Leaven in Heaven (Part 2)
To repeat the theme of my introduction in Part 1: the Kingdom of Heaven parables are NOT an allegory about God building the Church. Neither are they a collection of moral tales that highlight human righteousness in the world or in the Church. While the Parable of the Sower recounts how people respond to the Word of God, the subsequent parables shift into a personification of the Kingdom as an aberration—a Church infiltrated by the false gospel of the evil one, puffed up with pride, through sin (leaven) deliberately hidden within the architecture of the institution.
There are truths embedded in the Kingdom parables, but over time, they've been misconstrued in ways that make their interpretation contextually misleading. If we step back and view each parable as a part of a larger prophetic narrative, the notion that they present a utopian vision of the Church collapses. The metaphors of the mustard seed, the weeds, the leaven, and the birds all dismantle that claim. At best, placing a positive spin on these parables demonstrates a shallow understanding of eschatology and an even weaker grasp of ecclesiology. History and present reality do not reveal the Church as a spiritual paradise. Rather, these parables contain a prophetic warning, showing how deception infiltrates the Kingdom community. By overlooking the “birds of the air,” the corruption of the “leaven,” the deception of the “weeds,” and the “abhorrence the mustard seed becomes,” we risk descending into ambivalence about the evil that lurks within.
The Kingdom of Heaven
The phrase “Kingdom of Heaven” does not refer specifically to the Church. The Body of Christ is the culmination of the Kingdom story, but the story itself is about God’s grace extended to the world—the realm of His reign and presence within creation.
The Kingdom of Heaven can be used interchangeably with “Kingdom of God,” though it may carry different emphases depending on context. Conceptually, it refers to the sphere of God’s authority and influence, without excluding a physical location. Matthew uses “Heaven” instead of “God” out of sensitivity to Jewish reverence for God’s name. John, however, applies the term to realities of the afterlife.
Matthew portrays Jesus as the embodiment of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth and as the One building a Kingdom through the Spirit. John suggests that the Kingdom is present wherever God and Christ are. Revelation 11:15 declares: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah.” Here, the Kingdom is defined as both the world and the spiritual authority ruling it.
Thus, the Kingdom can be understood as positional, spiritual, physical, or future. Jesus demonstrated the Kingdom in His presence and ministry—“for indeed, the Kingdom of God is in your midst” (Luke 17:21)—and foreshadowed its consummation at His return. The phrase also allows for simultaneity: the Kingdom can exist in multiple dimensions at once. Whatever the “new heavens and new earth” may be, their defining quality is the presence of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.
Parables as Prophecy
These parables unveil the conflict between good and evil, a story born of God’s love for humanity, and culminating in the climactic harvest—when believers are gathered together with Christ. The “birth pains” within the Kingdom parables foreshadow the Christian journey, the race Paul describes, filled with struggle and resistance. The Church remains vulnerable to counterfeit teaching and spiritual infiltration. Evil presents itself as righteousness, distorts truth, fosters division, and promotes a false gospel of tolerance, without repentance, and a false love, without judgment.
The prophetic dimension of the parables is too often neglected. The Parable of the Sower portrays a continuum: from the reception of the Word to the final judgment. The seven churches of Revelation expand this narrative, showing the spiritual condition of all churches—and all believers—through time. Each manifests, to greater or lesser degrees, the very “abhorrence” warned of in the Kingdom parables. Revelation’s letters are a sober assessment and a present warning.
The Parable of the Sower
The seed is the Gospel message itself, not the believers. The parables together reveal both the present and future state of the world and the Church under the New Covenant. God is raising a body of true believers, while Satan cultivates a counterfeit religious body—impostors within the Church and the world. Impostors that are always learning but never understanding, swayed by worldly ideologies, man-made structures (like the Tower of Babel), and the spirit of this age. This is the Judas-spirit within all religious structures. The trajectory is clear: wars and rumours of wars, the calling home of believers, the tribulation, chaos, and finally the return of Christ and His reign. The spiritual decline anticipated in these parables echoes in the Laodicean church (Rev. 3:14). The Kingdom parables expose not only Israel’s religious corruption in Jesus’ day, but also the recurring danger for the Church across history. Indeed, the corruption of religious institutions is most evident in the medieval and Reformation periods.
Judgement on Unbelief
In Matthew 12, the Pharisees accuse Jesus of casting out demons by Satan’s power. In this blasphemy, they commit the unpardonable sin: attributing the Spirit’s work to the devil. Jesus declares such rejection unforgivable.
In response to their demand for a sign (12:38–45), Jesus condemns them as an evil and adulterous generation, granting them no sign but Jonah’s. Jesus announced judgment upon the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum—places where He performed many miracles. Yet, they refused to repent, and on the day of judgment, their punishment will be less tolerable than the pagan cities of Tyre, Sidon and Sodom. The sins of these towns are rising in many progressive, liberal, ideologically driven Churches today, and the Spirit behind this rebellion will continue to sow a false gospel until the time of the end.
A Vacant Heart
Jesus confronts the Pharisees and Teachers about the Law, he provides the Church with a cautionary warning that's echoed throughout the parables and open to manifesting in the Church as the spirit of unbelief in those NOT Born-again, "when Satan is cast out of a man and his heart is made clean, but remains unoccupied by the Holy Spirit, Satan returns to make that man worse than he was at first." Matthew 10 through 12 conveys a progressive revelation of the good and bad seed, and how Satan snatches away the Gospel message, but for those who respond, God has given Jesus authority to make God known to them.
The Mustard Seed and the Birds
The mustard seed is often wrongly presented as a positive image of Church growth. But in truth, the plant is a garden shrub, not a great tree. For it to become a towering structure is unnatural, even grotesque—a picture of abnormal, corrupted growth. Its unruly size symbolises distortion, not blessing. The “birds of the air” nesting in its branches represent demonic influence, just as in the Parable of the Sower. Far from being a symbol of refuge, it is a warning of infiltration.
Signs of the Weeds
Drawing believers back into legalism—rules and institutionalism.
Overemphasis on denominational traditions.
Suppressing or rejecting the Spirit’s work.
Neglect of Scripture’s authority and power.
Fixation on religious structure over spiritual reality (the Judas spirit).
Counterfeit love—shaped by worldly narratives of victimhood.
Liberal interpretations of Scripture under “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
Adoption of worldly systems and values within the Church.
Hatred of Israel and all forms of anti-Semitism, even in churches.
Legalism that denies Christ’s finished work.
Gnosticism that denies Christ’s humanity.
Idolatry that denies Christ’s lordship.
