Matt. 13
“ The harvest is the end of the age." This is not the word which means " world." It is the end of the period of the kingdom in mystery whilst the king is in heaven. It is the judgment of the quick, or living. Not at all like the judgment of the dead as described in Rev. 20 The devil is not to sow his tares forever. The harvest is the end of summer, it is not however the last day in the year. The fast approaching harvest is the end of this summer of grace. The end of the present sowing of the Son of man, and the sowing of the devil; the end of the present mixed state of wheat and tares in the kingdom. It is the separating time—many things connected with this harvest are not explained here, but in the epistles, and by the Holy Ghost.
We will look, however, at the measure of explanation the Lord gives us. “He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man." Yes, whatever means are used, whether the pen of the writer, or the lips of the speaker, it is the Son of man, using a man, or what He will, by the Holy Ghost. And mark, the field is not the church, but "the field is the world." The sowing would not be limited to Israel, but the whole world. This whole world belongs to the Son of man in heaven: and before He left, He commissioned His servants to sow the seed in the whole world, to every nation.
He further explains that there are two parties in the world; He says, " The good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one." This evidently refers to that part of the world where this mixed state exists; what we call Christendom, Christ's kingdom, now He is in heaven. Now this is a very serious matter. All professors who are not " born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God," are the children of the wicked one. And still equally solemn is the fact explained by the Lord, " The enemy that sowed them is the devil." Ah, we little think what power Satan is permitted to exercise in Christendom, while men sleep. In the very beginning of the sowing time, the apostle, speaking of the children of the wicked one, says, "For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works." (2 Cor. 11:13-15.)
If such was the case in the beginning, what is it now, so near the end, for the harvest will come? "The harvest is the end of the age." And mark, the harvest at the end of this period of sowing, is not the conversion of the world, or the tares in the kingdom. The reaping time must come, "and the reapers are the angels," but it is for judgment, not for conversion. "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this age. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." We must not press a parable beyond that which is the truth intended, and this is truly most solemn. The certain doom of mere professors: the revelation that, whatever their ecclesiastical dignities, they are the children of the wicked one, sown by the devil, and about to be judged, not converted: this is most clearly foreshadowed in this parable.
There is no instruction as yet, either as to the church the body of Christ, or of its being taken up to meet the Lord. But a state of things requiring a period of time totally distinct, both from the dispensation of law then about to pass away, and also from that glorious time of the reign of Messiah foretold in all the prophets. A period of mystery when the king should be in heaven, or away. And during that time the enemy does his utmost, and his worst, in the world which belongs to the absent King. I n the future kingdom all shall know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. All nations shall come up to worship at Jerusalem. But during the days of this parable, the mystery of the kingdom, all is in direct contrast with the coming dispensation as foretold in scripture. And from this chapter where the Lord first made known this present interval, in which we live, we have abundant confirmation of what is here described. The history of eighteen, nearly nineteen, centuries of Christendom, also, agrees perfectly with this prophetic parable. It is therefore absolutely certain that the harvest will be as here described, is it not God who thus speaks to us?
Let us very briefly notice a few scriptures in confirmation, or explanation, of this parable; such as the great prophetic discourse of the Lord Jesus in Matt. 24; 25 three days before His death. Jerusalem had rejected Him, and only awaited an opportunity to kill Him. Their house was left desolate. We may notice the three divisions of this great discourse. 1st. To the Jews up to verse 31. Then to us, or Christendom, up to verse 30, chapter xxv. Then to, or concerning the nations, to the end.
What would characterize the state of the Jews during this whole period, from that time when Jesus foretold the destruction of their temple, to the time of their great tribulation, is described—a time of continued calamities, and evil, with abounding iniquity. At last the abomination of desolation is set up, as foretold by Daniel the prophet. Then the time of their great tribulation, and then immediately the appearing of the sign of the Son of man; and He is seen coming in the clouds of heaven. Mark, this period, in their history was unknown to the prophets.
And now, what characterizes this period as Christendom? and especially its end? Read verses 22 to 30 of chapter xxv. Does not all this perfectly agree with the parable under consideration? I t is as the days of Noah, and the evil in it; the evil servant about to be judged. Half the virgins have no oil—have not the Spirit of God, and are shut out. And then as to the nations, the same distinction, judgment and blessing at the end. Again we have nothing as yet of the rapture of the church. Just as the tares were cast into a furnace of fire, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth, so those who stand on the left shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. We learn however, that this judgment of the living nations is at the coming of Christ. It is "when the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another," &c. Clearly then all nations are not converted, either during, or at the end of this period, foretold in this parable of the wheat and the tares. In the epistles also the same truth is constantly taught. " The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power." (2 Thess. 1:7-9.) Yes, this is the certain harvest of Christendom. The tares may deny it. But everlasting punishment is the doom of the despisers of the present grace of God. Oh, ye mere empty professors—poor deceived children of the wicked one, hearken: "Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned [judged] who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness." (2 Thess. 2:10-12.) Do not forget this is the sure word of God. Judgment, everlasting in its punishment, is the end, the harvest of this wondrous period in which we live.
Is Satan to spoil the field of Christ forever? Is he to fill that field with tares, and is there to be no end of his work? The kingdom of God shall be set up on earth, but where will the tares of this age be then? Where will the reader be, when the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father? Have you received the word in a heart prepared? Have you been born of the incorruptible word of God which liveth and abideth forever? Have you the certainty that when the wheat is gathered into the garner you will be there? May God awaken you by this short paper to flee from the wrath to come: to escape from the many snares of the enemy in which he holds and deceives his children! Still the voice of mercy sounds. It is still the day of grace, and salvation. How long this may be so, no one can tell. The harvest ripens fast. Men are being bundled into human confederacies; but if not in Christ, it is only ready for the burning. Such is the end of all that is false, in the close of this age. It is evident there must be a dispensation of the millennial kingdom totally distinct from the period in which we live. C. S.