The Kingdom of God

"Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened" (Mat. 13:33). In order to understand this parable of Jesus, we must first get the scriptural definition of "the kingdom of heaven," which is to say the kingdom of God: "For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; BUT righteousness, and peace, and joy IN the Holy Ghost" (Rom. 14:17). Since that verse is self-explanatory let's look at a couple of others: "For the kingdom of God is NOT in word, but in POWER" (I Cor. 4:20). "But ye shall receive POWER, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you" (Acts 1:8). So it is evident by consistent confirmation of the scriptures that being in the kingdom of God [heaven] is to receive the holy Ghost into our lives. Being baptized BY Jesus WITH the holy Ghost into the body of Christ is the same exact thing as being born into the kingdom of God (I Cor. 12:13; Eph. 4:4; Jn. 3:5). And again, this operation takes place by faith in Jesus which results in being filled with his Spirit (Jn. 7:38,39; Gal. 3:14; Col. 2:12). So then, let's get back to the parable of Jesus. It's very simple really, and that is that when we first receive the Spirit, we are a spiritual babe; and what needs to take place is that we continue to grow progressively in the Spirit afterward: "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up INTO HIM in all things, which is the head, even Christ" (Eph. 4:14,15). Notice that I capitalized the "into him" part there, because it is noteworthy that we understand this: "Now the Lord IS that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (II Cor. 3:17). And make no mistake my friend, the "liberty" mentioned here means literal DELIVERANCE from sin: "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall NOT fulfil the lust of the flesh" (Gal. 5:16). And again: "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom. 6:6). And just once more for good measure: "For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live" (Rom. 8:13). Okay, here is what we have honestly seen laid out to us by the Bible to this point: To be in the kingdom of God is to be baptized by Jesus with the holy Ghost, and by the way, there is no holy Ghost baptism without the sign of speaking in other tongues (Acts 2:4; Acts 10:44-46; Acts 19:1-6; Isa. 28:11,12; Mat. 11:28; Acts 3:19; I Cor. 14:21,22). Also, the holy Ghost gives us power to be able to put to death the sinful nature that we were born with. And putting sin to death in the inner man IS the way of growth and development in the Spirit of God. That is HOW we "grow up into him in all things," meaning to grow AWAY from the nature of sin through the power of the Spirit. That is what the scriptures have plainly shown us. If you don't see that, then you are wasting your time reading this article, and that is NOT a good sign of things for you if that is the case; because there has been nothing but wholesome truth and holiness set forth to us here by the scriptures in solid order. And so here is the problem we have today, and it is a VERY BIG ONE: The modern traditions and doctrines of Christianity that are upheld almost universally within the body of Christ have prevented the truth of this parable of Jesus from being fulfilled, both in the lives of God's people, and in the body of Christ as a whole. Actually in this parable the holy Ghost is represented by the leaven, as Jesus states, even though in the scriptures leaven almost always represents sin. Not this time. The three measures of meal represent anyone who has received the Spirit of God in their life.

The point of the parable is that the purpose of someone receiving the Spirit is that they "grow up into him in all things," and thereby attain unto a fuller and more mature unity or oneness with Jesus and the Father; which oneness is by MEANS OF the Spirit (Jn. 17:22-24). But in the "Pentecostal" community, not to mention the other denominations that God's Spirit baptized people have been scattered into; the true baptism of the holy Ghost has been demoted to be a "secondary Christian experience" after one has "gotten saved" or been "born again," AT BEST! My God!! Are you kidding me??!! You are NOT born again, saved, or any such thing, unless and until you have been BAPTIZED; not by man, and not in water, but by JESUS, and that by LIVING WATER!! (Jn. 4:14; Jn. 7:38,39; I Cor. 12:13) So if we put an imaginary "born again" experience before the only REAL born again experience, that can only retard the growth process and potential of someone who receives the Spirit. As my father used to say, "That's as plain as the nose on your face." If we demote the true new birth experience, and promote a lie to be AHEAD OF IT, we are diminishing the power and significance of the experience to the recipient thereof; and thus his growth is significantly stunted. On top of that we also have the universally accepted Christian tradition of sin being something that we cannot truly get free from altogether on the inside. Well, it takes no special wisdom to see that if you do not BELIEVE you can be totally free from sin, you most assuredly WILL NOT BE! The whole mindset of believers in Christ being "sinners saved by grace," regardless of what format you put it in, is just flatly an abomination to God, and a blatant LIE against the truth: "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Rom. 6:1,2). There could not be a more pointed answer that exposes the folly and the falsehood of the entire "sinners saved by grace" ideology that prevails over the entire Christian religion today. The main thing to note in that scripture is, who is the "we" that is mentioned there? It certainly does not include the overwhelming majority of professing "Christians" today who have been comfortably taught that they are "saved" even though they DO "continue in sin," and that so that "grace MAY abound." There is far more to reprove in terms of carnal ordinances being wrongly a part of the worship and service of God universally, and that to the draining of life from God's people who erroneously observe and attribute godly regard to these old covenant ceremonies (Mat. 3:15; Mat. 5:17; Mat. 26:27-29; Lk. 22:15,16; Jn. 4:24; Acts 10:44-46; Rom. 5:1; II Cor. 13:14; Gal. 3:3,24; Gal. 5:4,18; Eph. 2:15; Eph. 4:5; Philip. 3:3; Col. 2:14); etc.). Then there is the "salvation at the beginning of your faith" error which Christianity also exalts, though it is obviously against what the scriptures consistently and plainly show (Mat. 24:12, 13; Rom. 13:11; Heb. 3:6,14; Heb. 4:1,11; Heb. 6:11-15; I Pet. 1:9; etc.). Then there is the idolatry of "the Bible is the word of God," even though the Bible itself plainly tells us WHAT the word of God truly is, and it is NOT the scriptures (Heb. 4:12; Eph. 6:17; Rev. 2:7; Prov. 8:6-8; Jer. 13:8; Hos. 1:1; Jonah 1:1; Zeph. 1:1; etc.). And this erroneous school of thought has crippled the body of Christ from HEARING and receiving the REAL word of God, which word of God is ALWAYS confirmed consistently BY THE SCRIPTURES! So there you have it my friend, in part at least, as to why the parable of the leaven has NOT been fulfilled in the lives of God's people, and in the body of Christ on the whole. Nevertheless, if you embrace the truths that you have seen set forth here by the scriptures, and forsake the errors that have also been exposed herein, you CAN fulfill the parable of the leaven and be whole in the Spirit of God to his glory! I don't know about you, but that is my sole purpose in this life, and I intend to see it through till the end; and that by means of "purifying [my] soul in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren" (I Pet. 1:22). And that love includes speaking the truth for the sake of those who will hear, knowing at the same time that many will reject it. God bless.