Verse 30 says, “Allow both to grow together until the harvest, and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather first the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them up, but the wheat bring together into My barn.” The harvest is the consummation of the age, and the reapers are angels (v. 39). At the consummation of this age, the Lord will send the angels firstly to gather all the tares, all stumbling blocks, and those who do lawlessness, bind them into bundles, and burn them with the fire of the lake of fire (vv. 30, 40-42). Then the wheat, the righteous, will be brought together into the King’s barn, the kingdom of their Father, to shine forth as the sun (vv. 30, 43).
In Galatians 2:4 and 2 Corinthians 11:26 Paul mentioned false brethren, saying that he was damaged by the false brethren. This indicates that in Paul’s time the tares were present. Of course, a great many more tares have come in since Constantine made Christianity the state religion.
In this parable the Lord points out the serious matter of the judgment upon the tares. This will be a special judgment, for the tares will be bound into bundles and cast into the furnace of fire, which is the lake of fire. The first two to be cast into the lake of fire will be Antichrist and the false prophet. Following them, the tares will be cast into the lake of fire at the time of the Lord’s coming back. The judgment upon the tares will be so serious because they have been confusing, frustrating, and damaging God’s economy. In the eyes of God, the tares are exceedingly evil.
The modernists of today are evil. They blaspheme the Lord by saying that He was an illegitimate child. They also say that the Lord Jesus was not the Redeemer, that His death was that of a martyr, and that His death was not for redemption. They also deny that Christ was resurrected. Furthermore, some modernists are very vague about God. It is difficult to determine what they believe concerning God. If you ask them about God, Christ, or the Spirit, they will respond that it is all a matter of definition. This answer is subtle and more than evil. Therefore, at the consummation of this age, the angels will bind the tares into bundles and cast them into the lake of fire. There will be no need for them to pass through the judgment at the white throne. By this judgment we can see how evil the tares are in the eyes of the Lord.
Although the tares have caused confusion, frustration, and damage, some so-called Christian groups actually boast of having tares among them, and they condemn us for not having any tares.
When the Lord Jesus came, He did not sow tares; He sowed only wheat. In His preliminary work for the establishment of the kingdom, He sowed only Himself, and He was very careful in so doing, sowing only one kind of seed. While the Lord’s slaves were sleeping, the enemy, the evil one, Satan, came in to sow another seed, the seed of the tares. This took place not too long after the church was established on the day of Pentecost. The book of Acts indicates that certain false ones who had not received Christ into them as their life came in apparently as real ones. But they were tares, not wheat. In the early part of the fourth century Constantine the Great made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. At that time tens of thousands of false believers came into Christianity. In order to Christianize the people, Constantine encouraged them to be baptized. Many who were baptized into Christianity were given a material reward of silver or clothing. This was the greatest opportunity for the evil one to sow his tares. At that time there were perhaps ten tares for every stalk of wheat. This has continued until the present. In Christendom there are millions of so-called Christians, but so many of them are not real believers.
Let me illustrate this from my own experience. I was born of a Southern Baptist mother. She taught us the stories of the Bible; however, at that time, although she was for Christianity, she herself definitely had not been saved. There were so many tares there it was difficult to find the wheat. The professor of world history in the American Presbyterian college where I studied came from a Jewish background. He was a false believer, believing neither in the Bible nor in the resurrection of Christ. Nevertheless, the Presbyterian mission sent him as a mission teacher to be a professor in their college. Some of the missionaries in China were modernists. Among both the Methodists and the Presbyterians, modernistic missionaries taught the people that the Bible was a book of fairy tales. They said that the Red Sea was not actually opened by God, but that the Israelites passed through a portion of the sea made shallow by the blowing of the wind. By now modernism might have penetrated the seminaries of even the Southern Baptists. Union Theological Seminary in New York treated John Sung like a mental case. After John Sung was saved, he was beside himself in the Lord, but those in that seminary, considering him a mental case, sent him to a mental hospital. Later John Sung returned to China, preached the gospel, and became probably the greatest evangelist in China. In today’s Christendom there are thousands and thousands of tares.
