The Harvest
The Harvest
The Harvest
Separation
Of The Tares From Among The Wheat.
The end of
the period in which the wheat and the tares are commingled is the time of the
closing work for the Laodicean church (the last of the seven churches). This
work is identified by the church's founder as the marking in Ezekiel 9, the
sealing of spiritual Israel, the 144,000. (See Testimonies to Ministers, p. 445
and Testimonies, Vol. 3, p. 266; Vol. 5, p. 211.) And this identification is
conclusively substantiated by the fact, as herein seen, that Ezekiel's prophecy
is a separation of two classes -- those who "sigh and cry for all the
abominations that be done in the midst thereof" (the church) and those who
do not. And as the former are delivered while the latter fall under the
slaughter weapons of the angels, there is clearly seen a complete separation of
the tares from among the wheat in the
Time Of
Harvest.
Though the
true meaning and time of the harvest is greatly confused by some and confusing
to many, a close study of the Word will clear it in just as simple manner as it
cleared both the time of the seed-sowing and the period of the wheat and the
tares.
With His
eye piercing the mists of the ages, Christ foresaw the negligence of His
watchmen and the evil which was to spring up in His church. Nevertheless, after
being asked by His servants, "Didst not Thou sow good seed in Thy field?
from whence then hath it tares?...Wilt Thou then that we go and gather them
up?...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." Matt.
13:27-30.
A harvest means
the "result of effort," of toil, "the gathering of a crop"
-- reaping the result of labor and filling up the barns with grain. So rather
than the year's toil being
finished at the beginning of the harvest, the heaviest labor of the year just
then begins. And though harvest time is the shortest of all the periods of the
harvest year, the work of reaping is not done in a moment; it takes time. The
yield is not garnered by turning the field right into the barn; no, that would
be a conglomerate mass instead of a harvest. First the sickle is put to the
grain, and next the grain is bound into sheaves, then threshed, after which it
is put into the barn; and thereafter the chaff and the tares are destroyed.
This work being completed during the autumn, it shows that the harvest is a
season of time after "the summer is past," and that it is followed by
the fruitless winter period.
So it must
be with the spiritual harvest which otherwise could not be illustrated by the
literal. Do not regard lightly the wisdom of God: His illustrations are
perfect.
Consider,
now, with what exact fidelity to the natural harvest the Master has stated the
truths of the spiritual harvest: "Let both grow together until the
harvest," He says: "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." Matt. 13:30.
In these
parabolic words Christ has made the spiritual method of harvesting analogous
to the natural method. Were the one not precisely like the other, He would have
distinguished the difference. Be admonished, therefore, not to let vain
imaginings come into the mind, but stand squarely on the Scriptures, for they
are full of meaning of illimitable value -- are, indeed, your very life.
As the word
"until" means "up to," the tares are therefore to be
gathered out, not before or after the harvest, but at the beginning of it. And
"the time of harvest" being "the end of probationary time"
(Christ's Object Lessons, p. 72), then the harvesting itself necessarily
precedes the close of probation -- the fruitless winter season. Consequently,
the tares are separated from among the wheat before, not after, the end of
probationary time.
The wheat,
"the children of the kingdom" (Matt. 13:38), are gathered into the
barn, the kingdom; the tares, "the children of the wicked one" (verse
38) -- mere professors, those who are not doers of the Word, and who were
granted membership "while men slept" -- "are gathered and burned
in the fire" (Matt. 13:40), after the wheat is bound into sheaves. But
Who Are The
Reapers?
"The
reapers are the angels" who "shall come forth, and sever the wicked
from among the just." Matt. 13:39, 49. These angels are not those who
shall "come"
with Christ
at His second coming, but rather those whom He "shall send forth.'' They
are like the three angels of Revelation 14:6-11. Indeed, the third angel
"is to select the wheat from the tares and seal, or bind, the wheat for
the heavenly garner." -- Early Writings, p. 118. Therefore the angels, the
reapers, whom Christ sends forth, include both him who does the sealing, or
binding, and those who follow on to do the destroying (Ezek. 9:2, 5 6), first
in the church, then in the world. Thus is the
Separation
In Two Sections.
The
command, "Gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which
do iniquity," does not mean to gather His saints from the earth into
heaven; neither does it mean to destroy the wicked from the earth; for the
former are to be gathered, not directly to heaven, but first into "the
barn," the kingdom on earth; and the latter are not to be destroyed
immediately "in the time of harvest," but first are to be gathered
into bundles, and then destroyed, as is further illustrated in the parable of
the net:
"Again,
the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and
gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat
down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away." Matt.
