all the wealth, authority, antiquity, military force, taste, and philosophy, as well as ignorance and sin, of the world, could muster against them, to conquer the prejudices of the Jews, to undermine the superstitions under which Rome had grown up to be the mistress of the world, to confound the subtleties and wisdom of the Greeks, and to dispel the darkness of heathenism. It looked the most hopeless of tasks. There are instruction and warning for us in that. The gospel is the most emphatic protest against judging of things by their outward appearance. It is the solemn and decisive testimony of God to the superiority of spiritual principle over material magnificence. It casts down power and might to exalt spirit and truth. Many persons have an eye only to behold external and worldly greatness. There is no hope for any one, however, so long as he persists in looking at things with that dull, unspiritual eye. The gospel, in all that is distinctive of it, is spiritual, and can only be spiritually discerned. The parable having told us that the gospel in its origin is small, weak, and apparently insignificant, proceeds to speak of its growth, of its amazing progress. From the least of seeds it becomes the greatest of herbs; from an almost invisible grain it rises into a tree, where the birds of the air find shelter. It is unnecessary to insist that the history of the last eighteen hundred years has amply verified this representation. The Church, which at Pentecost only numbered a few score of persons, soon counted its adherents by thousands, burst the trammels of Judaism, and, even in the lifetime of its first apostles, established itself, without any other instrumentality than the foolishness of preaching, in all the large towns of the civilized world. All Europe and America are now more or less under its sway, and it is advancing with slow but sure steps to the conquest of the entire earth. It is more important to observe, as the text specially calls on us to do, that this long history is throughout a growth–that it may be fitly likened to a seed becoming a tree. Let us so look at it for a little, and see what lessons it has for our profit. <\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> This is the first. The whole of Christianity, in so far as it is true, once lay in a small compass. All the truths, all the institutions, all the virtues which it embodies, may be traced back to a single life as their germ. The mustard tree was wholly in the mustard-seed. The oak, great although it now is, once lay wrapped up entire in the acorn. All that properly belongs to it lay folded there. Nothing save what is foreign and hurtful, nothing save excrescences and parasites, have come from any other source. The influences of light and heat, and wind and dew, have only brought out what was there from the first, It is so, likewise, with Christianity. It has grown up through eighteen hundred years, it covers now a very large portion of the earth, but all that truly belongs to it even at this hour has sprung from the lowly life of Jesus. All that is good in its creeds, its institutions, the conduct it inspires, has germinated from some word of His–has lain as a thought in His mind or an affection in His heart; and whatever man has introduced of his own into religious belief or practice is only an excrescence, a parasite, a cause of weakness and decay. The lowliest life ever lived on earth has thus been infinitely the most fruitful. The least of all seeds has become the greatest among herbs. <\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> The seed has not only all the rudiments of the future tree within it, but the life which unfolds them and sends out first the root and trunk, and then the branches, leaves, blossoms, and fruit. And the word of the gospel has likewise an indestructible principle of vitality, which cannot be repressed, cannot be arrested. It grows by the very necessity of its nature, under the influence of grace, just as the living seed, by the very necessity of its nature, under a genial sky cannot remain in the ground, but sends up blade and bud and branch. There is in this assertion no latent fatalism. Although the gospel has indeed been in history like a tree growing out of a living seed, it follows not that human will has had nothing to do with its progress. <\/p>\n There is nothing in history, properly so called, with which human will has not had to do. Every improvement it tells of has been effected by human self-denial and toil. The country we live in was once covered with putrid morasses and gloomy forests, and yielded only a scanty and impure subsistence to a few hordes of wandering savages. Now its morasses are dried up, its forests cleared away, large cities stand thick strewn over it, its well-cultivated plains yield food enough for millions, and its industry produces an annual revenue the most enormous. What has wrought the change? Labour, and labour alone–labour of