Title: The Secret of the Wheat and Tares
Bible Book: Matthew 13 : 24-30
Author: Charles Massegee
Subject: Wheat and Tares; Kingdom of Heaven; Judgment
Objective:
Introduction
The second parable is the parable of “The Wheat and the Tares” found in verses 24-30. The Bible says, “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tears also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, Sir did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares? He said to them, an enemy has done this. The servants said to him, do you want us then to gather them up? But he said, no, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, first, gather together the tares and blind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”
Now let’s look at the interpretation of this parable found in verse 36-43. The Bible says, “Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said to them: He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
I. The Aim of this Parable
This second parable dealing with the wheat and the tares is the only other parable that Jesus interprets. There are three reasons for this. One, this parable, in addition to the first parable dealing with the sower, the seed and the soil, is also laying the foundation for the other five parables.
Second, Jesus is giving us an insight into how we are to interpret the other five. And third, when the Bible says, “And went into the house”, verse 36, we understand that the interpretation of the Wheat and the Tares and the last three parables are for the disciples only, not for the multitudes.
II. The Analysis of this Parable
Notice the differences between the first and second parables. In the first parable, the sower is not only Jesus Christ, but anyone who shares the word of God.
In the second parable, there are two sowers. One Sower is Jesus and the other sower is the devil. In the parable of The Sower, the seed is the word of God. In the parable of the Wheat and Tares, there are two kinds of seed: the children of God representing seed planted by Jesus and the children of the devil representing seed planted by the devil.
While Christians were sleeping the devil planted a bunch of religious lost folks in the Kingdom of Heaven. Always keep in mind the difference between the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God. The church is not the Kingdom of Heaven, but the church is represented in the Kingdom of Heaven. There are good seed and bad seed in the church. Many people in the church are really saved because they have been born again and spiritually put into the Kingdom of God. However, there are some bad seed, children of the devil in the church, planted there by the devil himself.
I understand that tares in the church and in the Kingdom of Heaven so closely resemble wheat that they are indistinguishable from the wheat until the final fruit appears. In Bible days, farmers would weed out the tares just before the wheat was harvested. Jesus tells us we are not to be the judge. Sometimes it is impossible for us to tell the difference between the children of God and the children of the devil. Jesus tells us to let both grow together until the end of the age. Yes! That’s right! Jesus is allowing the genuine believers and the counterfeits to remain together until Jesus comes. In many cases He is the only One who can tell the difference. Good and evil will coexist in the church and Christendom in these last days.
Jesus said, “Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear”, Matthew 13:40-43.
The devil is so deceptive that the tares (the children of the devil) think themselves to be the children of God. They not only deceive others they have been deceived themselves into thinking they are really born-again believers.
The Bible says, “But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived”, Timothy 3:13.
The counterfeit Christians in the Kingdom of Heaven and the church don’t even realize they are among the “tares”. They are deceived themselves. This is a frighten thought and I must say hard to understand. That’s why the judgment and separation must be done by God. He cannot trust us to do it. Only angels can be trusted to carry out this grave job of separating the tares from the wheat.
Please keep in mind while studying all seven parables of Matthew 13 that Jesus is talking about the Kingdom of Heaven. Not the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God represents the true born-again believers that are in the Kingdom of Heaven. There are no tares in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of Heaven that has wheat and tares in it represents the sphere of Christian profession. It is Christendom. According to verse 41-43 when the tares (the counterfeit Christians) are taken out of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God remains. At the very beginning, the Kingdom of Heaven may have had nothing but wheat (true Christians) in it. But as time went along the devil planted bad seed, tares, (counterfeits) in it and the wheat and tares begin to grow together. At the end of this age God will send forth His angels to do the separating. Then the Lord will do the judging. He will put the wheat in the barns (heaven) and the tars in the fire (hell).
