A Field Producing Wheat and Weeds

“Explain to us the illustration of the weeds in the field.”​—Matt. 13:36.

1, 2. (a) As regards sowing, what principles can be counted upon? (b) What illustration is based on these two principles?

“SEED sowing and harvest” constitute one of the cycles that Jehovah God said in his heart would never cease “for all the days the earth continues.” (Gen. 8:21, 22) A related basic principle was expressed by the apostle Paul, when he wrote: “Whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap.”​—Gal. 6:7.

² On the basis of these fundamental facts, a farmer who had worked hard sowing good wheat at seedtime was confident that in due season there would be a harvest. The one would logically follow the other. Likewise, when his farm workers informed him sometime later that his field was producing not only wheat but a certain weed, he was sure that there had been foul play. He knew what he had sown: wheat, not weeds. This new development required a decision. His employees suggested immediate action. They wanted to uproot the weeds right away, but the wise farmer tempered their eagerness. He told them to hold off, for fear of hurting the wheat while uprooting the weeds. Let both grow together. The harvest season would be time enough to separate the genuine wheat from the false.

3. What important developments in connection with the Kingdom did Jesus illustrate, and of what would the separating work be a feature?

³ This illustration was used by Jesus Christ to portray certain developments that would occur in the work he had started on earth. That sowing work was meant to produce the required crop of true Christians to be associated with him in the heavenly government known as “the kingdom of the heavens.” He thus foretold that his good sowing would be infringed upon by the enemy Satan the Devil. The field would produce not only the desired harvest of wheatlike, true Christians but also a crop of weedlike counterfeit Christians. Both would be allowed to grow together until harvesttime, when the separating work would take place. Moreover, this separating work would be a further feature of the “last days,” the “conclusion of a system of things.”​—Matt. 13:24-30, 36-43; compare Matthew 24:3; 2 Timothy 3:1.

4. Why should this illustration be of interest to us?

⁴ Are you interested in seeing the end of the present wicked system? Will you be affected personally by the outcome of this harvesting work? And, incidentally, does Jesus’ illustration provide a key to understanding the history of Christianity throughout the centuries? Let us see.

THE PARABLE OF THE WHEAT AND THE WEEDS

5, 6. (a) Why cannot the expression “the kingdom of the heavens” in this parable refer to Christ’s heavenly government? (b) What, then, do the kingdom illustrations refer to and illustrate?

⁵ On the shores of the Sea of Galilee, not far from the house where he was staying, Jesus introduced this parable to his disciples and to a great throng of curious people, saying: “The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man that sowed fine seed in his field. While men were sleeping, his enemy came and oversowed weeds in among the wheat, and left. When the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the weeds appeared also.”​—Matt. 13:24-26.

⁶ A quick look through the other kingdom illustrations in Matthew chapter 13 helps us to realize that the expression “the kingdom of the heavens” as used in these illustrations cannot refer to the completed Messianic government or kingdom in the heavens. Can one imagine “weeds,” leavenlike “badness” (Mt 13 verse 33; 1 Cor. 5:8) or people likened to wicked, unsuitable “fish” (Mt 13 verses 47-50) being associated with Christ in his heavenly kingdom? Hardly! These illustrations must, therefore, be referring to good and bad developments with respect to the choosing of Christ’s future associates in “the kingdom of the heavens.” In particular, the parable of the wheat and the weeds illustrates a condition among those on earth who claim to be called to reign with Christ in his kingdom. This situation would be permitted for a time, before being brought to an end at the symbolic “harvest.”

7, 8. (a) Who is the “Son of man”? (b) What other prophecy mentions the “son of man” and those symbolized by the “fine seed”?

⁷ Jesus himself later explained the symbolic meaning of the “householder,” or the “man that sowed,” “his field,” the “fine seed,” “his enemy” and the “weeds.” The account reads: “After dismissing the crowds he went into the house. And his disciples came to him and said: ‘Explain to us the illustration of the weeds in the field.’ In response he said: ‘The sower of the fine seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; as for the fine seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; but the weeds are the sons of the wicked one, and the enemy that sowed them is the Devil.’”​—Matt. 13:36-39.

