THE PARABLE OF THE WHEAT AND THE TARES Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Immediately following the Parable of the Sower and the Seed, Jesus spoke another parable to His disciples and to the multitude who surrounded them. v. 24-25 The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. While he and his workers were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat. v. 26 When the wheat had sprouted and set its grain, the tares also appeared. Tares are darnel plants which in the younger stages of growth look almost like wheat plants. When both plants grow to maturity, the difference can be readily seen. The wheat plants, because they are loaded with ripe grain, bend over, bowing their heads toward the ground. The darnel fruit is much lighter and the plants remain upright. The fruit itself consists of tiny little black seeds which are poisonous. v. 27-29 When the servants of the farmer discovered the tares, they went to him and reported the presence of the tares among the wheat. He said to them, An enemy has done this. The servants asked him, should we go and pull up the tares? The farmer said, No, you might pull up the wheat with the tares. It is very likely that as the plants grew, their roots became entangled. So the only thing to do was to let both grow together until the time of harvest. The farmer would then tell the reapers to gather the tares and bind them in bundles to be burned. After that, the wheat would be harvested and gathered into his barn. Now no farmer would want tares in his wheat field. These worthless weeds took away some of the nutrients from the soil that should go to the wheat, thereby causing a drop in the value of the harvest. They also caused a lot of extra work for the farmer and his workers. After telling two more short parables concerning the kingdom of heaven, Jesus dismissed the multitude. Then His disciples came to Him and asked Him to explain the parable of the tares of the field. vv. 37-39 He answered, 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. v. 40 Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so will it be at the end of the age. v. 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, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. v. 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! Practical application Gods people suffer much misery and persecution from the devil, his demons, and his children (the tares) . The devil is called the ruler of this world and will take as much liberty as God will give him. He commands a vast army of ungodly beings including his demons and his children. But there is coming a time when he and all that belong to him will be thrown into the lake of fire where they will be tormented for ever and ever. Now just who are the tares (the children of the devil)? All the ungodly are suspect. In I Corinthians 6:9-11, Paul lists many ungodly sinners who would qualify as tares. But then he continues, And such were some of you, but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. So we never know whose hearts God will touch and bring to Himself through repentance and faith in Jesus. Some of the wicked are true children of God. They will be changed and will be saved in Gods timing and way. But Jesus knew who the children of the devil were: those who wanted to kill Him (John 8:37), and those who could not and would not listen to Him (John 8:42-47). Jesus also called Judas a devil (John 6:70-71). Paul called a sorcerer, a false prophet named Bar-Jesus who was blocking the way for a proconsul to hear the gospel, a son of the devil (Acts 13:8-10). Could these wicked people ever be saved? Yes and No. If these people were indeed the children of the devil and persisted in their wicked ways, would not respond to the convicting power of the Holy spirit, refused to repent and believe in Jesus, and would not come to Him as a little child, they would be lost and condemned forever. Counted among these were the scribes and Pharisees whom Jesus soundly condemned for their pride, hypocrisy, and their unrighteous and self righteous behavior (See Matthew 23, especially v. 33). On the other hand, some of the children of God may have been just a wicked as the children of the devil. But when they were confronted with the gospel, they responded to the Holy Spirits conviction and humbly received Gods gift of salvation they were changed from being a disobedient child of the world into a born-again child of God. Of such were the prodigal son and many of us as well. Can you and I identify a tare? In the Bible we see people who turned out to be tares. Those who, because of their insensitivity to the poor and needy, were cast into the lake of fire (Matthew 25:31-46). But there were also very wicked men to whom God showed His grace. In II Kings 21:1-18 we read about the most wicked king of Judah, King Manasseh. He worshiped false gods and even sacrificed his own children to these false gods. He sinned greatly and led his people into many evil practices. Read his story in II Kings and you will think this man is certainly a tare. But turn to II Chronicles 33:1-20 and you see something else: Manasseh repents! Read the scripture and you will see how and why. The best thing for us to do is to leave these matters in the hand of God. He alone knows the hearts of all men (II Chronicles 6:30). He alone knows what to do with each person. Lets examine our own hearts (II Corinthians 13:5) to see if we indeed are a child of God. Then we should make it an important part of our work for God to pray for all others. Then we must share with all who will listen, the wonderful gospel message of Gods love and His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ His Son, the Savior of the world.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 22:30:02 +0000
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