(Matt. 13:24-43.)
ANY careful reader of the thirteenth of Matthew will notice that there is a remarkable difference between the parable of the sower who went out to sow, and the six parables which follow. These latter are said to be similitudes of the kingdom of heaven.
In the parable of the sower we see that God is not seeking anything from man, but is bringing something to man. The word which He will put into the heart will produce fruit of its own kind, and it is the individual soul―responsible for what it hears―that is before us. The six parables which follow, present what is collective, or seen in the aggregate; and you will easily see that the first three differ very largely from the second three. The first three were spoken by the Lord from the boat. Thereafter He leaves the boat, comes into the house, describes what He means by the wheat and tares, and then goes on to unfold the last three parables.
Some of His hearers were greatly struck, and they could not rest till they knew what the parables meant. I wonder, my friend, if you have been so struck? If not, I hope God’s Spirit will so strike you, that you will really go to Christ, to get the meaning of His words. All who had “ears to hear” could not rest till they understood the meaning of the parable of the wheat and the tares. There is no necessity for anybody to be in difficulty as to its meaning. The most feeble intelligence can understand it, because the Lord expounds it.
The first three parables―the wheat and tares, the mustard seed, and the leaven hid in the meal― present the kingdom of heaven under three figures, which give the external aspect of that kingdom as a scene of profession, and responsibility. The other three give us the internal aspect of affairs, viewed as God’s work, and the carrying out of His purposes in grace, albeit we still have a view of the kingdom of heaven. Anyone who listens to God will see what these figures mean, although an unconverted man would not understand the last three, since they bring out the secret purposes and thoughts of God, and are only apprehended by faith.
But you may say, “What do you mean by the similitude of the kingdom of heaven?” In Matthew’s Gospel―where the expression “kingdom of heaven” alone is found, and never said to be nearer than “at hand”―Jesus is the King, but His people would not have Him, they refused Him, and He retired to heaven. The world cast Him out, and today He is the rejected Christ, and the rejected King. Hence you do not see much sign of the kingdom of Christ. You see the kingdom of the devil, and the kingdom of the flesh. But in this scripture the Lord, so to speak, says, “I will show you what this world will be during the time of My absence, till I come back again.” The kingdom exists now. It commenced, in that sense, when He went back to heaven.
Instead of God bringing retributive judgment upon the world that has cast His Son out, He is doing a wonderful work: He is saving men and women, and calling out a company to share Christ’s glory, and kingdom. While man is showing what he is, and what is in him, God has His own purposes of grace, and He is carrying them out. The field, spoken of in this parable, is the world. It is not the Church; if it were the Church you would have a great mixture of believers and unbelievers together, which should not be. God’s work was that of sowing “good seed”―really His own children, but “while men slept, his enemy came, and sowed tares among the wheat.” How easily we can go to sleep! The easiest thing for you and me to do, is to go to sleep, my fellow-Christian. All sinners are dead, and many Christians are sleeping, and need rousing up. Sleep is the thing with which the devil paralyzes the Church. Hence we read, “Therefore let us not sleep as do others” (1 Thess. 5:6).
What is the sphere of God’s work today? It is the whole world. There the name of Christ is proclaimed, but, while God’s work was going on men slept, for everything committed to man in responsibility fails, and the devil sowed his tares among the wheat, and went his way. A first-class worker is the devil. He does his work, goes his way, and tells no one about it. We might learn a lesson from this. Many a good work of God has been spoiled bf talking about it. In the eighth of Acts we see Satan introducing tares Simon the sorcerer was baptized with the rest, and put on the name of Christ, though evidently unconverted, for Peter said unto him, “Thy money perish with thee;... thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God” (Acts 8:20, 21). He got into the kingdom of heaven by profession of Christ, and baptism, but all the while he was an unreal man.
Now you must understand that “the kingdom of heaven” is not heaven. The Lord gave Peter “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 16:19), but I hope you do not think Pater had the keys of heaven? No, no, he never had. Why? Because the keys of heaven are in the hands of Christ. As a servant on earth, Peter had the “keys of the kingdom of heaven” committed to his care. He used them first when, in the second of Acts, he opened the door to the Jews, and three thousand were converted on the day of Pentecost, and, being baptized, entered that kingdom. In the tenth of Acts he went down to Caesarea, and there opened, the door to the Gentiles. Painters depict Peter with keys at his girdle, and sheep all round him, and some are deluded thereby, and think Peter can let them into heaven or keep them out.
Profound mistake! Keys are for opening a door, not feeding sheep. You do not feed sheep with keys, but with turnips and the like.
The Lord here shows what would be during His absence. There would be a mass of mixed profession in the world. The wheat sprung up, then likewise the tares. The Lord expounds this parable to His disciples inside the house. We are told that He that sows the seed is “the Son of Man.” The blessed Lord Jesus is doing God’s work. “The good seed are the children of the kingdom.” Do you think that you are good seed? “The tares are the children of the wicked one.” Do you know that wheat is valuable? Wherever there is a work of grace in the souls of men and women they are like wheat. Thus every child of God is as wheat. Oh, how dear to the heart of Christ is every one born of God.
