| The Christian Life | January 1947 |
The Wheat and the Tares
“The harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels.”—Matthew 13:39
THE word “world” in our text is a translation of the Greek word aion, the proper meaning of which is “age.” The harvest referred to, therefore, marks the end of the age, and not the end of the world, or earth. The text is a part of Jesus’ explanation of the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matt. 13:24-30,36-43) which he had just related to his disciples as an illustration of the experiences of his followers throughout the long period of the Gospel age, and finally at the end of the age.
In this parable there was first the sowing of “good seed,” and later an enemy sowed tares in the same field. That tares had been sown became apparent “when the blade was sprung up.” Discovering this, the servants of the householder asked if they should root up the tares, but they were instructed not to do this lest the wheat also be destroyed. Instead, they were told to let both grow together until the harvest, and that then the tares would be gathered and burned, while the wheat would be taken into the barn.
The Master explained the meaning of this parable so there should be no question as to the lessons it is intended to teach. Just previous to relating it Jesus had given the disciples the Parable of the Sower, in which the seed is said to be the “word” of the kingdom; that is, the truth. Matt. 13:18,19) But in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares the good seed is explained by the Master to be the “children” of the kingdom. (Matt. 13:38) We should keep this difference in mind as it has an important bearing upon understanding the parable correctly.
This is the nearest Jesus came to giving his true followers a name other than that of “disciples.” The name “Christian,” while fairly accurate as a descriptive title of the Master’s followers, was not given to them by Jesus, nor by the apostles. We read in the record of Acts that “the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” (Acts 11:26) The name evidently was attached to them by the public, and probably somewhat in derision.
Today the term Christian has a wide use, being applied to nearly all who are not atheists or Jews. This wide application of the term makes it difficult at times to distinguish between genuine Christians and those who are Christians in name only, with the result that many try to think of all the millions in Christendom as being Christians, who are not professedly Jews or avowed atheists; and at times the charge of intolerance and narrow-mindedness is leveled against those who question the Christian standing of the unenlightened and unconsecrated.
But the difficulty of distinguishing between the true followers of the Master and nominal Christians is not great if we keep in mind the name given to them by Jesus in this parable; that is, “children of the kingdom.” They are children of the kingdom because, as indicated in the Parable of the Sower, the “word of the kingdom” has been received into their hearts and is transforming their lives in preparation for reigning with Jesus in his kingdom. And it is at once apparent that those who know nothing of the kingdom hopes set forth in the Scriptures and whose lives therefore are not being molded by this hope, are not children of the kingdom, not having been begotten by the “word of the kingdom.” Their whole religious outlook is different.
The Sower
“He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man,” Jesus explained. (Matt. 13:37) Jesus also sowed the “word of the kingdom” referred to in the Parable of the Sower. All his true followers throughout the Gospel age were also sowers of this “word.” But the Master’s explanation that he is the sower in the parable under consideration highlights a very important feature of this parable which we do well to notice. The sowing in this case was not of truth but of people—the “children of the kingdom.”
Jesus was the sower, in that he was the one who personally supervised the selection of the original “children” of the kingdom; namely, his apostles. He not only selected them—under the Heavenly Father’s supervision—but trained and nurtured them in a very special way to be his inspired representatives to carry on the work of the kingdom, which was to be spreading the “word of the kingdom.”
In other words, it was Jesus who established the early church as the nucleus of the embryo kingdom of God, not to reign with him before his return but to represent him by promulgating the “word of the kingdom” that it might reach and beget others to he children of the kingdom. The “field” in which this true wheat was to grow to maturity was the “world.” Jesus commissioned the original “children of the kingdom” to go into all the world and preach the Gospel, the “word” of the kingdom, that disciples or children of the kingdom might be made, or begotten from among all nations.