13:47, 48.
This
parable also shows the separation of the wicked from among God's people in the
church ("the net"), this being the first section of the work of
separation, the beginning of the harvest. The subsequent section follows in the
world, as the earth is lightened with the glory of the "Loud Cry"
angel, and as "another voice from heaven," says: "Come out of
her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not
of her plagues." Rev. 18:4.
Note that
in the first section of the separation the one in the church, the wicked are
taken away from among the just, whereas in the second, the one in Babylon, the
just are called from among the wicked.
As the
field is "the world" (Matt. 13:38), the parable of the wheat and the
tares necessarily comprehends both sections of the harvest. As, by contrast,
the "net" hauls in the "fish," the converts made by the
gospel church, the parable of the net therefore is limited to the separation in
the church. Together they distinguish the
Relation Of
First Fruits To Second.
Isaiah also
was given a view of this two-fold harvest. "For by fire and by His
sword," he prophesies, "will the Lord plead with all flesh: and the
slain of the Lord shall be many. They that sanctify themselves, and purify
themselves in the
gardens
behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and
the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the Lord. " Isa. 66:16, 17.
The slain
of the Lord, in this scripture are those who profess to be in the faith, who
claim sanctification and purification, but who do so on the merits of their own
righteousness, -- of "themselves," -- not on the merits of Christ's
righteousness. They walk, that is, in their own ways, not in obedience to the
truth. Wrapped about with these spurious habiliments of sanctification and
purification, they pose as reformers, yet all the while indulging in the
abominations of the heathen; doing so in secret -- "behind one tree,"
or, as the margin says, following in the lead "one after another."
And the food (swine's flesh, the mouse, and the abomination, -- whatever that
may be wherever these paganistic Christians may be, -- foods used respectively
only in certain parts of the world, among different classes and races) with
which they are gratifying their appetites, shows that the consequent
destruction among these selfsanctified and self-purified ones is in the church
world-wide.
That it was
not among the Gentiles, who knew not of the truth of God and of His great power
is clearly shown by the Lord's words: "I will send those that escape of
them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal,
and Javan [the Gentile nations today as called by their ancient names], to the
isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; and
they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles." Isa. 66:19.
Since these
escaped ones (the first fruits, the 144,000 servants of God -- Rev. 7:3)
"shall bring all your brethren" (the second fruits the great
multitude -- Rev. 7:9) "for an offering...out of all nations" (Isa.
66:20, first part), this great ingathering necessarily therefore, is the
closing work of the gospel -- the second section of the harvest.
And since,
furthermore, these escaped ones are to bring all their brethren "to My
holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord," "in a clean vessel into the
house of the Lord" (Isa. 66:20, last part), the fact is fully evident that
the destruction of the wicked results in the purification of the church. The
"clean vessel" is therefore the purified church, composed of the
escaped ones the first fruits, the 144,000 -- who, free from the wicked (the
tares) shall then, as "the servants of our God," bring in the second
fruits, the great multitude which no man can number, out of all nations.
The second
section of the separation thus being completed, Probationary time is closed.
Whereupon from the wicked will be heard the horrible wail of doom: "The
harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." Jer. 8:20.
This being
the dreadful experience of the tares in Babylon, in the second section of the
harvest, there must, as a type, be a similar and precedent experience for the
tares in the Laodicean church, in the first section of the harvest, a parallel
which shows conclusively that
The Church
Is Not Babylon.
The reason
that the church is figuratively not "Babylon" is that it is called
Jerusalem (Ezek. 9:4,8), and from among the good therein, the wicked (the
tares) are destroyed, taken out, by the six men with the slaughter weapons (Ezek.
9:6-9), and then afterward the good (the wheat) are gathered in "the
barn;" while from among the wicked in Babylon, the just ("My
people") are called out and gathered into the barn, and then the seven
angels pour out the seven last plagues, and the remaining wicked are destroyed.
Thus in the
first section of the harvest, the separation in the church, the wicked are
destroyed by six men with slaughter weapons, before the good are taken out; and
in the second section, the separation among the churches in Babylon, the wicked
are destroyed by seven angels with the seven last plagues, after the good are
taken out. There are therefore two separations and two fruits: the former gives
the first fruits, the 144 000, who are not defiled with women (Rev. 14:4).
That is,
they are those whom the sealing message finds in
the church of God, not in the heathen churches. And the second gives the second
fruits, the great multitude from all nations, some of whom also may be
undefiled with women -- heathen churches.