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The Wheat and Tares
Matthew 13:24-30
The Text
Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
25But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
26But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
27So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
29But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
30Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Summary of Events
A householder sowed good seeds of wheat, but while men slept the enemy came in and sowed tares among the wheat. The servants asked the householder if they should go and separate the tares from the wheat. The householder told them to let the two grow together because if they tried to separate the tares from the wheat they might remove some of the wheat as well. Instead, the householder said he would send the reapers at harvest time to first gather up and bind the tares in bundles to be burned, and then gather the wheat into the barn.
The Spiritual Meaning
The householder that sowed good seed is Christ:
“He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man” (Matthew 13:37)
The good seed are the true believers:
“The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom…” (Matthew 13:38)
The enemy is Satan and the tares are the unsaved:
“…but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.” (Matthew 13:38-39)
The setting of this parable is the churches, not the secular world. The churches were where the believers met to fellowship throughout the Early Rain (the period from 33 AD to the beginning of the Great Tribulation - see Study on The Latter Rain). That is where they received much of their spiritual nourishment as they grew in grace. The fact that the tares were sown “among the wheat” is language to indicate that the tares are in the churches.
The tares were sown while men slept. The sleeping is a reference to being spiritually blind:
"What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day." (Romans 11:7-8)
Sleeping is the opposite of watching:
”Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.” (2 Thessalonians 2:6)
And we have learned that watching has to do with carefully studying the Bible (see Study on Can We Know When?)
So in this verse we are learning that there are unsaved individuals among the true believers within the churches. As this verse indicates, some of these unsaved individuals were specifically placed there by Satan. When we study other passages we discover that Satan’s primary focus was to bring false doctrines into the church (see Study on The Seven Churches) and he has been successful to a high degree because the church members are “sleeping.” They aren’t constantly re-examining the doctrines of the church to see if they truly are faithful to God’s Word. Most of them are simply reading the Bible in light of what they already believe to be true.
The unsaved individuals (the tares) truly believe they are saved. They bring in unbiblical doctrines but do not realize they are being used by Satan to forward his work. They look just like ministers of righteousness:
“For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
(For more on how Satan deceives those in the church see Study on The Antichrist)
So we ask ourselves, “Well then how are we to know who are wheat and who are tares?” Unfortunately, this is almost impossible to know. That's why the householder told the servants to let them grow together for fear they may accidentally remove some of the wheat. We need to be constantly studying the Bible and re-examining our doctrines to ensure they are faithful to God’s Word, but the churches don’t do this. They are convinced their doctrines are absolutely accurate and not to be questioned. This is what God means when He says in verse 25 that Satan sowed tares while men slept. Remember, to sleep indicates spiritual blindness as a result of not diligently searching for truth. God accommodates this attitude by furthering their spiritual blindness:
“And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11)
We can’t see the heart of an individual to know if he or she is truly saved. Only God can do that. But we can be constantly re-examining doctrines to see if they truly are faithful to the Bible. We know that it is through false doctrines that Satan brings deception in the church (see Study on The Seven Churches) so we can at least protect ourselves with the Word of God if we are carefully studying.
The problem with trying to remove the unsaved is that they look just like the true believers in the church. The Bible speaks of the earthly church as being composed of gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble:
“For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble” (1 Corinthians 3:11-12)
The gold, silver and precious stones represent the true believers. The wood, hay, and stubble represent the unsaved individuals in the church who appear to be a legitimate part of the true church of God.
I believe this is part of why God hid many of the truths about the end times. If God had revealed in advance that His judgment would come upon the church and that Satan would eventually rule within it, then believers would have been preoccupied throughout the Early Rain. The churches would have been distracted from their primary assignment of sending forth the Gospel into the world. Instead, they would have been focusing on trying to figure out who might be unknowingly forwarding the work of Satan. God did not want this to be the main focus of the church and so it was His plan that the wheat and tares coexist in the churches throughout the Early Rain.
Bear in mind that God doesn’t take it lightly when wicked people are found among the congregation of His true people. Remember the Israelites were commanded to literally kill any wicked people in their midst so that the evil could be removed from among them:
“And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear.” (Deuteronomy 21:21)
And yet notice the command in the parable of the wheat and tares: “Let them grow together until the harvest.” We've learned that the tares look so much like the wheat that they are almost indistinguishable from each other. We are kidding ourselves if we think we can look at a church and know which people are the tares placed there by Satan. They themselves do not even know.
God has created His own method of separating the wheat from the tares and, as the above verse states, it has been His plan all along to wait until the harvest to do so. The harvest is related to the end times:
“The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.” (Matthew 13:39)
“And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.” (Revelation 14:15-16)
We are in the final harvest, which is also spoken of in the Bible as the Latter Rain (see Study on The Latter Rain).
Throughout the course of the Great Tribulation the true believers are being removed from the churches. Some of them are aware that they are to come out and so they leave the church on their own. Others are leaving because they are uncomfortable with the direction their church is heading and they are finding it increasingly difficult to find a truly faithful church. And then there are those who have been asked to leave because they are questioning the direction of their church. By allowing Satan to rule within the churches God is accomplishing two things:
1. He is bringing judgment upon the church in the form of spiritual destruction through the employment of the enemy.
2. He has created a situation by which He can separate the wheat from the tares by having the true believers gradually sifted out of the churches.
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