The Parable of the Wheat and Tares, from Matthew 13 in the Bible, tells of a farmer who sowed good seed, but an enemy sowed poisonous weeds called tares, that look like wheat. The similarity between these two plants is so great, that in some regions tares also known as darnel is called "false wheat". The tare bears a close resemblance to wheat until the ear appears on the stem.
In the story the farmer forbids his servants from trying to pull them up in order to separate them knowing that they would uproot some of the wheat as well as the tares. Instead, he instructs them to let both grow up together until the harvest season and then at that point they could better distinguish between the two as the real wheat versus the false tare. Jesus was indicating that the field is not the church; it is the world.
This waiting process symbolizes the end of the age, when God's angels will separate the wicked which will be thrown into the fire, from the righteous that will be gathered into the barn that represents eternal glory. This parable teaches that good and evil coexist in the world and oftentimes wicked people mask themselves as God's children and can be found in the church houses all around the world.
This will continue until the final judgment according to scripture and is symbolized by the great harvest of souls. At that point, all humanity will be separated from each other, the true child of God, from the false Christian. Jesus was teaching that any attempts to prematurely remove the wicked can harm the righteous.
The enemy in the parable is Satan. The field is the world. The devil tries to destroy Christ’s work by placing wicked people and false believers in the world to work unrighteousness even in the church house. But the church’s job is not to rid the world of sinners, any more than it is the wheat’s job to pluck up the tares, but simply to lead them to salvation through personal conversion to Christ. In the parable, Christ allows the tares to remain until His return. At that time, angels will separate the just from the unjust and the true from false believers.
Judgment is coming, but in the meantime, God takes steps to ensure that His children are not adversely affected by His judgment on the wicked. God does not want to “uproot the wheat,” no matter how many tares there may be in the church.
Tares, especially in the early stages of growth, resemble wheat. Likewise, a false believer may resemble a true believer, at least superficially. In Matthew 7:22, Jesus warned that many profess faith, but do not know Him, and 2 Corinthians 13:5 reminds us that each person should examine his or her own relationship with Christ to confirm to themselves if they are in the faith or not.
Hold Fast, -Bren
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