The Kingdom of Heaven Part 6 : The Parable of the Leaven
Key Scriptures: Matthew 13:33, Revelation 2:18-23
The kingdom of heaven is like… - In the Parable of the Mustard Seed, Jesus prophesies that the Church would begin small and that evil, outside adversaries would try to subvert it from within. - In the Parable of the Leaven Jesus prophesies of internal doctrinal distortions that would corrupt the purity of the Word of God.
Matthew 13:33 NKJV — Another parable He spoke to them: "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened."
What is Leaven?
Physically, leaven is a lump of old dough in a high state of fermentation, or a substance like yeast that causes dough to rise.
Yeasts are single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom.
History of yeast It is not known when yeast was first used to bake bread; the earliest definite records come from Ancient Egypt. Researchers speculate that a mixture of flour meal and water was left longer than usual on a warm day and the yeasts that occur in natural contaminants of the flour caused it to ferment before baking. The resulting bread would have been lighter and tastier than the previous hard flatbreads.
A natural reason for leaven's negative symbolism is the idea that fermentation implies a process of corruption. In the Old Testament, it is generally symbolic of sin and evil.
In every instance that leaven appears in the Bible, it represents evil.
Again, Jesus taught in practical terms they would understand. Knowing its Old Testament significance, He would have used this symbol of leaven in the same way.
Matthew 16:6, 12 NKJV — Then Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." [12] Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
This easily applies to later corruptions of doctrine by those who place more importance on the traditions of men than on the Word of God.