mind and of body. Not an inch of conquest has been won without mental exertion and physical toil, without anxious thought and an active hand. Religion is no exception to this rule, but its most striking example. It has had nobler and more numerous martyrs and missionaries–has called forth more heroic labours and costlier sacrifices–than all other causes together. And this is quite consistent with the fact that the gospel grows by a life of its own–that though mans labour is needed to apply and diffuse it, he neither makes it nor puts life and fruitfulness into it–that he receives it with these in itself, so that if he cast it into the ground it will spring and grow up of its own Divine energy, and according to its own Divine laws. <\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> Growth implies increasing divergence and definiteness of parts and functions. It is a separation of the one into the many, a change from the simple to the complex, from the vague to the distinct. The seed out of which a plant issues is at first uniform in tissue and composition, but soon it divides into two parts, afterwards new contrasts appear in each of these, and it is by endless such changes that the complex combination of tissues and organs in a perfect plant is produced. While the parts are thus increased in number, each of them becomes more prominent in itself, more sharply distinguished from others, and more strictly confined to its own special use. Wherever growth takes place, this is the process traceable. It is what we see in every herb, in every animal, in civilization, in government, language, science, and art. Different as all these are in themselves, there is only the one way in which they can grow, in which they can truly progress. The kingdom of God conforms to the same conditions. Its history has consisted throughout in the evolution of doctrines, institutions, and modes of life, out of a very simple germ. Our elaborate systems of theological science so far as true, our manifold institutions for religious and benevolent purposes so far as good, our endlessly diversified modes of social being so far as right, are developments of the living word of the gospel, in which, however, they lay enfolded only as the tree in its seed, as results in their principle, as special and definite dogmas in broad and general statements. <\/p>\n Those who say, Let us cast to the winds our creeds, our systems, our definite dogmas, and return to the primitive simplicity of apostolic men, forget that God has not left it to the worlds own will to return of a sudden, or to return at all, to the point from which it has taken eighteen centuries for it to advance. They might as well counsel us to throw off all the laws and institutions, all the countless arrangements of the elaborated civilization in which we live, and retrograde to the rude and simple life of the earliest dwellers in Asia and Europe. We are where we are, where long ages of thought and toil have placed us, and, even if ungrateful enough to desire it, there is no going back for us now. <\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> The growth of the kingdom of God has been continuous. We may fail to measure its progress from day to day, because it is not rapid, but slow, not with observation, but without it. There is still another truth involved, and it is one which we must not despise because it is simple. Growth requires time. God has everywhere placed that as an inevitable separation between germination and maturity, between the seed and the perfect tree. Let us conform, then, to the condition. When we are despondent or angry because our labours in a Christian cause are not crowned with immediate success, we are no wiser than the little child who deposits a seed in the ground and is grieved not to see it springing up on the very day it has done so. (R. Flint.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The mustard-seed and the leaven<\/strong><\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> It is something new. Watch that sower: he takes the seed and plants it in his garden. The seed suits the soil, but it was not in the soil at first. It came from above, out of the sewers hand. <\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> The germ is small at first: like to a grain–a very small particle–of mustard-seed, which a man took. <\/p>\n 1.<\/strong> The kingdom is one, though it belongs to all ages and nations. Christ speaks of a kingdom, never of kingdoms. A tree is a unity, for though it has many leaves and branches, it has but one root and one life-sap. Those who are sundered by seas, and ages, and thousands of influences, are all made one by Christ. <\/p>\n 2.<\/strong> It is a world-wide kingdom. As the tree is for every bird from any quarter of heaven that wishes its shelter, so Christs religion is for all sorts of people. <\/p>\n 3.