In the parable of the wheat and the tares, found in Matthew 13, it describes two opposing harvests that are growing together: a wheat harvest and a harvest of tares.
Tares closely resemble wheat but are poisonous to human beings. They are indistinguishable from wheat until the final fruit appears. Farmers would weed out tares just before the wheat harvest.
This parable is about a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. It wasn’t until the grain sprouted and produced a crop that the tares also appeared. The servants asked the owner if they should remove the tares from the harvest. “No,” the owner said, “lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let them both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, ‘First gather together the tares and bind them in the bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn.” (Matthew 13:29-30).
This is a parable about genuine believers and counterfeits. Until Christ returns, both will be allowed to grow together. At first, it’s not obvious which harvest each one belonged to. It’s only apparent when the crop starts to ripen. This is what we are witnessing today in the world. The harvest is ripening and bearing fruit. The world will know us by our fruit, either righteousness or lawlessness. It is becoming increasingly clear who is for Christ and who is against. The harvests are ripening and showing themselves plainly, which indicates we are approaching the time when the reapers will come and separate the harvests.
Now is the time to get right with God. Eternity is just around the corner, “That now it is high time to wake out of sleep; for now, our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night if far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (Romans 13:11-14).
Salvation in this verse speaks of the imminent return of Christ, and now we are much closer than when we first believed. All you have to do is look around.
Are you ready to meet your Savior…your Maker…your Bridegroom…your King?
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