In the previous chapter, we saw the constitution of the Body of Christ under the enemy Satan's frustration, damage, and corruption as revealed in Matthew 13. We need to be impressed with all these negative things.

Satan's frustrating work is seen within the human heart (vv. 1-23). The first kind of heart is as the wayside, hardened by the heavy traffic of the world. The word of life cannot penetrate the hardened heart, giving the evil spirits the opportunity to snatch the word of life away. There is a war raging between God and His enemy, Satan. God has myriads of angels, but a number of His angels followed Satan in his rebellion (see Rev. 12:4 and note 1). Thus, Satan has his evil angels, the evil spirits. The Lord Jesus in Matthew 13 likened these evil spirits to the birds snatching away the seed sown on the hardened earth. The second kind of heart is the shallow heart which is like the shallow earth with hidden rocks. These rocks are items such as hidden sins, personal desires, self-seeking, and self-pity. The third kind of heart is likened to the earth with thorns which choke the life seed. These thorns are the anxiety of this age, this life, and the deceitfulness of riches.

Matthew 13 also reveals the enemy Satan's damage with his sowing tares in the midst of the wheat and his changing the nature of the mustard seed into a big tree (vv. 24-32). The tares are the false believers, the sons of the evil one, and the big tree is big Christendom in confusion.

Finally, Satan works to corrupt the church by leavening it (vv. 33-35). The leaven is the greatest negative thing. All the different aspects of leaven which we pointed out in the previous chapter have been greatly used by God's enemy, Satan, throughout the past twenty centuries. This is why today's Christianity has nearly lost its impact. Half of the United States population is supposed to be Christian, but where is the Christian influence today? There is hardly any influence. Everywhere there is darkness, with very little light. Everywhere there is corruption, and many believers have lost their function as the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13). Leaven can be seen throughout today's Christianity in every aspect. According to the parable in Matthew 13 the entire life element in Christianity has been fully leavened. To be full of leaven is to be fully corrupted.

We need to remember all these negative things, from the heart like the wayside to the corrupting leaven. If we remember these negative things, our eyes will be opened. We will see a vision like a heavenly video before our eyes. Then we will know what today's age really is. It is truly a terrible age. Where is the church that is full of impact, influence, and power from the heavens? There is not such a thing.