In Matthew 13 we see a picture of the outward appearance of the kingdom of the heavens. (Please refer to the chart on pages 454 and 455.) The kingdom of God covers everything from eternity past to eternity future. Between the two eternities there is time divided into various ages or dispensations. The first is the dispensation before law. After Adam was created, he was placed in the garden where there was no sin or darkness. From him, is the period of the Patriarchs, the fathers, extending to Moses. This period of the Patriarchs is known as the dispensation before law. Then comes the dispensation of law. Following this are two crucial dispensations, the first of which is the dispensation of grace, the church age, and the other, the dispensation of the kingdom, the millennium. As we have pointed out already, the kingdom of the heavens covers only these two dispensations. In the dispensation of grace there are a number of complications, for the kingdom of the heavens has three aspects: the aspect of reality, the aspect of appearance, and the aspect of manifestation. As long as the church is normal, it is the reality of the kingdom. In a normal situation the church equals the reality of the kingdom. The third aspect of the kingdom, the manifestation, is in the heavenly part, the upper part, of the millennium. The lower part, the earthly part, is the Messianic kingdom, the kingdom of the Messiah, but the heavenly part is the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens. This heavenly part in 13:43 is also called the kingdom of the Father, whereas the earthly part is called in Matthew 13:41 the kingdom of the Son of Man. Therefore, the kingdom of the Son is the kingdom of the Messiah, and the kingdom of the Father is the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.
In this message we are concerned with the appearance of the kingdom. On the chart we have noted the appearance of the kingdom with a dotted line. It seems that Christendom is different from the world, but actually there is no difference at all. The appearance of the kingdom of the heavens is today’s Christendom. It is dark, devilish, and even hellish, and we all must condemn it. Where are you? Are you in the appearance of the kingdom or in the reality of the kingdom? You used to be in the world, but now you are in the church. But the church is no longer normal; rather, it has become abnormal. Therefore, there is the need of the dotted line within the church. The normal church is the reality, but the area in the dotted line indicates the abnormal church. All real Christians are in the church, but some of these Christians have become abnormal and defeated. You may say that you are neither in the world nor in Christendom, the appearance of the kingdom. You are in the church. But are you in the church in a normal situation or in an abnormal situation? The believers who are the thorny soil are abnormal. They are real Christians, but the growth of the seed is choked by the thorns so that it does not bring forth fruit. Fruit denotes both multiplication and expression. But those believers who are on the level of the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens are normal. They are poor in spirit, pure in heart; have all their temper, lust, self, and flesh dealt with; have no anxiety; and are not deceived by money. They are the good earth growing Christ into the kingdom. Therefore, they are in the normal church, which is the reality of the kingdom of the heavens.
When the Lord Jesus comes back, where will you be? If we have endured unto the end, that is, have kept ourselves in the spirit until the end, we shall be saved and shall be in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, the heavenly part of the millennium. Those who are there will rule with Christ. According to 13:43, they will “shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” This is the real barn where all the wheat will shine over the nations. That shining will be the ruling, the reigning as kings.
We need to see that today’s Christianity is in darkness. So many do not know where they are, where they should be, or where they will go. But in the Bible there is light, and the view is very clear. What we have seen is absolutely not according to human thought; it is a word according to the divine revelation. Everything in this chart is confirmed in the Bible. Everyone in the Lord’s recovery must be deeply impressed with this chart. We are in an age of complications. Christ has come and has sown the seed, but the enemy has also come in and has done things to cause complications. Therefore, in this age we have the worldly people; the wheat, the sons of the kingdom, the children of God; and the tares, the false believers, the nominal Christians, the sons of the Devil, who are among the children of God. Many of the sons of the kingdom have become degraded and have fallen below the standard. Hence, they are abnormal.
Thus, there are four classes of people: the normal believers, the abnormal believers, the false believers, and the worldly people. Day after day, we are involved with all four categories. In the very place where you work all four types may be represented. We need to face this situation with a clear view of today’s age. We would not stand with the world nor be a part of Christendom. Furthermore, we would not be real yet abnormal believers. Rather, we want to be real and normal believers, real sons of the kingdom who live according to the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens. We would grow Christ by living a life according to the constitution. Whatever we grow will be the multiplication which is the constituent of the kingdom of the heavens. Therefore, today we are not only in the reality—we are the reality. Then when the Lord Jesus, the King, comes again, we shall be in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, shining over the world to reign as Christ’s co-kings and enjoying the heavenly part of the millennium.