Matthew 3:12 says, “Whose winnowing fan is in His hand. And He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor and will gather His wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.” The Lord Himself, the Lord of the harvest, is the One who cleanses the threshing floor. He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor and will gather His wheat into His barn. The wheat signifies those who truly belong to the Lord. The Lord likens those who belong to Him to the harvest.
Verse 3 of chapter thirteen says, “And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, the sower went out to sow.” Verses 8 and 9 say, “But others fell on the good earth and yielded fruit, one a hundredfold, and one sixtyfold, and one thirtyfold. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” In this parable of sowing, the Lord shows us more clearly that those whom He saved are His harvest He produced with the seed of life.
Verses 24-26 say, “Another parable He set before them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man sowing good seed in his field. But while the men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares in the midst of the wheat and went away. And when the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the tares appeared also.” Verse 30 says, “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Collect first the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them up, but the wheat gather into my barn.” Chapter three refers to the matter of gathering the wheat into the barn. Chapter thirteen again mentions gathering the wheat into the barn.
Verses 37 and 38 say, “And He answered and said, He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; and the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one.” Please note that the field here is the world, not the church. The tares and the wheat grow together in the world, not in the church. Regrettably, however, many people in Christianity interpret the field as the church, saying that the tares and the wheat grow together in the church. Yet the Lord clearly says that the field is the world and the tares grow in the world. The wheat signifies the genuine saved ones, who also live in the world. Here the wheat is the church. The church is not a place; the world is a place. The church is the wheat; it is something living.
Verses 39-43 say, “And the enemy who sowed them is the devil; and the harvest is the consummation of the age; and the reapers are angels. Therefore just as the tares are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the consummation of the age. The Son of Man will send His angels, and they will collect out of His kingdom all the stumbling blocks and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”
If you read the context, you will be clear that the righteous are the wheat gathered into the barn. This is also the Lord’s explanation of the parable. The Lord first spoke the parable to the crowd and then explained it to the disciples. After He told them what the field is, who sows the good seed, and who sows the tares, He told them what the outcome of the wheat and the tares will be. The wheat signifies the righteous; their outcome is that they will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. These words tell us that in the eyes of God, His people in this age are like the harvest growing in the field.
First Corinthians 3:5-9 says, “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Ministers through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave to each one of them. I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused the growth. So then neither is he who plants anything nor he who waters, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s cultivated land, God’s building.” Cultivated land can also be translated as “farm.” In this portion the apostle puts farm and building together. On the one hand, the believers are God’s farm, God’s cultivated land; on the other hand, they are God’s house, God’s building. On the one hand, the work of the apostles is planting and watering, which naturally refers to the aspect of the farm. On the other hand, the saints are God’s house, God’s building, so the apostle says that their work is also a building work.
Verses 10 through 13 say, “According to the grace of God given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid a foundation, and another builds upon it. But let each man take heed how he builds upon it. For another foundation no one is able to lay besides that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if anyone builds upon the foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, stubble, the work of each will become manifest; for the day will declare it, because it is revealed by fire, and the fire itself will prove each one’s work, of what sort it is.” Gold, silver, and precious stones are of one category; wood, grass, and stubble are of another. The day in verse 13 is the day of the Lord’s coming. Verses 14 to 17 continue, “If anyone’s work which he has built upon the foundation remains, he will receive a reward; if anyone’s work is consumed, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him; for the temple of God is holy, and such are you.” Only the work of gold, silver, and precious stones can remain through fire. The work that is consumed is the work of wood, grass, and stubble. Verse 15 speaks of suffering loss and of being saved; these are two different things.
If you read from the preceding section, you will realize that temple in verses 16 and 17 refers to the building in verses 10-14, not to our body being the temple of God. Our body being the temple of God is not mentioned until chapter six. In chapter one and chapter three, the apostle spoke about divisions among the Corinthians. Their divisions were destroying the temple of God, so the apostle warned them here, saying that if anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him.
I would like the brothers and sisters to see that in the eyes of God His people in this age are His farm, on the one hand, and His building, on the other. In order for us to know God’s building, we need to pay attention to these two aspects. In regard to a farm, it needs to grow; in regard to a building, it needs to be built. Actually, the two are one, because spiritual growth is building. We know that God’s spiritual building is not a dead building but a living building. Peter said, “You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house” (1 Pet. 2:5). Since these stones are living, if they do not grow, they cannot be built. To be built together, these stones have to grow. Therefore, the building is the growth, and the growth is the building.
Revelation 14:1 says, “And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.” Verses 4 and 5 say, “These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He may go. These were purchased from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth no lie was found; they are without blemish.” These verses show us a group of people who are firstfruits to God. We know this word is quoted from Leviticus 23 in the Old Testament. The firstfruits are a small part of the harvest which ripens first.
Verses 14-16 say, “And I saw, and behold, there was a white cloud, and on the cloud One like the Son of Man sitting, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, Send forth Your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come because the harvest of the earth is ripe. And He who sat on the cloud thrust His sickle upon the earth, and the earth was reaped.” Please pay attention to the end of verse 15—the prerequisite for the reaping is being ripe. The preceding verses speak about firstfruits; verses 14 through 16 speak about the harvest. The firstfruits are a fraction, whereas the harvest is the whole. Whether it is the firstfruits or the harvest, the principle and requirement are that it should be fully ripe. The first to ripen are gathered first; these are the firstfruits. When all are fully ripened, that will be the time of reaping.