The Lord Jesus said to Peter once, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat” (Luke 22:31). Now Simon was a saint, a believer: he was wheat, with a good deal of chaff existing also, and God let Satan sift him to get rid of the chaff. Do you know, my unconverted reader, why Satan does not sift you? He leaves you alone, because you are all chaff He never troubles his own. “His goods are in peace” (Luke 11:21). The peace is false, and Satan is too wise to disturb it. Unsaved sinners he regards as his own, his goods. He does not worry sinners, but he worries saints. He is often permitted of God to put them through the sieve. If you were not wheat he would not sift you, dear fellow-believer, so do not be discouraged if you are tempted, tried and sifted. He whispers to his own: “You are very decent, you can keep your mind easy; you are as good as most, better than many; God is good, and merciful, and a nice, respectable, well-behaved person like you is sure to be all right in the end. Do not let the preachers of ‘judgment to come’ trouble you. You believe in Christ, go to church regularly, and make a proper profession―not too loud―what more can you do?”
Thus does the wicked one beguile mere professors. They never get any trouble from him because they are tares. The devil, I repeat, never torments his own. It is the children of God he torments. He will torment them to the end. He tempts from first to last. He had the audacity to tempt the blessed Lord Himself. Christian, remember that with every temptation God makes a way of escape for you. You look to the Lord, and He will carry you, through.
What an awful thing it is to be a tare! The tares are not heathens, but the baptized professors of Christ that people Christendom today. They are professors of Christ outwardly, but not members of Christ’s real Church. The Church is composed of wheat. Where is wheat found? It always grows around the stem. Christ is the stem. He was the one solitary sinless man, the true corn of wheat, and all His people spring from, and derive from Him, as risen from the dead. He has borne the sins of His people, and every one that believes in Him is united to Him. If you are connected with Christ, He is your life, and your righteousness. Every corn of wheat will get to the garner, not one will be lost. If you have never yet been born of God, and washed in the blood of Jesus, do not dream that you are of the wheat, for “the good seed are the children of the kingdom,” i.e., those that are born of God.
Are you a child of the kingdom yet? You say “I do not know.” Why do you not know? I know, and I am acquainted with a great many who can tell me that they know. If you have not been converted, yet it is high time you were. A new-born soul always likes the company of the Lord’s people. So you can easily find out if you are the Lord’s.
Have you found out that you are but a tare in the wheat-field, and do you want to be real? “God be merciful to me a sinner,” should be your cry. How is it that you have a pew among God’s people? I will tell you. The devil would have you there; he puts you there, just to ensure your eternal damnation by the crowning sin of a false, hollow profession.
But stop, my friend, and look ahead a bit; the harvest day is nearing apace. “The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.” This mixture of the living among the dead, the real and the unreal side by side, will go on in the world till the end. Then the wheat will be gathered into the garner, the saints all transferred to, and shining as the sun, in the kingdom of their Father, while the tares will be “cast into a furnace of fire.” The servants wanted to destroy them, to “gather them up” now, but the householder said, “Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.” Rome, forgetful of this command of the Lord, and desirous of getting rid of what she counted tares―in reality God’s wheat―has rooted them up by thousands.
Hear what the Lord Christ says: “Let them both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.” Men are being bound in bundles now. Confederation is the cry of this day, and paves the way for Christendom’s final judgment. The Lord is coming for His saints, and then will the Church be taken to glory. “Gather the wheat into my barn,” means, take them home. The present day of God’s long-suffering grace will soon close, the last gospel message have gone out, and the end of the age come the Son of Man will send forth His angels to deal with all those who do iniquity. There is the final judgment of the unblest. People do not like the solemn story of judgment to come. Just you listen to the Lord here. “They shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity.” And what becomes of such? The angels “shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” If, my reader, you who have heard the gospel, are of that sad company, you will then say, Fool, fool that I was not to believe.
Believe the truth, and come to Christ now. He will receive, and save you. You shall be His, and He shall be yours forever. Do not look for things to get better down here; the world is not getting better, nor can do so. It is getting worse daily, and ripening for judgment. We, beloved fellow-Christians, have just to wait for the coming of the Lord Jesus. Then we shall go home to our Father’s house, see our blessed Saviour face to face, and be with Him, and like Him forever. What a prospect! I trust no one will lay aside this paper, and put his head on his pillow tonight, until he can say, “Thank God, I know that I am wheat; and I am waiting just to go on high.” Surely it is better to spend eternity in the Father’s kingdom than in a furnace of fire. Friend, which word describes you― “wheat” or “tares”?
“Sowing the seed with an aching heart,
Sowing the seed whiles the tear-drops start;
Sowing the seed till the reapers come
Gladly to gather the harvest home:
Oh, what shall the harvest be?”
W. T. P. W.