Things Which the “Kingdom of the Heavens” Is Like

“What is the kingdom of God like, and with what shall I compare it?”​—Luke 13:18.

1, 2. By using illustrations in his teaching, what prophecy did Jesus fulfill?

ILLUSTRATIONS or parables were a prominent part of the teaching method of Jesus Christ nineteen centuries ago. In this way he fulfilled a Bible prophecy. Of this we are assured in the life account of Jesus Christ as written by his apostle Matthew Levi. This biographer tells us:

² “All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds by illustrations. Indeed, without an illustration he would not speak to them; that there might be fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet who said: ‘I will open my mouth with illustrations, I will publish things hidden since the founding [of the world].’”​—Matt. 13:34, 35; Ps. 78:2.

3. What might illustrations bearing on God’s kingdom be called, and how did Jesus introduce them?

³ Those illustrations or parables that specially bore on God’s Messianic kingdom might well be called Kingdom illustrations or parables. At times these were introduced with the words, “The kingdom of the heavens is like,” or, “With what are we to liken the kingdom of God?” or, “With what shall I compare the kingdom of God?”​—Matt. 13:47; Mark 4:30; Luke 13:20.

4, 5. (a) How many illustrations did Jesus give, and what series of them did he give in Matthew, chapter thirteen? (b) According to Luke 13:17-21, under what circumstances did Jesus relate the illustrations of the mustard grain and the leaven?

⁴ Jesus is reported as giving thirty illustrations or parables. According to the thirteenth chapter 13 of Mt Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus once gave a series of seven Kingdom illustrations in close connection with one another. First was the illustration of the sower, then that of the wheat and the weeds, the mustard grain, the leaven hid in the batch of dough, the treasure hid in the field, the pearl of high value and the dragnet. (Matt. 13:1-50) The Gospel writer Luke introduces the parables of the mustard seed and the leaven in a different way, and says:

⁵ “Well, when he said these things, all his opposers began to feel shame; but all the crowd began to rejoice at all the glorious things done by him. Therefore he went on to say: ‘What is the kingdom of God like, and with what shall I compare it? It is like a mustard grain that a man took and put in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of heaven took up lodging in its branches.’ And again he said: ‘With what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three large measures of flour until the whole mass was fermented.’”​—Luke 13:17-21.

6. Since Jesus gave the parables after the rejoicing of the people over the things done by him, what might one be inclined to think that Jesus wanted to illustrate by the parables?

⁶ Because “all the crowd began to rejoice at all the glorious things done by him,” one would incline to think that Jesus reacted to the rejoicing of “all the crowd” by telling two prophetic illustrations to picture how God’s kingdom would not be made up of only a “little flock,” as Jesus had indicated earlier, in Luke 12:32. Instead, it would grow to great size and all the world of mankind would be like birds by their lodging in the refuge provided by the Kingdom. Also, that the great mass of mankind would become impregnated with the true teachings of Christianity. For instance, the Critical and Exegetical Handbook to the Gospel of Matthew, by H. A. W. Meyer, Th.D., English edition of 1884, says on page 259, paragraph three:

The parable of the mustard seed is designed to show that the great community, consisting of those who are to participate in the Messianic kingdom, i.e., the true people of God as constituting the body politic of the future kingdom, is destined to develop from a small beginning into a vast multitude, and therefore to grow extensively; . . . “being a small flock, they were increased into a countless one.” The parable of the leaven, on the other hand, is intended to show how the specific influences of the Messiah’s kingdom (Eph. iv.4 ff.) gradually penetrate the whole of its future subjects, till by this means the entire mass is brought intensively into that spiritual condition which qualifies it for being admitted into the kingdom.

7, 8. What serious question does Luke record after that, and what Kingdom parable of Jesus?

⁷ However, there is a fact that is here worth considering as significant. It is this: Right after recording those two parables of Jesus and telling how thereafter he went teaching from place to place, the Gospel writer Luke injects the question of a certain man: “Lord, are those who are being saved few?” Did Jesus’ answer seem to agree with that suggestion? Did it indicate a kingdom of a “little flock”?​—Luke 13:22, 23.

⁸ Listen: “He said to them: ‘Exert yourselves vigorously to get in through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will seek to get in but will not be able, when once the householder has got up and locked the door, and you start to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, “Sir, open to us.” But in answer he will say to you, “I do not know where you are from.” Then you will start saying, “We ate and drank in front of you, and you taught in our broad ways.” But he will speak and say to you, “I do not know where you are from. Get away from me, all you workers of unrighteousness!” There is where your weeping and the gnashing of your teeth will be, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves thrown outside.’” (Luke 13:23-28) So, as many as do get in through the “narrow door” will have to ‘exert themselves vigorously.’​—Note also Luke 13:5-9.

9. In a contribution to the Watch Tower issue of April 1881, how did J. H. Paton explain the parable of the leaven?

⁹ Back in the issue of Zion’s Watch Tower dated April 1881, on page 5, there appeared a contribution by J. H. Paton, on the parable of the leaven. In the course of his discussion he said:

This work of progression and glorious success, seems to be illustrated by the Saviour’s parable, in which He compared the kingdom of heaven to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened. Matt. 13:33. A very plausible and we will add, forcible objection to this application of the parable, is based on the fact that leaven of bread and of doctrine are spoken of in the Bible as elements of impurity and of corruption. Would the Saviour represent the kingdom of heaven by an element and process of corruption? We understand the Saviour here uses one feature of the leaven only, in His illustration, that is its permeating power. It does not cease until the work is done, so God’s kingdom will not cease its operations until the curse is removed.

