Christians; In his “illustration of the weeds (Tares) in the field?

What Does the Future Hold for Christianity?

WILL the world be converted to Christianity, or will Christianity die out? Did Christianity remain pure as a beacon in a darkened world, or was it adulterated? These are questions that concern us to this day.

Using a simple illustration, Jesus showed that immediately after he planted the seeds of Christianity, an enemy, Satan, would interfere. (Matthew 13:24, 25) Thus, it was not a mere social phenomenon that caused Christianity to be transformed during the first few centuries after Jesus’ ministry. It was enemy action, Satan’s action. Today the churches of Christendom are perpetuating mistakes made in the past and are reaping the effects.—2 Corinthians 11:14, 15; James 4:4.

A Sneak Attack on Christianity

Jesus foretold that his teachings would be subverted. He said: “The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man that sowed fine seed in his field. While men were sleeping, his enemy came and oversowed weeds in among the wheat, and left.” Surprisingly, when servants brought the evil deed to the man’s attention and asked for permission to collect the weeds, the man said: “No; that by no chance, while collecting the weeds, you uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the harvest season I will tell the reapers, First collect the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up, then go to gathering the wheat into my storehouse.”—Matthew 13:24-30.

As Jesus himself explained, in his illustration the man who sowed wheat in the field represents Jesus, and the seeds he planted represent true Christians. The enemy who sowed weeds among the wheat represents “the Devil.” The weeds represent lawless, apostate men who falsely claim to be servants of God. (Matthew 13:36-42) The apostle Paul gave further details of what would happen. He said: “I know that after my going away oppressive wolves will enter in among you and will not treat the flock with tenderness, and from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.”—Acts 20:29, 30.

Christianity Subverted

Did what Jesus illustrated and what Paul foretold come true? It certainly did. Ambitious men took control of the congregation that Jesus had established and used it for their own ends. Jesus had told his followers: “You are no part of the world.” (John 15:19) Nevertheless, power-hungry men formed alliances with rulers and formed State churches that amassed immense power and wealth. These churches taught “twisted things.” For example, they taught people to worship the State and to sacrifice their lives for it in warfare. Thus, so-called Christians participated in Crusades and slaughtered people whom they considered to be unbelievers. They also went to war and killed their own “brothers” of the same religion. They certainly did not practice Christian neutrality and love of neighbor.—Matthew 22:37-39; John 15:19; 2 Corinthians 10:3-5; 1 John 4:8, 11.

Clearly, the churches that for centuries have called themselves Christian represent merely a facade of Christianity. This explains why, as we observed in the preceding articles, there is a continuing trend of churches fragmenting into sects, churches meddling in politics, and churches disregarding God’s laws. Such bad fruitage is the product, not of true Christianity, but of counterfeit Christianity, which the Devil planted. Where is this false religion heading? As Jesus showed in his illustration, it will not simply die out for lack of support. It will be judged and destroyed.

These are farming metaphors. In biblical days, the farmers would go into the fields and separate the good crop (wheat) from the weeds (tares). The tares would be burned and the wheat put into the storehouse. But they had to wait until the wheat was ripe for harvest to tell the difference between the two.

This allegory signifies that the Angels of God will come to the earth and separate those who did not obey and fought the Lord from those who obeyed and kept the Lord's commandments. Those who did not obey will suffer the punishment described in the Bible for such. And those who persevere to the end, will be gathered into the Lord's storehouse, Heaven, to spend eternity with Him.

In the harvest now taking place during the ‘conclusion of a system of things,’ the symbolic weeds make up the foretold antichrist.

The apostle John writes, saying: “Just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists . . . This is the antichrist, the one that denies the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:18, 22) This agrees with what the apostle Paul wrote about 50 years earlier concerning the day of Jehovah. He said: “It will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction.” Of course, Paul was not referring to a literal man, for he went on to say: “True, the mystery of this lawlessness is already at work; . . . But the lawless one’s presence is according to the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and portents and with every unrighteous deception for those who are perishing, as a retribution because they did not accept the love of the truth that they might be saved.”—2 Thess. 2:3, 7-10.

From those words it is evident that the antichrist, the apostate man of lawlessness, “the mystery of this lawlessness,” is Satan’s masterpiece in the form of an organization. It is an imitation of organized Christianity and so an opposer of it. As a replacement of true organized Christianity, it finds its expression in present-day Christendom, this name meaning the realm of Christianity. That is certainly a deceptive name, for Christendom is really the most powerful part of Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, under the emperorship of Satan the Devil.