“While Men Slept”
As the parable indicates, the wheat field was not to remain undisturbed as Jesus planted it. In the Parable of the Sower, the Master forewarned of the difficulty and opposition to be encountered by the “children of the kingdom” as individuals, but in the parable under consideration is illustrated the work of the great Adversary as it affects the kingdom class as a group. “While men slept,” the parable relates, an enemy sowed tares among the wheat; and Jesus explained that this sower of the tares was the devil, and that the tares were his children.
And how did Satan “sow” tares among the wheat? He did it in much the same way that Jesus sowed the original wheat, that is, by the dissemination of ideas; the difference being that Satan’s ideas were erroneous, while those of Jesus were true—the “word of the kingdom.” As we have seen, the original “wheat” of the parable were the apostles. Jesus called these, and they were begotten as children of the kingdom by the “word” of the kingdom. “I have given them Thy word,” he said in his prayer to the Heavenly Father. —John 17:14
And what was the Father’s word? It was made up of all the Old Testament promises, prophecies, types, and illustrations of the kingdom. Jesus’ entire ministry was entwined around the theme of the kingdom. As his disciples imbibed his teachings they became imbued with the inspiration and hope of the kingdom. The last question they asked of their risen Lord was, “Wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?”—Acts 1:6
But as the Scriptures foretold, following the death of the apostles—“while [Greek, the] men slept”—there came a great “falling away” from the true faith of the Gospel, the true kingdom hope. Satan began to indoctrinate prominent leaders with theories contrary to the Gospel. Thus he prepared the tares, his “children,” and planted them among the wheat; while they in turn continued to disseminate Satan’s doctrines, thus producing more tares. As century after century went by, the “field” became principally one of tares rather than of wheat.
And what were the “doctrines of devils” which begat the “children” of the devil? (I Tim. 4:1) They were myriad in number, but outstanding among them was the erroneous theory that by uniting with the state the church could establish Christ’s kingdom on earth. This was a counterfeit of the “word of the kingdom” which begets the “children of the kingdom.” The effect of this satanic doctrine was the creating of overlords in the church who, associated with the “kings of the earth” in an illicit union of church and state, ruled the nations in the name of. Christ.—Rev. 17:2
With this tare element overruling the church, the real hope of a future kingdom of blessing to follow the return of the Lord was destroyed, except in the hearts of a few here and there who continued to occupy the field as the real “children of the kingdom.” There was no reason why the church should look for the return of their King to establish his kingdom if he were already reigning representatively through the pope and other high officials of the church-state system.
While this erroneous conception of the kingdom was a potent influence in producing counterfeit “children,” that is, those who entertained and were governed by false conceptions of the kingdom—it was by no means the only error that Satan used to produce a crop of tares, which according to the parable were his “children.” The immortality of the soul; the trinity; eternal torture; purgatory; the mass; the limitation of God’s grace to this life; false conceptions of justification, consecration, and sanctification; the destruction of the earth; a twenty-four-hour judgment day; and many others of less importance as well as an idolatrous form of worship, were among the gross errors prevalent in Christendom, the tare kingdom.
The entrance of these errors into the hearts of men and women did not beget them as “children of the kingdom.” Instead, their viewpoints, their hopes, and their lives were shaped to conform to the things which they believed and the form of worship to which they subscribed. If they accepted the false doctrine of the trinity, then they worshiped a triune god rather than the true God of the Bible. If they accepted the theory that “there is no death,” then they were blinded to the fact that the “wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23) Being blinded to this they were unable to understand God’s purpose in the creation of man, what was involved in his fall, from what he was redeemed through Christ, and to what he will be restored during the kingdom. This means that such would not be true believers in the ransom for they would understand nothing of it.
Those who were led by Satan to believe the doctrine of eternal torment worshiped a god of torture, and not the true God of love. Their belief that the earth would be destroyed at the second coming of Christ precluded the possibility of their entertaining the true kingdom hope. Likewise, the twenty-four-hour judgment day error stands squarely in the way of understanding the real work of judgment as it will be conducted throughout the thousand years of the kingdom.
