That question came to me this morning, so I went straight to the word of. . . . Google. And, just as I expected… it’s a big gray area. Some say 2 parts boiling, to 1 part room temperature. Some say 1 part boiling, to 2 parts room temperature. Different authorities state different temperature ranges, from as low as 80 degrees F, up to around 110 degrees F, but they all agree that there is no specific temperature that defines lukewarm.
Then I came across a very interesting fact: yeast dies at around 135 to 140 degrees F. My thoughts went immediately to the Word of God. In 1 Corinthians 5:7 KJV, it says: “Purge out the old leaven”, and refers to the leaven of malice and wickedness. In Luke 12:1, Jesus warned His disciples to “beware ye the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” It just so happens that the optimum temperature for yeast fermentation is 95 degrees F. – right smack in the middle of the lukewarm temperature range!
If you want to purge out the old leaven, you’ve got to get way above the lukewarm state. When you get “hot” for God, you will kill the old leaven… hypocrisy, malice, wickedness. If there is hypocrisy, malice, or wickedness in your life, you are NOT hot enough!
But interestingly, cold does not kill yeast. It only goes dormant. Which brings us back again to the Word of God.
Revelation 3:15-19 KJV: “15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
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