“Another parable He put forth to them, saying: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, “Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?” He said to them, “An enemy has done this.” The servants said to him, “Do you want us then to go and gather them up?” But he said, “No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”’” Matthew 13:24-30.

The parable of the tares is the second of the seven given in the book of Matthew, and it is only recorded in this book. Verses 24-30 are given above as an opening to our study; verses 36-43 contain Jesus’ interpretation of this parable, and therefore are of most interest.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way.” Matthew 13:24b-25.

When the Lord explained this parable He told them that He is the man who sowed the good seed and the good seeds are the children of the kingdom, see Matthew 13:36-43.

But it says “while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat”. Jesus does not tell us who the men are who slept so many folks assume that it has nothing to do with the meaning of the parable.

It is quite possible that this is true. However, it appears to me that the men who slept are the overseers of the church who were asleep when error (through the tares) was introduced into the local church body that they were responsible for.

Is this possible, after all a parable does not have to sit on all fours, so I may be making something out of nothing.

But why did Jesus say while men slept, why not say, when it was night?

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.” 1 John 4:1-3.

It is the responsibility of every Christian to recognize and resist error. And it is the particular responsibility of the church overseers to recognize, refute, and cast out error and anyone who will not repent of bringing it into the church.

Jesus also said that when the tares and wheat began to sprout the servants of the owner came to him and asked if they should uproot the tares. His response was to tell them that he would have the tares removed at harvest when both plants had matured.

“Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.’ He answered and said to them: ‘He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man [Jesus Christ]. 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. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 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. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!’” Matthew 13:36-43.

Be aware that before Jesus explained the parable of the tares in Matthew 13:36-43, above, to the disciples in private, He also told two other parables to the multitude before that.

These were the parable of the mustard seed, Matthew 13:31-32, and the leaven, Matthew 13:33. All three of these parables are related in a way, so the tares will be handled in this study and the other two in the next one.

Jesus not only tells the disciples that He is the sower here, but He also mentions another fact, the field which is the world is His. Jesus, as Creator of everything owns the world and everything in it.

By extension Christ Jesus’ ownership would include, all the angels, Satan, and his fallen angels (demons), since they are created beings. This is not evident now but it will be very plain one day.

“And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me. Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. I have sworn by Myself; the word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.” Isaiah 45:21c-23.

“…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth [in hell], and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:10-11.

Jesus sows the good seeds which are sons and daughters of the kingdom. This is accomplished by the shed blood of Christ on the cross, the gospel sown among men and by the power of the Holy Spirit who births us into the kingdom of God.

“The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain.” John 12:23b-24.

The gospel, the good news, is always about Jesus Christ and Him crucified, without Jesus there is no gospel, just empty words. Jesus is the foundation, the only foundation of the church.

“According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become manifest; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.” 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.

The tares mentioned in this parable are shown to be the sons of the wicked one, the devil. Now it is evident that all who oppose God either through unbelief or idolatry are sons of the wicked one, yet these tares seem a bit different insofar as they resemble the wheat at first.

Indeed, it was through the agency of false prophets and apostles that Satan began to sow error in the church, beginning with the Gnostics who taught that Christ could not have been God incarnate since God could not inhabit sinful flesh.

At that time there were also many Jewish imposters who taught that one must keep the law as well as accept Christ. Battery after battery was slammed against the doors of the church, many failed but too many made a difference, and many of these tares are actually in charge of churches now as they were back then.

“…the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 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.” Matthew 13:39b-42.

When various prophecies are put together the scenario works out as follows. After Pentecost which is considered the birth of the church (Acts chapter 2), Christ’s church began to grow with amazing rapidity.

This brought in a reaction both from Satan and men energized by him (see the book of Jude), who went about trying to corrupt or destroy it through persecution and deceit.

After nearly two thousand years of this constant warfare between Satan and Christ’s church (the body of Christ on earth) mankind is beginning to go completely off the rails as we see it today.

This is what the tribulation is all about; it is for man to come to the end of himself and to show that his heart is capable of nothing but evil without Christ.

The rapture of the body of Christ, the true Christians within the church, will occur before the world is allowed to spin out of control, because mankind will be allowed to do what he has always wanted to do; rid the earth of God and His Christ.

Curiously enough, there will be religion for the first three and a half years of the tribulation when what is left of the Catholic Church after the rapture is filled with a fusion of all the world’s idolatrous religions under the umbrella of the Catholic Church.

This world super-church will be antichrist, and violently persecute the people who become Christians during this period.

After the three and a half years is over, the followers of the Antichrist/beast will destroy the world super-church and he will declare himself to be God (Revelation chapters 13 and 17, also 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

When that happens, the names will change but the persecution will intensify greatly and also include the Jews, who had been left alone until this time.

After the world has collapsed into an inescapable morass of evil, Christ will return to rid the earth of evil and set up His kingdom on earth, which many Christians know as the Millennium.

It is this period which the Lord is describing when He speaks of the angelic reapers and tares bundled for burning.

This interpretation is elaborated on in Matthew 25 where Jesus describes separating the sheep from the goats before the Millennium begins.

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You? And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ and these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46.

These sheep and goats are those who survive the seven years of tribulation. The people who were hungry, thirsty, naked, in prison, and so on are those who were suffering under the persecution of the Antichrist.

The reason the sheep inherited the kingdom is not because they did good works to be saved; it is because they had accepted Christ as their Savior and the things that they did for these unfortunate folks came out of Christ’s compassion working through them for those who were suffering.

The reason the goats were cast into hell is that they had rejected Christ as their Savior and therefore had no compassion for the sufferers. In fact it is likely that they turned them over to the authorities whenever they had opportunity.

This is when the wheat is separated from the tares and it is the only time it will be necessary because sinners will die during the Millennium or they will rebel against Christ at the end of the thousand year (millennium) reign of Christ.

There will be no more tares and those who rebel at the end of the Millennium will be burned up not gathered up.

“Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison [Revelation 20:1-3] and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” Revelation 20:7-9.

Directly after this event Satan is cast into the lake of fire once and for ever. This is the end of him.

As for all of the godless from all of time the next thing that happens is Judgment Day, after which they too are cast into the lake of fire with the devil and his angels (Revelation 20:10-15). This is the end of time and the beginning of the eternal state.

“Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.” 2 Thessalonians 2:15-17.

Tares, Part 2 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 12-10-14, updated on 7-4-23.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.