“A little leaven leavens the whole bread.”
The unleavened bread that the Hebrews were commanded to eat at Passover, (Ex.2:15) signified a discontinuity, their impending deliverance from Egypt. Here is a key point to note, the bread of the Passover night was not that of affliction because it was unleavened, instead, it was unleavened because it had been that of affliction. In essence, the Passover was a remembrance of Israel’s deliverance from bondage and not a remembrance of Israel’s bondage. None of Egypt’s leaven (which symbolized corruption and death) would pervade Israel’s bread. They were to be ‘a new lamp’ as they were ‘unleavened’. The Israelites were in a hurry they did not have time to allow Egypt to leaven their bread. Christians are on the offensive now, carrying Canaan’s redeemed leaven back to Egypt.
The progress of Christ’s Kingdom is to be like the leavening of bread. “Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened” (Matt. 13:33). Leaven is not a symbol of sin, but of course Egypt’s leaven was evil. The corrupting effects of Egyptian culture and religion no doubt burdened the Israelites. The Israelites were to put away Egyptian leaven off their houses Seven days prior to the Passover to ensure that neither the ‘starter leaven’ nor the ‘finisher leaven’ would leave Egypt. Egypt’s leaven stood for sin, but there can be holy leaven. In fact, there must be holy leaven. Leavened bread was offered to the Lord as first fruit, implying that the leavened bread was the best of a family’s productivity. Leaven is the best bread man has to offer, the bread he eats with pleasure. Leaven, in short, is a symbol of growth, maturation, continuity, and prosperity. But such leaven must be the leaven of the promised land, the leaven of redeemed Canaan. It must not be the leaven of Egypt.
God’s people must be set apart as unleavened―free from the religious leaven of rebellion against God and His law. This is the symbolism of discontinuity. It is the symbolism of Christ the Passover. But Christ is also the first fruit, both unleavened (waving the sheaf) and leavened (waving the loaves). The discontinuity from sin is supposed to lead to the continuity of dominion―ethical, ecclesiastical, social, political, and cultural. You see Adam, yielding to Satan’s temptation, brought forth the leaven of evil, and implanted it into man’s history. Christ, the second Adam, removes the old Adamic leaven, implants His new leaven, and creates a maturing Christian kingdom that steadily replaces Satan’s older leaven. Immediately following the unleavened bread is the beginning of the new leavening process, the rising up.
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit presented the risen (leavened) bread offering, the church. The discontinuous event of redemption is supposed to be followed by the ethical leavening process, a rising up in victory, in time and on earth. Christ does not simply remove the old leaven. He is not content with unleavened bread, the symbol of deliverance. Christ produces the new leavened bread, the leavening process of victory. It is not enough to escape from Egypt; Canaan must be conquered. It is not enough to remain in a spiritually unleavened condition, the condition of “not being leavened with evil.” We must become fully leavened as God’s individual saints and also as His gathered church. Where this leaven is absent, there is no life, no growth, and no dominion.
The kingdom of God is like leaven. Christianity is the yeast, and it has a leavening effect on pagan, satanic cultures around it. It permeates the whole of culture, causing it to rise. The bread produced by this leaven is the preferred bread. In ancient times―indeed, right up until the advent of late-nineteenth-century industrialism and modern agricultural methods―leavened bread was considered the staff of life, the symbol of God’s sustaining hand. “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt. 6:11) The kingdom of God is the force that produces the fine quality bread that all men seek. The symbolism should be obvious: Christianity makes life a joy for godly men. It provides men with the very best.
Leaven takes time to produce its product. It takes time for the leaven-laden dough to rise. Men can wait for the yeast to do its work. God gives man time for the working of His spiritual leaven. Men may not understand exactly how the leaven works―how the spiritual power of God’s kingdom spreads throughout their culture and makes it rise―but they can see and taste its effects.
If we really push the analogy (pound it, even), we can point to the fact that dough is pounded down several times by the baker before the final baking, almost as God, through the agents of Satan in the world, pounds His kingdom in history. Nevertheless, the yeast does its marvelous work, just so long as the fires of the oven are not lit prematurely. If the full heat of the oven is applied to the dough before the yeast has done its work, both the yeast and the dough perish in the flames. God waits to apply the final heat (II Peter 3:9–10). First, His yeast―His church―must do its work, in time and on earth. The kingdom of God (which includes the institutional church, but is broader than the institutional church) must rise, having “incorrupted” the satanic dough of the kingdom of Satan with the gospel of life, including the life-giving reconstruction of all the institutions of culture.
Christians work inside the cultural material available in any given culture, seeking to refine it, permeate it, and make it into something fine. They know they will be successful, just as yeast is eventually successful in the dough, if it is given sufficient time to do its work. This is what God implicitly promises us in the analogy of the leaven: enough time to accomplish our individual and collective assignments. He tells us that His kingdom will produce the desirable bread of life. It will take time. It may take several poundings, as God, through the hostility of the world, kneads the yeast-filled dough of men’s cultures. But the end result is guaranteed.
The leavened bread is a symbol of God’s patience with us, a symbol of His restraint. As Peter wrote, concerning the fiery judgment to come at the last judgment, God is not slack concerning his promise, “but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. (II Peter 3:9b). He delays the application of fire to the earth (II Peter 3:10). As Christians celebrating the Lord’s Supper, we look toward the future, toward the effects of our labors, in time and on earth. We are God’s yeast, inevitably permeating the whole loaf, until the risen dough is ready for the final fire. God does not intend to throw the dough into the fire prematurely. He does not intend to burn up the work of His hands. He allows us to make our peace offering. Christ was the firstfruits offering (I Cor. 15:20), yet so are we, every man in his own order (I Cor. 15:23).
There is an old slogan, “one rotten apple spoils the barrel.” In the New Covenant, this is not the case. The freeborn sons incorrupt the rotten whole. Rome fell to the church, not the other way around. Evil is far more threatened by good than good is threatened by evil. This was not the case under the Old Covenant. Israel was separated from the nations by rituals and laws governing land and seed. Egypt’s corrupt leaven was a threat to Israel. This is why they celebrated Passover: a week without leaven. But under the New Covenant, the old laws of ritual cleanliness have been replaced by the law of the Lord’s Supper, which is open to all who subordinate themselves to Christ. Separation is not based on a threat of corruption through eating. It is based on a promise of incorruption by eating.
The top priority for every man should be the extension of God’s kingdom in history. This has been true ever since God told Adam to subdue the earth. Sin has made this task more difficult. Rival kingdoms now compete for control in history. Jesus told His listeners that the kingdom of God would not always remain small. It would expand. He was inviting His listeners to participate in this expansion. They were not to despise the day of small beginnings. Instead, they were to commit themselves to a process that would transcend time and borders.
