Verse 32 says that after the mustard seed has grown, “It is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree.” The church, which is the embodiment of the kingdom, should be like an herb to produce food, but it became a tree, a lodging place for birds, having its nature and function changed. (This is against the law of God’s creation, that every plant must be after its kind—Gen. 1:11-12.) This happened when Constantine the Great mixed the church with the world in the first part of the fourth century. He brought thousands of false believers into Christianity, making it Christendom, no longer the church. Hence, this third parable corresponds to the third of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, the church in Pergamos (2:12-17). The mustard is an annual herb, whereas the tree is a perennial plant. The church, according to its heavenly and spiritual nature, should be like the mustard, sojourning on the earth. But with its nature changed, the church became deeply rooted and settled in the earth as a tree, flourishing with its enterprises as the branches to lodge many evil persons and things. This has formed the outward organization of the outward appearance of the kingdom of the heavens.
For a mustard seed to become a tree is a violation of the principle ordained by God in His creation for living matter— that every plant must be according to its kind. This is what is referred to in Genesis 1, where we are told that every life grows according to its kind. A peach grows after the peach kind and an apple after the apple kind. This principle applies not only to plant life, but also to animal life and even to human life. Every type of life must develop according to its kind. A cow must be a cow, a donkey must be a donkey, and a horse must be a horse. A mule is an example of an animal not according to its kind. A mule is neither a horse nor a donkey; it is a hybrid between a horse and donkey. If a certain form of vegetable or plant life is not according to its kind, it will be abnormal and against the principle ordained by God in His creation. In keeping with this principle, a mustard must be according to a mustard, and a tree must be according to a tree. It is abnormal for a mustard to break God’s principle and become a tree. But by growing into a tree, the mustard herb breaks this principle. This kind of growth is abnormal, a violation of God’s regulation. Suppose human life developed without any regulation, and some Chinese grew into oxen, some Japanese grew into horses, and some Americans grew into elephants. How grotesque this would be! Thank God that in His creation He has put a governing principle into every type of life! However, when the Lord sowed the seed of a mustard herb, this herb grew into a tree. How abnormal is such a development!
When I was young, I read some books which said that this big tree was something positive. But this tree, although very large, is not positive at all. Suppose a man grew into an elephant. Would this be positive or negative? We all would be terrified of such an abnormal development. Today’s Christendom is huge and devilishly abnormal. It is not only a tree, but a great tree. By this we see that not only the nature of the constituent of the kingdom has been changed, but that the size of the kingdom has become abnormal. If an herb is to be good for food, it should not grow too large. When an herb grows abnormally large, it is no longer tender, delicious, or good for food. In His economy God intends that His children be like wheat or mustard, the smaller and the more tender, the better. Furthermore, we should be annuals like wheat and mustard, neither of which remains more than a year. The church people must be annuals, not perennials. We should not be rooted deeply into the earth for a long period of time, for the Lord’s intention is that we be sojourners on earth. As long as we are annuals like wheat and herbs, we shall produce the best foodstuff, grain to make loaves of bread and mustard to match the bread. This will afford others excellent food for their nourishment and satisfaction. However, the enemy has made the mustard a perennial tree that does not produce any foodstuff.
Verse 32 also says that the birds of heaven come and roost in the branches of this tree. Instead of producing foodstuff, this tree is a roost for birds. Because the birds in the first parable signify the evil one, Satan (vv. 4, 19), the birds of heaven in verse 32 must refer to Satan’s evil spirits with the evil persons and things motivated by them. They lodge in the branches of the great tree, that is, in the enterprises of Christendom. The birds refer to the evil one and to evil persons, evil matters, and evil things—in short to all evil pertaining to the evil one. In today’s Christendom, there are many evil persons, evil things, and evil matters. Christendom has become a big tree producing no fruit, but having become a lodging place for so many evil things.
When this parable was spoken by the Lord, it was prophecy; but today it has become history. In the Vatican we see the fulfillment of this parable. The Vatican is even an independent country, formed by an agreement between Mussolini and the pope. From that time onward, the Vatican and various nations of the world have exchanged ambassadors. This is a further indication that the Christian religion has become a big tree. Today there are approximately eight hundred million Catholics in the world, perhaps one fourth of the world’s population, under the authority of the pope. Such a large number of people is under the papal system. Although Christianity has become a big tree, in Luke 12 the Lord Jesus called His church the “little flock.” We should not be in the big tree, but remain in the little flock.
If you visit the Vatican, you will see that it is a huge tree, a lodging place filled with so many birds. The same thing is found in the Catholic churches in the United States and in the large denominations. In the Catholic Church and in the denominations it is difficult to find a grain of wheat or a mustard seed. Instead of food, there is lodging for the birds. This is today’s situation, the appearance of the kingdom of the heavens.