10. How did the Watch Tower issue of May 15, 1900, comment on the parable of the leaven?

¹⁰ However, Zion’s Watch Tower, under date of May 15, 1900, page 154, took exception to that view. Under the subheading “The Parable of the Leaven,” it said: “Leaven represents corruption throughout the Scriptures: In every other instance of its Scriptural use it is represented as an evil, an impurity, something that is defiling. . . . It would not seem reasonable that our Lord should use the word leaven here as Christian people generally suppose, in a good sense, as implying some grace of the holy spirit. On the contrary, we recognize consistency in all of his teachings, and we may be as sure that he would not use leaven as a symbol of righteousness as that he would not use leprosy as a symbol of holiness.”

11. How did The Watch Tower under date of June 15, 1910, explain the parable of the leaven?

¹¹ The Watch Tower, under date of June 15, 1910, page 205, pursued that same line of thought. It said, under the heading “Leaven Hidden in the Meal,” the following: “The parable of the ‘leaven’ (Mt 13:v. 33) illustrates the process by which, as was foretold, the church would get into the wrong condition. As a woman would take her batch of flour for baking and put leaven (yeast) in it and the result would be that the mass would become leavened, so it would be with the church of Christ; the food of the entire household would become leavened or corrupted. Every portion would become more or less vitiated with the leaven of false doctrines which would permeate the entire mass. Thus today nearly every doctrine inculcated by Jesus and his apostles has become more or less perverted or twisted by the errors of the dark ages.”​—See also The Watch Tower as of June 15, 1912, pages 198, 199, under the heading “Parable of the Leaven.”

LEAVEN AND WINE

12. In objection, what might the aforementioned Watch Tower contributor insist upon, and what illustration of Jesus concerning wine and wineskins might he mention?

¹² Now, if J. H. Paton, like the Watch Tower editor C. T. Russell, were alive at the time, he might have objected to those articles in the Watch Tower issues of 1900, 1910 and 1912. He might have insisted that The Watch Tower stick to the “one feature of the leaven only, in [Jesus’] illustration, that is its permeating power.” As the permeating power lies in the fermentation that is caused, he might have argued that fermentation is fermentation, something to be viewed objectively. So he might have referred to Matthew 9:17, where Jesus says: “Neither do people put new wine into old wineskins; but if they do, then the wineskins burst and the wine spills out and the wineskins are ruined. But people put new wine into new wineskins, and both things are preserved.”​—Also, Mark 2:22; Luke 5:37, 38.

13. (a) In what sense, then, is the fermentation of the wine used as a symbol? (b) In view of that, what question arises as to the symbolic significance of fermentation caused by leaven?

¹³ The still-continuing fermentation of the new wine causes gas bubbles and bursts the old, nonresilient wineskins. The wine fermentation operates to a good end, and so here fermentation is used in a good way and symbolizes something good. But does that argue that the fermentation caused by leaven is used as a symbol of something good in the parable of the woman that hid leaven in three large measures of flour until the whole mass was fermented? And so is there an exception or two to the Bible’s use of leaven as a symbol of what is bad and wicked? Does the Bible use leaven as a symbol in a twofold way, both as a symbol of what is good and righteous and also as a symbol of what is bad and wicked?

14. What fact shows that the Bible does not treat wine fermentation as on the same level as fermentation caused by leaven added to a batch of flour?

¹⁴ How, though, can it be rightly argued that the Bible uses the leaven of dough in such a twofold way, when, at the celebration of the Passover and of the seven-day festival that followed, wine was allowed to be drunk whereas all leaven of bread was forbidden, banned, under pain of death for a violator? (Lev. 23:5-13; Luke 22:7-20) So, does the Bible treat all fermentations and their permeative power alike? Does the Bible treat only the permeating power caused by fermentation as the one factor that is to be considered, regardless of what causes the fermentation? The Scriptural answer is No! Otherwise, we would not find the apparent discrepancy at the celebration of the Passover and of the week-long festival of unleavened bread that followed the Passover.

15. In the matter of fermentation, what is the determining factor, and so is the parable of the leaven on the positive side or not?

¹⁵ It is apparent, therefore, that fermentation with its permeating power is, in itself, not the determining factor so that it occupies a status either good or bad as regards its symbolical meaning. Rather, the thing that is added to promote the fermentation is the determining factor. In the Holy Scriptures, the fermentation (as a factor) is not isolated from what causes it. Consequently, the fermentation that is naturally caused in wine making is not classified as being the same as the fermentation that is promoted in flour dough by an additive, yeast, namely leaven or sour dough.a Hence anyone’s referring to the fermenting new wine put in new wineskins in order for him to show that leaven (sour dough) added in bread making is a symbol of what is good and righteous fails to make the point. His argument is not Bible-based. For this reason the argument used by J. H. Paton in the April 1881 issue of Zion’s Watch Tower does not hold good. The inspired Scriptures do oblige us to make a distinction in the case of leaven (sour dough) as a symbol. Accordingly, the parable of the leaven is not an illustration on the positive side; to the contrary, it is on the negative side. But we shall present more on this matter of leaven later on in our discussion.

“THE KINGDOM OF THE HEAVENS IS LIKE” VARIOUS THINGS

16, 17. Why might someone object to the foregoing because of how the parables of the mustard grain and of the leaven are introduced? But what kind of introduction is given to the parable of the dragnet, used in what operation?

¹⁶ Does the former explanation in the 1900, 1910 and 1912 issues of The Watch Tower on the parable of the leaven hold good today, when Jesus’ parabolic illustrations are reaching the climax of their fulfillment? Yes, indeed! Some students of the Bible might incline to object, because, say they, it is “the kingdom of the heavens” that is said to be like the leaven and like the grain of mustard seed. (Matt. 13:31-33) Yes, but it is also true that, in the seventh and last parable of the series in Matthew, chapter thirteen, Jesus said:

¹⁷ “Again the kingdom of the heavens is like a dragnet let down into the sea and gathering up fish of every kind. When it got full they hauled it up onto the beach and, sitting down, they collected the fine ones into vessels, but the unsuitable they threw away. That is how it will be in the conclusion of the system of things: the angels will go out and separate the wicked from among the righteous and will cast them into the fiery furnace. There is where their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth will be.”​—Matt. 13:47-50.