⁸ Jesus identified himself as the “Son of man.” (Matt. 8:20; 25:31; 26:64) Interestingly, it was in connection with the Kingdom that Jesus was prophetically called the “son of man” in a vision received by Daniel. That prophecy states: “To him [the “son of man”] there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin.” Showing that the Son of man would have associates ruling with him, the prophetic vision also says: “And the kingdom and the rulership and the grandeur of the kingdoms under all the heavens were given to the people who are the holy ones of the Supreme One. Their kingdom is an indefinitely lasting kingdom, and all the rulerships will serve and obey even them.”​—Dan. 7:13, 14, 27.

SOWING “FINE SEED”

9. What is the “field,” and why has Jesus sown “fine seed” in it?

⁹ It is with a view to gathering out of the world the required number of such “holy ones,” or “sons of the kingdom,” that Jesus, the “householder” of the parable, sows “fine seed in his field.” This “field” is explained as being “the world [Greek, koʹsmos],” the world of mankind. From the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry onward, mankind became a “field under cultivation,” a religious field of opportunity for sowing and cultivating the “fine seed,” or “sons of the kingdom.” (1 Cor. 3:9) Jesus zealously prepared the Jewish part of the “field” during the three and a half years of his earthly ministry. (Matt. 9:35-38) Then, from Pentecost 33 C.E. onward, he planted “fine seed,” first among Jews, and finally in the entire world, or “field.”​—Acts 1:8.

10. What progress did the sowing work make among the Jews and the proselytes?

¹⁰ Explaining the “fine seed,” Jesus said: “These are the sons of the kingdom.” The first of these spirit-begotten, anointed “sons of the kingdom” were Jesus’ faithful apostles and the hundred or so other disciples, both men and women, who received the gift of the holy spirit at Pentecost 33 C.E. in Jerusalem. (Acts 1:13-15; 2:1-4) That same day, about 3,000 others, both Jews and proselytes, were added to the newly founded Christian congregation. (Acts 2:5-11, 41) Jehovah blessed this sowing work and “continued to join to them daily those being saved,” so that soon “the number of the men [possibly not counting the women] became about five thousand.” A little later, the account adds: “Believers in the Lord kept on being added, multitudes both of men and of women.” (Acts 2:47; 4:4; 5:14) The sowing work was moving ahead rapidly among the Jews and the proselytes.

11. How did the sowing progress among the Samaritans and the non-Jews?

¹¹ After having arranged for seeds to be sown among the Samaritans (Acts, chap. 8), the Sower Jesus, by means of the holy spirit, extended the sowing work to the uncircumcised non-Jews or Gentiles. (Acts, chap. 10; Ac 13:1-5, 46, 47) Within a few decades Christian congregations were established from North Africa to the Black Sea and from Babylonia to Italy, if not even farther west. (Acts 2:5-11; 1 Pet. 5:13; Rom. 15:24; Col. 1:5, 6, 23) As a result of zealous sowing, ‘blades were sprouting and producing fruit.’​—Matt. 13:26.

OVERSOWING OF WEEDS

12, 13. Who is the “enemy” and how did he sow weeds “while men were sleeping”?

¹² But there was mischief afoot. Jesus’ parable had warned: “While men were sleeping, his [the Sower’s] enemy came and oversowed weeds in among the wheat, and left. When the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the weeds appeared also.” (Matt. 13:25, 26) Jesus identified “his enemy” as being “the Devil,” who would do his sabotaging work “while men were sleeping.” In the Bible “sleep” can symbolize death or spiritual drowsiness. (Matt. 9:24; Rom. 13:11; 1 Thess. 5:6) After having spoken of ‘finishing his course,’ Paul told the elders from the Christian congregation in Ephesus: “I know that after my going away oppressive wolves will enter in among you and will not treat the flock with tenderness, and from among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore keep awake.”​—Acts 20:24-31.

