When is "the time of harvest"? What may we learn from the parable of the wheat and tares (in Matthew 13)?
Jesus explained the parable of the wheat and tares (in Matthew 13:37-43), saying:
"[T]he harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. 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.... Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father..."We are certain there is coming, first, the Rapture of the Church; then, the so-called Tribulation; after which, the Millennial Kingdom Age shall ensue. The "harvest" that Jesus said will take place in "the end of the world," must then occur either at the end of the Millennial Kingdom - or at the end of the present Church Age. Which is it? And what does that then mean for us who are now living?
What is meant by the phrase, "the end of the world"? We know it cannot mean the destruction of the earth; for, the Bible explicitly states that "the earth [God] hath established for ever" (Ps. 78:69); and, "the meek shall inherit the earth" (Ps. 37:11); etc. Jesus identified "the end of the world" as being that time when the wicked would be separated from the godly; whereupon, the wicked shall then be punished, but the godly shall be glorified ("shine forth as the sun"). Thus, the end of the "world," must refer to the end of this present (Church) Age.
The end of the world - as men have known that to be throughout the past several Millennia since the Flood, shall occur just as suddenly as did the Flood in the days of Noah; and, with no less devastating effect upon this present world Order, similarly as the Flood utterly destroyed the antediluvian world.
The separating of the wicked from amongst the godly must of necessity, then, precede such sudden, catastrophic "end of the world." Which, "end of the world," I believe, must refer to the instantaneous Rapture of the Church and the effect that shall have to utterly destroy the present world Order. In other words, there evidently must occur a great separation between the godly and the ungodly - PRIOR TO THE RAPTURE.
Jesus called that (brief period of time) "the harvest." Nor does one "harvest" weeds but, rather, one harvests that which is desirable to keep. The process of harvesting, of course, presents the opportunity to remove all weeds and so to clear the ground.
We come at last, then, to consider what I believe is a not too thinly veiled suggestion of a "harvest" which we may expect (at the very least, which we ought to earnestly desire), just prior to the Rapture. That harvest, furthermore, I perceive as transpiring during some brief period of time; in a word, as a "process". Summarizing the analysis, therefore, I conclude that: There must occur a process whereby the wicked shall be distinctly separated from amongst the godly; which, process, must occur immediately prior to the Rapture. Importantly, that separation (as described in Scripture) explicitly targets, first, the wicked, who are to be 'gathered together' and 'bound in bundles' to be "burned" (see, Matt. 13:30).
I understand that to mean that the wicked shall willingly align themselves with some or another faction - of whatever form of expression that is antichrist in nature: all of which, factions, shall be thoroughly opposed to true Christianity. The wicked shall be "bound" in such "bundles"; meaning, the minds of all such persons shall be bound as if by chains, to their respective deceptions.
The resulting separation shall be apparent to all - at least, it will be apparent to all who "have eyes to see." Indeed, already I see that process of separation is far advanced throughout the world. I see that God is using various means wherewith to divide and separate the wicked from the godly. I see President Trump, for one important example, as one such instrument that God is using to separate the "tares" from the "wheat." But that is not all.
God has lately used, for another important example, a host of leaders and foot soldiers of the so-called New Apostolic Reformation Movement together with many other apostates - to cause a phenomenal division and separation within and amongst the churches. And there are many other examples involving unbelievers gathering themselves together in: cults; wicked organizations; political factions; deviant practices; etc.
A great separation is already happening, to divide between the wicked and the godly. The "harvest" Jesus mentioned, however, is two-sided. Jesus also said that, after the tares have first been gathered together in bundles, the "wheat" is then to be gathered into his "barn" (singular). This is indeed a representation of the Rapture. Yet, I also believe that Jesus's metaphor involving the "harvest" also intimates a Last Days harvest of souls for the Kingdom of Christ.
We should expect that the process of division and separation will continue and will increase in its effects to differentiate between the world, on the one hand, and the true Body of Christ, on the other. Given such increasingly clear distinction between those two groups: Should we not also expect, then, that the result of such increasingly clear separation ought to lead to a great Revival Movement?! Does that separation not imply a purifying of the Body of Christ? I reckon it does.
This is not a time to despair, but it is a time to hope for a great move of God. Yes! it is very dark in the world! Yes! the time is now shorter than ever before. But consider what the Holy Ghost says, in Isaiah 60:
"[B]ehold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee" (v. 2).I know of no other time in history, since the time of Jesus, when that passage of Scripture is so evidently true. To be sure, the prophecy in Isaiah 60 is a reference to the first coming of Jesus Christ. But it is more than that. For, in the course of that chapter the language almost imperceptibly changes from a singular to a plural referent; verse 14 reads, "...and they shall call thee, the city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel." Moreover, that chapter begins with the command: "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee." When was Christ ever without "light" or without "the glory of the LORD"? Clearly, the prophecy of Isaiah 60 has application to this present time - a time when it is undeniably true that "the darkness [now] cover[s] the earth, and gross darkness [covers] the people".
At such a time when it seems most improbable, if not even impossible: at such a time as this, I believe, is a good time to expect that God will surely move in great power.
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