Blinded by these “doctrines of devils,” those who accepted them could have no true conception of the consecrated life—that it means to lay down one’s life as a fellow-sacrificer with Jesus, inspired with the hope of living and reigning with him in the kingdom. How could one have such a hope while believing that the kingdom was already established through church-state systems?
The true life of consecration on the part of the “children of the kingdom” calls for obedience to the commission to preach the “word of the kingdom,” but when one who is indoctrinated with all the erroneous teachings of Satan becomes active in disseminating his beliefs, he succeeds only in misrepresenting the true God of the Bible and creating more tares.
Any one who helped to establish the union of church and state was not serving God in so doing, for God did not authorize such a union. Any one who preaches the trinity is not thereby serving the true God of the Bible, but misrepresenting him. Any one who preaches that eternal torture is the punishment for sin is not serving God, but blaspheming him. It follows then, that one who believes all these errors of Satan, and preaches them, and at the same time knows little or nothing about the “word of the kingdom,” and does not teach this glorious hope, in reality does not serve God at all.
God wants us to be tolerant. He has forbidden us to judge the standing of others before him; for he alone knoweth those who are his. For this reason personalities should not enter into our study of his Word. At the same time we should not refuse to recognize the clear-cut lesson of the wheat and tares parable, for it clearly shows that those who are indoctrinated with the false teachings of Satan, the great deceiver of men and adversary of God, are “tares,” not wheat; “children of the devil,” not “children of the kingdom”—and it was Jesus who gave this explanation.
God established the principle that the true sanctification of his people is accomplished by the truth, not by error. This means that those who understand and teach the truth, the “word of the kingdom,” are his servants. Certainly the opposite of this must also be true, namely, that those who accept and teach “doctrines of devils” are the servants of the devil; for, as Paul explained, “His servants ye are to whom ye obey.”—Rom. 6:16
Not Wicked People
But let us not be misunderstood! Many of those who have believed the grotesque teachings of Satan, and who, in the proclaiming of these teachings have served him, have been noble people so far as their moral standing has been concerned. Tares are imitation wheat, hence the righteousness of the tare class is a counterfeit inspired by false teachings. Their beliefs, their hopes, their teachings, and their practices, are all foreign to those possessed by the “children of the kingdom.”
The enemy sowed “tares.” As already noted, tares, while growing, look very much like wheat. So in many respects the “tares” of the parable have corresponded to the “wheat” until examined critically in the light of the Scriptures. Up to a point their language is the same. They talk about God; about Jesus; about the Redeemer; about the “blood”; about sanctification; about the Gospel; about the “wages of sin”; about the “end of the world”; about the “judgment day.” In their conversation many other biblical terms are used. They speak of themselves as disciples, and Christians.
From the outward appearance there is a close resemblance indeed between the “wheat” and the “tares.” But as is true along almost any line, mere words have a different meaning when used by different people; and this is certainly true with respect to the wheat and tares of our Lord’s parable. The “wheat” worship God and Jesus, believing that God is the great Jehovah and Creator of the universe; and that Jesus is his Son. The “tares” worship God and Jesus, believing them to be one and the same person, two parts of a triune god, the third part being the “Holy Ghost.” The fact that they use the name God does not mean that they worship the true God, for it is one’s conception of the object of worship, rather than the name used, which determines the matter.
The “wheat” talk about the Redeemer, believing that he was the Son of God, the Logos who was made flesh for the suffering of death, and that he tasted death for every man, giving his life a “ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (I Tim. 2:6) But when the “tares” talk about a redeemer, many of them are thinking of a third part of the triune god which they worship, that he became incarnate in flesh, and merely appeared to die for man, etc.
