Representing the SMYRNA Period (Matthew 13:24-30; 13:36-42)
This second parable in the series of seven is not mentioned in the other Gospels. Like the Parable of the Sower, it covers the age through the Harvest period. Indeed, it is primarily from this parable that we get the term “The Harvest.” And usually in our discussion of this parable, we focus on its Harvest features. But its connection to the Smyrna period of the Church is somewhat obvious at the beginning of the parable. It says, “But while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares also among the wheat, and went away.”
As soon as the Apostles “fell asleep,” their authoritative and watchful eye was no longer present. They could no longer nip heresy in the bud. And there was no one following them with the inspired discernment or authority to prevent the sowing of tares. It is clear that “liars” and “evil men” (Revelation 2:2) were present in Ephesus. But the Ephesus Church did “not endure them.” When Smyrna comes along, however, the tares are sown without challenge.
This second parable of the series is the second parable which is given an interpretation by Jesus. He does not interpret the remaining five. Considerable material occurs between the parable and its explanation — including two more parables.
Again, since Jesus interprets the parable, we need not do so. But we would miss great insights if we didn’t discuss the many implications found in his exposition. Before doing this, a consideration of the verses intervening between the parable and its interpretation will help us better consider contextual elements.
The Intervening Context — (Matthew 13:31-35)
If these parables do, indeed, represent the seven Church epochs, putting off the explanation of the Wheat and Tares until a total of four parables had been spoken might well suggest that something in the parable refers to events beginning during the fifth Church (Sardis). Jesus explains the parable AFTER he has left the boat and gone into the house with only his disciples as hearers. This change becomes contextually significant. It will represent, as we shall see, that the Reformation Churches (numbers 5 and 6) do not represent a separation of wheat and tares. They represent a new channel for Jesus’ voice.
In the parable, his servants inquire about gathering up the tares — an action Jesus says will uproot the wheat (13:28-29). In Jesus’ explanation, he does not specifically treat this element of the parable. The parable itself had simply said, Wait for significant separation until the Harvest.
But we know from history that a sort of separation did occur due to the Reformation. Jesus, however, is telling us prophetically (by the placement of his interpretation in the context) that the Reformation, while it turned the direction of Church history, DID NOT HAVE AS ITS OBJECTIVE OR ITS RESULTS the separation of wheat from tares. Protestantism retained both classes.
Nevertheless, the Protestant movement is subtly suggested here as a refocusing of Jesus’ voice away from the “mother” system and toward the more spiritual Protestant movement. Wheat and tares remain in both venues, but Jesus’ voice comes through the “woe” trumpeters, not through the previous monolith of religious “authority” (Revelation 8:13). Hence we have Jesus entering the house with only his disciples and leaving the multitudes behind. This happens just as we are ready to receive the parable representing the fifth Church — the first “woe.”
Thus, this very subtle intervention of time and place between the parable and its interpretation speaks volumes to us — but only if this chapter of Matthew forms one large prophecy in the form of seven parables.
Verses 34 and 35 have their obvious surface meaning, but to let them go at that is to leave questions unanswered.
The immediate force of verses 34-36 is to accentuate the change from boat to house and from multitudes to disciples. It is this change that has helped us to interpret context.
Verses 34 and 35 also echo the lesson we have considered in verses 10-17.
But an important question arises. If Jesus spoke in parables so that the uninitiated might not understand, WHY does he keep speaking in parables when only disciples are with him (verses 36, 44-50)?
There is a reason for this. Jesus from the beginning intended for the release of DISPENSATIONAL TRUTHS. It isn’t that he keeps secrets from his disciples, but that he feeds them some truths only when they are due. (See John 6:12.) The understanding of some parables cannot really be had (even by the disciples) until the time comes. They are prophetic; and prophecy needs to be clarified by the “angels” to the various Churches when such clarification is due.
When we consider verses 51-58, this all will become clear.
