75 Bible Questions – 54

Matthew 13:28-30  “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’  But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.  Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

This parable is particularly different from Jesus’ other parables because it not only speaks about the beginning and God’s original intentions for the field (earth), but it also teaches about eternity, how the weeds will be thrown into fire while the wheat is stored in the barn.

It is interesting that when the servant suggests weeding the field, the master refuses so that the wheat will not be harmed even though leaving the two together will also hurt the wheat, they will grow stronger as a result of the struggle*.

There are many different beliefs as to the final days or the end of the world, many of which include the righteous being taken up into heaven while the wicked are left on earth, but those theories ignore or discredit this parable in which Jesus specifically talks about a harvest where everything is gathered from the field, both good and bad.

* James 1:2  “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,”