The first of these parables about a mustard seed teaches how the Kingdom of God advances in the world. The Second about yeast or leaven, teaches how the Kingdom of God advances in the lives of individuals.
Unlike Islam, the gospel did not advance by force. Instead of threatening those who would not convert with death by the sword, the proclaimers of the Gospel were the ones put to death and yet they overcame their persecutors!
The kingdom of God advances as the Gospel conquers once implacable enemies heart by heart. As the gospel is preached the seed that Jesus spoke of is being sown and it is the Holy Spirit that causes that seed to grow. That is why lowly uneducated fishermen could produce such amazing results – results far beyond the ability of the greatest orators Greece or Rome to reproduce. Like Pharoah's magicians confronted with the miracles done by Moses, they too would have to concede that 'This is the finger of God'
The power of the Gospel lies in the fact that it is the Word of God and God's appointed and empowered means of spreading the Kingdom.
That is why when churches and denominations abandon the gospel, they inevitably begin to wither and die.
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I was converted out of paganism and the occult in 1993 and while I was initially Charismatic/Arminian in my theology, I became Reformed and Presbyterian through bible study and the influence of ministries like Ligonier. After teaching in local bible studies, and taking seminary...
