‘TO WHAT SHALL I LIKEN THE KINGDOM?’

Posted by Angella Diehl, Webmaster on February 24, 2021 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: February 24, 2021 from Luke 13:18-21

Theme: Our Lord gives two parables that show how the kingdom of God spreads in this world.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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This morning, we come to Luke 13:18-21; where Jesus gives us two parables:

Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened” (Luke 13:18-21).

These two parables go together; and they concern ‘the kingdom’. One of the great themes that we find hinted at prophetically in the Old Testament, and spoken of repeatedly in the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—is that of the promise and coming of this kingdom.

It was the major theme of the preaching of John the Baptist He came and told the Jewish people, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2). When John was put in jail, Jesus took up John’s message; saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15). A little earlier in our study of the Gospel of Luke, we found that Jesus sent His twelve disciples out “to preach the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:2); and then He later sent seventy of His followers out—two by two—to every city and place where He was about to go; telling them to heal the sick and say, “the kingdom of God has come near to you” (Luke 10:9). Jesus taught much about this kingdom.

What exactly is this ‘kingdom’? We shouldn’t think of it as a ‘place’. Rather, it’s best to think of it as a ‘reign’. It is the real, literal, physical reign of God upon earth through His Son King Jesus. Jesus came to this earth to redeem people from this fallen world through His blood; and has promised to return bodily to this earth in order to reign over them as King of kings and Lord of lords. It is sometimes called ‘the kingdom of heaven’ to differentiate it from the kingdoms that originate from men on earth, and it is sometimes called ‘the kingdom of God’ because it is the rule of God over men through His Son; but it’s the same kingdom. It’s not a kingdom that’s brought about by military conquests—as has been the case with the kingdoms of men throughout history. Rather, it’s a kingdom that is spread on this earth through the preaching of the good news of the gospel; and by people turning from their sin and believing on Jesus.

And here, in Luke 13:18-21, Jesus gives us two parables that explain to us what the kingdom is like and how it spreads on this earth.

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Now; it might seem that the words of Jesus’ two parables sound familiar to you. That’s because He made use of these two parables to teach about the kingdom on another occasion.

In Matthew 13 and in Mark 4, we’re told the story of how Jesus taught about the kingdom to His disciples privately. In that case, He told them that they were blessed to hear the things He was telling them; because many prophets and righteous men desired to hear what they were hearing. But that’s not the same situation that we find in Luke 13. In Luke 13, Jesus was in the synagogue teaching publicly; and in what appeared to be a hostile environment. We’re told the story in verses 10-17;

Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.” The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him (Luke 13:10-17).

Many rejoiced; but clearly, His adversaries didn’t. They wanted to silence Him. And it’s important that we understand that this is the situation in which Jesus told these two parables as we find them in Luke 13. The telling of these two parables begins with these words: “Then He said …” And the idea of that introduction is that He told these two parables immediately after He had rebuked the hypocrisy of those who opposed Him, and had put them to shame.

Our Lord—as we’ve already seen several times in our study of Luke—sometimes repeated His instructions in order to address new situations. And here—in the context of opposition—He declares how it is that His kingdom will spread. First, notice that …

1. THE KINGDOM SPREADS GREATLY FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS.

Jesus is the Master Teacher, and He knew how to draw people’s attention. He asked questions that drew people in, and then He answered them. In verse 18, He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?” And then, in verse 19, He answered the question; “It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a large tree …”

A mustard seed is a very small thing. It’s hardly more than a speck. And Jesus tells here of a man who “took” a mustard seed and “put” it in his garden. In the original language, it actually says that the man “took up” the seed and “threw it” or “cast it” into his garden. It was almost as if it was a casual act; and as if there wasn’t too much thought to where it would land. And yet—without the man seeming to do much more than that—the seed took root and grew into a tree. In some versions of Luke’s Gospel, it has it that it became a “large” or “great” tree. The point is that, from this tiny seed—a thing that is so small and seemingly-insignificant that it’s barely noticeable—something grew that was exceedingly greater in proportion to the thing planted.

And think, dear brothers and sisters, of how the Christian faith has spread from such a small beginning. A humble teacher, in a seemingly remote place that was under the occupation of the Roman empire, had gathered just twelve men around Himself. One of those twelve men was a betrayer who caused Him to be arrested and crucified. And the rest of the twelve even abandoned Him. And yet, they later testified that they saw Him alive from the dead. The officials tried to silence that testimony; but they couldn’t. Soon, the Holy Spirit came and empowered His disciples; and they began preaching about Him. Three thousand people heard and became His followers in one day. And then, on another day, another two thousand believed. Soon, thousands upon thousands were believing on Him—even into the far reaches of Gentile lands. And now, after two-thousand years, the good news about Him has spread all around the world; and countless millions from every nation and culture and language have testified of how He has changed their lives. The greatest civilizations and empires and nations and cultures on earth have been built upon the testimony of Him. Even today, we base our calendar upon Him.

