One day the Lord Jesus gave a very short Parable to His disciples of
only one verse, but He would not have told it to us, if He had not
intended us to learn a lesson from it.
I will copy the verse for you, because it is so very short, and then I
will explain it afterwards.
[Illustration: THE LEAVEN IN THE MEAL.]
"The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid
in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."
Leaven is what we now call yeast.
In the dictionary, leaven, or yeast, is described as something "which
pervades a mass, and changes its nature."
And so we will think of it in that light, and try to draw out from it
something which may help us every day.
If the Kingdom of Heaven is hidden in our hearts, then it ought to
pervade our whole lives.
I have seen an untidy woman, and an untidy home, perfectly transformed
by the love of God, and her desire to please Him.
A year or two ago, I knew a woman who had become rather fond of drink.
All at once she found that if she wanted to enter into "the Kingdom of
Heaven," that temptation must be left off. So she told the Lord Jesus
all about it, and then she left it off in the strength which He gave
her; and she said to me: "I have never taken any since!"
So she found, like many others whom I have known, that when "the
Kingdom of Heaven" takes possession of our hearts, our whole nature
becomes changed, and we try to live to God's glory!
In the same chapter in Matthew, the thirteenth, that has in it the
Parable about the leaven, our Lord gives us another picture of "the
Kingdom of Heaven."
He describes a man who was digging in a field; who came by chance upon
a great treasure.
The man hastily covered up the ground, and went to the owner of the
field, and asked him to let him buy the whole field.
The price was very high, but the man thought of the treasure, and he
did not hesitate. He went back, and sold all that he had, and came and
bought the field. He did not grudge it, for the treasure was worth
everything he possessed!
Then our Lord tells us of another man.
He was a merchant; and he travelled to far-off countries seeking
beautiful pearls.
At length he came across the most beautiful pearl he had ever seen—it
was of great price.
This man did not hesitate either. He saw the value of that pearl, and
he sold everything he had and bought it!
In the twenty-fifth of Matthew, Jesus gives us another Parable, and it
is about His coming back; and I am sure you will like to hear that one,
for you have perhaps seen pictures of those Ten Virgins who went out to
meet the Bridegroom, with little lamps in their hands?
Five of these Virgins were wise, and five were foolish. Why was it that
some were wise and some not?
Perhaps you have a brother who has cycled into the country, and comes
home later than you expected, and tired-out?
"Yes," he says, "I have had to walk my machine for half-a-dozen
miles—my lamp went out, and there was not a shop to be seen!"
Yes, that was it; he had not taken oil to fill his lamp.
So the foolish Virgins took their lamps, but took no oil with them; but
the wise took oil in their vessels, with their lamps.
The Bridegroom seemed long in coming, and they all fell asleep while
they waited.
And at midnight there was a cry made: "Behold the Bridegroom cometh! Go
ye out to meet Him!"
Then all the Virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish
said to the wise: "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are gone
out."
But the wise answered that they must not do that, lest there should not
be enough for them both; instead they advised the foolish Virgins to go
and buy for themselves.
And while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came, and those who were
ready went in with Him to the marriage; and the door was shut.
Afterwards, when the other Virgins came back, they asked that the door
might be opened; but the Bridegroom answered that He did not know them.
I am sure you will feel sad when you think that the foolish Virgins
could not share in the Marriage Supper.
I think this is told us to warn us to ask God to give us His Holy
Spirit in our hearts, which, like the oil in the little lamps, will
show us the way, and keep us brightly shining for Him!
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Heavenly Bridegroom in this Parable.
When He was on earth, He told His disciples over and over again to
watch most earnestly for Him to come back.
He warned all of us who love Him, to be ready to open to Him if he
knocks; to guard against being so bound up in the pleasures of life
that the day of His return should take any of us by surprise.