18. (a) So, what questions are raised with regard to the parable of the dragnet and that of the wise and foolish virgins? (b) Evidently Jesus meant what by “the kingdom of the heavens is like”?

¹⁸ Now we know that those making up the “kingdom of the heavens” or the Messianic “kingdom of God” are the Lamb Jesus Christ and his 144,000 spiritual Israelite followers. (Rev. 7:4-8; 14:1-5) So we are here obliged to ask, Did Jesus mean that this Kingdom class of 144,001 are like a dragnet that holds within itself “wicked” and “righteous” individuals and that it is manipulated by angels inferior to Jesus Christ? We remember, too, that Jesus introduced another parable, saying: “Then the kingdom of the heavens will become like ten virgins that took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were discreet.” (Matt. 25:1, 2) Are we to understand that the Kingdom class of one hundred and forty-four thousand and one is divided up into half of foolish individuals and half of discreet ones? Never could this be the case! Evidently, then, by the expression “the kingdom of the heavens is like” Jesus meant that, in connection with the kingdom of the heavens, there is a feature like this or like that. Or, matters in connection with the Kingdom will be like such and such a thing.

19, 20. (a) To arrive at the proper understanding, what do we have to know about the purpose of the parable series? (b) According to his own words, why did Jesus speak to the people in parables?

¹⁹ This understanding of the meaning of expressions allows for Jesus to illustrate bad as well as good developments with respect to the “kingdom of the heavens” or the Messianic “kingdom of God.” To arrive at the proper understanding, we have to take into account the purpose for which the parable or series of parables was given. Jesus himself advised us of that purpose. After he had publicly given the parable or illustration of the four kinds of soil upon which the seed of the sower fell, his disciples asked him: “Why is it you speak to them by the use of illustrations?” Let us note, now, this reply of Jesus:

²⁰ “To you [disciples] it is granted to understand the sacred secrets of the kingdom of the heavens, but to those people it is not granted. For whoever has, more will be given him and he will be made to abound; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them by the use of illustrations, because [to quote from Isaiah 6:9, 10], looking, they look in vain, and hearing, they hear in vain, neither do they get the sense of it; and toward them the prophecy of Isaiah is having fulfillment, which says, ‘By hearing, you will hear but by no means get the sense of it; and, looking, you will look but by no means see. For the heart of this people has grown unreceptive, and with their ears they have heard without response, and they have shut their eyes; that they might never see with their eyes and hear with their ears and get the sense of it with their hearts and turn back, and I heal them.’”​—Matt. 13:10-15.

21. (a) By Jesus’ use of parables, how was Isaiah 6:9, 10 fulfilled in the case of Israel? (b) How did the parable of the four kinds of soil illustrate that same fact?

²¹ This was the stated purpose of Jesus in speaking to the people of Israel by the use of parables, to fulfill Psalm 78:2; and by means of the parables Jesus showed that the prophecy of Isaiah 6:9, 10 would be fulfilled, namely, that comparatively few, a remnant, would accept his true message and become real Christians worthy of the “kingdom of the heavens.” For example, in the parable of the sower he spoke of four kinds of soil, but three out of four proved to be unproductive. Only the fine type of soil produced abundantly, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, a hundredfold, in proclaiming the message of the Kingdom. (Matt. 13:3-8) Thus in the very first parable of the series the negative aspect as regards the “kingdom of the heavens” predominated.

22. In Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds, toward which class is Isaiah 6:9, 10 fulfilled?

²² In the next given parable of the wheat and the weeds, the enemy oversowed the wheat field with weeds, so that, when the harvesttime came, the field was marred by the presence of the abundance of weeds. Jesus explained that the “fine seed” are the true anointed Christians, “the sons of the kingdom.” The weeds are the opposite of this, they are imitation Christians, in fact, “the sons of the wicked one,” the Devil who sowed them. The harvesttime is the “conclusion of a system of things,” where we now find ourselves. As we look out over the spiritual harvest work that has been going on since the spring of 1919 C.E., what do we observe? The “sons of the kingdom” who are harvested under angelic guidance are a mere remnant, today numbering around ten thousand partakers of the emblematic bread and wine at the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Since the year 1948, when the report shows such ones numbered 25,395, they have been decreasing in number. On the other hand, the imitation “sons of the kingdom,” the ones toward whom the prophecy of Isaiah 6:9, 10 is fulfilled, are around one thousand million members of the churches of Christendom.​—Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43.

23. In the parable of the hidden treasure, how many take positive action?

²³ In the parable of the treasure hid in the field, it is only one man that discovers this treasure and “sells what things he has and buys that field.” All the others have their sense of values applied in a different direction because their eyes were as if ‘pasted shut’ and did not see the hidden value in that field.​—Matt. 13:44.

24. In the parable of the pearl of high value, how many traveling merchants were willing to pay the price for it?

²⁴ In the parable of the “one pearl of high value,” it is only one “traveling merchant” that craves having the rarest pearl that can be found. He is the only one that “went and promptly sold all the things he had and bought it.” All the other traveling merchants were looking for something else that they considered valuable, likely something that would not cost them all that they had in order to get the purchase price.​—Matt. 13:45, 46.

25, 26. (a) At what time do the parables of the dragnet and of the wheat field come to the climax of their fulfillment? (b) How are the prophecies fulfilled toward the “righteous” ones and toward the imitation Christians?

²⁵ In the parable of the dragnet, this mass fishing instrument, handled by fishermen who picture “the angels,” collects “fish of every kind,” fish suitable for Lawkeeping Jews to eat and other fish forbidden by the law of Moses. Only the suitable fish were collected into vessels, and the rest were thrown away as abominable.​—Matt. 13:47-50.

