“And He was giving orders to them, saying, ‘Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod’” (Mark 8:15 NASB). Mark 8 and the surrounding chapters are all about the nature of the Government of God (i.e. Kingdom). The Pharisees wanted to insert their beliefs into the teachings of Jesus and it would have changed the whole nature of the Kingdom message. Herod’s way of doing business would have been political yeast in the mix. Jesus solemnly “ordered them” to avoid both religious and political yeast. We must beware of marrying His kingdom to any government, nation or political party. When politics and Christianity get mixed together it is Christianity that gets changed. When hypocritical legalism (Mark 7:1-13) and hunger for signs, (Mark 8: 11) enter the message of the Kingdom of God then it is the Kingdom message that gets changed. Heed the warning. Come completely under the Government of God and let no yeast distort and destroy this gospel of the Kingdom and the unrivaled rule of King Jesus.
