Kingdom of Heaven: Wheat and Tares

Continuation of "Kingdom of God: Entrance..."

Why studying the kingdom of God is important? Because we are living in the kingdom of God now. It clearly talks about how God is working in this time period where we live. He will mediate his kingdom through believers. It represents the church age now. I am definitely sure that many of us have questions about this time? Don’t you?

a)Why so many people are rejecting the gospel? b) Why people don’t understand when I share the gospel with them? c) He was a very enthusiastic believer now he is showing no interest. What happened to him? d) Why is this brother not involving in church activities more?

These are not answer-less questions but Jesus is giving answers to all of them from the first parable. He who has an ear, let him hear. A) Only ¼ accept the gospel and ¾ reject B) The seed in roadside C) Seed on a rocky surface D) Seed is on a thorny surface.

Questions do not end there. Why is there so much evil in this world? Why God is not removing the evil ones? Why we have to live with these evil people? When will God end this? Oh, this person is causing a split in the church, why is it so? He was a good believer, how did he backslide and became a sinner like this?

The answers to these questions we can find in the second parable. The parable of the wheat and tares. Mt 13:24-30: The parable.  Mt 13:36-43: Explanation of the parable.

Explanation

The field – The world where the gospel is shared.

Sower – Son of man.

Enemy – Devil who planted weeds.

Good seeds – Sons of the kingdom.

Weeds – Sons of the evil one.

Harvest – End of the age.

Harvesters – Angels

The parable is about the things that are happening in one person’s field.

Understanding 1: Where kingdom established and our role being part of this kingdom?

The kingdom of God has already commenced. From where do we find it? (v12:28). Jesus casting out demons with the spirit is proof that the kingdom of God has already come. This is what is happening now, not future events but the present age.  

V13:37,38 – This talks about the who is sowing the seed, where he is sowing the seed, and his intention of sowing the seed.

Where? V38 – He is sowing the seeds in the field. What is the field representing? The field is representing the world. Who is the owner of the field? Son of Man. The world is his field. He is sowing seeds in his field. Jesus is still the owner of the field, not the devil. Devil is intruding into his field.

The kingdom of heaven is established in this world. It’s not something which is going to start in heaven, or it is not something which will be established in a secluded place away from the world and its influences. The entire world is his field and he is sowing the good seeds in this world. God has spread out the seeds throughout the world. Don’t interpret it as a church. The seeds need to grow in the midst of all influences and it should become the wheat. He doesn’t want us to live a secluded life.

1 Peter 5:10: To be matured by the troubles of the world, to make us strong in this world.

John 16:33: Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

James also says it is to mature us.  That’s why we are planted in this world.

Why? What’s our role being part of the kingdom? (v38)

We are planted here in the world by the Son of Man. We are the children of the kingdom. We are his subject. He is sowing the good seeds in the field with the intention to cultivate wheat in the entire field. He is planting seeds with a purpose. It's not that we fell here somehow. But we are planted here. That the seed should get into the soil. It should not perish there but it should sprout, grow up to become wheat. That’s the intention and purpose of the owner to cultivate wheat in his field. He wants the field to be filled with wheat.

The growth of every believer is compared to that of a seed. The seed is not supposed to remain as a seed. It grows from the state of a seed with time. It reaches some amount of growth by time. It does not stay as it is. From seed, first, the roots come, these roots will anchor the seed and get the nutrients from the soil. Then it produces stem and starts growing upwards, it produces leaves, again grows upwards and after some time it produces fruit (wheat in this case) and then the harvest comes. He has planted us here so that we fill the field and not letting the weeds grow and fill the field.

Application: How is our growth? Are we remaining in the seed state? Do we exhibit growth with time? Did the roots go down and anchor us? Did the stem come up? Is it producing leaves? Is it producing fruit? Are we influencing the weeds?

Understanding 2: Attack on this kingdom

Jesus is establishing the kingdom of heaven in this world and the devil has intruded into his field and put his sons (sons of evil one) to disrupt the establishment of the kingdom of heaven. The tactics that the enemy is using to destroy the kingdom is by preventing its members from growing finally, it leads to death.

How do the weeds impact the wheat? When weeds are there in the field they also compete for the nutrients from the soil, sunlight, moisture, and space. These weeds will outgrow the wheat and finally, the wheat plants are choked, and finally, it is destroyed. That’s how weeds impact the growth of wheat.

That’s how the kingdom of heaven will be affected. If the sons of the evil one are there in the midst they will outgrow us, they will prevent us from getting the nutrients and essentials, and finally choke us. These sons of evil one can use social media like Facebook, Whatsapp, entertainment industry. They are smart enough they can create interesting groups and keep us engaged and we spent time in those things. We will not get the essential nutrients from the Bible, we fail to spend time in prayer. That’s how these sons of evil one can choke us to death. That’s how his kingdom will suffer.

