Chapter 4—Tares
This chapter is based on
Matthew 13:24-30
;
Matthew 13:37-43
.
“Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of
heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field; but
while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat,
and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought
forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.”
“The field,” Christ said, “is the world.” But we must understand
this as signifying the church of Christ in the world. The parable is a
description of that which pertains to the kingdom of God, His work of
salvation of men; and this work is accomplished through the church.
True, the Holy Spirit has gone out into all the world; everywhere it is
moving upon the hearts of men; but it is in the church that we are to
grow and ripen for the garner of God.
“He that sowed the good seed is the Son of man.... The good seed
are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the
wicked one.” The good seed represents those who are born of the word
of God, the truth. The tares represent a class who are the fruit or
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embodiment of error, of false principles. “The enemy that sowed them
is the devil.” Neither God nor His angels ever sowed a seed that would
produce a tare. The tares are always sown by Satan, the enemy of God
and man.
In the East, men sometimes took revenge upon an enemy by strew-
ing his newly sown fields with the seeds of some noxious weed that,
while growing, closely resembled wheat. Springing up with the wheat,
it injured the crop and brought trouble and loss to the owner of the field.
So it is from enmity to Christ that Satan scatters his evil seed among
the good grain of the kingdom. The fruit of his sowing he attributes to
the Son of God. By bringing into the church those who bear Christ’s
name while they deny His character, the wicked one causes that God
shall be dishonored, the work of salvation misrepresented, and souls
imperiled.
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