The Details
13:24, 37, 38. “The Kingdom of Heaven” is a phrase which has numerous meanings. Only contexts tell us what is meant by the phrase in its many uses. Jesus, in one sense, is the Kingdom. (He PERSONIFIES it.) The peaceable Kingdom for which we pray is also the Kingdom. The time intervening between Jesus’ return and the peaceable Kingdom is also the Kingdom (Daniel 2:44). But, as regards the parables, “the Kingdom” usually means: any event that occurs as part of the history of the development of the Church (including the apostate Church!). In other words, “Kingdom of Heaven” often refers to the embryo or incipient Church and even its counterfeit (tares).
In this parable, “Kingdom of Heaven” refers to everything between the time Jesus sows “good seed” until the saints “shine forth” in the REALIZED Kingdom.
The parable begins with a clear retrograde reference to the Sower parable wherein Jesus sowed the Gospel message seed. That is the reference of 13:24. Jesus says (13:37) that he is that sower. He then explains that the “field” is the world. It ends up, of course, being only the Christian world, as no seed took hold anywhere else. Thus the four “soils” of the Sower parable are all in the Christian “field” of this parable.
13:25, 38, 39. The sleeping of men (Greek = THE men = the Apostles) is our connection to the Smyrna period of the Church. It is the removal of the Apostles from the scene, leaving an open door for the adversary to make counterfeit Christians. Jesus does not interpret the sleeping of men. We must do so. But the alignment of the parables in this chapter with the seven Church periods leaves us with a simple and logical conclusion.
Jesus leaves no doubt about the “good seed” — later called “wheat” as it grows. He specifies that they are the true Church — “the sons of the Kingdom” — the sons of God who will inherit the Kingdom.
Verse 25 introduces “his enemy.” Jesus identifies him clearly as “the devil.” This is a good place to remind ourselves about this enemy. His favorite tactic is to be a forgery. He wants to look like the real thing because it is the only way he can deceive. He knows that the message of the Kingdom (the “seed”) is good. He cannot do better! But his ambition is for himself to be in charge. Thus he COUNTERFEITS EVERYTHING so that most will be either confused or deceived. He and his ministers make a practice of appearing as “angels of light.”
The devil sows “tares” among the wheat. He doesn’t want to be at a distance or appear as a competitor: He wants to be right in the midst of things — so involved as to be indistinguishable from the real. In the real agricultural world, tares look just like wheat until the Harvest arrives. The devil’s plans and tactics are so masterful that he only need “plant” the ideas. They are so insidious that they work by their own strength. He doesn’t even have to fertilize much! He just “went away” and observes!
Jesus defines the “tares” as “the sons of the evil one.” Jesus told the Pharisees that they were of their father, the devil. In both cases he is describing the class seemingly functioning as the true authority. We must have a most delicate balance in our minds and attitudes. We must hate the tare concept; but we must separate the individuals who constitute the tare class from the name they are given. Satan plants falsehoods; but the victims of the falsehoods are not the falsehoods. We speak of GROUPS (wheat and tares) and not of the individuals which constitute those groups — none of whom can claim their situation as of their own volition or doing. The tares may end up being burned, but the people of the tare class will experience no such end.
13:26-29. As mentioned, these verses do not have a direct reference in Jesus’ interpretation of the parable. Historically, the Church began to grow after the departure of the Apostles. It was inevitable that the brethren noted that some among them were fruitful in Christ (“bore grain”), and some, though they professed Christianity, seemed distinctly lacking in new creature growth.
While the brethren during the age couldn’t directly approach Jesus about the problem and how to handle it, they were clearly troubled about it — “How then does it have tares?”
In Jesus’ messages to Churches two through six (Revelation 2 and 3) he acknowledges this “we-they” (Church-tare) relationship and makes it clear that the problem originated with the adversary. As he states to Smyrna (the Church represented by this parable), they (the tares) “are a synagogue of Satan” (Revelation 2:9).
