The teaching of this parable is illustrated in God’s own dealing
with men and angels. Satan is a deceiver. When he sinned in heaven,
even the loyal angels did not fully discern his character. This was
why God did not at once destroy Satan. Had He done so, the holy
angels would not have perceived the justice and love of God. A
doubt of God’s goodness would have been as evil seed that would
yield the bitter fruit of sin and woe. Therefore the author of evil
was spared, fully to develop his character. Through long ages God
has borne the anguish of beholding the work of evil, He has given
the infinite Gift of Calvary, rather than leave any to be deceived by
the misrepresentations of the wicked one; for the tares could not be
plucked up without danger of uprooting the precious grain. And shall
we not be as forbearing toward our fellow men as the Lord of heaven
and earth is toward Satan?
The world has no right to doubt the truth of Christianity
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because there are unworthy members in the church, nor should
Christians become disheartened because of these false brethren. How
was it with the early church? Ananias and Sapphira joined themselves
to the disciples. Simon Magus was baptized. Demas, who forsook
Paul, had been counted a believer. Judas Iscariot was numbered with
the apostles. The Redeemer does not want to lose one soul; His
experience with Judas is recorded to show His long patience with
perverse human nature; and He bids us bear with it as He has borne.
He has said that false brethren will be found in the church till the close
of time.
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Notwithstanding Christ’s warning, men have sought to uproot
the tares. To punish those who were supposed to be evildoers, the
church has had recourse to the civil power. Those who differed from
the established doctrines have been imprisoned, put to torture and to
death, at the instigation of men who claimed to be acting under the
sanction of Christ. But it is the spirit of Satan, not the Spirit of Christ,
that inspires such acts. This is Satan’s own method of bringing the
world under his dominion. God has been misrepresented through the
church by this way of dealing with those supposed to be heretics.
Not judgment and condemnation of others, but humility and
distrust of self, is the teaching of Christ’s parable. Not all that is
sown in the field is good grain. The fact that men are in the church
does not prove them Christians.
The tares closely resembled the wheat while the blades were
green; but when the field was white for the harvest, the worthless
weeds bore no likeness to the wheat that bowed under the weight of
its full, ripe heads. Sinners who make a pretension of piety mingle
for a time with the true followers of Christ, and the semblance of
Christianity is calculated to deceive many; but in the harvest of the
world there will be no likeness between good and evil. Then those
who have joined the church, but who have not joined Christ, will be
manifest.
The tares are permitted to grow among the wheat, to have all
the advantage of sun and shower; but in the time of harvest ye shall
“return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between
him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not.” Malachi 3:18.
Christ Himself will decide who are worthy to dwell with the family
of heaven. He will judge every man according to his words and his
works. Profession is as nothing in the scale. It is character that
decides destiny.
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The Saviour does not point forward to a time when all the tares
become wheat. The wheat and tares grow together until the harvest,
the end of the world. Then the tares are bound in bundles to be burned,
and the wheat is gathered into the garner of God. “Then shall the
righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Then
“the Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they shall gather out
of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
and shall cast them into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and
gnashing of teeth.”
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Chap. 5 - “Like a Grain of Mustard
Seed”
Based on Matthew 13:31, 32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18, 19;
In the multitude that listened to Christ’s teaching there were
many Pharisees. These noted contemptuously how few of His
hearers acknowledged Him as the Messiah. And they questioned
with themselves how this unpretending teacher could exalt Israel to
universal dominion. Without riches, power, or honor, how was He to
establish the new kingdom? Christ read their thoughts and answered
them:
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
“Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what
comparison shall we compare it?” In earthly governments there was
nothing that could serve for a similitude. No civil society could afford
Him a symbol. “It is like a grain of mustard seed,” He said, “which,
when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all the seeds that
are upon the earth, yet when it is sown, groweth up, and becometh
greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great branches; so that the
birds of the heaven can lodge under the shadow thereof.” (R.V.).
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The germ in the seed grows by the unfolding of the l