The next major question is how can you identify these weeds? They can be identified by their activities. Their activities are mentioned in the v41. The angels will weed out his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. These are the ones who do evil and cause sin or influence others to sin. If you open your eyes and look around you can easily find those evil ones. Look to your classrooms, to your offices and you will see these kinds of weeds.

If we are living our Christian life without this knowledge that there are sons of the evil ones around you then you are going to be in great trouble. One of the biggest mistakes that today’s Christian youth or adults make is that they tend to believe their secular friends and classmates than Christian friends or leaders. Not only youth but every believer who has stronger bonding with the unbelieving friends than with Christian friends. If you do not realize the fact that the devil has planted weeds in this world with the purpose to influence the sons of the kingdom, then you are going to be in big trouble. Never seek counsel or advice about anything from your unbelieving friends or classmates because they are the sons of evil ones.

We see there are only two categories in this field either sons of the kingdom or sons of the evil one. If you are not in the first group then you are in the second group. If you are not the child of God then you are children of disobedience. This we can see in other parts. Either vessel of mercy or vessels of wrath. Eph 2:2- You are working under the devil.

He plants these weeds among the wheat(v25). It means that the devil plants the evil one amongst us. Devil will always love to plant the weeds close to where good seeds are. So sons of the evil one will be planted near to the sons of the kingdom. That’s the church. He can plant these evil ones in the church also.

This kind of situation has happened ever since the beginning of the kingdom in the first century churches.

Corinthian church weeds: People with immorality

Roman church weeds: People who support law based living rather than grace.

Galatian's church weeds: Judaizers, works more important than salvation.

Colossian church weeds: Gnostic people, mysterious knowledge more important than Christ

Thessalonian's church weeds: Idle people who want to eat without working.

Understanding 3: Motivation and the appointed harvest (v28, 29)

We may think why can’t God immediately pluck those weeds, or is God not aware of the situation? But the parable says that the owner of the field is aware that the enemy is doing and even his servants are ready to clean out those weeds but the owner of the field fixes and appointed time of harvest. We also often wonder why God is not destroying them? This is the question that many unbelievers ask. Where is God and what is God doing? Why don’t you wipe out the unbelieving world?

The owner of the field or Christ purposefully delays the harvest to an appointed time for the good of the sons of the kingdom or wheat. In the initial stages, it is a little difficult to identify the weeds from the wheat. After it grows to some stage and produces leaves then only we can clearly identify between the wheat and weeds. Here we see (v27,28) when it just sprouted and formed heads, the servants are asking to pluck out the weeds. But the owner reply – Hold on – (v29,30), while plucking out you may pull out the wheat also, because both may look similar now. Wait till harvest then you can collect the weeds first. Because at the time of harvest, both will be grown and formed the leaves now it will be clearly distinguishable. Then we will separate. God is giving time, He is being patient by not destroying anything which looks like a weed in the early stages. This is an age of grace and actions are taken at the time of harvest.

He knows that if you pluck out the tares whenever it comes up there are chances that the wheat also may come up with that. It can happen at some point in our lives we get tangled with these tares, and after some time we realize that this is not good and get separated from that. At some point in our Christian life or growth we will not be clearly distinguishable but will be exhibiting the characteristics of weed itself.  If God decided to pluck those tares early, the sons of the kingdom who were tangled up with the wheat at that time will also get destroyed that’s why we see God giving time for everyone. He appoints a time for harvest. Only then he will come and separate between wheat and tares. It’s a warning for us to change. Be clearly separated from the weeds.

Our lifestyle, our words, and deeds is it exhibiting the characteristics of weed or wheat?

Our motivation and our destiny: All these toils and struggle is not going to be wasted. (v30) At the harvest, the weeds will be first collected and burned and the wheat to his barn. Explanation of that comes in (V42,43). Sons of the evil one are punished in the hell where there are weeping and gnashing of teeth. Fire is the word used everywhere in the Bible for hell. Dying by fire is one of the most terrible things that can happen. That’s how it is going to be in hell.

Sons of the kingdom the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Jesus says to wait, hold on, live together now, be patient with the evil ones, after the harvest the glory will come. You will shine like stars in his kingdom. Still, the kingdom of Father is continuing and we will be there in the kingdom. That will be the final consummation of the kingdom. Till that point in time, the kingdom will be mixed with the evil ones. And we have to live among them.

Application of this parable

The application of the parable can be seen in v43. He, who has ears, let him hear. That’s the application. Listen and understand this truth, understand this reality of the kingdom of heaven and live. Are you a weed in the kingdom? Then you are going to be plucked out and burnt in the furnace of fire. Are you wheat? Then you are asked to co-exist in the world. You are asked to be separated from the weeds, You are asked to grow like a seed and become its final form that’s wheat. You are asked to patient till the time of harvest and not judging others before that. May God help us to understand this reality of the kingdom of heaven and live.