It is only natural that the saints would want to separate themselves from this distressed field. There would be two ways to this:
- They could attempt to make a physical separation — “gather them up” — eliminate the apostate ones.
- They could attempt to live above the problem by a mental separation.
In these verses, Jesus is advising the latter course. He advises that the judgment abilities of the saints are not sufficiently secure to root out apostates. They would also root out true saints — or, by the commotion resulting from the attempt, they would disturb the growth of the true saints. It is not the job of saints to judge all in the field. It is their job to grow. Hence, Jesus says “No.”
Historically we must deal with some actual separations. The Waldenses tried to live physically away from Christendom. But they did this in order to live above the fray — feeling that actual distance would help mental distancing. What must be clearly seen is that their efforts were not an attempt to uproot tares. They made no efforts to destroy what had become “Babylon.” They only attempted to live beyond its influences. This is not what we will find in “the Harvest.”
13:30, 39-43. The parable ends with Jesus’ advice to let the field alone. There are reasons for waiting. He says the time will come (“the Harvest”) when he will actually instruct his workers to isolate tares in order to secure their bundling, and finally to burn the bundles.
“But,” and this is a very important “but,” the primary work of the Harvest will be to bring all of the faithful to their rewards.
Note that the Harvest is not represented as a specific length of time. It is represented as a period during which certain works had to be completed. It is defined by its works, not by its calendar.
In the interpretation, Jesus gives five verses to the explanation of this one verse (verse 30) of the parable (13:39-43).
He first explains that “the Harvest” represents “the consummation of the age” (margin). We are clearly faced not with a point of time, but rather a period of time during which numerous things happen. The Harvest is the wrapping-up of the age. It takes care of handling all the details of the age, and all of its consequences.
As in any agricultural season’s culmination, the primary agenda is to secure the ripe crop. For this, workers are required. Jesus explains that the workers are “the angels.” Christianity’s many centuries of misuse of Scripture have most readers failing to realize the very generic meaning of “angel.” It simply means “messenger,” and it can and does apply equally in Scripture to any thing, any person, any spirit being, or any event that delivers a message. It even applies to evil sources so that Satan also has “angels.” Its meaning is determined by its usage.
In Jesus’ explanation, he is careful to equate each symbol with a literalism. Thus he specifies, for example, “The field is (or equals) the world.” So, we are not to say that “angels” are symbolic. They are not. The angels are quite literal. But unlike Christendom, we are not to take the word “angel” to mean a spirit being. We are to take it in its quite literal sense of someone who is delivering a message. The angels of this parable’s explanation are the saints living during the Harvest period (the “end of the age”).
With that much defined, we can examine how much focus Jesus gives to the Harvest in his explanation. We should note that “Harvest” in the parable itself is confined to only one sentence in verse 30. It is not the primary lesson of the parable. But Jesus makes it the primary lesson of the interpretation because the Harvest solves the problem of the parable: the coexistence of true and counterfeit Christians.
Beginning in verse 40, after Jesus has defined his terms, he sums up the implications of the Harvest for all of those represented in the parable. In this summary, he does use symbolisms because he is now uttering a prophecy based on the parable.
13:40. Jesus first addresses the problem of the tares. It was the problem which bothered the servants in the parable (13:27).
In the parable itself, the tares were dealt with in three steps (13:30):
- the gathering of them;
- the bundling of them;
- and the burning of them.
In the interpretation, Jesus shortens the process into two basic parts: (1) gathering, and (2) burning.
The gathering and burning features make the point. But considering the three steps of the parable, we can better understand what is happening.
Matthew 13:30 assigns the gathering and the binding and the burning of the tares to the reapers. The reapers gather and bind the tares in bundles “to burn them up” (later). There is a purpose in the sequence. The burning cannot occur until the first two steps are accomplished. It is altogether likely that the first two steps are done by the Church in the flesh; but the final step is instigated from the other side of the veil. The gathering and bundling is preparation work done by the saints (the reapers) in the flesh so that the burning can happen after their glorification.
