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Luke 13:18-21

He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

    Jesus spends a considerable amount of time discussing the Kingdom of God/Heaven throughout His three-year teaching ministry.  His first "sermon" is short and to this very point: "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:14-15).  The Kingdom, to Him, was not a trivial, secondary matter as it has become to the modern Church.  The Kingdom of God was constantly at the center of His mind and on the tip of His tongue. 

   In Luke 17:21 Jesus says, "Nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”  What, where, and what type of Kingdom Jesus was bringing is highly controversial these days.  Jesus, however, made it clear that the Kingdom of God was nigh at hand at the time of His incarnation.  The Kingdom came.  God's plans were not thwarted or postponed.  The Kingdom was merely taken away from the Jews and given to the Church.  It is a spiritual Kingdom, which necessarily has physical, social, and political ramifications.

    But that is really not what this passage is about, nor is that my aim in quoting this passage.  My aim is to demonstrate the nature of the Kingdom's growth and duration.  Many people mistake the Bible's concept of the Kingdom coming.  They picture the Kingdom as coming in a fell, politically notable swoop.  This, however, is not what Jesus says.  He says it is like a mustard seed, which is small, which grows into a tree large enough for birds to perch in.  He says it is like leaven, which seems insignificant, but grows and changes the bread around it.  (As a sidenote, communion bread with leaven is not wrong.  Leaven does not always signify sin.  It signifies growth, which is as true of sin as it is of the Kingdom, as demonstrated by Jesus in the passage at hand.)

    The Kingdom came with the Advent of Jesus Christ and it continues to grow in all the corners of the world.  It grows in number, in influence, and in holiness.  Jesus, right before He ascended, claimed to have been given "all power in Heaven and in Earth" (Matthew 28:18).  The Kingdom is in the midst of us, even as it was in the midst of the Jews. 

    Take the time (right now, if possible) to read the entire chapter of Daniel 2.  It describes a Kingdom that would be set up directly after the fall of the fourth Kingdom pictured in Nebuchadnezzar's dream of a giant statue.  That fourth Kingdom was clearly Rome, and it was directly after Rome that Christ's Kingdom was set up.  His Kingdom knocked down the world power machine that the world experienced up to that point.  Quite significantly, however, is that the Kingdom was not established in all its grandeur.  It was established as a stone--a little, seemingly meaningless stone--that became a mountain that filled the whole earth.  This growth was progressive and gradual.  The Kingdom of God grows in just this way.  It, just like that small stone, will grow to fill the earth. 

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