Prophet of Galilee, October 8

“This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”—John 6:14JNN 297.1

Many educated and influential people had come to hear the Prophet of Galilee. Some of these looked with curious interest upon the multitude that had gathered about Christ as He taught by the sea. In this great throng all classes of society were represented. There were the poor, the illiterate, the ragged beggar, the robber with the seal of guilt upon his face, the maimed, the dissipated, the merchant and the person of leisure, high and low, rich and poor, all crowding upon one another for a place to stand and hear the words of Christ. As these cultured people gazed upon the strange assembly, they asked themselves, Is the kingdom of God composed of such material as this? Again the Saviour replied by a parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.”JNN 297.2

Among the Jews leaven was sometimes used as an emblem of sin. At the time of the Passover the people were directed to remove all the leaven from their houses as they were to put away sin from their hearts. Christ warned His disciples, “Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy” (Luke 12:1). And the apostle Paul speaks of the “leaven of malice and wickedness” (1 Corinthians 5:8). But in the Saviour’s parable, leaven is used to represent the kingdom of heaven. It illustrates the quickening, assimilating power of the grace of God.JNN 297.3

None are so vile, none have fallen so low, as to be beyond the working of this power. In all who will submit themselves to the Holy Spirit a new principle of life is to be implanted; the lost image of God is to be restored in humanity.JNN 297.4

But persons cannot transform themselves by the exercise of the will. He or she possesses no power by which this change can be effected. The leaven—something wholly from without—must be put into the meal before the desired change can be wrought in it. So the grace of God must be received by the sinner before he can be fitted for the kingdom of glory. All the culture and education which the world can give will fail of making a degraded child of sin a child of heaven. The renewing energy must come from God. The change can be made only by the Holy Spirit.—Christ’s Object Lessons, 95-97.JNN 297.5

Further Reflection: How has the leaven of God’s grace changed my attitude and behavior?JNN 297.6