He once said—from those very small beginnings—that “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations” before His return (Matthew 24:14). And it has! Here we are—on the other side of the globe from where it all began—proclaiming it and believing it today. It’s still being proclaimed there too. And that’s how He promised His kingdom would spread. A mighty tree has grown from a tiny mustard seed. Who but God could have done that?

And notice further that …

2. THE KINGDOM SPREAD TO THE BENEFIT OF ALL.

After describing the growth of this mighty ‘tree’ of a kingdom from such a tiny ‘mustard seed’ of a beginning, Jesus added, “and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

There have been some Bible teachers who have suggested that the birds represent something evil. In another parable, Jesus said that the seed of the word was spread, and the birds came and ate the seed. But that was another parable—spoken for another purpose. There’s no reason to think of the birds in this parable as representing something evil. They simply represent the fact that when a tree grows big and strong from such a mighty source, other things rest upon it and gain the benefit of it. (Birds on branches are described in a similar way in Daniel 4:12.)

And that’s certainly the case with the kingdom of Jesus. Humanity has benefited and been blessed by the existence and growth of this kingdom. It has transformed sinners into followers of Jesus; and those followers have gone forth in countless numbers to minister to others in Jesus’ name. No human philosophy or man-made religion or humanly created movement has done more good for more people throughout the centuries than the kingdom of Jesus Christ. What other philosophy or movement has created more hospitals, founded more colleges and universities and schools, inspired more human relief programs and orphanages, taught a higher ethic and morality, has created greater human liberty and freedom, has lifted more people out of oppression and addiction and poverty, and has moved people to do more good for their neighbor—consistently and around the world—than God’s kingdom through Jesus Christ?

Jesus said that His followers would be “the salt of the earth”. Salt inhibits corruption and rot. It heals wounds. It enhances flavor and gives zest to things. Even those who do not believe on Jesus, and who even reject Him, nevertheless gain the benefit—in many countless ways—of–the kingdom’s spread in this world. Truly, all people are blessed by Jesus’ kingdom—and ‘the birds of the air’ truly do come to rest on its branches.

Jesus went on to speak of how …

3. THE KINGDOM SPREADS THOROUGHLY THROUGHOUT THE WORLD.

He told another parable, in verses 20-21. “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”

Here, Jesus gives us the picture of what would have been a common sight—a woman who was kneading bread dough. She was kneading “three measures” of meal—which would actually have been a large amount of dough. And as the English translation has it, she “hid” leaven into those three measures. Some have suggested that leaven (or yeast) always represents something evil and corrupt. It’s true that the Bible sometimes uses leaven in that way; and those who mention this point to the fact that she “hid” leaven in the dough—as if she had done something wrong. But again, there’s no reason to assume that leaven is supposed to represent evil in this passage. And there’s no reason to understand that she “hid” leaven in; because the word itself literally means to “cut” or “strike”.

The idea of Jesus’ words in this passage is simply that the woman placed a small amount of leaven in and worked it and beat it into the dough; and the leaven spread its fomenting property through the whole, large, ‘three-measure’ lump of dough until it permeated the whole thing—so that the whole lump became ‘leavened’ and ready to be baked in the oven. He was saying that His kingdom is like that. It had its beginnings in just one spot on earth two-thousand years ago. But now, it has permeated the earth, and has spread its influence into every culture.

Have you noticed that whenever an oppressive regime attempts to take control of a people group—or whenever a tyrant seeks to hold domination and power—the effort is put forth almost immediately to suppress or destroy the Christian faith? Sometimes, it seeks to destroy it by attacking it. Sometimes, it seeks to destroy it by taking control of it and changing it in order to use it. Why is that the case? It’s because the Christian faith has literally spread all around the world—and is continuing to do so. And why is it that the suppression of it only causes it to spread further? It’s because as Jesus put it in Matthew 16:18, He would build His church, “and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it”. The gospel of His kingdom is the great influence that has spread throughout the whole world—setting people free everywhere it has gone.

And that leads us to one more thing to notice; and that is that …

4. THE KINGDOM SPREADS IN SPITE OF OPPOSITION.

Jesus told these two parables at a time when He had just performed a miracle—and was being attacked for having done so. He told it to show us that the spread of His kingdom is of God; and is not subject to human permission or approval. Even right now—even when it seems in our time as if the spread of the kingdom of Jesus is being put to a stop, and when the impression is meant to be given to us all that the Christian faith has been set aside as irrelevant—it is nevertheless currently spreading according to Jesus’ promise. We can trust that it is so.

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Now; let’s not misunderstand. We’re not to try to ‘bring in the kingdom on earth’ by converting governments and cultures of this world in our own power. Rather, as Paul puts it, God “has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1:13). He does this by the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Let’s spread that gospel—and know that by it, God Himself will spread His kingdom reign.

EA