The “wages of sin” to the “wheat” means death, the loss of life; to the “tares” it means eternal torture in a state of separation from God. To the “wheat” the Gospel means the “word of the kingdom,” that is, “good news,” contained in the glorious promises of God concerning the establishment of the kingdom of Christ for the blessing of all the families of the earth. To the “tares” the Gospel means the “good news” that there is a hope of escape from eternal torture by accepting and worshiping the triune god, and joining some denominational church.
To the “wheat” the “end of the world” means the end of the present order of things over which they know that Satan is the ruler, and the establishment of God’s new world, the kingdom world. To the “tares” the end of the world means the destruction of this earth, and the end of all opportunity of salvation for those not already converted when that “crack of doom” occurs.
So we might go on and contrast the meanings attached to biblical phraseology when used by these different groups; but the differences we have noted, we believe, will illustrate the fact that it is not only words which count in our lives, but the meaning we attach to those words. The mere words employed by both “wheat” and “tares” are to a large extent the same; which outwardly make the two groups appear alike; even as tares appear to be wheat. It is when we go below these outward professions, or words, that we discover the difference.
“Let Both Grow Together”
In the parable, when the servants of the householder discovered that tares had been sown among the wheat, they asked if they should root them up and thus clear the field of the counterfeit wheat. They were told not to do this, but to let both grow together until the harvest, with the explanation by Jesus that the “harvest is the end of the age.” It has even been so. Church history reveals the accuracy with which the outline of this parable has been fulfilled.
The “field” did become overrun with “tares,” that is to say, nearly all in the professed Christian world were those who believed in and whose lives were conformed to the various erroneous theories originating with Satan, one of the principal of which was the church-state conception of Christ’s kingdom. But throughout all the centuries there were a few—a very few indeed—who continued to hold to the “word of the kingdom,” and whose hopes were inspired by the promises of our Lord’s return to establish that kingdom.
These were helpless so far as effecting reforms was concerned. They were treated as heretics and persecuted. They were ostracized and maligned, but they continued to rejoice in the inspiration which was theirs through the “word of the kingdom.” They were the true “children of the kingdom,” although they grew together with the “tares”—those who professed to have established the kingdom, and who taught that all who did not obey its laws would be tortured forever in a hell of fire and brimstone.
The parable illustrates the experiences of the true and counterfeit people of God throughout the entire period of the Gospel age, and the “harvest” in this wheat-field illustration occurs at the “end of the age.” This means that if we are in the end of the age we should be able to discern a development in the field that corresponds to the lesson of the parable. And we do find that just such a development has now occurred.
First, the Tares
In the parable the harvest feature is said to include the binding and burning of the tares, and also the gathering of the wheat into the barn. The burning of the tares is described as being accomplished in a time of trouble symbolized by the weeping and gnashing of teeth. The barn into which the wheat is gathered is defined as that state in which the “righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father”—the ultimate and blessed state of the “children of the kingdom.”
In his explanation of the parable Jesus emphasizes that the tares are “first” bound into bundles and burned. This does not imply that the tares are disposed of entirely before anything is done about the wheat; but it does reveal that the “angels” begin to deal with the tares early in the harvest period; and that they are gathered and burned prior to the time that the wheat “shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of the Father.” It might well indicate that the bundling of the tares takes place “first,” or before the wheat harvest begins at all.
This, as a matter of fact, is the sequence of events as they have actually developed. To start with, the counterfeit kingdom which Satan established embraced practically the entire nominal church world. But the time came when influences were brought to bear which began to segregate the adherents of Christendom into groups, or bundles. It was called a Reformation, and some reforms were made, but most of the Reformers fell into the same error of church-state union as that originally planted in Rome.