²⁶ It is here on earth, in the “conclusion of the system of things,” where we find ourselves since the year 1914 C.E., that the parable of the wheat field comes to the climax of its fulfillment. So as operations go forward, to “separate the wicked from among the righteous,” under the invisible guidance of God’s holy angels, what do we observe to be the facts of the case in connection with the “kingdom of the heavens”? Are the “righteous” ones who are called to the heavenly kingdom in the overwhelming majority? They are, to the contrary, an insignificant spiritual “remnant,” whereas the church members of Christendom who expect to get to heaven at death are estimated to be in the hundreds of millions. The prophecy of Isaiah 6:9, 10 is fulfilled toward these imitation Christians. These will be cast into the “fire” of the “great tribulation” that is just ahead. (Matt. 13:47-50) So Christendom, the counterfeit “kingdom of the heavens,” is not the place for anyone now to seek refuge.

[Footnotes]

The Exposing of the False Kingdom Refuge

1. What was the intent of Jesus in giving the parable of the mustard grain, in harmony with what prophecy?

WHAT, now, must be the intent of Jesus’ parable of the mustard grain, a seed very tiny in its embryonic condition but developing into a tree? The intent must be to show something in harmony with the reference made by Jesus to the negative picture given in Isaiah 6:9, 10. (Matt. 13:13-15) In giving this third parable in a series of seven, Jesus said: “The kingdom of the heavens is like a mustard grain, which a man took and planted in his field; which is, in fact, the tiniest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the largest of the vegetables and becomes a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and find lodging among its branches.”​—Matt. 13:31, 32.

2. In likening the mustard-grain tree to the nominal church, how did Zion’s Watch Tower as of May 15, 1900, interpret the lodging of the birds of heaven among the tree’s branches?

² The issue of Zion’s Watch Tower under date of May 15, 1900, page 153, said: “The third parable-picture of the kingdom in its present embryonic condition of development is intended to show that from a very small beginning the nominal church of this Gospel age would attain to quite considerable proportions. . . . Yet this large development does not necessarily signify advantage or anything specially desirable, but on the contrary it becomes a disadvantage, in that the fowls of the air come and lodge in its branches, and defile it. The ‘fowls of the air’ in the preceding parable of the sower represented Satan and his agents, and we are, we think, justified in making a similar application here, and interpreting this to mean that the church planted by the Lord Jesus flourished rapidly and exceedingly, and that because of its attainments, strength. etc., Satan through his agents, came and lodged in the various branches of the Church. They have been lodging in the branches of this Gospel church for these many centuries, and are still to be found in her, a defiling element.”

3. What did The Watch Tower under date of June 15, 1910, say that the “tree” at its full development represented, along with birds?

³ Presenting a view similar to that just quoted, the issue of The Watch Tower for June 15, 1910, page 204, went on to say: “So then the teaching of this parable would lead us to conclude that the church of Christ, at one time, was so unimportant in the world that it was a shame and a dishonor to belong to it, but that ultimately it would become honorable and great and the adversary’s servants would have pleasure in its shade. This development the Scriptures represent as being Babylon, declaring that, as a whole, with the various branches and denominations, the nominal church of Christ is Babylonish. Hearken to the Lord’s words: ‘She has become the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird.’”​—See also The Watch Tower as of June 15, 1912, page 198, under the heading “Like a Mustard Seed.”

4. (a) What did those two Watch Tower articles not say that the symbolic “tree” was? (b) As to time and location, what kind of picture and scene does the mustard-grain parable not illustrate?

⁴ Here we are now, in this year 1975, and the big question is, What does that grown mustard-seed tree picture? Babylon the Great, say the above-quoted two issues of the Watch Tower magazine. They do not say that this vegetable tree pictures the Kingdom class of 144,001 enthroned Christians in heavenly power. But what must we of today say? For one thing, we must bear in mind that this illustration of the mustard grain does not present a millennial picture, to show the final number of the Kingdom class reigning in heavenly glory and with all mankind taking refuge under this Messianic kingdom. It does not present a heavenly scene with regard to the heirs of the “kingdom of the heavens.” It pictures an earthly state of affairs at a particular period of time.

5. What is the special period of time in which the parable reaches the climax of its fulfillment, and where does that fulfillment take place?

⁵ The special period of time is that indicated by Jesus in the parables of the wheat and weeds and of the dragnet. In the parable of the wheat field oversown with weeds, Jesus said: “The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things, and the reapers are angels.” In the parable of the dragnet, Jesus said: “That is how it will be in the conclusion of the system of things: the angels will go out and separate the wicked from among the righteous and will cast them into the fiery furnace. There is where their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth will be.” (Matt. 13:39, 49, 50) The “harvest” takes place here on earth, where the “weeds” that need to be separated out are located. Likewise, the separating of the suitable “fish” from the unsuitable takes place here on earth, where the fishing ‘waters’ are. The symbolic “weeds” and unsuitable “fish” are the professed Christians whose hearts are unreceptive, whose ears are unresponsive, and whose eyes are pasted together so that spiritual healing of such professed Christians is impossible.​—Isa. 6:9, 10; Matt. 13:14. Compare Acts 28:25-28. See the article “No Healing Till Houses Are Without Man,” in Watchtower issue of December 15, 1966.

6. What does this vegetable “tree” of today claim to be, and why, therefore, could that symbolic “tree” not be Babylon the Great?

⁶ By the “conclusion of the system of things” in our times the symbolic mustard-seed tree should be fully grown. That state of growth would correspond with the harvesttime. Since the harvest of the spiritual “wheat” or “sons of the kingdom” has been in progress since 1919 C.E., we can discern the symbolic mustard-seed tree now at its full growth here on earth. This vegetable tree claims to represent the “kingdom of the heavens,” for Jesus said that “the kingdom of the heavens is like” it. For that reason the mustard-grain tree could not picture Babylon the Great, for that organization is the world empire of false religion that started with ancient Babylon. Babylon the Great as a whole does not claim to be or represent “the kingdom of the heavens” or the Messianic “kingdom of God.” However, the most numerous and prominent part of Babylon the Great does claim to represent God’s heavenly Messianic kingdom. That most powerful part of Babylon the Great is Christendom, with its thousand or more religious branches and denominations.

