Prophecy: Tares and Delusion…Wheat and Truth

"For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power -
making it active, operative, energising and effective; it is
sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing
line of the breath of life (soul) and (the immortal) spirit, and
of joints and marrow (that is, of the deepest parts of our
nature) exposing and sifting and analysing
and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the
heart."

The KJV says "…and is a discerner of the thoughts and
intents of the heart."

Like never before – we need to be lovers of truth. This
is not to say we need to know everything, or pretend to! We need
to be lovers of truth.

God promises in 2 Thessalonians 2 that just prior to the
return of Jesus Christ, He will issue a strong delusion,
which will most surely entice those who are not lovers of truth.
A delusion is a mistaken idea or belief. Perhaps you are familiar
with the saying that ‘people will hear what they want to
hear.’

An explanation of Midrash is required as a prelude to this
study.

Midrash is a method of hermeneutics (interpretation of
Scripture) used by the ancient Rabbi’s at the time of Jesus
and Paul. It is a topical approach which seeks the relationships
between different Biblical texts in order to interpret them in
the light of one another. As such, it uses allegory and
‘types’ to illustrate and illuminate doctrine, but
never to establish doctrine. One such example of the use of
Midrash in understanding the end times is biblical references to
Noah and Lot (types), which provide a Midrashic picture of the
days in which they lived – signifying what we can expect in
the days in which we are living (ie. unbelief, perversion,
drunkenness etc). Midrash allows for multiple meanings (ie. more
than one fulfilment of a prophetic passage) leading to one
ultimate fulfilment of the prophecy. Midrash also identifies
events which occur in cycles eg. The Antichrist can be seen in
Pharaoh, the Caesars, Hitler, Saddam Hussein and ultimately, the
coming world leader. Midrash helps us interpret Scripture with
Scripture, bringing the Old Testament to life, hence: The New
(testament) is in the Old concealed – the Old is in the New
revealed.

In Matthew 13, Jesus speaks the parable of ‘the sower
and the seed.’ A question is asked by the disciples "Why do
you speak in parables?" Jesus’ answer is all important to
our understanding today. "Because they see, but don’t see.
They hear, but don’t hear – and they don’t
understand." Why? "…this people’s heart is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed; lest at any time they should see (with their
eyes)…hear (with their ears)…and understand (with
their heart). A heart that is ‘waxed gross’ is a
heart that does not ‘love truth.’

Please note that the seed (Gods Word) goes out from the sower,
and four scenarios are provided for us to learn from. The first
three are graphic examples of people who see and hear God’s
Word, but do not understand:

1. Some of the seed falls by the wayside – some people
hear the Word, gain no understanding, and are then robbed of the
seed by the evil one.

2. Some of the seed falls upon stony ground – some
people receive the Word readily, it provides understanding,
comfort and relief for their hard hearts for a short season BUT
takes no root. The seed (Word of God) then attracts negative
attention, and the person is offended by persecution and throws
in the towel.

3. Some of the seed falls amongst thorns – some people
hear the Word, and acknowledge its validity, only to be
distracted by the cares of this world. The Word of God within is
choked, and they become barren.

The fourth scenario provides the preferred outcome:

4. Some of the seed falls into the good ground – certain
people see what is being shown, and hear what is being said
– they understand. As a result, good fruit follows.

In verse 24 we have a continuation of this agricultural
midrashic picture. A field is sown with good seed. A
(God-authorised) saboteur sneaks in at night and plants tares
(tares look like wheat but are useless; the Hebrew word
‘zonin’ describes this degenerate form of wheat which
is not recognisable until the heads form) amongst the wheat. They
grow together, side by side to maturity. In the story given, some
well-meaning servant suggests "Master – we can judge
between the wheat and the tares. We know who the real believers
are from the false. We’ll go and pull the tares out for
you."

Jesus says "No! Lest you pull up some of the genuine with the
false…let them 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
into bundles to burn them: and gather the wheat into my
barn."

Harvest is a type/allegory for the end times. It is a time of
reaping what has been sown; a time for sorting (judging) the good
from the bad, the useable from the unusable. A time of burning
(punishment) the illegitimate, the non-profitable.

Jesus has allowed the look-alike tares to grow with the
wheat – UNTIL THE HARVEST. First the tares will
be dealt with – those who are ‘Ever learning, but
never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.’(2 Timothy
3). Judgement begins in the house of God.

So, right before Jesus comes back, what will we see growing up
amongst the wheat of God? A revival of self-acceptance (the
reverse of crucifixion of self), the glorification of
materialism, pride will be seen as a virtue, common use of
blasphemy, widespread disobedience to parents, unthankful people,
unholy people, sexually perverted people, a rise in dishonest
practise, and hedonism – lovers of pleasure above reality
and responsibility. This will all spring up ‘amongst the
wheat’. What do we see today?

Jesus of course is Truth! Allegiance to Jesus therefore
demands allegiance to truth – and this Truth is found
outside of ourselves in the person of Jesus Christ (The
Midrashic "Rock, that is higher than I.")

Paradoxically, humanism (the deification of man – where
we become the masters of our own destinies) has become more and
more acceptable within the Church/Religious mindset, regardless
of the fact that it is contradictory to the central theme of the
gospel (dying to self). Indeed in some religious organisations we
have things so well thought-out, structured and organised that we
can get by without the ‘still small voice’ of God.
The ecumenical movement is politically correct - and Biblically
unsound, being described in Revelation as a harlot, prostitute
system which gets into bed with ‘everyone.’
Jesus’ work on harvest day will tidy up the complexities
here.

Being a lover of truth means: having the humility to surrender
my opinions and beliefs to the discerning spirit of God within
me, "Thy Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against
thee."

God’s truth is Gods wisdom – and our best
earth-shaped knowledge so often misses the mark! The Scriptures
are filled with God’s wisdom – and the good news is
that pretty well all of it is practical and operational. God is
shown in Scripture to be very pragmatic, and therefore theories
about God and His ways which fail to provide some practical
outworking in life would appear midrashically out of
character.

So, we might not understand some of Gods ideas through our
natural intellect, but we choose to obey His still small
voice regardless – His Word is truth! We can be assured
that one day we will look back over our experiences and
acknowledge - the blessing of understanding..."Ah the beauty of
hindsight".

Whoso puts their trust in Him will never be disappointed.