<\/strong> And it blesses, and only blesses. It creates and increases all that is bright and joyous. Christs is a kingdom of love, of help, of grace, of salvation, and heaven is its end. <\/p>\n 4.<\/strong> It will become very great though very small in its beginnings. (J. Wells, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The external progress of the kingdom as illustrated by the growth of the mustard-seed<\/strong><\/p>\n It is ever important to remember that Christianity, at first like a small grain of seed, spread throughout the world, until the nations of the earth came to flock like birds to its protecting shelter, by no aid except its own inherent spiritual power. There was nothing to help it in the character of its early teachers. There was nothing to make its progress easy in the conditions of the Jewish and Gentile worlds. It came to the Jewish world, and found it saturated with thoughts of Jewish exclusiveness, and full of hopes of an earthly Deliverer. There was nothing in the teaching of this Messiah to appeal to the one, or to pander to the other. It told the Jew that his dreams of a temporal Messiah were futile, that it was a kingdom of spiritual power–not supported by external force or conquering by arms–which it had come to establish amongst men. Thus, though it appealedto no religious or national instinct in the Jew, though it was hostile to both, Christianity triumphed. Nor, again, in the Gentile world, represented by the two great nations of Greece or Rome, was there any congenial soil for the little seed of early Christendom to take root in, and find its sustenance. The Greek world was full of the pride of intellect, and the worship of sensuous beauty, and to it Christianity came with no scheme of a newfangled philosophy, with no subtleties of scholastic ethics. The preaching of the Cross of Christ, the teaching of a religion of self-sacrifice and love, so simple that the child could understand it, was its message. It presented as the object of their adoration and worship no incarnation of physical beauty, no image of physical strength, but a Nazarene upon a cross–His features so marred with sorrow that there was no beauty in Him that they should desire Him. And yet this Christianity had an inherent force of its own, before which the intellectual pride and the philosophic genius of Greece had to bow at last in submission. St. Paul preached at Athens, and not a few but felt as they listened, within sight of their own Academy, and beneath the shadow of honeyed Hymettus where the sages had trod, that this new preacher taught, with a power not of this world, a grander faith, which must outlast even the city of the Violet Crown. The wave spread still westward to Rome–proud mistress of the world. It fared as ill with her material and political strength as it had done with the intellectual force of Athens. To those who worshipped force and were glutted with military conquests, this new faith came preaching tenderness, forgiveness, charity. To Rome, who saw her eagles swoop in the farthest east and west, it proclaimed the supremacy of spiritual triumphs-it preached the deliverance of the captive–the brotherhood of nations. At first only whispered in prison cells, or flung to the beasts of the arena, or its holy symbol grasped in feeble hands, and pressed to dying breasts of martyrs, the religion of Christ soon won its way over every obstacle, and at last Christianity entered the imperial palace, and wore the diadem of the Caesars: Now, when we turn from these triumphs of Christianity to examine what means she employed for her propagation, we can find nothing, humanly speaking, to account for it. Twelve men–Jews, without hereditary distinction; without political influence; without (except in one or two cases) intellectual acquirements–these were the men who–without any aid on earth; with a gospel that was opposed to every national, and philosophic, and religious prejudice of Jew, and Greek, and Roman; which was hostile to every feeling of pride and selfishness in the human heart–accomplished the grandest and most stupendous revolution the world had ever seen. People say sometimes that they find it hard to believe the miracles on which Christianity is based–surely the grandest, greatest miracle is the existence of Christianity itself. If, then, there were nothing in the outside world to which it appealed; nothing in the natural hearts of men which it came to satisfy: if we cannot discover in the characters of those who preached it any human reason to explain its progress–how are we to account for the spread of Christs kingdom, except by attributing it to some spiritual power of its own? (T. T. Shore, M. A.<\/em>)<\/p>\n Verse 18. – 19. The kingdom – is like a grain of mustard seed<\/B><\/I>] See Clarke on Mt 13:31<\/span>.