7. To what has Christendom’s greatest growth in history been due, and when did she really start and how?

⁷ Christendom claims to have sprung from the original small Christian congregation in Jerusalem during the first century C.E. Today Christendom’s congregations number into the millions. She has attained her greatest growth! But her scandalous worldliness and lack of spirituality today make it certain that her tremendous growth has not been due to her spiritual virtues and her having the advancing light of Bible truth. Religious history shows that actually Christendom was founded in the fourth century C.E. by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who claimed to be converted to Christianity in 312 C.E. but who remained unbaptized until shortly before his death on May 22, 337 C.E. He made the degraded Christianity of his day the State Church of the Roman Empire, using some three hundred apostate, compromising “bishops” to do so. As Pontifex Maximus of the Roman Empire, he convened the first Council of Nicaea, Asia Minor, and ruled on the doctrines that it decreed to be Church doctrine.

8. What in the way of doctrine and practice permeates Christendom today, and in fulfillment of what parable?

⁸ Today, what permeates the whole mass of the churches of Christendom? True Bible teaching and structure and procedure and observance? No! It is the fusion religion that Pontifex Maximus Constantine promoted, in which the Babylonish doctrines and procedures are the fundamental things rather than the teachings of God’s inspired Holy Word. Constantine was the one who as presiding officer of the Council of Nicaea settled the dispute over the personality and attributes of Jehovah God by ruling in favor of the Babylonish doctrine of the Trinity. Jesus Christ foretold this process of corrupting Christian doctrine and practice by giving the parable of the leaven. He said: “The kingdom of the heavens is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three large measures of flour, until the whole mass was fermented.”​—Matt. 13:33.

9. How long has this religiously corrupting influence been going on in Christendom, with what opportunity for the agents of the Devil?

⁹ The fermentation of the whole mass of Christendom has now had sixteen centuries of time in which to take place. Who can deny that Christendom is completely leavened today by the corrupting influence of Babylonish doctrine and worldliness and Nimrod-like defiance of the universal sovereignty of Jehovah God? This corrupting of the tremendous mass of Christendom’s imitation “sons of the kingdom” has made the false earthly “kingdom of God” an excellent place for the agents of Satan the Devil to take refuge in, like the “birds of heaven” lodging among the branches of the full-grown mustard-seed tree.​—Matt. 13:31, 32.

10, 11. (a) Why is nothing beneficial for mankind pictured in the parable of the mustard grain? (b) So, what “kingdom” today does the mustard-seed “tree” picture?

¹⁰ The lodging of all these symbolic “birds of heaven” in the many ramifications of Christendom has not been for the spiritual benefit of Christendom. It is just like the tree that grew from the mustard grain that the farmer planted in his garden or field. The birds of heaven that lodged in its branches were able to eat the mustard seeds, just like the birds of Jesus’ parable of the four soils who ate up the seeds that fell from the sower’s hand by the roadside. (Matt. 13:4) As far as Jesus’ parable went, the tree did not serve for any human benefit. For instance, the parable does not tell how, when the tree became full size, the planter came and chased those birds away and collected a large quantity of mustard seed for making a good sauce to season some foods. But, certainly, the farmer did not plant the mustard grain in his garden just to provide a lodging place for the “birds of heaven.”

¹¹ All things taken into account, it is apparent that the symbolic mustard-seed “tree” of today is the counterfeit “kingdom of the heavens,” namely, Christendom, with her clergy lording it over the laity. The full-grown “tree” could not consistently picture the remnant on earth today of the sealed spiritual Israelites, for these are merely a fraction, not the full numerical growth of the 144,000 Kingdom heirs. In fact, for more than twenty-seven years the spiritual remnant has been getting fewer in number. At the Memorial celebration of 1975 their number had dropped to 10,454.

A MUSTARD PLANT DIFFERENT FROM WHAT WE MIGHT EXPECT

12. On the basis of the Bible rule that a seed must bring forth its kind, what objection might someone logically raise to the explanation that the mustard-seed “tree” pictures Christendom?

¹² Quite logically, someone might raise up against the foregoing presentation the following objection: In Jesus’ parable, the man who sowed the mustard grain did so with good intentions. From this grain he expected the growth of a mustard plant “according to its kind.” (Gen. 1:11, 12) He did not expect something foreign to what he had sown. He had in mind no counterfeit of a mustard plant. That being the case, how can we say that such a counterfeit is exactly what the sower got? Accordingly, how can we say, as above, that the “tree” that grew from the mustard grain represented Christendom, the counterfeit of the “kingdom of the heavens”?a Is that not contrary to God’s law that a seed must produce its own kind? Would not this divine law, when spiritually applied, rule out the idea of Christendom, the opposite of the “kingdom of the heavens”?

13, 14. (a) Why would there have been no Christendom if there had been no Jesus Christ? (b) According to what standard does God hold her accountable to Him, and of what is she the counterpart?

¹³ In this regard, things started with Jesus Christ. If there had been no Christ, there would have been no Christendom. A simple statement, but true nonetheless! In the fourth century of our Common Era Christendom pinned herself to the true Christ, not to a false Christ, a false Messiah, so as to make the counterfeit more undiscernible. She even took his official designation by calling herself Christendom. She has appropriated to herself the various things connected with Jesus Christ. She practices baptism in water, some of her churches even today practicing total immersion. She celebrates the Lord’s Supper with bread and the product of the grapevine. She has her elders or bishops and deacons. (Phil. 1:1, Authorized Version) And, as for the Holy Bible as a whole, the very Bibles that the Christian witnesses of Jehovah have used down till the beginning of the publication of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures in 1950 C.E. have come to us from the Bible societies that Christendom’s churches have operated.

