Are You A Wheat Or A Tare?
Those who divide the land of Israel will eventually be judged in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
Matt. 13: 24-30
Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; 25 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 26 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. 27 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.
Before I went to bed last night, I did some light reading in the news. (That's a joke! The news is never light reading!) I saw that the French President, Emmanuel Macron, had decided to recognize Palestinian statehood. He said that he was going to make this declaration at the U.N. General Assembly this September. Is he a wheat or a tare? What do you think?
Oh, the tangled webs we weave! (I say this a lot!) There goes my theory about Macron being a candidate for the Antichrist! Whoever the Antichrist is going to be will be someone the Jewish people trust. After this move, I can't imagine anyone in Israel will ever trust him.
The wheat and the tares of this world are already being separated. As a result, those who divide the land of Israel will eventually be judged in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Macron has just declared himself to be a tare and he has just sealed his judgment in the valley!
Yesterday was a hard day. I accompanied a beloved relative to court mediation where decisions were made about dividing up marital assets from a spouse who had walked out on him. I've been through that recently with a dear friend as well. These are such hard things to deal with. The dissolution of a marriage is a sad affair regardless of the circumstances. In both cases, the spouses seeking the divorce were unbelievers and the ones I loved and supported were believers. Likewise, with my precious relative and my treasured friend, I made the same comment, "God is separating the wheat from the tares." In each of these situations, I walked away thinking that when it comes to $$$$, you truly see the heart of the person.
It is in Matthew 3 where John the Baptist talks about the fact that Jesus has the winnowing fork and will eventually separate the wheat from the tares.
In Matthew 13, Jesus explains through a parable, the meaning of separating the wheat from the tares.
Wheat is a metaphor for the righteous. Tares (or weeds) is a metaphor for the unrighteous. Do you ever ask yourself? Are you a wheat or a tare?
The field is a metaphor for the world.
In this story, the wheat and the tares existed together in the field. And when asked by the field workers if they should pluck up the tares, they were told not to do so because plucking up the tares might also uproot the wheat. At some point in the future, there will be a harvest (Judgment) and then the tares and the wheat will be eternally separated. The wheat will be taken to the barn (heaven) and the tares will be bundled up and burned (hell).
There is a sense in which all of us as believers have to make decisions to separate the wheat and the tares in our lives. We all have to make decisions on what is good and godly and what is harmful and ungodly.
The ultimate separation will come at the end of time when God takes His own to heaven by removing them from this world and then later on when the end of time comes and judgment occurs. In this regard, there will never again be any more weeds in the field.
The enemy of this world continuously sows seed amongst the believers of this world. It is difficult to live in an unequally yoked marriage. And yet, it is not God's purpose for the covenant of marriage to be broken. But what I am seeing on a larger scale as a counselor is that more and more unsaved spouses are leaving their saved partners.
Why is this happening at such an accelerated pace these days? It takes a lot of patience and trust in God for a believer to remain with an unbeliever. But I do believe that there are times when God just allows the unsaved people to be given over to a depraved mind because they refuse to love the truth. (Rom. 1:28)
Even now, God is allowing human beings to experience the consequences of their choices. The "giving over" is not a response to God causing evil, but rather to a withdrawal of His restraining influence and allowing sin to take its course.
There's a lot of deprivation these days. While the parable of the wheat and tares focuses on the end of days, there are daily reminders that the wheat and tares of this world are already being separated, some to everlasting life and some to everlasting damnation.
Tend your fields! Are you a wheat or a tare?