¹³ Historical facts show that it was “while men were sleeping” that Satan “came and oversowed weeds in among the wheat.” Once the apostles, who collectively ‘acted as a restraint’ upon apostasy, began falling asleep in death, many Christian elders failed to “keep awake.” (2 Thess. 2:3, 6-8) Becoming spiritually drowsy, they did not protect the “sons of the kingdom” from the “oppressive wolves” that began entering in among them. These were “weeds” sown among the “fine seed.” Referring to the approaching end of the apostolic period, John, the last of the apostles to die, wrote: “It is the last hour, and, just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now there have come to be many antichrists; from which fact we gain the knowledge that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of our sort; for if they had been of our sort, they would have remained with us. But they went out that it might be shown up that not all are of our sort.”​—1 John 2:18, 19.

14. What information is given about the type of weed referred to in Jesus’ parable?

¹⁴ Jesus stated: “The weeds are the sons of the wicked one.” (Matt. 13:38) In his book Natural History of the Bible, H. B. Tristram comments on the type of weeds referred to in this parable. He writes: “The Tares (zizania) are the same as the Arabic zawân, from which the Greek name is derived, the Lolium temulentum, or Bearded Darnel. . . . It is a kind of ryegrass, and is the only species of the grass family the seeds of which are poisonous. The derivation of zawân is from zân, ‘vomiting,’ the effect of eating darnel being to produce violent nausea, convulsions, and diarrheœa, which frequently ends in death. The plant, having a broader leaf than most wild grasses, is entirely like wheat until the ear appears.”

15. (a) Are the “weeds” degenerate “wheat”? (b) Therefore, of what is the “Son of man” blameless?

¹⁵ It should be noted that the “weeds” are not, as some Jewish Talmudistsa and others once believed, a degenerate form of wheat. Wheat seed never transforms itself into weeds. This would be contrary to Jehovah’s immutable law: “Let the earth cause grass to shoot forth, vegetation bearing seed, fruit trees yielding fruit according to their kinds.” (Gen. 1:11, 12) This scientific fact exonerates the “Son of man,” Christ Jesus, the “sower of the fine seed,” from any responsibility for what happened in “his field.” The “fine seed” he sowed would never have become a crop of weeds. It could only produce “wheat,” or true “sons of the kingdom.” What later developed in his “field” was the direct result of his enemy’s deliberate and malicious oversowing of “weeds,” or “sons of the wicked one.”

16. Of what historical interest is the parable of the “wheat” and the “weeds”?

¹⁶ Thus, Jesus’ illustration of the “wheat” and the “weeds” does much to explain the history of Christianity throughout the centuries. Historical facts show that after the death of the apostles Satan introduced among the congregations of true Christians many “weeds,” “oppressive wolves” and “antichrists,” just as Jesus, Paul, Peter, John and Jude had foretold. (Acts 20:29; 2 Pet. 2:1-3; 1 John 2:18; Jude 4) It has been just as Jesus stated: “When the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the weeds appeared also.”​—Matt. 13:26.

17. When did the “weeds” become particularly apparent?

¹⁷ These “weeds” became particularly apparent during the second and third centuries, at which time such unscriptural doctrines as the inherent immortality of the soul, hellfire and the Trinity began to be taught by so-called church fathers. Many of these men were more philosophers than true Christian overseers faithful to the teachings of the Bible. The climax came early in the fourth century, when pagan Emperor Constantine fused this apostate Christianity with the pagan religion of Rome. Such counterfeit Christianity, in its Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox and Protestant varieties, has produced a bumper crop of “weeds” not only throughout the centuries but also right up until the present time.

“LET BOTH GROW TOGETHER”

18. According to Jesus’ parable, what further developments are there?

¹⁸ This situation could not fail to disturb the ‘Son of man’s’ “slaves.” Jesus’ parable continues: “So the slaves of the householder came up and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow fine seed in your field? How, then, does it come to have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy, a man, did this.’ They said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go out and collect them?’ He said, ‘No; that by no chance, while collecting the weeds, you uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the harvest season I will tell the reapers, First collect the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up, then go to gathering the wheat into my storehouse.’”​—Matt. 13:27-30.