¹⁴ It is plainly evident that Jesus Christ is implicated with the formation of Christendom, which has professed till now to be his true Church. Furthermore, Jehovah God takes Christendom at her word and according to her own claims. For this reason Jehovah calls upon her to live up to her claims and holds her responsible for failure to live up to his requirements. For this he will bring upon her a due punishment. In this “conclusion of the system of things” he judges her as unfaithful to her religious professions. She is the modern-day counterpart of unfaithful Israel of ancient times.

15, 16. How does Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds show his being implicated with the growth of Christendom till now?

¹⁵ Adding to the Scriptural proof that Jesus Christ is implicated with the growth of Christendom, there is the parable of the wheat and the weeds (tares). True, Jesus Christ, “the Son of man,” did not sow those weeds in his own field. His enemy, Satan the Devil, did so. In the parable, the slaves of the Sower quickly discovered the presence of the weeds in the wheat field. They wanted to uproot the weed sprouts. But the Sower, the owner of the wheat field, would not let them do so. In his patience and long-suffering he ordered the slaves to let both the weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest around Pentecost time. First then would he have the weeds, now fully grown, separated from the wheat.

¹⁶ In fulfillment of this feature of Jesus’ parable, he did not have Christendom destroyed as soon as it manifested itself. He permitted it to expand. In that sense he is involved with Christendom’s growth to its present proportions, the greatest in its history. Even up till this writing, Jesus Christ has not destroyed Christendom. She is still, by his permission, occupying space in the Sower’s field, “his field,” his religious “field under cultivation.”​—Matt. 13:24-27; compare 1 Corinthians 3:9.

17. By whom has the symbolic “dragnet” been handled, and, in 1891 and 1912, what was this “dragnet” said to picture?

¹⁷ Further illustrating Jesus’ tie-in with Christendom is the parable of the dragnet. (Matt. 13:47-50) The fishermen who handle the dragnet picture the heavenly angels under the direction of the glorified Jesus Christ. But what does the dragnet itself picture? Because the parable says that “the kingdom of the heavens is like a dragnet,” does the dragnet picture the 144,001 members of the “kingdom of the heavens” class? No, it could not do so, when we take all the features of the parable together. The book “Thy Kingdom Come,” published in 1891, said, on page 214, that the dragnet pictured “the nominal Christian Church.” The Watch Tower under date of June 15, 1912, on its page 201 and under the heading “The Parable of a Fish Net,” spoke of it as “the Gospel net, with its full assortment of churchianity of every style.”

18. What did The Watchtower under date of November 15, 1967, say that the dragnet pictured?

¹⁸ More recently, in the Watchtower issue of November 15, 1967, appeared the study article entitled “Let Down Your Nets for a Catch.” On page 686, paragraph six says that “the dragnet symbolizes the earthly organization that professes to be God’s congregation that is in the new covenant with God through the Mediator Jesus Christ. So it claims to be the spiritual Israel, the holy nation that is anointed with God’s spirit to reign with Jesus Christ in the heavenly kingdom. It includes the true professors and the false or unfaithful professors. Logically it includes Christendom, with its hundreds of thousands of professed Christians, belonging to hundreds of sects called Christian.”

19, 20. (a) Jesus’ experience with the symbolic mustard grain has been like what experience of Jehovah, as set out in Jeremiah 2:21-23? (b) In Hosea 10:1-4, how did Jehovah picture the degeneration of Israel as a symbolic “vine”?

¹⁹ Thus in the Kingdom parables Jesus Christ illustrated his link with the formation and growth of the nominal Christian organization of Christendom. His connection with Christendom is similar to the connection of his heavenly Father Jehovah with apostate Israel of ancient times. Jehovah’s purpose in establishing the nation of Israel back in 1513 B.C.E. was good and righteous. But what happened to that nation whom he had chosen and planted in the Promised Land in Palestine? Jehovah himself replies to that question in Jeremiah 2:21-23. There he says: “‘As for me, I had planted you as a choice red vine, all of it a true seed. So how have you been changed toward me into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine? But though you should do the washing with alkali and take to yourself large quantities of lye, your error would certainly be a stain before me,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. ‘How can you say, “I have not defiled myself. After the Baals I have not walked”? See your way in the valley. Take note of what you have done. A swift young she-camel aimlessly running to and fro in her ways.’”

²⁰ Also, in Hosea 10:1-4, Jehovah says: “Israel is a degenerating vine. Fruit he keeps putting forth for himself. In proportion to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. In proportion to the goodness of his land, they put up good pillars. Their heart has become hypocritical; now they will be found guilty. . . . They speak words, making false oaths, concluding a covenant; and judgment has sprouted like a poisonous plant in the furrows of the open field.”

21. (a) How did the Jewish generation of Jesus’ day show its apostasy? (b) Whose experience answers the question as to whether Jesus could plant a symbolic mustard grain and have a foreign plant develop?

²¹ In the days of Jesus Christ and his apostles the nation of Israel was just as apostate as in the days of Jeremiah and Hosea. In fact, it was the generation of Israel that brought about the death of Jesus the Messiah and that persecuted his apostles and first-century disciples. Such Israelites especially were the ones to whom Jesus, as well as Isaiah, referred as having their eyes plastered shut, their ears unresponsive and their hearts unreceptive so that there was no spiritual healing for them. (Isa. 6:9, 10; Matt. 13:13-15; Acts 28:24-28) Hence that apostate generation suffered national calamity in 70 C.E. So, now, does anyone ask the question, How could Jesus as the Sower of the parable plant the symbolic mustard grain and yet have it become a tree of a foreign kind, the corrupt counterfeit called Christendom? The experience of Jehovah God with the ancient nation of Israel gives the divine answer to such a questioner!

22. Why could Jesus tell the parable of the mustard grain and have in mind that the full-grown “tree” would picture a counterfeit organization?

