The Parable of the Weeds (Tares)

The Parable of the Weeds

Mt 13:24-30 & 36-43

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”

Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man.

The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.

The Field is the world

God's angels will weed out of His Kingdom all that causes sin

The Field then will become His Kingdom

The Kingdom of this World has become the Kindgom of our Lord (Rev 11:15)

The Good seed stands for the People of the Kingdom

The Weeds are the People of the Evil one

The harvest is at the End of the Age and the Harvesters are Angels

God's Angels will weed out of His Kingdom all that cause sin

The Field in this parable is the World which is inclusive of the Church

Just as there will be good and bad seed in the World,

there will be good and bad seed in the Church

In this diagram, Good and Bad seed in the Church are represented as Wheat and Tares and the Good and the Bad seed in the World are represented by Sheep and Goats respectively (as per Matt 25)

See Sheep and the Goats

The Good Seed may not be distinguished from the Weeds until the head forms

The Good Seed are those who bare good fruit and the Bad seed bare bad fruit

The Bible says that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

The good seed are those who repent and begin to bare good fruit in increasing measure

Those who are destined to become part of the New Jerusalem make Jesus their Lord

There will be people in the world who are not Christians but bare good fruit and refuse to worship the beast

In the world (as opposed to the church), there will be people who bare good fruit - this is not enough to go to Heaven when Christ comes again and to become part of the New Jerusalem in Eternity

To go to Heaven when Christ returns and to become part of the New Jerusalem in Eternity, it is necessary to make Christ Lord

The weeds are those who worship the beast and continue to bare bad fruit without any pangs of conscience

The weeds will be thrown into the fire

While good seed may escape the Lake of fire, not all good seed will be part of the New Jerusalem

Only people who worship Jesus as Lord will become part of the New Jerusalem

The good seed that rejected the Gospel may become the Nations in Eternity if their names are written in the Lambs Book of Life when they are Judged at the Great White Throne

Revelation 22:11 names four types of people:

The Holy - righteous people who worship Jesus as Lord

The Right - righteous people in the world who have not accepted the gospel

The Wrong - people who claim to believe but bare bad fruit

The vile - people of the world who openly practice wickedness

God Sows the Good Seed

Jesus is the one who sows the good seed

He sends his servants to water and feed them

He shines upon them making some grow and others faint

Their survival depends upon the presence of Rocks and Weeds and the hardness of their soul

God is like the Gardener of our soul

He prunes us and cuts of every part of us that does not bare fruit (John 15)

He digs around our roots and gives us more time to bare fruit

The Wheat and the Tares

We can tell a Tree by its Fruit

The Weeds may look the same as the Wheat until the Head appears

A good tree cannot bare bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bare good fruit

The Parable of the Growing Seed

Mk 4:26-29

He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Net

Mt 13:47-52

“Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Have you understood all these things?” Jesus asked. “Yes,” they replied. He said to them, “Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old.”

The parable of the Weeds has many similarities to the parable of the Net

see Parable of the Net

The Weeds are similar to the Bad Fish and the Wheat are like the Good Fish

The Good fish bare good fruit

Bad fish bare bad fruit

The Net is like the Gospel (or the Church) which catches both good and bad fish

God does not want us to pull out the weeds because they may uproot the wheat

The parable of the yeast, which appears in the same chapter (Matt 13) as the parable of the Weeds indicates that the yeast will work it's way through the entire lump

Many of these so called weeds may get converted before Christ returns - this is another reason for not uprooting them

In any case, in both the Parable of the Weeds and the Parable of the Net, God expects us to leave it up to His angels to separate the Wheat from the Tares (good fish from bad)

The Church will be harvested from the Earth by two angels; One like the Son of Man and One who is in Charge of the fire (Rev 14)

The pagans will be left on Earth for a short period until the Battle of Armageddon when Christ will come with all His angels to separate the Nations on Earth into the Sheep and the Goats (Mat 25)

The Harvest of the Earth

Rev 14:14-20

I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man” with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.