The Life of Christ

• Had He mentioned the orchard seed, it would have meant nothing to them.

The mustard tree can grow to about ten feet in height, certainly not that large in comparison to other trees.

• In comparison to the size of the seed, however, that is an expediential increase.

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Mt. 13:33 He spoke another parable to them, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three pecks of meal, until it was all leavened.”

Leaven also has the capacity to begin in small amounts and spread throughout.

• The kingdom of God began within a handful of Jewish fishermen; over the past hundreds of years it has leavened much of the earth.

• Today the Christian church has currently grown to over one billion believers who are alive today.

This leaven principle also operates within our own life as the Spirit transforms our old nature into His nature.

• In the beginning the change is barely noticeable, but through the years, more and more of our thoughts begin to resemble the mind of Christ.

• By the time Christ returns for His bride, there will be a segment of the church known for being described as “without spot, wrinkle, blemish, or any such thing” (Eph. 5:27). As we can see, the leavening process within the church is far from complete, but steadily moving forward.

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Mt. 13:44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”

It was very common for people back in Bible days to hide their valuables in a field.

• The most widely held interpretation of verse 44 has been that Jesus represents the treasure, which motivates us to sell everything in order to buy the treasure.

• The fallacy of this interpretation is that none of us could ever purchase our salvation.

The treasure is the church, which Jesus purchased by going to the cross. I Cor. 7:23 say s, “we have been bought with a price.”

• Jesus actually bought the field (world) when He went to the cross. (Mt. 13:38).

• Ps. 24:1-2 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”

• Due to the fall, however, the earth temporarily fell into the devil’s control (Lk. 4:5-6).

• Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said to Him, "All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give It to whomever I wish" (Lk. 4:5-6).

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