²² Jesus Christ, with his prophetic foresight, could foreknow the outcome for the symbolic mustard grain that he planted in the first century. He was acquainted with the history of Israel and knew all the prophecies. So he could tell the parable of the mustard grain and have in mind the counterfeit “kingdom of the heavens,” Christendom, as being pictured by the full-grown mustard plant in which the “birds of heaven” lodged.​—Note Matthew 13:25, 38, 39; 24:23-25.

23. (a) From the failure of the parable to show the destruction of the mustard-seed “tree,” what should we not conclude? (b) What does the parable of the dragnet not show about that fishing net?

²³ Jesus’ parable did not, in itself or as far as it went, illustrate that the thing that was symbolized by the bird-infested “tree” would be destroyed. Yet that is no argument that such destruction will not come upon the symbolic “tree,” namely, Christendom. (Compare Luke 13:5-9.) The same thing may be said with regard to the dragnet: Jesus’ parable does not show that the dragnet would pass out of existence. But neither does the parable show that the dragnet was ever used again. Were it to be used again, it would bring out again from the “sea” the very same mixture of sea life as was depicted in the parable. So, because the parable does not go so far as to illustrate it, this does not signify that what is pictured by the dragnet will not be done away with in God’s due time. Operations under the guidance of the angels have been carried on with that symbolic dragnet for the past nineteen centuries. But, when once the work of separating the forms of sea life that have been hauled in by that symbolic dragnet is completed, that fishing operation will not be repeated.

24. Despite its not being shown in the parable, why will the symbolic dragnet be done away with in God’s due time?

²⁴ Since the dragnet pictured “the nominal Christian Church” or ‘the organization of professed Christians, including the true and the false,’ the symbolic dragnet will actually be done away with. Such a religious device that includes Christendom will be cast away and never be used again. By the end of the “conclusion of the system of things” Jehovah God will have gotten all his good “fish” for the true “kingdom of the heavens.” (Matt. 4:17; 13:47-50) So the failure of the parable to illustrate it does not prove that the figurative dragnet will not accomplish its purpose and be done away with, be laid away, never to be used again. And yet Jesus said that “the kingdom of the heavens” was like that dragnet. Certainly, then, the dragnet did not itself picture the Kingdom class of 144,001 members.

WHAT ABOUT LEAVENED THINGS OFFERED TO JEHOVAH?

25. Although the nominal Christian organization is leavened with Babylonish things, what question might someone still have about the leaven hid in dough by the woman, and why so?

²⁵ There is no question about whether the nominal Christian organization, pictured by the bird-infested mustard-grain “tree,” has become corrupted with Babylonish teachings and practices. In the foregoing discussion it was pointed out that this corrupting of the professed Christian organization was pictured in Jesus’ parable in which a woman hid a bit of leaven in three large measures of flour, in order to leaven the whole mass. (Matt. 13:33) Yet someone might still find difficulty with that explanation of the parable. He might ask himself, Does the leaven in that parable really picture something bad, corruptive of religion? Might it not picture the power that permeates the true Christian congregation of Kingdom heirs with righteousness, holiness? Why, look at the things that were offered to Jehovah God according to the law of Moses and that contained leaven with acceptance by Him! Does this not indicate that the Holy Scriptures use leaven as a symbol of goodness and righteousness? Might this not also be the case in Jesus’ parable of the leaven buried in a large batch of dough?

26. How might such a questioner reason about the leaven in the two loaves of wheat bread that the high priest offered on the day of Pentecost?

²⁶ A prominent instance, that might be referred to, of where leavened things were offered to Jehovah under command by him and with acceptance by him, is the two loaves of leavened wheat bread that the Jewish high priest offered on the day of the Festival of Weeks, or Pentecost, which fell on the sixth day of the spring lunar month of Sivan. This was the fiftieth day from Nisan 16, when the high priest offered up the firstfruits of the barley harvest. (Lev. 23:15-17; Deut. 16:9-12; Acts 20:16; 1 Cor. 16:8) In view of all the respect given to those two loaves, one’s reasoning might go in the following way: Jehovah on the festival day accepts the two wheat loaves containing leaven. Does not, then, Jehovah’s acceptance in this case of something leavened signify that there the leaven takes on a favorable meaning? Does this not prove that at times leaven does take on a good symbolic value with God? Why, look at how leavened bread was a favorite bread among Jehovah’s ancient chosen people, whereas the unleavened bread was called “the bread of affliction.” (Deut. 16:1-3) Surely that must impart a favorable aspect to leaven when being used as a symbol in the Bible!

27. If we follow that line of reasoning, to what conclusion does it lead us as to the meaning of the leaven in the antitype of the two Pentecostal loaves of wheat bread?

²⁷ If we follow such a line of reasoning regarding the two leavened wheat loaves presented on the festival day of Weeks, then where does it consistently lead? To this: Those two Pentecostal loaves were typical, foreshadowing things to come according to God’s purpose. So in the antitype of that presentation of the two leavened loaves on Sivan 6, the thing symbolized by the leaven in the loaves must be something good, righteous, virtuous. Hence we ask, What do those two loaves of leavened wheat bread themselves typify? They typify the true Christian congregation of imperfect human believers that came into existence on the day of Pentecost of the year 33 C.E. (Zion’s Watch Tower as of March 1, 1898, page 68, paragraph 4) So, now, if, on the day of Pentecost, the leaven pictured something on the good side, then consistently the new Christian congregation is pictured as starting off with an antitypical leaven of goodness in itself, some special “grace of the holy spirit.” All of this, before the holy spirit was poured out!

28. However, in harmony with The Watch Tower, what does the leaven in the typical Pentecostal loaves of wheat bread picture?

