JESUS WILL REMOVE THE LEAVEN FROM GOD'S CHILDREN

PENTECOST:  THE FEAST OF THE LORD SYMBOLIZING THE CHURCH

In Acts 2:1-47, Luke wrote about the "birth of the Church."  Verse 1 reveals that it occurred on the day Israel celebrated the "Feast of Pentecost" (a.k.a. "Feast of Wave Loaves" and the "Feast of Weeks").  Verse 4 tells us that it was at that time, that Christ's disciples were "filled with the Holy Ghost."  Verses 46-47 say, "And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people.  And the Lord added to the Church daily such as should be saved."

Pentecost is the only Feast of the Lord which did not forbid the use of leaven; in fact, leaven was required (Lev. 23:16-17)!  Leaven, throughout the Scriptures, always symbolizes sin.  See the following examples:
*  Matthew 16:6, 11-12 - "Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees....How is it that ye do not understand that I spoke it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?  Then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees."
*  Luke 12:1 - "In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, He began to say unto His disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy."
*  1 Corinthians 5:6-8 - "Your glorying is not good.  Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?  Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us:  therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
*  Galatians 5:9 - "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump."

In Matthew 13, Jesus, using parables, give us pictures of the growth of the Church.  For instance, in verses 1-8 and18-23, we find that Jesus sows the Word, and only one in four believe in Him.  In verses 24-30, we see that the Church will be infiltrated by false believers.  In verses 31-32, the Church has small beginnings, but it grows so large that it is again infiltrated by God's enemies (fowls of the air - see verses 4 and 19).  In verse 44, the Church is mysteriously "hidden in the world."  In verses 45-46, the Church is "buried treasure."  In verses 47-50, a net is used to describe God separating out His Church from the rest of the world.

But the parable which best describes the "two leavened loaves" which constitute the Church, is found in verse 33, where we read:  "Another parable spoke 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."  The two loaves of Pentecost symbolize the Church being made up of believers in Christ:  less than perfect Jews, and less than perfect Gentiles (see Rom. 3:9; Gal. 2:7; Eph. 2:11-22; Col. 3:11; etc.).  The Lord will finish what He has started in those of us who believe in Christ (Phil. 1:6; 1 Jn. 3:2)!!!!!!!

 

I cannot wait until my "change comes!"