Is your heart ready for harvest: the kingdom of God part 2

 

 

Matthew 13:24-43 (KJV)

 

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.

So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

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.

Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

 

Wheat has for a very long time been the sustaining source of life for men by which we have made bread. Meat and vegetables have a short “shelf life”; especially in primitive society where things like refrigeration and vacuum packing are not possible.  Despite our modern packing and storage abilities we are still hard pressed to compete with the 30+ years that wheat berries can be stored.

The ability of grains to last so long and retain their nutritional and germination ability has kept men alive despite drought or other devastating events that may have ruined a whole year’s crop for as long as we have recorded history. Wheat has been a staple of men’s diets both ancient and modern; because of this it has been called “the staff of life”.

With this in mind we can see the great importance Yeshua places in the children of the kingdom which He has sown into the world.

Tares are a weed and more than likely refer to darnels which are resemble wheat as they grow until they produce fruit. Remember the words of our Master you shall know them by their fruit.

If the fruit of the darnels are eaten it is said to cause drowsiness, convulsions, trembling, impaired mobility, hindered speech, vomiting, dim-sightedness these effects are said to be from a fungus in the seeds. The similarity between these effects and those of alcohol (which is made from rotting grain in most cases) is the reason its name means intoxicated.

Notice in our parable this poison was sown while men slept.

Ephesians 5:14 - Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Luke 21:36- Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Revelation 16:15 - Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed [is] he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

1 Peter 1:13 - Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

1 Thessalonians 5:6 - Therefore let us not sleep, as [do] others; but let us watch and be sober.

Colossians 4:2 - Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;

Luke 21:34- And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and [so] that day come upon you unawares

Revelation 3:3 - Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

In these and many scriptures we are told to watch and test whether the things we accept are true prophets, true apostles, true scriptural teachings, true spirits, true signs and wonders. So how is it we enter this spiritual slumber by which the opportunity for tares to be sown among us is taken?

We are told to seek first the kingdom and His righteousness and again we are told that the kingdom is not with observation by turning a blind eye to these things we allow the poison to enter.

When our Master rebuked Peter saying get thee behind me satan (adversary); He was not saying Peter was a fallen angel leading a rebellion against God, nor was He saying Peter was possessed of a demon, but that Peter was seeking for a Messiah and kingdom that was born of men’s expectations and desires and not what YHWH had spoken.

If we remember that the kingdom is not a future manifestation but that it is already in a believer’s heart then we see the parable of the wheat and tares in this exchange between Peter and Yeshua.

Matthew 16:13-23 (KJV)

.When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, whom do men say that I the Son of man am? And they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then charged he his disciple that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thouart an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men

We see that the Father had placed a seed of the truth of who Yeshua was in Peter and it grew to a belief in his heart alongside the belief of who men said Messiah was to be. When this belief had matured and bore the fruit of a true confession of Yeshua .  Our Master then sets about to remove the “false wheat” or tare destroying the poison of man’s way and preserving the fruit of what YHWH had planted.