PRESENTER'S NOTES
I want to have a talk, today, on the Feast of Pentecost, about leavening…
Exodus 12: 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day, you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
In haste… Deut. 16:13
Leaven - 7603 s'or seh-ore' from 7604; barm or yeast-cake (as swelling by fermentation):--leaven. see HEBREW for 07604
Though bicarbonate of soda was used back then, it was not used in baking, so this definition is specific to yeast.
Yeast was not actually discovered by mankind until after 1676 when the microscope was invented, and it was not until 1859, only 153 years ago, that Louis Pasteur discovered how yeast actually worked to leaven bread.
Yeast is a one-celled fungal organism. It’s found on the surface of anything and even floats around in the air we breathe. It works like no other agent we would call leaven in modern times. Being a living organism, it actually consumes sugars in the flour and produces carbon dioxide and alcohol as byproducts.
Also, unlike any other leavening agent, yeast takes comparatively more time to make dough rise, yet, also, unlike any other agent, it would take only ONE yeast cell to eventually leaven an entire lump of dough. Chemical agents must already have the desired quantity of agent and must be thoroughly mixed into the batter.
Additionally, these agents make no actual changes to the flours used, only chemically reacting with the liquids in the batter. Yeast actually changes the chemistry of the flours used, eating up sugars and creating enzymes to break down carbohydrates in the flours to form more sugars for consumption.
So, why, on Pentecost, would I bring up leavened bread and clarify how yeast works? If we were in the midst of the Days of Unleavened Bread, we would be avoiding leaven like the plague. We would be pondering the beauty of the symbolism in unleavened bread as associated with freedom from sin.
Luke 13:21
21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures[a] of meal till it was all leavened.”
Just what is “IT”?
Luke 13: 20 And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures[a] of meal till it was all leavened.”
Matthew 13: 11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them, it has not been given. 12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.
Going back to Luke 13:21…
Jesus does not explain this parable, so what might we draw as a possible meaning of the three measures of meal, and considering how biblically defined leaven behaves, able to leaven a whole lump from a small amount?
Law & Prophets (Hebrews 11) – The Church – The Judgment
You and I right now, no matter the meaning of the 3 measures of meal, are ambassadors (II Cor. 5:20) for the Kingdom of God. You and I right now are kings and priests (Rev. 1:6) in training for the Kingdom of God.
Leviticus 23: 17 You shall bring from your dwellings two wave loaves of two-tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour; they shall be baked with leaven. They are the firstfruits to the Lord.
Leviticus 7: 11 ‘This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which he shall offer to the Lord: 12 If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers anointed with oil, or cakes of blended flour mixed with oil. 13 Besides the cakes, as his offering he shall offer leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering. 14 And from it he shall offer one cake from each offering as a heave offering to the Lord. It shall belong to the priest who sprinkles the blood of the peace offering.
15 ‘The flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offering for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day it is offered. He shall not leave any of it until morning.
Hebrews 13: 15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. 16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
THIS IS THE WAY
Let the leavening effect of the Kingdom of God work through us, and let us give our thanksgiving daily to God for making peace with us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