19. Why were the “slaves of the householder” distressed?

¹⁹ Whether these worried “slaves” (Mt 13 verse 27) are identical with the “reapers” (Mt 13 verse 30) Jesus does not explain. If they are, this would mean that the angels were distressed by the abundant growth of “weeds” in their Master’s field. (Matt. 13:39) These “slaves” asked if they should immediately weed out the bearded darnel, symbolizing the “sons of the wicked one.” (Matt. 13:38) They feared that these counterfeit Christians, or “weeds,” maliciously sown by the “enemy,” the Devil, might choke the true “wheat,” the authentic “sons of the kingdom.”

20. What reply did the “householder” give to his “slaves,” and how has this been borne out by history?

²⁰ But the “householder,” the “Son of man,” did not authorize his “slaves” to go out and collect the “weeds,” or pseudo-Christians, separating them from the “wheat,” true Christians. He said: “Let both grow together until the harvest.” And so it has been that true and false Christianity have grown together in the “field,” or “world,” of mankind. Nevertheless, the “harvest season” had to come. When? And how does this affect you?

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 16]

The weed bearded darnel

True wheat

Harvesting in the “Time of the End”

“The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things.​—Matt. 13:39.

1. Why is the “harvest” foretold by Jesus a twofold reason for joy?

A GOOD harvest is always a reason for joy and thanksgiving. It is a time for reaping the fruits of long, hard labor. The harvest foretold in Christ’s parable of the “wheat” and the “weeds” would provide a twofold reason for all mankind to rejoice. Why? Not only because it would mean the ingathering of the required number of “sons of the kingdom,” or “holy ones,” to be associated with Christ in his “indefinitely lasting rulership,” thus ensuring good government for the earth, but also because this “harvest” would of itself be proof that we are living at the “conclusion of a system of things” and at the dawn of a righteous new order.​—Dan. 7:14, 27; Matt. 13:38, 39; 2 Pet. 3:13.

“SYNTEʹLEIA” AND “TELOS”

2. Why is the Greek work synteʹleia better translated by “conclusion” than by “end,” and so with what period mentioned in Daniel does the synteʹleia correspond?

² Jesus did not say that the “harvest” is “the end of the world,” as some Bible translations would have us believe. (Authorized Version; American Standard Version; The Jerusalem Bible) Such translations make no distinction between the two Greek words synteʹleia and telos. Explaining synteʹleia, W. E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words states: “The word does not denote a termination, but the heading up of events to the appointed climax.” So when Jesus said “the harvest is a conclusion [synteʹleia] of a system of things,” he was speaking of a period of activity that would have a beginning and an end. According to Matthew 13:30, Jesus referred to “the harvest season,” obviously designating a period of time, the period the prophet Daniel spoke of as “the time of the end.” (Dan. 12:4) Interestingly, when the translators of the Greek Septuagint Version translated this verse in Daniel, they used the word synteʹleia.

3. With what is the “harvest season” connected, and what does the Greek word telos mean and refer to in Matthew 24:14?

³ This same word is used in Matthew 24:3, where the disciples asked Jesus: “Tell us, When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the conclusion [synteʹleia] of the system of things?” So the “harvest season” is connected with Christ’s invisible presence as Harvester. In answer to his disciples’ question, Jesus enumerated international warfare, food shortages, pestilences, great earthquakes, lawlessness and a general climate of fear. (Compare parallel accounts in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21.) Then, showing that the “harvest season” would come to an end, he added: “And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end [telos] will come.” (Matt. 24:14) The word telos means “end,” “in the sense termination, cessation . . . the last part, close, conclusion esp[ecially] of the last things, the final act in the cosmic drama.”a

4. When did the “conclusion,” or the “time of the end,” begin, and so what can be said of the “harvest”?

⁴ Facts of modern history since 1914, in fulfillment of Bible prophecy, show that the present system of things is well into its “time of the end,” or “conclusion” (synteʹleia). To requote W. E. Vine, we are witnessing “the heading up of events to the appointed climax” or end (telos). Therefore, the “harvest” of Jesus’ illustration must be on; in fact, it must be nearing its culmination. Have the events foretold in the rest of the parable been observable since 1914?

