Then we need to read Revelation 17:4-5: "And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication; and upon her forehead a name was written, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Prostitutes and the Abominations of the Earth." This woman held a golden cup, but within it were abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. What a leaven this is! And this leaven is hidden in a golden cup. Outwardly, it appears to have something of God. We know that gold always signifies God's divine nature. Outwardly there is the appearance of God, but inwardly there is much leaven. Great Babylon is herself a prostitute and the mother of many smaller prostitutes.

No doubt the woman in Matthew 13 is the woman in Revelation 2 and 17. Matthew 13 says clearly that the woman took the leaven and hid it in the fine flour. Fine flour signifies the Lord Jesus as our food. Fine flour was used in making the meal offerings which typify Christ's humanity. The meal offering was food for both God and the priests. The meal is just Christ Himself. Christ is the fine flour for God's satisfaction and for our satisfaction. But the Roman Catholic Church as that evil woman took leaven and put it into the fine flour. In other words, the Roman Catholic Church took many evil things and added them into the truth of Christ. For example, the birth of Christ is the truth, but the Roman Catholic Church picked up the matter of Christmas and added it to the birth of Christ. We must differentiate between the birth of Christ and Christmas. The birth of Christ is the fine flour, and Christmas is the leaven. In Matthew 1 there is the birth of Christ as the fine flour. Christmas was added as a kind of leaven.

The Roman Catholic Church has repeatedly picked up something evil, pagan, dirty, satanic, and demonic to put into the truth of Christ. It holds a golden cup that in outward appearance seems right, but many abominations and fornications are hiding within. The great Babylon is gilded with gold, precious stone, and pearls. Its appearance is somewhat like the holy city, New Jerusalem. However, the holy city is not gilded with these things; it is actually built with these precious materials. This means that the gold, precious stone, and pearls are not the substance and inward reality of the great Babylon, but merely an outward covering. The New Jerusalem, the holy city, is built with these materials as its substance and inward reality. Both within and without there is the gold. But with the great Babylon there is only the appearance of gold covering the inward impurity.

In Matthew there is the seed of the leaven, in the Epistles there is the growth, and eventually in Revelation there is the harvest of the leaven. The harvest of the reality of the kingdom is a city which is pure gold throughout. The harvest of the appearance of the kingdom is also a city, but it is only gilded with gold. This means that the great Babylon is a counterfeit, false city. We must be absolute for the reality of the kingdom and have nothing to do with the appearance of the kingdom.

Which city are you in? I am afraid that you may still hold on to some leaven of the great Babylon. Please spend time to be impressed with all the different kinds of leaven. Praise the Lord that we have seen something concerning the kingdom! After reading all these chapters, can you say that you have never seen anything concerning the kingdom? Can you say that the chapters in Matthew are still a mystery to you? We have seen the reality of the kingdom, the appearance of the kingdom, and the manifestation of the kingdom. Praise the Lord for the reality and for the manifestation of the kingdom! But be alert and be careful concerning the appearance of the kingdom. We are not for the leaven, but for the reality. We are not for Babylon; we are for Jerusalem. This is the pure Word of the Lord, and it is so clear to us. The reality of the kingdom issues in the New Jerusalem, and the appearance of the kingdom issues in the great Babylon, the consummation of falsehood.