Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 July 1912 — THE SAVIOR'S TEACHINGS BROOKLYN TABERNACLE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

THE SAVIOR'S TEACHINGS BROOKLYN TABERNACLE

EMBRYO KINGDOM PARABLES. Mark iv, 26-32; Matthew xiii, 33. V July 21. Kingdom come, Thy trill 6c done on earth at it is done in heacen.”—Matthew ci, 10. Ik ANY OF US in the past have I overlooked the fact that nearI A ly all of the teachings of the /- Redeemer appertain to the Messianic Kingdom. Some of us had the unscriptural thought that Messiah’! Kingdom would consist merely of a sovereignty in the hearts of His followers. : 1 Now we see the real import of the Great Teacher’s utterances on this subject. As He taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, even as it is done in heaven,” He meant that we should have in mind God’s glorious promise that eventually, through Messiah’s Kingdom, ignorance, sin and death will be overthrown, and the obedient of mankind will be released from these until “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess’’ to the glory of God; Today’s study sets before us a number of Jesus' parables respecting the

Kingdom. The majority • f these refer to the Kingdom class of the present time rather than to the Kingdom in its fully developed state. Ail of God’s consecrated people sii • ; ->‘ >st constitute the Kingdom in embryo. Some of these embryo mem. bers may yet fail to

make their calling and election sure, may fail to hear the “well done.’’ The Kingdom Development Slow. The first illustration of our lesson is that God’s Kingdom in its. embryotfe condition is of slow development, covering the entire period of this Gospel Age. It is like seed cast into the ground, which brings its maturity when it is harvested. Jesus and the Apostles did the seed sowing, not only for their own day but for the whole “wheat"’ class. The gathering for the heavenly garner will be accomplished by the First Resurrection. The different parables do not view the embyro Kingdom from the same standpoint. The parable of the mustard seed api>ears to represent the Kingdom from the viewpoint of the world. From that little seed we have a great institution today with many denominational branches. But alas! its thrifty development has invited into its branches the fowls of the air, which the Lord elsewhere describes as representing the Wicked One and his angels who could have no place in the Church if it were to proclaim only the true Gospel.

Indeed, it is the neglect to preach this Gospel of the "narrow way" that has brought such prosperity to nominal Christianity and made it a desirable place for "the fowls of the air"—Satan and his deluded ones. This seems to be the picture which the Great Teacher gives us in Revelation xviii, 2: "She hath become the hold of every foul spirit and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird."

The word "cage" seems to imply that these “birds” are considered very desirable, and are held on to by nominal Christianity—probably because regarded as being amongst their best paying members. Parable of the Leaven. Throughout the Scriptures leaven is used as the symbol of sin. Thus when Jesus in His purity was to be symbolized as the "bread from heaven,” the Jews were directed to use unleavened bread. Again, at their annual Passover season, the Jews were directed to cleanse their houses of leaven, St Paul, commenting on this, writes to the Church, “Purge out, therefore, the old leaven” [sip, malice, hatred, strife, etc.], that you may be, with Christ the one unleavened Loaf. It is true that in one of the official sacrifices bread was to be baked with leaven; but this, we believe, was for the very purpose of symbolizing the fact that we, the Church, were by na-

ture sinners, “children of wrath, even as others.” This baking represents the experiences through which we must pass in order that sinful and corrupting tendencies may be completely destroyed. In this parable our Lord represents a woman mixing

leaven with meal, with the result that the whole mass was leavened. Consequently, if any of the family desired pure, unleavened bread, it would be unobtainable. What does this represent? We reply that in Scriptural symbolism a woman represents an ecclesiastical system. The “woman” in the parable represents a system possessed of the pure meal—the pure food provided by the Lord for the household of faith. The Word of God, originally pure, is no longer accepted. The leaven has spread so that today the entire mass of theological doctrine is offensive to all Christian people. The parable was a prophecy of what has occurred. It Is time all true Christians were hearkening back from the creeds of the Dark Ages to the Words of Jesus, the Apostles and the Prophets.

"A cage for every unclean bird.”

Corrupting the three measuree of meal.