“THE HARVEST OF THE EARTH IS THOROUGHLY RIPE”

5. At harvesttime, what would the “Son of man” order his angels to do?

⁵ Continuing his explanation of “the illustration of the weeds in the field,” Jesus stated: “The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things, and the reapers are angels. Therefore, just as the weeds are collected and burned with fire, so it will be in the conclusion of the system of things. The Son of man will send forth his angels, and they will collect out from his kingdom all things that cause stumbling and persons who are doing lawlessness, and they will pitch them into the fiery furnace. There is where their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth will be.”​—Matt. 13:39-42.

6. Among whom was the “wheat” left to grow?

⁶ The “reapers,” or angels, would be sent forth by the “Son of man” at “the conclusion of the system of things,” in order to weed out from among the true “sons of the kingdom” “all things that cause stumbling and persons who are doing lawlessness.” As the preceding article has shown, the Devil’s oversowing “weeds” by night has resulted in organized apostasy, false Christianity under a hierarchy of oppressive religious leaders who came to form the composite “man of lawlessness,” foretold by the apostle Paul. (2 Thess. 2:3-12) The true “wheat” was left to grow among such “weeds” until the “time of the end.” Then the “Son of man” would order his “reapers” to separate the “sons of the kingdom” from the “sons of the wicked one.”

7. What parallel prophecy helps us to identify the harvesttime?

⁷ When did this separating work begin? An interesting parallel prophecy leaves us in no doubt as to when it would be. It reads: “And I saw, and, look! a white cloud, and upon the cloud someone seated like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel emerged from the temple sanctuary, crying with a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud: ‘Put your sickle in and reap, because the hour has come to reap, for the harvest of the earth is thoroughly ripe.’ And the one seated on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.”​—Rev. 14:14-16.

8. How is the “Son of man” pictured in Revelation 14:14, and so after what event must the harvest have begun?

⁸ Here we see the “Son of man,” Jesus Christ, not as a sower sowing “fine seed in his field” but as a crowned king moving into action for the “harvest of the earth.” His being seated on a cloud symbolizes his invisible presence. (Acts 1:9-11; Rev. 1:7) The “harvest” must, therefore, take place during Christ’s presence, after he is crowned and receives “rulership and dignity and kingdom” from Jehovah, the “Ancient of Days.” (Dan. 7:13, 14) So the harvesting began sometime after 1914, the year that marked the beginning of the “time of the end,” or the “conclusion of the system of things.”

9. When did the separating work begin?

⁹ When, after 1914, did the Son of man “send forth his angels” to separate the “sons of the kingdom” from “the sons of the wicked one,” the imitation “wheat,” that is, “persons who are doing lawlessness” and who include the “man of lawlessness,” the religious leaders of counterfeit Christianity? The answer must correspond with the facts, and these show that it was in 1919 that the spirit-begotten, anointed “sons of the kingdom,” symbolized by the “wheat,” began to be freed from the “weeds,” or false Christians, that had overrun the religious field of mankind. The “harvest of the earth” was ripe and the time had come for the “Son of man” to thrust in his sickle and reap. The parable reveals that he did this by means of his “reapers,” angels.

WEEDS COLLECTED TO BE BURNED

10. Why was it difficult to identify the true “wheat” throughout the centuries, but since when has it become possible to distinguish clearly the “wheat” from the “weeds”?

¹⁰ In his “illustration of the weeds in the field,” Jesus said: “In the harvest season I will tell the reapers, First collect the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up.” (Matt. 13:30) For centuries the clear identity of the “wheat,” or true “sons of the kingdom,” had been obscured by the proliferous “weeds,” or apostate Christians, who claimed to have the heavenly hope as heirs to the Kingdom. Only after 1919, when the truly spirit-begotten Christians were delivered from Babylon the Great, the Devil’s world empire of false religion, did a clear difference become visible between the “wheat” and the “weeds.”