²⁸ However, did the human members of the Christian congregation start off with some inward merit of their own on the Pentecostal day of the outpouring of God’s holy spirit upon them? No; they had no righteousness of their own. So, the leaven found in the offering of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest has long been explained to mean sin, the sin that the members of the Christian congregation of Kingdom joint heirs inherited from disobedient Adam. (Rom. 5:12; see The Watch Tower as of June 15, 1912, page 198, the second paragraph under the heading “Parable of the Leaven.”) However, back there on the day of Pentecost, 33 C.E., it became true of the imperfect members of the Christian congregation that “the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.”​—1 John 1:7; see page 229, paragraph 1, through page 231 of the book The Temple, by Alfred Edersheim, edition of 1881.b

29. (a) With what day of offering firstfruits is the day of Pentecost linked, and how? (b) What about the matter of leaven as regards that earlier day of offering firstfruits of harvest?

²⁹ Such explanation of the leaven in the two Pentecostal wheat loaves is supported by another fact. It is this: Pentecost, the festival day of Weeks (Shabuoth), is linked by the count of time to the day for offering the firstfruits of the barley harvest. That offering was made on Nisan 16, the third day from Passover. (Lev. 23:9-17) When, on Nisan 16, the high priest waved to and fro the “sheaf of the firstfruits of [Israel’s] harvest” of barley, no leaven was offered along with it. Two tenths of an ephah of fine flour moistened with oil was offered along with the fourth of a hin measure of wine, but no leaven. (Lev. 23:13) In fact, this ceremony fell within the seven-day festival of the unleavened bread, during all of which time no leaven was to be around or to be eaten. Why, now, was there an absence of leaven at this ceremony on Nisan 16 whereas on the related festival of Pentecost there was the presence of leaven?

30. (a) If leaven typified something righteous, then what would its absence on the day of offering the barley firstfruits indicate? (b) What did the sheaf of the firstfruits of the barley harvest typify?

³⁰ If leaven were to be regarded as a favorable symbol because God accepted it on the day of Pentecost, why was it not permitted in the offerings that were made along with the waving of the sheaf of the firstfruits of the barley harvest? If the leaven were a symbol in a good sense, then would not the absence of leaven indicate that there was something good missing at the offering of the sheaf of barley by the high priest? Yes, it would typify that in the fulfillment of this prophetic picture there would be absent some virtue or some “grace of the holy spirit.” But is that actually the case? For an answer we have to consider what was typified by the sheaf of the firstfruits of the barley harvest. It is no one else but the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ himself.​—1 Cor. 15:20.

31. (a) On what day was Jesus resurrected, and why then? (b) What did there being no leaven permitted on that day in Israel picture about Christ’s resurrection?

³¹ In harmony with that fact, Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on Sunday, Nisan 16, 33 C.E., in the midst of the week-long festival of the unleavened bread or cakes. Certainly at his glorious resurrection he was not missing out on something good, some virtue or “grace of the holy spirit,” a fact that would be pictured if the missing leaven were to be viewed as a favorable symbol, as a so-called ‘leaven of righteousness.’ To the very contrary of that, the absence of leaven on Nisan 16 at the waving of the sheaf of the firstfruits of the barley harvest typified that Jesus Christ was resurrected as a perfect, righteous, sinless spirit person. At his resurrection he was, as 1 Timothy 3:16 says, “declared righteous in spirit.” There was no symbolical “leaven” about him.

32. (a) What did Jesus say about the loaf that he broke when instituting the Lord’s Supper? (b) Hence what did the unleavened quality of that loaf there symbolize?

³² Related to this, there is this fact: Nisan 16, the day when the firstfruits of the barley harvest were presented to Jehovah God, was the third day from Passover. After Jesus Christ celebrated the Passover supper on Nisan 14, 33 C.E., he took a loaf of unleavened bread and broke it and said to his faithful apostles: “Take, eat. This means my body.” (Matt. 26:26) Since there was no leaven in the loaf used, does this mean that, by reasoning on the basis that leaven is a good symbol, Jesus’ fleshly body lacked something vital, lacked righteousness, lacked some “grace of the holy spirit”? Absolutely not! The unleavened quality of the loaf that Jesus said typified his body pictured that Jesus’ fleshly body was free from all sin and imperfection.​—Heb. 7:26.

33. So, then, how do the Holy Scriptures use leaven in the way of a symbol, and what witnesses do we have in support of this?

³³ In agreement with all the foregoing, the issues of the Watch Tower magazine for May 15, 1900, and June 15, 1910, were correct in saying that, as a symbol, leaven or sour dough is used throughout the Scriptures in an unfavorable sense or on the negative side. From the Bible’s very first mention of leaven or sour dough, in Exodus 12:15-20; 13:7, down to the last mention in Galatians 5:9, the Holy Scriptures have used leaven as a symbol of what is bad. If we need witnesses to that fact, we have at least TWO witnesses to testify to the fact that the Bible unvaryingly uses leaven to symbolize something bad, unrighteousness, error, sin. Jesus referred to the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. (Matt. 16:6-12; Mark 8:15; Luke 12:1) The apostle Paul warns against the leaven that leavens the whole lump or mass. He refers to the typical festival of unleavened bread and clearly defines what leaven symbolizes, for he says: “Christ our passover has been sacrificed. Consequently let us keep the festival, not with old leaven, neither with leaven of badness and wickedness, but with unfermented cakes of sincerity and truth.”​—1 Cor. 5:6-8; see Deuteronomy 17:6, 7; 19:15; 1 Timothy 5:19; Hebrews 10:28.c

34. Accordingly, what does the parable of the leaven illustrate?

³⁴ In the face of this, Jesus did not make an exception with regard to the meaning of leaven when he gave the parable of the woman who hid a bit of leaven in three large measures of flour. In his consistency of teaching, he there used leaven to symbolize something unfavorable. So the parable must illustrate something unfavorable about matters having to do with the “kingdom of the heavens.” There the leavening of the big batch of dough pictures prophetically the corrupting of the professed Christian congregation with Babylonish error of teaching and practice. It pictures the symbolic leavening of what is illustrated by the full-grown mustard plant. Appropriately, then, both Matthew and Luke put the parable of the leaven right alongside the parable of the mustard grain, and Luke does so right after a stinging rebuke of hypocritical religionists.​—Luke 13:10-21.

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