Verse 40 then says: “So shall it be at the end of the age.”
13:41 ELABORATES on the “so shall it be.” The process is shown. Jesus sends his messengers. If they have the message, they are the saints who in the Harvest have been enlightened with present truth. He is not sending those who are his but have not heard the seventh angel’s trumpet. (Thus, in Matthew 24:31, the “angels” and his “elect” are both the spirit-begotten ones. The angels are those WITH THE MESSAGE, and they are USING THE MESSAGE to Harvest — “gather” — the ones who have not yet heard.)
Verse 41 takes the position that the field belongs to the Master who sowed the good seed. The tares are imposters— squatters! The angels CLEAN UP “the Kingdom” — the embryo Church in the flesh. How? They do it BY REMOVING “EVERYTHING THAT IS OFFENSIVE” (margin). When the Harvest saints spread the whole truth, it REMOVES the OFFENSIVE ERRORS — the very things that “bind the tares” into their denominational bundles.
The perspective is important. God isn’t removing the saints from Babylon in this scenario (compare Revelation 18:4); he is removing Babylon from HIS CHRISTIAN FIELD! He has dumped Babylon overboard. In His eyes (since 1878), He does not favor them with anything. In His sight they are REMOVED from the wheat field.
The verse adds, “They will gather out of His Kingdom… THOSE WHO COMMIT LAWLESSNESS.” The phrase is intriguing. The LAW of the New Creation is the Law of Faith, not works. It is living AFTER THE SPIRIT, not after a righteousness-consecrated flesh (as pictured on Plane N). Therefore, the removal of “those who commit lawlessness” is the removal of consideration in the Harvest for all who dwell beneath Plane M — spirit-begettal. This is very much the meaning of Revelation 11:2: “Leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations.” The “nations” (Gentiles) are the non-spirit-begotten tares. The court is a condition of non-spirit- begettal. The “holy” is where the saints dwell. “Gather out of the picture (the field — the embryo Kingdom) those who commit lawlessness.”
It has become quite obvious that the Harvest saints root up the tares. The tares, in defense of their errors as exposed by the “angels,” have run off into their own corners of belief and have tightened the bands and cords which identify and bind them as apostates. They are rooted out of the Lord’s field.
13:42. It will be once the saints are glorified that they will burn the bundles they have secured. This is very much the same picture as we see in Revelation 14. We see in 14:18 that the GLORIFIED SAINTS have “power over fire.” The Great Multitude gives a final maneuver (14:18, 19) which throws the bundles (grapes in this picture) into the great winepress — the winepress being the equivalent of the tare- burning in our parable.
The “weeping and gnashing of teeth” represent the great disappointment (and probably anger, too) of the tare class when it realizes that it has been hoodwinked for the entire age into believing that it constituted disciples of Christ. THAT is what is burned: the false professions and understandings and the institutions which have promulgated those errors.
13:43. The final verse of the interpretation is all splendor! From that day forward, the wheat, all gathered into the barn (heaven itself), will shine to the glory of God and the delight and benefit of mankind.
Jesus adds the words which also closed the Sower parable. “He who has ears, let him hear.” It is the message made to all stages of the Church in Revelation 2 and 3. Jesus is emphasizing that there is an inseparable connection between these parables and the seven Churches.
Connections to Smyrna
We have noted that the Wheat and Tares parable has its primary connection to the second Church in that it begins when the Apostles “slept.”
In Revelation 2:8-11 we find the Lord’s words to the Smyrna “angel” (the Apostle John). Within these verses we find the following two “hints” that connect the Church to the parable:
- In 2:9 we have the introduction of those who are “tares” — they “say they are Jews (Christians) and are not.”
- Also in verse 9 we have the tare class represented as a “synagogue” (Church) of Satan.” Jesus said the tares were of Satan’s planting.