11. Who are included in the “weeds,” and how have they been bound in bundles?

¹¹ The symbolic “weeds” include all counterfeit Christians, not excluding any modern-day apostates who teach “things that cause stumbling,” as well as “persons who are doing lawlessness.” This would include the “evil slave,” the ‘foolish virgins’ and the “wicked and sluggish slave.” (Matt. 24:48-51; 25:1-12, 14-30) Their being ‘bound in bundles’ ready to be burned up does not represent their being grouped into the various churches and sects of Christendom, for it can hardly be said that the angels are responsible for such apostate church systems. Furthermore, the binding and bundling takes place during the “harvest season,” at the “time of the end,” whereas many of the religions of counterfeit Christianity have existed for centuries. The binding of “weeds” in bundles means that since 1919 the separation between true and imitation Christians has become ever clearer, both in the people’s minds and by actual separation. The “weeds,” or the “sons of the wicked one,” are ‘bound’ inasmuch as the angels see to it that they do not get back in among the “wheat,” or the true “sons of the kingdom.”

12. What does the “fiery furnace” symbolize, and when will the “weeds” be pitched into it?

¹² Speaking of what the angels would do with the “weeds” after having bound them up, Jesus added: “They will pitch them into the fiery furnace. There is where their weeping and the gnashing of their teeth will be.” (Matt. 13:42) Remember that we are studying a parable. If the “wheat” and the “weeds” are symbolic, so are the “fiery furnace,” the “weeping” and the ‘gnashing of teeth.’ Matthew 25:41, 46 shows that “everlasting fire” symbolizes “everlasting cutting-off,” and Revelation (20:14; 21:8) says that the “lake of fire” means “the second death,” destruction with no hope of a resurrection. So the “weeds” are heading for destruction.

13. When and how have those symbolized by the weeds wept and gnashed their teeth, but when will they do more lamenting?

¹³ Since the “fiery furnace” symbolizes total destruction, the “weeping and the gnashing of their teeth” on the part of the “weeds” must take place before they are destroyed. For decades now, counterfeit Christians, and particularly the “man of lawlessness”​—Christendom’s clergy—​have bewailed the fact that “the sons of the kingdom,” Jehovah’s anointed witnesses, have been pelting them with hard-hitting Scriptural truths, exposing them for what they really are: “sons of the wicked one.” (Matt. 13:38; Rev., chaps. 8, 9b) The apostate clergy have gnashed their teeth against Jehovah’s Witnesses for fearlessly proclaiming not only Jehovah’s “year of goodwill” but also his “day of vengeance.” (Isa. 61:1, 2) However, all such “weeds” will do more lamenting and teeth-grinding when the “Son of man” comes shortly to destroy them and the rest of Satan’s world.​—Matt. 24:30.

‘THE RIGHTEOUS ONES SHINE AS BRIGHTLY AS THE SUN’

14. Where is the “wheat” gathered, and what do such “righteous ones” do?

¹⁴ After having ordered the “reapers” to bundle up the “weeds” for destruction, the “Son of man” gives his angels this further command: “Then go to gathering the wheat into my storehouse.” (Matt. 13:30) And Jesus concluded his explanation of the parable by saying: “At that time the righteous ones will shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him that has ears listen.”​—Matt. 13:43.

15, 16. (a) Why is it not in heaven that the “righteous ones” shine? (b) Where and how do the “righteous ones” shine, and where are they gathered?

¹⁵ Revelation 21:23 says of the heavenly Kingdom government, the New Jerusalem: “And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God lighted it up, and its lamp was the Lamb.” So that heavenly kingdom does not depend for light on the resurrected “sons of the kingdom.” It is bathing in glorious divine light. How different among the nations here on earth! (Eph. 4:17, 18; 5:8) Explaining what Jehovah does for the “sons of the kingdom” while they are still on earth, Paul writes: “He delivered us from the authority of the darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of his love.”​—Col. 1:13.