In the light of what the apostles Paul and John said, Christendom is a departure from the true, original congregation of Jesus Christ, really an apostasy from it, yes, a rebellion against it. Unlike the first-century Christian congregation, Christendom today embraces more than a thousand religious sectarian organizations, each and every one of which claims to be Christian, the exponent of Bible Christianity.

Jesus’ listeners knew how difficult it was to tell genuine wheat from weeds, such as poisonous bearded darnel, which during the growing season has an appearance much like that of wheat. So Jesus was illustrating that for a while, it would be difficult to distinguish true Christians from the counterfeit variety. This does not mean that the Christian congregation ceased to exist, for Jesus promised to continue to guide his spiritual brothers “all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.” (Matthew 28:20) Jesus said that the wheat would continue to grow. Even so, through the ages, genuine Christians—individually or in groups—no doubt did their best to adhere to Christ’s teachings. But they no longer made up a clearly identifiable, visible body, or organization. They were certainly not identical with the visible apostate religious system that throughout history brought nothing but disgrace and dishonor to the name of Jesus Christ.—2 Peter 2:1, 2.

Mat 13:29

But he said, Nay - God judges quite otherwise than men of this mixture of good and evil in the world; he knows the good which he intends to produce from it, and how far his patience towards the wicked should extend, in order to their conversion, or the farther sanctification of the righteous. Men often persecute a true Christian, while they intend only to prosecute an impious person. “A zeal for the extirpation of heretics and wicked men,” said a pious Papist, “not regulated by these words of our blessed Savior, allows no time for the one to grow strong in goodness, or to the other to forsake their evil courses. They are of a spirit very opposite to his, who care not if they root up the wheat, provided they can but gather up the tares.” The zeal which leads persons to persecute others for religious opinions is not less a seed of the devil than a bad opinion itself is.

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares

There is a change in the introduction of the second and following parables from the first. Jesus now introduces the parable by saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like…" The preceding parable stressed the sower's expectation of fruit, but this parable implies the question, "What of the plant that doesn't bear fruit?" Continuing the imagery of the preceding parable of the sower casting seed in the field, Jesus introduces some strange new features.

First, Jesus introduces an answer to the problem of evil by saying "his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat." This was not an unheard-of illustration, for one of the acts of vengeance in tensions between farmers was the threat, "I'll sow weeds in your field." In fact, there were laws drawn up to prohibit this act. Second, Jesus rejected the idea of pulling up the tares (or darnel), saying that they were to be left alone until the harvest, i.e., the judgment. The wheat represents the disciples of Christ, the darnel represents the enemies of Christ in the world.

The judgment scene (Mat_13:30) is of a harvest where servant labor, often of women, was engaged to sort out the tares. The darnel looked like wheat until it reached the stage where the heads showed the obvious difference. The gathering out of the tares first, then the wheat, does not sound like a "rapture" of the righteous. However, remember that we don't allegorize from every aspect of a parable but seek its main point. The powers of evil will do all they can to destroy the kingdom, but such will be fully exposed and dealt with at the final judgment.

A message from this parable on the kingdom could emphasize several things: (1) no insulation, Mat_13:25-26; (2) no isolation, Mat_13:27-29, and (3) no indefiniteness, Mat_13:30. The primary meaning has to do with the presence of the kingdom amidst ambiguity.

Many interpreters have used this passage to support an open membership in the church, noting that Jesus left His circle open to include Judas as a tare. But this interpretation deserves more careful analysis which follows in the section where Jesus interprets His own parable (Mat_13:36-43). At this point we note the words of verse Mat_13:29, "No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them." If the choice is between unresolved tension and a dishonest solution we should choose the tension.

I would suggest as my study bible says: the weeds are unbelievers and the wheat are are the believers in Christ Jesus.

Just as it is today, believers and unbelievers must live together today, but the time will come when Christ comes back to gather the believers (wheat) into the Kingdom of God.

The tares and the wheat were indistinguishable until harvest time.

So they exist together until then (like the sinners and the saints of the world) but at harvest time, they will be collect, the good into the storage bins (heaven) and the bad into the fire(hell)

The false ones and hypocrites will be handed over to Lucifer, and the truly faithful will be taken to Paradise.

Quite simple actually. Most of Jesus' stories were easy to understand.

The "weeds" are useful as fuel. The "wheat" just takes up space.

So what's the question?

looks like you answered your own question...................