Then Samuel told the people the manner of the kingdom, and wrote it in a book, and laid it up before the LORD. 1 Samuel 10:25
Our title is a takeoff from the noted Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. We are going to look at the teaching on the mustard seed in the Gospel of Matthew and note some comparisons with the origin of Babylon.
In Matthew 13, the Lord is teaching about the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven in a series of parables. The first one is the famous parable of the sower, found in verses 3 to 23.
Matthew 13:3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;
Now in verse 4 we read this.
Matthew 13:4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
And the explanation is given in verse 19, showing that the fowls represent the wicked one. Similar teachings are found in the other gospels. In Mark 4:15 he is identified as Satan and in Luke 8:12 as the Devil.
Matthew 13:19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Farther along, we find the parable of the mustard seed.
Matthew 13:31-32
31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
There are a couple odd features about the Kingdom as Mustard Tree parable. One is that mustard grows along the ground. Here is some info about mustard I found on the internet.
Mustard Growth Characteristics
Mustard seedlings emerge rapidly but tend to grow slowly after emergence. Under favorable moisture and temperature conditions, the ground will be covered in four or five weeks.
Five weeks after emergence, the plant will begin to bud. At this stage, the crop will appear rather uneven. A week to 10 days later the plant will develop into full yellow bloom and the stand will appear more even. Good moisture supplies favor a long blossoming period, and longer blooming periods result in higher yield potential. Full-grown plants vary in height from 30 to 45 inches, depending on type, variety and environmental conditions.
Author: Theresa Golz, market research specialist,
NDSU Institute for Business and Industry Development
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/alt-ag/mustard.htm
So if mustard grows mainly along the ground, and only fully mature plants become bushes, 45 inches tall at the max, it’s odd to see it described as a great tree. And the second odd feature is that the fowls of the air nesting in this tree were just previously identified as the devil in the parable of the sower! This is not such a favorable picture now it it? So how is it that the kingdom of heaven becomes a hangout for the devil?
One answer that has been proposed is that the mustard plant is a model of the church. In this view, the church is intended to spread throughout all the world, just as the mustard plant is to spread out along the ground. But when the church becomes corrupted or backslidden it takes on a vertical structure. This is a perversion of the intended growth pattern of the church. Instead of spreading out from house to house, as in Acts 4 it begins to follow the way of the world.
Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
So the mustard seed parable is not meant as a definition of the kingdom but a description of what can and does happen as the kingdom is coming into being. This can be seen in the story of the wheat and tares as well. A man sowed seed, but the enemy came along and sowed tares.
As for a definition of the Kingdom, I tend to think of it in terms of the Disciples Prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. This would mean, that where the Father’s will is done, the kingdom has come. Or The Kingdom of God is wherever God is King. Also from John 3 you can see that entering the Kingdom requires being led by the Spirit.
The Origins Of Religion are found in Babylon
Now lets compare this to the origins of Babylon. After the flood, the Lord commanded the people to go forth and replenish the earth. His intent was for the tribes that would be descended from Noah to spread over the face of the earth.
Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.
In Genesis 11 we see that the people had another idea, one contrary to the Lord’s wishes.
Genesis 11:1-4
1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.
3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.
4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Instead of scattering over the whole earth, they wanted to stop and build a city, and a tower that might reach unto heaven. This is the essence of religion, man’s efforts to reach heaven by his own efforts. It required that they establish an organization with a vertical structure, a hierarchy. The urge to make a name for themselves is the essence of denominationalism. That is the tendency to form denominations. Here is a good definition.
Denomination noun
1.A large group of religious congregations united under a common faith and name and organized under a single administrative and legal hierarchy.
2.One of a series of kinds, values, or sizes, as in a system of currency or weights.
3.A name or designation, especially for a class or group.
It comes from the word denominate, which means to give a name to; designate. This comes from the Latin nomen, which means name).] Excerpted from The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
The Lord’s reaction to this is to introduce a confusion factor to frustrate mans efforts here.
Genesis 11:7-9
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Here are a couple more definitions.
Babel, [Strong’s: H894]
בּבל
bâbel
baw-bel'
From H1101; confusion; Babel (that is, Babylon), including Babylonia and the Babylonian empire: - Babel, Babylon. [Strong’s]
Babylon
The Greek form of BABEL; Semitic form Babilu, meaning “The Gate of God.” In the Assyrian tablets it means “The city of the dispersion of the tribes.” [Easton’s Bible Dictionary]
So you can see that Babel, which originally meant the Gate of God, came to mean confusion. This is saying that man’s efforts to reach God by his own effort, which is self-righteousness, only leads to confusion. [This applies to any religion or ideology, not just the Judeo-Christians.] So while God had directed the people one way, an enemy came and brought in the spirit of religion.
The Parallel
This forms quite an interesting parallel with the mustard seed parable. When mustard is growing across the ground as it does normally, you can’t tell when one plant stops and the next one begins. They all look the same. But if you have a mustard tree here and there, they are clearly different and distinct. So it is in the history of the church. Once it stopped spreading over the earth, from house to house, denominations were formed. And these denominations had many differences even wars among themselves.
Another feature of the mustard seed parable is that the fowls built nests in the tree branches. This speaks of demonic strongholds and doctrines of demons, or confusion, becoming mixed into the church teachings.
The mustard seed parable then is a picture of the spirit of Babylon at work in the church. And the ‘mustard tree’ has much in common with the ‘fig tree’, as a symbol of the law of sin and death which is the tree of knowledge of good and evil.