<\/P><\/p>\n See Poole on “Mat 13:31<\/span>“, and following verses to Mat 13:33<\/span>. They are two parables by which Christ foretells the great success of the gospel, notwithstanding the present small appearance of the efficacy of it. <\/P> <\/p>\n 18-21. mustard seed . . .leaven<\/B>(See on Mr 4:30-32<\/span>).The parable of “the Leaven” sets forth, perhaps, rather theinward<\/I> growth of the kingdom, while “the Mustard Seed”seems to point chiefly to the outward.<\/I> It being a woman’s workto knead, it seems a refinement to say that “the woman”here represents the Church,<\/I> as the instrument of depositingthe leaven. Nor does it yield much satisfaction to understand the”three measures of meal” of that threefold division of ournature into “spirit, soul, and body,” (alluded to in 1Th5:23<\/span>) or of the threefold partition of the world among the threesons of Noah (Ge 10:32<\/span>), assome do. It yields more real satisfaction to see in this briefparable just the all-penetrating<\/I> and assimilating<\/I>quality of the Gospel, by virtue of which it will yet mould allinstitutions and tribes of men, and exhibit over the whole earth one”Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.” (See on Re11:15<\/span>).<\/P><\/p>\n Then said he, unto what is the kingdom of God like<\/strong>?…. The same with the kingdom of heaven, in Mt 13:31<\/span> and so the Ethiopic version reads it here, “and whereunto shall I resemble it?” of this way of speaking, [See comments on Mr 4:30]<\/span>.<\/p>\n The Widow of Nain.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> 18 Then said he, Unto what is the kingdom of God like? and whereunto shall I resemble it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it. 20 And again he said, Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. 22 And he went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem.<\/P> Here is, I. The gospel’s progress foretold in two parables, which we had before, Matt. xiii. 31-33<\/span>. The kingdom of the Messiah<\/I> is the kingdom of God,<\/I> for it advances his glory; this kingdom was yet a mystery, and people were generally in the dark, and under mistakes, about it. Now, when we would describe a thing to those that are strangers to it, we choose to do it by similitudes. “Such a person you know not, but I will tell you whom he is like;” so Christ undertakes here to show what the kingdom of God is like<\/I> (v.<\/I><\/span> 18<\/span>): “Whereunto shall I liken the kingdom of God?<\/I> v.<\/span> 20<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. It will be quite another thing from what you expect, and will operate, and gain its point, in quite another manner.” 1. “You expect it will appear great,<\/I> and will arrive at its perfection all of a sudden; but you are mistaken, it is like a grain of mustard-seed,<\/I> a little thing, takes up but little room, makes but a little figure, and promises but little; yet, when sown in soil proper to receive it, it waxes a great tree,<\/I>” v.<\/I><\/span> 19<\/span>. Many perhaps were prejudiced against the gospel, and loth to come in to the obedience<\/I> of it, because its beginning was so small; they were ready to say of Christ, Can this man save us?<\/I> And of his gospel, Is this likely ever to come to any thing?<\/I> Now Christ would remove this prejudice, by assuring them that though its beginning was small its latter end should greatly increase;<\/I> so that many should come, should come upon the wing, should fly like a cloud,<\/I> to lodge in the branches of it with more safety and satisfaction than in the branches of Nebuchadnezzar’s tree, Dan. iv. 21<\/span>. 2. “You expect it will make its way by external<\/I> means, by subduing nations and vanquishing armies, though it shall work like leaven,<\/I> silently and insensibly, and without any force or violence, v.<\/I><\/span> 21<\/span>. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump; so the doctrine of Christ will strangely diffuse<\/I> its relish into the world of mankind: in this it triumphs, that the savour of the knowledge of it<\/I> is unaccountably made manifest in every place,<\/I> beyond what one could have expected, 2 Cor. ii. 14<\/span>. But you must give it time,<\/I> wait for the issue of the preaching of the gospel to the world, and you will find it does wonders, and alters the property of the souls of men. By degrees the whole will be leavened,<\/I> even as many as are, like the meal<\/I> to the leaven,<\/I> prepared to receive the savour of it.”<\/P> II. Christ’s progress towards Jerusalem recorded: He went through the cities and villages, teaching and journeying,<\/I> v.<\/span> 22<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. Here we find Christ an itinerant, but an itinerant preacher, journeying towards Jerusalem, to the feast of dedication, which was in the winter,<\/I> when travelling was uncomfortable, yet he would be about his Father’s business; and therefore, whatever cities or villages he could make in his way, he gave them a sermon or two, not only in the cities, but in the country villages. Wherever Providence brings us, we should endeavour to be doing all the good we can.