Denominationalism grew. The cords of false creeds bound the adherents of these sects tightly in bundles, all claiming that they were the kingdom of God; but none of them recognizing the real truth of the kingdom. As this bundling went on, some of the wheat were entangled in them, but when the wheat harvest began, one after another of these heard the call, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.”—Rev. 18:4
The burning of the tares takes place during the great “time of trouble” which is even now destroying the present evil world of which they have been a part. This does not mean their destruction as individuals, but merely as tares. And let us examine this thought briefly in the light of what we know has occurred throughout the world within the last half century. As we have seen, the “tares” of the parable are a part of a counterfeit kingdom of Christ, the foundation of which was the church-state systems of Europe. Under those systems every citizen theoretically, was a “Christian.” In Italy the pope was accustomed to make the boast that every Italian was a Christian. But today there are no longer any one hundred per cent “Christian” nations. The church-state government of Russia was long ago destroyed, which means that Russians are no longer members of a counterfeit kingdom of Christ, and millions in that land make no pretense of religion of any kind.
Even in Italy, the flames of trouble have left their mark so that millions in that country no longer bow to the dictates of the Vatican. The same deterioration of “Christendom”—the great aggregations of tares—is seen everywhere. No longer does anyone seriously believe that kings reign by the grace of God. No longer do the masses of any country fear the anathemas of the church. Fragments of the old system still remain; and there is still some measure of respect for old established religious rites and customs; but the destinies of the world are today being worked out by powerful groups who do not even pretend to be guided by God.
Then the Wheat
The wheat are not burned, but are gathered into the barn, to “shine forth” in the kingdom of which they are “children.” As we have seen, these “children of the kingdom” grew together with the tares throughout the age. They were not recognized as a separate aggregation of believers, but hounded as heretics. But there has come a change in this respect, for beginning more than a half century ago, they began to be gathered into a group by themselves, and to serve together as servants and heralds of the incoming kingdom of Christ.
And how was this done? By the truth—the “word of the kingdom.” Jesus promised his disciples that when he returned he would gird himself and serve his people with “meat in due season.” This means that just as Jesus accomplished the work of the Jewish age harvest through the use of the kingdom truth then due, likewise when he returned he would again speak to his people by means of the same kingdom truth, this “meat in due season.”
And this is what has occurred. While the individual “children of the kingdom” throughout the age rejoiced in whatever of the kingdom truth they could retain in their hearts, they had little opportunity to study it, and were not permitted to publish it. They did not have the facilities to publish it even if they had been permitted to do so. But the Lord in his providence began to prepare the way for a change. The advent of printing was one of his providences. Rapid means of travel was another.
By 1874 these modern blessings had progressed to the point where it was possible to make a truly wide proclamation of a message. By the ungodly and selfish these blessings are being misused, and by their misuse the world is being wrecked. But God had a message for the people from his Word, so when the set time came for the return of our Lord, his promise to serve “meat in due season” to his people was fulfilled.
And what was that “meat”? It was the original “word of the kingdom,” that glorious message of hope which had so inspired the early church, but which for centuries had been buried under the weight of superstitions and false doctrines. Individuals had known about and believed in the “times of restitution of all things,” but now, in the Lord’s providence, the whole plan of God of which this glorious kingdom theme was so essentially a part, was revealed to “that servant,” and he, in turn, began to publish it throughout all Christendom.
And what happened? There was a gathering together of a group of believers who, like the apostles and others of the early church, were imbued with the doctrine of the kingdom. Now the wheat need no longer grow together with the tares. And the tares also are being taken care of. This development is not complete as yet. The clearing of the field of tares is only barely begun, but it is continuing and will be completed in God’s due time.
Nor is the gathering of the wheat complete. The “word of the kingdom” has continued to go forth, even until now, and is still being proclaimed widely. The wheat class is still being reached, and the kingdom hope is inspiring them to join in the proclamation of the kingdom. Ere long, when the tares shall have first been all gathered and burned, then the wheat, the righteous, shall “shine forth as the sun” in the kingdom, the hope of which is now their inspiration.
