In Matthew 13:33 the Lord used the parable of leaven to prophesy concerning the corruption of the outward appearance of the kingdom of the heavens: “The kingdom of the heavens is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened.” In the Scriptures leaven signifies evil things and evil doctrines (1 Cor. 5:6, 8; Matt. 16:6, 11-12). Meal, for making the meal offering, signifies Christ as food to both God and man (Lev. 2:1). Three measures is the quantity needed to make a full meal (Gen. 18:6). The church as the practical kingdom of the heavens, with Christ, the unleavened fine flour, as its content, must be a loaf of unleavened bread (1 Cor. 5:7-8). However, the Roman Catholic Church, which was fully and officially formed in the sixth century and which is signified by the woman here, took in many pagan practices, heretical doctrines, and evil matters and mixed them with the teachings concerning Christ, leavening the whole content of Christianity. Hence, the woman hiding the leaven in three measures of meal signifies that the Catholic Church has leavened in a hidden way all the teachings concerning Christ. This mixture became the corrupted content of the outward appearance of the kingdom of the heavens.
The outward appearance of the kingdom of the heavens exists along with the church in the church age, but it does not exist within the church. As a principle, we do not allow tares in the church life, and we do not allow the big tree with its abnormal growth or leaven with its corruption to be in the church. The function of the kingdom people as the reality of the kingdom of the heavens should be like that of the wheat and the mustard seed, supplying life and producing food for the satisfaction of both God and man. They also should be like a lump of fine flour to be food for God and man. This kind of genuine church life is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens.
When the Lord Jesus comes back, the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens will be realized. This is prophesied in Matthew 24:44 through 25:30. Only the overcomers who are in the reality of the kingdom of the heavens today will participate in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the future. The manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens will be a reward, a prize, to the overcomers in the church.
The manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens will be the manifestation of the reality of the kingdom of the heavens. This means that in the next age the reality of the kingdom will become the manifestation of the kingdom. The kingdom of the heavens will exist in the millennium during the age of the millennium. The reality of the kingdom of the heavens is with the church in this age, and the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens will be in the coming age. During the present age, the reality of the kingdom and the outward appearance of the kingdom develop simultaneously. When the Lord Jesus comes back, however, the reality of the kingdom will be transferred into the manifestation of the kingdom, and the outward appearance of the kingdom will be burned away. The Lord’s angels will bind the tares into bundles and cast them into the fire (13:40-42). At His coming back the Lord will first deal with the outward appearance of the kingdom, and then He will transfer the reality of the kingdom into the next age to become the manifestation of the kingdom.
The manifestation of the kingdom will be the kingdom of the Father, that is, the heavenly part of the millennium. The millennium will have an earthly part and a heavenly part. The earthly part will be the kingdom of the Messiah (2 Sam. 7:13), the tabernacle of David (Acts 15:16), and the kingdom of the Son of Man (Matt. 13:41; Rev. 11:15). The heavenly part of the millennium will be the kingdom of the Father (Matt. 13:43). This will be the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens as a reward to the overcomers. The overcomers who participate in the heavenly part of the millennium will reign with Christ over the earthly part, which will be the restored kingdom of David, where Christ as the Son of Man, David’s royal descendant, will be the King over the children of Israel.