<\/P> <\/p>\n He said therefore <\/B> ( <\/SPAN><\/span>). It is not clear to what to refer “therefore,” whether to the case of the woman in verse 11<\/span>, the enthusiasm of the crowd in verse 17<\/span>, or to something not recorded by Luke. <\/P> <\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n THE MUSTARD SEED PARABLE V. 18, 19<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n 1) “Then said he,” <\/strong>(elegen oun) “Therefore he said,”<\/p>\n 2) “Unto what is the kingdom of God like?” <\/strong>(tini homoia estin he basileia tou theou) “To what is the kingdom of God likened or compared,” as also said, Mat 13:31-32<\/span>. The kingdom of God is here used to refer to the church that Jesus had established, referred to in the 7 kingdom parables, as recounted by Matthew, Mat 13:1-58<\/span> as “the kingdom of heaven.”<\/p>\n 3) “And where unto shall I resemble it?” <\/strong>(kai tini homoioso auten) “And to what may I compare it or make to it a resemblance?” The first resemblance to a mustard seed is recounted by Mat 13:31<\/span>. The “kingdom of heaven”, the church that was established to carry on the worship and service of the kingdom of God, in this age, also referred to as the “house” that Jesus built, Heb 3:3-6<\/span>, was small, like a mustard seed, in comparison with other governments or kingdoms when Jesus first established it, by choosing, calling and sending His disciples to do His work, according to His commands or laws, Joh 15:16<\/span>; Joh 15:27<\/span>; Joh 20:21<\/span>.<\/p>\n Note: <\/strong>A kingdom is made of four major things:<\/p>\n 1) A King <\/strong>— Jesus was a king, Mat 2:1-5<\/span>.<\/p>\n 2) Subjects <\/strong>— His baptized disciples were His subjects, Mat 28:18-20<\/span>; Mar 4:18-22<\/span>.<\/p>\n 3) Laws <\/strong>— The things He commanded were His laws, Joh 14:15-16<\/span>; Joh 14:27<\/span>; Joh 20:21<\/span>.<\/p>\n 4) A territory –<\/strong>He gave a worldwide field for His kingdom of heaven subjects, in the church, for this age, Eph 3:21<\/span>; Mar 16:15<\/span>.<\/p>\n As a church institution it was minute, like a mustard seed in comparison with earthly kingdoms, yet our Lord chose, organized, or planted it, as His executive for this age, as cited above.<\/p>\n CRITICAL NOTES<\/em><\/p>\n Luk. 13:19<\/span>. Like a grain of mustard seed<\/strong>.So small in size as to be a proverbial comparison among the Jews for anything exceedingly small. Garden<\/strong>.Mat. 13:31<\/span> has field. A great tree<\/strong>.Omit great, omitted in R.V. The plant in question sometimes grows as high as a man on horseback. The points of comparison are the insignificant beginning and the great outward extension of the kingdom of God founded by Jesus Christ. Birds of the air<\/strong>.I.e.<\/em>, birds attracted by the pungent seed of the plant. Lodged<\/strong>.I.e.<\/em>, found a shelter (cf. Luk. 9:58<\/span>). The Church is a place of shelter and of food.<\/p>\n Luk. 13:21<\/span>. Leaven<\/strong>.Except in this parable, leaven in Scripture (being connected with corruption and fermentation) is used as a type of sin. See Luk. 12:1<\/span>; Exo. 12:15-20<\/span>; 1Co. 5:6-8<\/span>; Gal. 5:9<\/span>. Here, however, the only point considered is its rapid, and unseen, and effectual working (Farrar<\/em>). The idea, too, of the wholesome effect produced by leaven in the making of bread may be associated with the figure. Three measures of meal<\/strong>.Probably the amount usually kneaded at one time (Gen. 18:6<\/span>). The various allegorical explanations of this detail that have been given are more than usually frivolous and farfetched. Till the whole was leavened<\/strong>.The process of change resulting in a complete transformation. This is a companion picture to that of the mustard seed, the latter setting forth the outward extension<\/em> of the kingdom, the former the inward transformation effected by it. The comparison may also be extended to the effect produced by the gospel upon the character of the individual believer, when external life and habits, and the whole inner being, come under the influence of Christian truth.<\/p>\n MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.<\/em>Luk. 13:18-21<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n In these two parables our Lord sets forth a bright and cheering aspect of the future of the kingdom, exhibiting in the first of them its growth from small beginnings to great magnitude, and in the second its transforming influence on the mass in which it is deposited.