The Yale expositor., 1919-09-04
IMPROVED UMFoRn INTERNATIONAL
SUNDMSO1OOL
LESSON
tBy REV. Il. Is. FITZWATER, -. D.,
Teacher OF English Bible In the Moody
Bible Institute OF ChicagoJ
Copyright, 1919. Western Newspaper union)
LESSON FOR SEPTEMBER 7
PARALLELS OF THE KINGDOM OF
HEAVEN.

LESSON TEXT-Matt. lS:Sl-s3. 44-ah.
GOLDEN TENT-Seek we first tho
Kingdom of God and his righteousness
Matt. 6;33.
PRIMARY ToPIC-Obeying our king.
JUNIOR ToPIC-AJ message OF the
king.
INTERMEDIATE ToPIc-The growth
SENIOR AND ADULT TOPIC-The
extent OF the Kingdom.
I. The Parable Of the Mustard Seed
w. 81, 32).
Three things mainly occupy our at
tentiOn in this parable:
J. Its unimpOrtant beginning II
begins rs the least Of all seeds and
grows 10 be the greatest among herbs.
The king was Of ordinary parcntage
and humble circumstances. lie select
ed unlettcred fishermen as his royal
advisers. The prophet had said con-
corning him that he would be- de
Spised,' rejected" ''fOrsaken." "cut
OFF, and as having nothing"
.. Its vigorous growth From these
small beginnings Christ'S influence has
gone forth so that there is no power
or influence equal In greatness 10 that
of Chrlstendom.
3. Its lodging capacity.
The birds which find lodrmrnt IN
the tree do not represent the children
OF men who find safety and salvation
In the church. The birds constitute
no part Of the tree. while the believer
becomes part OF the tree adding TO
it's strength and fruitfulneSS. The birds
are something foreign 10 The tree, and
are burdensome and injurious 10 II.
They come to find shelter and wait TO
pluck off the tender buds or to prey
upon the ripened fruit The effect OF
their lodging in the Tree is evil and
blighting. In ChriSi'S Interpretation
". l9) he said that the fowls repre-
sent the wicked ones. He who would
make the dodgers here anything else
makes ChriSt's Interpretation farce.
The same Greek word is used IN both
cases. and lie circumstances are The
same.
~. The Parable Of the Leavened
Meal ". 33).
Three things mainly occupy our At
tention here: the meal, the wcman,
and the leaven.
!. The meal. Meal has = whole
some and nutritious effect. II was
used in one Of the sweet SAVIOUR Offer
ings which was typical Of Christ Uev.
2:1-3 X. W; II was food for the
priests Uev. :15-l7 Il. W; Abraham
had Sarah TO knead cake ont OF
three measures Of meal for the angelic
messengers of the Lord (Gen. 1850;
SolOmon'S royal table was provided
With meal q Kings 4:2); Elijah was
fed upon cake made Of meal Qi
Kings 4 Al Elisha used meal as an
antidote for tie poison of death from
the pot QI Kings 4:3S-4D.
2. The woman. In scripture we
hnd false doctrine being taught by
woman (Rev. 2:20). Dealing with
doctrine is forbidden TO women q
Tim. 2:12). In I Tim. 4:13; II Tim.
2:17, 10; II Peter 2:1-3, we find that
the apostasy will be brought in
through false teaching within the
ranks of Gods people. The meaning
then. of the parable Is that the true
doctrine. the meal given for the nOur-
ishment of the children OF the king
dom (lI Peter 2, | Tim 4 :G), will be
officially corrupted by false doctrine.
Woman is type Of the church in
some sense. The church Is hiding
away false doctrine, and it's corrupt
ing effects are seen on every hand.
3. The leaven. In scripture lcaven
is invariably a type of evil. U) All
through the Old Testament leaven is
continual and unvarying type Of
evil (EX. 1915; Lev. 2:1D. Ii is in
conceivable that Jesus should arbi-
trarily change. without due notice
and explanation, word from an
evil TO good sense, which the Spirit
of God had so unchangingly used for
two thousand years. (2) Jesus him
self makes leaven 10 denote sin Matt.
1876. 10 Mark S:15). (3) Paul uses
leaven in its usual biblical sense Q
Cor. :6-S; Gal. 5 IS, 81. Further. this
IL tue Oihy Interpretation iidt wiz
harmonic with Christ's interpreta-
ton of the first two PARALLELS. Facts
patent to all prove that the professed
church today is feeding upon the
leaven of Journalism and legalism in
stead Of the unleavened bread of sin
certify and truth-the Word Of God.
~. The Parable Of the Hid Treas
ure ". Az.
w. The Parable Of the Merchant
man Seeking Pearls ". IS. 46).
v. The Parable Of the Drag Net.
". 47-50).
(For detailed study of the last
three parallels see the Review for Sep
TENDER 2S.)