April

Transformed — April 1 ^{[Description]Brief Overview of the Passages:
Both passages use the metaphor of yeast (or leaven) to illustrate how the Kingdom of God works. Jesus compares the Kingdom to yeast that a woman mixes into a large amount of flour, causing the whole batch to rise. This symbolizes how God's kingdom starts small or hidden but gradually influences and transforms the entire world. It’s about unseen, steady growth that brings about powerful, widespread change from within. This teaches young believers that even small acts of faith and God’s work in their hearts can have a significant, transformative impact over time.
Overview:
This passage explains how the kingdom of God embraces all people—regardless of status or past—and transforms them from the inside out through God’s grace, symbolized by leaven (yeast). True spiritual change isn’t about outward habits or human effort but comes from a heart renewed by the Holy Spirit. It emphasizes that salvation and righteousness are gifts from God, working invisibly and powerfully to reshape the believer’s mind, conscience, and character toward the life of Christ.}

Bible discovery

Matthew 13:33 365D 91.1

33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three ^{[c]Gr. sata, same as a Heb. seah; approximately 2 pecks in all} measures of meal till it was all leavened.” 365D 91.2

Luke 13:20-21 365D 91.3

20 And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? 365D 91.4

21 It is like ^[g]yeast leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures ^{[h]Gr. sata, same as Heb. seah; approximately 2 pecks in all} of meal till it was all leavened.” 365D 91.5

Spirit of Prophecy Reading

Christ’s Object Lessons pp.95-98: 365D 91.6

This chapter is based on Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:20, 21. 365D 91.7

Many educated and influential men 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 man 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 men 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: 365D 91.8

“The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” 365D 91.9

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. 365D 91.10

The great truth of the conversion of the heart by the Holy Spirit is presented in Christ's words to Nicodemus: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born from above, he can not see the kingdom of God.... That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit.” John 3:3-8, margin. 365D 91.11

The apostle Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit, says, “God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:4-8. 365D 91.12

The leaven hidden in the flour works invisibly to bring the whole mass under its leavening process; so the leaven of truth works secretly, silently, steadily, to transform the soul. The natural inclinations are softened and subdued. New thoughts, new feelings, new motives, are implanted. A new standard of character is set up—the life of Christ. The mind is changed; the faculties are roused to action in new lines. Man is not endowed with new faculties, but the faculties he has are sanctified. The conscience is awakened. We are endowed with traits of character that enable us to do service for God. 365D 91.13