<\/p>\n I. Outward growth<\/strong>.The parable of the little mustard seed, as that of the sower, takes the process of vegetation as emblematic of the growth of the kingdom; but the sower barely appears, though His agency is part of the essence of the representation, and the place where the plant grows is His garden. But the seed is now the kingdom itself, and the only points brought into notice are the contrasted smallness of the beginning and bulk of the growth at the end. Jesus does not speak as a botanist, but in popular language; and it is enough to know that the mustard seed was a common proverbial illustration of extreme minuteness, and that the herb was a miracle of growth as compared with its tiny origin. The application is too plain to need any interpretation. It strikes home at once to the many among the first listeners who had recoiled from the (as it seemed to them) dreadful down-come from the long-cherished national hopes to the obscure Galilan peasant and His handful of followers. He stole into the world in a despised corner of a despised land. He gathered a few believers, spoke some gentle words, laid His hands on a few sick folk, and then died. What proud incredulity would have curled the lips of men of influence and culture in that day, if they had been pointed to Him and His disciples, and bidden to see there the mightiest force, destined to universal dominion! The lesson is not less needed now than then. Gods great things have ever small beginnings, even as the seed of the big trees in California is smaller than that of many a much humbler conifer. The worlds great things begin large and dwindle fast. We have to learn reverence for the smallest seed which has vitality, and confidence that the quantity, and still more the quality, of the life in the little black packet of latent possibility is not measured by its size. So we shall not be led away by vulgar admiration of the big, which we mistake for the great and Divine, nor discouraged and impatient if a heritage be not gotten hastily at the beginning. The parable brings the small seed into sharp contrast with the large results, and implies the world-wide spread of the kingdom. The picturesque touch of the birds lighting on the branches is probably an allusion to Eze. 17:23<\/span>, and a definite prophecy of the coming of the nations to partake in its blessings. The fowls of the air sing among the branches. Souls weary of flight fold their tired wings, and find rest, shelter, and joy there.<\/p>\n II. Inward change<\/strong>.The parable of the leaven completes the picture of the growth of the kingdom by describing its inward operation, as the former does its outward growth. It spreads in space and increases in bulk; but it transforms inert matter into its own nature, and thus grows by assimilation. The eccentric interpretation of the leaven as the emblem of evil is disposed of by observing that it is the kingdom, and not its corruption, which is like unto leaven, and by remembering that the meal is improved, not spoiled, by it. The main lessons lie <\/p>\n (1) in the addition<\/em> of the leaven to the meal, teaching that the quickening influence comes from without; that, in a word, if human society is ever to contain a kingdom of heaven, and be transformed thereby, it must be imparted, not developed. They lie <\/p>\n (2) in the hiding<\/em> of the leaven, by which is taught the same truth of secret beginnings as in the former parable. They lie <\/p>\n (3) in the manner<\/em> of the leavens working, which is fermentation. So the gospel stirs up movement in the dead man. Christ comes to bring peace at the end, but He must first bring a sword. Leaven works from within outwards. The gospel is planted in the depths of the individual spirit, and gradually permeates the whole being. It works underground in society, and only re-models institutions as the result of having remodelled men. The lesson lies further in the assimilative power of the leaven, which changes each particle of the meal, and, by means of each in turn, transmits the transforming power to the outer unleavened particles. It lies, finally, in hopes suggested by that till the whole was leavened, which foretells the permeating of the mass with quickening influence, and the complete assimilation of the individual to it.Maclaren<\/em>.<\/p>\n SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON <\/em>Luk. 13:18-21<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n The Kingdom of God<\/em>.<\/p>\n I. Its rapid growth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n II. Its transforming power<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Emblems of the Kingdom<\/em>.<\/p>\n I. Lessons from the mustard seed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 1. Its personal teaching. II. Lessons from the leaven<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 1. The source of grace. The Kingdom of God<\/em>.<\/p>\n I. Its gradual extension<\/strong>.Our Lord corrects the fatal error of His countrymen, that the kingdom of God would come as a sudden outbreak of Divine power. It is to grow, from small beginnings, in the hearts of men. How gradual it is in the individual we know from sad experience. How gradual among the nations the observation of eighteen hundred years has shown us. Yet we must never despair. Seed has in it the germ of life, a power of endless development, and is certain to fulfil in Gods own time its marvellous destination.