Now let us read Revelation 2:2b: "You have tried those who call themselves apostles and are not, and have found them to be false." Have you ever realized that there are so many verses in the New Testament concerning the tares? There are not only verses concerning laymen as tares, but also clergy as tares. In fact, most of the tares mentioned in these books are in the clerical class, the ministers. They are not the ministers of God, but ministers of Satan. In the Lord's recovery we must be on the alert against this kind of falsehood. I do hope that the leading brothers in all of the churches will read and pray-read these verses into them until they realize the facts concerning the false teachers, prophets, and ministers. Could you imagine that some false ones would even claim to be apostles? All these verses concern the situation in the early church at the time of the apostles. But today surely the situation is even worse.
Although we will read only a few verses concerning the development of the great tree, they are all very, very significant. First we need to read Revelation 2:12-13: "And to the messenger of the church in Pergamos write: These things says He Who has the sharp two-edged sword: I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is; and you hold fast My name, and you have not denied My faith, even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells." Although these two verses do not mention the great tree, they do have the word Pergamos, which means a high tower. Actually Pergamos has two meanings: one is a high tower, and the other is marriage. Literally it means marriage, and symbolically it means a high tower. These two meanings are very significant. According to church history, the church at Pergamos represents the state of the church beginning in the fourth century. At the beginning of the fourth century, A.D. 313, Constantine, the emperor of the Roman Empire, embraced Christianity as his religion, causing the church to become very great. By the marriage of the Roman Empire with the church, the church increased greatly in both numbers and popularity. Before that time, Satan had persecuted the church, but the way of persecution accomplished nothing. Eventually, Satan realized his tactic was ineffective. The more he persecuted the church, the more he was defeated. So he subtly changed his tactics from persecuting to welcoming. Constantine welcomed Christianity into the Roman Empire. The persecuted church became a welcomed church. The result was that many, many unbelievers were baptized into Christianity, causing Christianity to become a great tree full of false ones. Formerly, it was a mustard herb, small and good for food. From A.D. 313 it became a great tree containing many evil things, evil persons, and even evil spirits. Many evil things come to lodge in the branches of the great tree.
The harvest of the seed of the great tree is in Revelation 18:2: "And he cried with a strong voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! And she has become a dwelling place of demons and a hold of every unclean spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." It is very meaningful that the reality of the kingdom ends with a city, and the appearance of the kingdom also ends with a city. The reality of the kingdom will consummate with a holy city, the New Jerusalem. But the appearance of the kingdom will consummate with a great city, Babylon the great. Although the New Jerusalem is not small, the Bible does not call it the great city. The New Jerusalem is the holy city, not the great city (Rev. 21:10). God doesn't care for something great; He cares for something holy. The church should not be great, but holy. We are the holy church, not the great church. The New Jerusalem is God's building, and the great Babylon is the enemy, Satan's, building. The great tree in Matthew 13 will be fully developed into that great city, Babylon, which is full of leaven, pollution, corruption, and all kinds of evil things.