“The Reapers Are the Angels”
Jesus explained that the reapers in the harvest would be the “angels.” The Greek word here translated angels simply means “messengers.” It is the same word used by Paul when he spoke of his poor eyesight as being a “messenger of Satan” to buffet him. (II Cor. 12:7) It is also the word that describes spirit beings as “angels,” and appropriately so, for the Bible indicates that angels are primarily messengers, or servants, of God and of God’s people. But the Scriptures use this word to describe a wide variety of agencies used by the Lord in the outworking of his plan.
In the parable it is the Son of man who sends forth his messengers as servants or messengers to accomplish both the binding into bundles and burning of the tares as well as the gathering of the wheat. In Revelation 14:14 the “Son of man” is shown as the Chief Reaper in this work of harvest. In this Revelation picture, as will be noted, a number of “angels” are referred to as being associated with the harvest scene.
In the harvest picture of Revelation 14 there is mentioned the preaching of the “everlasting Gospel,” the declaration that “Babylon is fallen,” and the gathering of “clusters of the vine of the earth,” corresponding to the gathering of the tares. One of the “angels” is said to have “power over fire,” which coincides with the burning of the tares.
It is apparent that the “angels” of the parable include all the various agencies used by the “Son of man” to accomplish the complete work of the harvest, both of the wheat and the tares. It is evident also that some of these angels accomplish their work by preaching the “everlasting Gospel,” and heralding other messages of truth given to them by the Son of man. That Jesus is the Chief Reaper means that he is present during the harvest, and one of the evidences of his presence is that of the brightshining of truth—to the church a brightshining of the plan of God, to the world a brightshining of truth along all lines.
It seems clear, then, that the “angels” which harvest the wheat are the Lord’s own people, for they are the ambassadors of the kingdom message. That they also are the wheat is not inconsistent with this thought, for we must remember that these are but illustrations, of different aspects of the divine plan as it relates to the Lord’s people. The wheat class at the end of the Jewish age were the disciples of Jesus at that time; but he sent them forth as reapers to gather more wheat; and the same is true today. The “children of the kingdom” have, during the last half century and more, proclaimed the harvest message of truth, and the wheat class has responded and is being prepared to “shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”
And the brightshining of the Master’s presence—the prophetic increase of knowledge, and the flashing of Jehovah’s lightnings—is gradually leading up to the full burning of the tares in the great furnace of anarchy which will bring to a full end the present evil world. Whoever and whatever the Lord uses in connection with this development may properly be considered as his “angels,” or messengers. What a wonderful privilege it is for us who know the truth to have a share in the work of gathering the wheat!
The harvest feature of the parable is now well advanced, which means that the faithful will soon shine forth as the sun, becoming associated with the “Sun of righteousness,” who will rise with “healing in his wings” to bless all nations. (Malachi 4:2) What a glorious prospect! And how much better it will then be for those who heretofore have been of the tare class; for while destroyed as tares, they will be blessed as individuals—blessed with the privilege of living in peace and happiness forever in the restored earth, if they will hear, heed and obey the divine mandate given through the Christ, the Anointed of God.
And how happy they will be to learn that their fears of torment and the judgment day were unfounded, having been overreached by the wiles of that “old serpent” who succeeded in deceiving all nations. Just as former worshipers of the various heathen gods will be glad to learn of the true God and to accept the blessings he has provided for them, so those who have worshiped the god of the tares will be happy to learn that the true God of the Bible is loving and. gracious, and has provided blessings for them far grander than anything they had ever visualized.
Knowing this, the “children of the kingdom” rejoice in the opportunity which is theirs of proclaiming the glad tidings of the kingdom. It is a message of which they need not be ashamed, for it comprehends blessings for “all the families of the earth.” In our weakness the best efforts we can now make to let our light shine will be merely a candle-like shining; but if faithful in this, the time will soon come when together with Jesus, the great Luminary, we will “shine forth as the sun,” enlightening and blessing all mankind, causing the knowledge of the glory of God to fill the whole earth as the waters cover the sea.