<\/p>\n II. Its secret growth<\/strong>.Not to be inaugurated by pomp and circumstance, or by the literal appearance of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven. Jesus corrects this error in the parable of the leaven. He teaches the quiet, unobtrusive character of true religionhow unnoticeable is its first infusion; how far beneath the human eye its growth. Religion is a hidden life, and it works spontaneously, by its own secret vitality, till it leavens the whole mass of society.Griffith<\/em>.<\/p>\n Fulfilment of the Prophesies here Contained<\/em>.<\/p>\n I. The way in which these parabolic prophecies of the spread of the gospel have already been fulfilled is a proof of its divinity.Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>We are first led by the resemblance, to which our Saviour likens His kingdom, to remark THE SMALLNESS OF CHRISTIANITY IS ITS BEGINNING. Seeking for the symbol with careful consideration, He chooses one, proverbial among the Jews for littleness, the smallest object possessed of life and expansive force. Small as is the symbol, it is not smaller than the thing it was designed to represent. An obscure prophecy was the first germ of Christianity, and its only label, a simple rite: the prophecy-Gods promise to the woman, and sacrifice–the rite. We have ever to bless our God that-as early as death laid claim to our race, the seed, whose fruit is to nourish us into immortality, was sown by His hand; and in due season made to spring up into lively appearance before an expecting and wondering world. <\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>This brings me to remark, from the image which Christ furnishes in the text of the kingdom of God, ITS PROGRESSIVE CHARACTER. In the visible ministry of the Messiah and promulgation of the gospel it assumed its definite appearance. This took place under the most unfavourable circumstances. The soil in which it appeared was incongruous with its nature, and the clime inclement. In its genuine state Christianity had to withstand many a blast; to endure both chilling cold and scorching heat; to encounter everything which could threaten to check its growth, and crush it in the dust. But it was a plant of an inherent vigour, which no climate could kill, nor rudeness impair; and, under the fostering care of Him who rules all seasons and disposes all events, it grew daily, it rose in height, and spread the wonder of the world; it became established. <\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>This brings me to observe, THAT THE PARABLE CARRIES US FORWARD TO A PERFECTED GROWTH AND TRIUMPHANT STATE OF THE GOSPEL KINGDOM. Though now it presents the sure refuge to all people, its branches are not filled; there is room for much further growth, and dread occasion for much pruning. As yet, defiling vines cling to the stately tree, obstructing its spread, and defacing its beauty. As yet, the Jews look not on Him whom they pierced; and to many Gentile tribes, the Cross is foolishness. As yet, there is need to cry to the children of men, Know the Lord; and many of them are fluttering wildly, and wandering into dangers, for want of the places in which they may find rest and shelter. But the figure by which the Church is described, and which has appeared hitherto so apt and exact, apprises us of a mature and triumphant state of our Redeemers kingdom. The plant of the little seed, through its progressive growth, is to attain to a perfect height, and strength, and greatness. It is to become a great tree; yea, greater than all the trees that are in the earth. Its root is fixed; and it shall continue to extend its growth till all the inhabitants of our world rejoice in the shadow of the branches of it. The Christian religion is composed of such elements; there are in it such principles and arrangements as suggest of themselves that if it be true it is designed for universal extension and perpetual duration. We have now considered the beautiful and exact resemblance furnished by Christ of the kingdom of God. There are inferences from this subject of great weight and variety. Let me entreat your patience while I adduce only a few which are too instructive to be omitted. <\/p>\n
I. <\/strong>THE GERM OF THE KINGDOM. <\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>ITS GROWTH. <\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>THE GLORY OF THE KINGDOM. <\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
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<\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
2. Its prophetical teaching.<\/p>\n
2. The secrecy of its workings.
3. The certainty of its success.W. Taylor<\/em>.<\/p>\n
II. These parables open up delightful views of the future history of the Church, and furnish us with a call and an encouragement to exert ourselves for the universal diffusion of the gospel.Foote<\/em>.<\/p>\n