¹⁶ Hence, the “righteous ones” shining “as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father” refers to the enlightened condition and the glorious service of such anointed Christians on earth, where they “are shining as illuminators in the world.” (Phil. 2:15; Matt. 5:14) The “storehouse” into which they have been gathered since 1919 can be said to be “the kingdom of their Father,” inasmuch as the Christian congregation is a theocratic organization, recognizing Jehovah’s universal sovereignty. It is a clean organization, for out of it the angels collect “all things that cause stumbling and persons who are doing lawlessness.”​—Matt. 13:30, 41, 43.

“THE HARVEST OF THE EARTH” CONTINUES

17. How many “sons of the kingdom” are harvested, but why does the ingathering work go on?

¹⁷ How does all of this affect you? Remember that Jesus closed this illustration with the words: “Let him that has ears listen.” (Matt. 13:43) True, this parable illustrates the gathering in of the total number of “sons of the kingdom” required to form Christ’s heavenly government. The same chapter (14) of Revelation that speaks of the “harvest of the earth” reveals the number of those thus harvested to reign with “the Lamb” on heavenly “Mount Zion” as being 144,000. But that chapter adds: “These were bought from among mankind as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.” (Rev. 14:1-4) The harvesting of “firstfruits” would indicate that there was other fruitage to be gathered later as symbolized by the ingathering of the other fruits of the field at the close of the agricultural year. So the ingathering goes on, and it does affect you.

18. In addition to the harvesting of the “sons of the kingdom,” what other separating work takes place?

¹⁸ The harvesting of the “sons of the kingdom” went on apace from 1919 up until the early 1930’s. Because these faithful anointed Christians have ‘let their light shine,’ many others with listening ears have allowed themselves to be separated from the “weeds,” or counterfeit Christians within the churches and sects of Christendom. (Matt. 5:16) This separating work was also foretold by Jesus in his prophecy on “the conclusion of the system of things.” (Matt., chaps. 24, 25) He stated: “When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. And these [goats] will depart into everlasting cutting-off, but the righteous ones into everlasting life.”​—Matt. 25:31-33, 46.

19. In God’s due time, what will happen to the remaining ones of the “wheat” class and to the “great crowd”?

¹⁹ Thus, as the harvesting of the “wheat” class of anointed Christians draws to a close, the ingathering of the “sheep” continues. In God’s due time the remaining ones of the “wheat” class will finish their earthly course and join the “Son of man” as part of his heavenly kingdom or government. They will “receive the kingdom” with the rest of the 144,000 “holy ones.” (Dan. 7:18, 22, 27) As for the “great crowd” of “sheep” that are now being gathered, they will survive the “great tribulation” that will mark the end (telos) of the present satanic system of things and will become a part of the “peoples, national groups and languages” that will serve the “Son of man” on earth, under his “indefinitely lasting rulership” or heavenly kingdom.​—Rev. 7:4, 9, 10, 14; Dan. 7:13, 14.

20. What does the fact that the harvest is well advanced prove; so what should you do, and why?

²⁰ Where do you stand with regard to the fulfillment of the illustration of the “wheat” and the “weeds”? The fact that the “harvest” of the “sons of the kingdom” is well advanced proves that the “conclusion [synteʹleia] of the system of things” is nearing its end (telos). Your attitude toward the wheatlike anointed “brothers” of Christ and the treatment you accord them will be the determining factor as to whether you go into “everlasting cutting-off” or receive “everlasting life.” (Matt. 25:34-46) Prove yourself to be a loyal companion of the anointed “wheat” class, the “faithful and discreet slave,” whom Christ has appointed to provide spiritual “food at the proper time.” (Matt. 24:45) Keep active in the ingathering work, for remember, “this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end [telos] will come,” and “he that has endured to the end [telos] is the one that will be saved.”​—Matt. 24:13, 14.

[Footnotes]