The Parable Of The
Wheat And The Tares
Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43
The Parable Of The Wheat And The Tares
24 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of
heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field;
25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed
tares among the wheat and went his way.
26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the
tares also appeared.
27 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?’
28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The
servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them
up?’
29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also
uproot the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at
the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather
together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather
the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
The Parable Of The Tares Explained
36 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.”
37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed
is the Son of Man.
38 The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the
kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.
39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the
end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.
40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it
will be at the end of this age.
41 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,
42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be
wailing and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of
their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
In the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, there are both wheat
and weeds in the kingdom of God.
One good question to ask is this: If Jesus is King in His kingdom,
why does evil exist or even on the increase?
The answer is this: Look at Israel, the people of God. Look at their
kings and their kingdoms. Look at how the people of God are saying in
their mouths that the Lord is King but in reality, they have other
kings and other things enthroned inside their hearts.
Isaiah 29:13-14
13 Therefore the LORD said:
“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honor Me with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me,
And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,
14 Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work
Among this people,
A marvelous work and a wonder;
For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.”
The people of God even rejected and crucified their King and Messiah when He visited
them about 2000 years ago. They are still waiting for their King
to come and reign in Jerusalem! The King is coming again, but the time is
not yet fulfilled.
Similarly, many Christians call Jesus Lord but they do not enthrone
Him as their Lord and King in their life. They can sing and they can
dance but Jesus is not Lord at all in
their hearts!
Nevertheless, we can still rejoice. Jesus is forever the Lord and King! His
kingdom is shining gloriously in the midst of the presence of evil.
The presence and the increase of evil do not change the fact or
alter the truth that
Jesus is reigning sovereignly and in full control of everything in
the world. He allows the wheat and the weeds to grow together until
the time of harvest!
The Man who sowed the good seeds is the Son of Man. The field is the
world; and the field is His. The world belongs to Him.
Psalm 24:1
The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness,
The world and those who dwell therein.
The wheat are those belonging to His Kingdom but the weeds are
those belonging to the Evil One. The enemy who sowed the weeds is
the Devil. The weeds are in the kingdom of God but they are not of
the kingdom of God!
John 8:42-47
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me,
for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself,
but He sent Me.
43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not
able to listen to My word.
44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your
father you want to do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his
own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.
45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do
you not believe Me?
47 He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear,
because you are not of God.”
Those belonging to the Evil One will believe not in the Truth but
in lies as the Devil is a liar and the father of it.
2 Timothy 2:19
Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal:
“The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let
everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
John 17:15-16
15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world,
but that You should keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of
the world.
The Lord knows those who are His. His people are in the world,
but they are not of the world. The harvest is the end of the
age, and the harvest workers are the angels of God. Just as the
weeds are gathered up and burned in the fire, the same thing will
happen at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out His holy
angels to first gather out those weeds not belonging to His Kingdom.
All those
lawless people
who cause other people to sin and do evil things will be thrown into
the fiery furnace where they will cry and gnash their teeth. But the
people of God will shine like the sun in their Father's Kingdom.
Revelation 22:14
14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the
right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the
city.
15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and
murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
About the kingdom of God, there are three important factors:
- There is a King.
-
The King has laws governing His kingdom.
- The people of His kingdom are obedient to Him, and are
law-abiding citizens of His kingdom.
What is the New Covenant? It is God putting His laws in our minds
and writing them on our hearts so that He will be our God, and we
shall be His people.
Hebrews 8:7-12
7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would
have been sought for a second.
8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are
coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah—
9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in
the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of
Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I
disregarded them, says the Lord.
10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of
Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their
mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and
they shall be My people.
11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother,
saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of
them to the greatest of them.
12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins
and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”
Ezekiel 36:25-27
25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean;
I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you;
I
will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart
of flesh.
27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My
statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.
God has put His Holy Spirit within us enabling and empowering us to
walk in His statutes, and to keep His judgments and to do them. But
a lot of His people choose otherwise and believe in a lie. Many have chosen
to practice lawlessness!
Can a country operate without any laws? Definitely not! What happens to a kingdom when
all the people are doing what is right in their own eyes? There will
be great chaos and massive disorders.
Judges 21:25
In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was
right in his own eyes.
When there is no king, people just do whatever they think is
right or convenient for them.
The mark of the weeds is lawlessness!
Matthew 13:41
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,
These lawless people will be rejected by the Lord when the time comes.
Matthew 7:21-23
I Never Knew You
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many
wonders in Your name?’
23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from
Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Matthew 24:12
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will
grow cold.
These lawless people do not have the Lord and King in their
hearts. And thus
they don't belong to the kingdom of God! Now they can be arrogant and
proud claiming that they are of the kingdom of God doing signs and
wonders, and prophesying here and there but when the time comes, they will be greatly
shocked!
1 Peter 4:17
For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God;
and
if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not
obey the gospel of God?
God wants to plant good seeds in us! He desires to put His laws in
our minds and write them on our hearts so that He will be our God,
and we shall be His people. He desires to put His Holy Spirit within
us to enable and empower us to walk in His statutes, and to keep His
judgments and to do them.
Psalm 112:1
Praise the LORD!
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
Who delights greatly in His commandments.
Psalm 119:35
Make me walk in the path of Your commandments,
For I delight in it.
Psalm 119:47
And I will delight myself in Your commandments,
Which I love.
Are we desiring to do what He desires? Are we willing to do His
will?
Do we know His commandments?
Do we delight in His commandments? Do we love to do His
commandments?
The laws of God are perfect and good if they are used as they
should be used. We must always remember that God made the laws not
against the lawful but against those lawless people, lawbreakers,
and criminals, and against the godless and ungodly! The laws of God
protect us against the lawless and ungodly people!
1 Timothy 1:8-11
8 But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully,
9 knowing this: that the law is not made for a righteous
person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and
for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of
fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,
10 for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for
perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound
doctrine,
11 according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God which
was committed to my trust.
Written in hearts, His commandments are delightful. But if still engraved
on stones as in the Old Covenant, His commandments will be very burdensome.
1 John 5:1-3
Obedience By Faith
1 Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and
everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of
Him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God
and keep His commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And
His commandments are not burdensome.
Yes, this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His
commandments are not burdensome. When we do so, we know that we truly
belong to God and His kingdom! And we are wheat and not weeds!
If interested, please read:
The Parable Of The Mustard Seed
and
The Parable Of The Leaven.
Written on: 29 August 2018