Jesus did not leave us ignorant of the fate of the visible church in the last days. In Matthew 13, He gave parables that expose not only the presence of Satan’s counterfeit seed, but also the full extent to which the outward church would be corrupted and transformed into something God never intended. These warnings are not peripheral—they strike at the heart of what it means to belong to Christ, to inherit, and to stand justified by faith.
The Mustard Seed: A Warning, Not a Triumph
Many have been taught to see the parable of the mustard seed as a celebration of the church’s expansion and influence. But this is a fundamental misreading. Jesus says:
“The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 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.” (Matthew 13:31-32)
God planted a mustard seed—meant to become a small, fruitful bush, not a towering tree. The transformation into a great tree is not a miracle of growth, but a sign of deviation and corruption. In Genesis, every seed is to produce after its kind. Here, what was sown as a bush becomes something else entirely. This is not the fulfillment of God’s intent, but its subversion.
And Jesus is explicit about the identity of the “birds of the air.” In the parable of the sower, He already revealed that the birds represent Satan and his angels—those who come to steal the word of the kingdom. The branches of this monstrous tree become a resting place for demonic influence, for counterfeiters of the gospel. This is not the triumph of the church, but the infiltration and occupation of what was meant to be holy.
The Leaven: Total Corruption, Not Hidden Blessing
The next parable is just as stark:
“The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.” (Matthew 13:33)
Some would have you believe this leaven is the gospel quietly permeating society. Scripture never uses leaven positively. Jesus warns of the leaven of the Pharisees (hypocrisy and false teaching), the leaven of Herod (political compromise), and Paul calls legalism and malice “leaven” that corrupts the whole lump (Galatians 5:9; 1 Corinthians 5:6-7). Leaven, in every biblical context, is a picture of corruption spreading until nothing remains untouched.
The woman hides the leaven—this is not an open work of God, but a secret infiltration. The result is inevitable: the entire lump is leavened. The visible church, as an outward system, becomes thoroughly corrupted by false doctrine, worldliness, and hypocrisy. What began as God’s planting is transformed into a counterfeit kingdom—a system that looks like the church but is, in fact, Babylon the Great.
Babylon the Great: The Counterfeit Church
Scripture is unambiguous about the destiny of this corrupted system:
“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” (Revelation 18:2)
This is the logical end of the great tree and the leavened lump: a religious system so thoroughly infiltrated by Satan’s agents and doctrines that it becomes the very dwelling place of demons. This is not a secondary issue. If you embrace the error that the outward, visible church is the kingdom of God on earth—if you confuse the counterfeit for the genuine—you forfeit discernment, and with it, the clarity of justification, inheritance, and sonship. You are left with a system that offers no assurance, only confusion and eventual judgment.
The Pattern of Judgment and Preservation
This is not the first time God’s people have faced such a crisis. Israel, too, became so corrupted that the temple itself was filled with idols, and the land overrun by false prophets. The people could not believe that God would judge what He had planted. Yet the prophets—Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Micah—declared that destruction was coming, and only those who heeded God’s word and mourned over the abominations would be spared.
“And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” (Ezekiel 9:4)
Those who grieved over the corruption were marked and preserved. The rest, who trusted in the outward system and its religious trappings, fell under judgment.
What Is Lost If the Error Is Accepted
If you accept the error that the visible, outward church—no matter how large or influential—is the true kingdom of God, you lose everything that matters. You lose the distinction between what God has planted and what Satan has corrupted. You lose the ability to discern between the finished work of Christ and the counterfeit of works-based religion. You lose the assurance of your inheritance, your sonship, and your justification—because you have made peace with a system that God has already condemned. The counterfeit church offers only confusion, bondage, and, ultimately, wrath.
The True Believer’s Security and Call
Yet God has always preserved a remnant—those who mourn over the state of the church, who heed the prophetic warnings, and who refuse to compromise the gospel. These are not subject to wrath. Their position is one of joy, confidence, and peace in Christ. The true church is not the outward system, but the assembly of those justified by faith, cleansed by the blood, and kept by the power of God.
Discernment is not optional; it is essential. The counterfeit system is wrapped in biblical language and filled with teachings that sound right but undermine the very foundation of the gospel. The call is clear: mourn over the abominations, cling to the finished work of Christ, and refuse to be swept up in the great tree of Babylon. Only those who do will be preserved when judgment falls.
Let no one deceive you: the outward church will become Babylon the Great, a habitation of devils and every unclean thing. But those who are marked by God—those who grieve over corruption and trust in Christ alone—will be spared, kept, and brought into their full inheritance. This is not a peripheral warning. It is the dividing line between the counterfeit and the true, between judgment and salvation, between Babylon and the Bride.
