I would contend that the parable of the Leaven and the parable of the Mustard Seed show deteriorating conditions in the kingdom.
Leaven throughout scripture is viewed as a negative and idiomatic of corruption. Both old and new testaments. It was a serious thing to introduce leaven into any of the offerings at the temple. Only the offering of first fruits of the harvest was allowed to have leaven in it. Jesus warned his disciples several times to beware of the leaven of the pharisees. Paul made it a point in Corinthians and Galations that leaven was idiomatic of corruption and sin.
The parable of the leaven therefore should show that evil is entered into the kingdom and grows till it infects the entire thing. That would substantiate why, when Satan is released at the end of the 1000 year kingdom that he is able to muster a major rebellion against God one last time. Sin has permeated the kingdom.
Likewise the parable of the mustard seed shows the same thing. The birds were shown in the parable of the sower, as elaborated by Jesus to his disciples when they asked Him to explain it, that they are the evil adversaries. In the mustard seed example, the birds are nesting in the tree. This compliments the leaven parable that evil is in the kingdom.
That is why Jesus will rule with a rod of iron during the millennial kingdom. Sin will still be a problem.
That is what I meant by holding to a sound hermeneutic that not only takes the plain sense of the passage, but follows the pattern of expositional constancy, which calls for interpreting something in light of how it was meant in other passages. Leaven throughout scripture is always a negative. Birds, in general, have been idiomatic of evil emissaries throughout scripture as well. It follows that they should mean the same thing in these parables to glean the true meaning of them.
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Kingdom of heaven expectations
This is too long - You might not want to read this.
I got carried away in the excitement.
Premillennialist are pessimistic about the Church.
Postmillennialist are optimistic about the Church.
Amillennialist cannot be categorized into either camp. There are some amillennialist in each camp and others who see the advancement of the Church as always advancing but never the dominate faith among the peoples of the world.
Matthew 16:18 (ESV) And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
How does your view of the church as leaven and the mustard seed compare with mine?
Look at the progress of the Church.
Once upon a time there was one apostate nation.
About A.D. 30
There were a few disciples – maybe several hundred.
There was only one nation who claimed to worship YHWH and most of those citizens were apostate. Eighteen percent (18%) of the verses of the gospels record the Lord Jesus condemning his fellow Jews.
By about A.D. 58 the Apostle could write, “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world” (Romans 1:8 KJV).
Although, “the whole world” is hyperbole it insinuates that the Church has spreading among many peoples. Claiming the whole world was not a ridiculous expectation.
Before his death the Apostle Thomas evangelized people on the west coast of India. These Christians are still known today as Thomasites. In the sixteenth century when the Portuguese landed on the west cost of India with Catholic missionaries they encountered the Thomasite Christians.
Many of the ancient masques in the Middle East are built over the early churches. While the Muslim dominance of Middle East culture reduced the Christian influence there has remained a remnant in the face of martyrdom.
During the forth century Christianity became such a force to be declared an official religion of the Roman Empire.
The Church continued to grow through the centuries of the dark and middle ages. While the institutional Church became corrupted, considering the number of the remnant that were martyred suggest there were many faithful outside of the institutional church.
Most western European nations established their own state Christianity. While modern people may find this arrangement offensive, people who lived and worshipped under state religions could be faithful followers. It is the corruption of the Roman Catholic Church which inspired the Protestant Reformation. During this whole period the Eastern Orthodox Church continued its dominance in the east.
In the west Christians often forget about the Eastern Church’s dominance in Eastern Europe and Russia. The Church became so important that the Eastern Church is identified with the name of the country – as Greek Orthodox and others.
The Coptic Church dominated in Egypt since the evangelist Mark brought Christianity to this land about A.D. 50. The Ethiopian, Armenian, and Syriac Orthodox churches are all Oriental Orthodox churches in communion with the Coptic Orthodox Church.
There are more Presbyterians in South Korea than in the USA. There is spiritual awakening in Korea!
The number of Protestant Christian in China could reach 171 million by 2021 and 255 million by 2025. Chinese Christian are planning to send missionaries to Muslim countries where it is against the law to evangelize. When told they would be jailed or killed they reply, “So, how is that different than being Christian in China.” The Chinese government just keeps on bulldozing their houses.
There were more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than in the total of the previous nineteen centuries.
Today, missionary after missionary recount the stories of unbelievers, even Muslims, having dreams of Christ and repenting and believing when presented the gospel. Some are murdered as in a village in Africa where twenty young women were murdered by their Muslim families rather the deny their faith. Because we are spiritual dead in America is not any indication of what the Lord is doing elsewhere.
The USA has become so corrupted (given up by God to our own evil desires) that all we see is the defeat of Christian values and the Church. This is not what is happening around the globe. When missionaries return to the USA they have difficulty in relating to American Christians because of their lack of commitment and sacrifice. That is us.
So, 2000 years ago there was one apostate nation pretending to serve YHWH. Today the Church marches on conquering people for Christ. If past history is an indicator, the future for the Church should continue to be victorious in spite of the many, many pitfalls ahead. Just look back on all the things that could have destroyed Christianity. Will the gospel ever dominate all peoples as it did in the American Bible belt seventy years ago? Will there ever be another time when 10, 000 New Yorkers each week are accepting the Lord as savior as was happening for several years back in the early 20th century? Will our nation return to the time when 98% of the people were members of the Church as in 1958? Will there be a future when there will be more Christians in the world than unbelievers? Only God knows these things – not the premillennialist, nor the postmillennialist nor the amillennialist can tell you these things. It is not revealed.
What is revealed is the great commission to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
My life in Christ is victorious as it is for all believers everywhere.
May we all sing "Onward Christian Soldiers."
