In the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43), Jesus exposes the mystery of sin at work against the church and how far the evil one is permitted to go. Where the Parable of the Sower shows four kinds of soil, here the field is the world, with all the soils mixed together, and there are two sowers, two seeds, and two harvests. Jesus, the Son of Man, sows only good seed, while the devil (diabolos, the accuser and deceiver) sows tares among the wheat at night, planting the wicked among the good. The tares are darnel, which is nearly indistinguishable from wheat until maturity, so the servants cannot uproot them without destroying the wheat. Only at the harvest are they bundled and burned. They represent religious hobbyists who attend church, pray, and read the Bible, yet are sons of the wicked one because they take their character from his influence (John 8:44). The parable prophesies that the church on earth will be imperfect, containing genuine and counterfeit members together. God is not to blame, since He does not sow evil (James 1:13). Jesus' purpose is to warn the saints, not to expose the tares now. The good seed are baptized, Spirit-indwelt saints, the product of the word received and obeyed. Christ places them in this world to be trained and tested, as Peter was sifted like wheat (Luke 22:31). They must watch and pray that the enemy does not sow tares in their hearts, and must bear fruit where He has sown them.

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43) reveals that Satan is primarily an imitator who secretly sows counterfeit Christians among the true ones. Jesus is the sower of good seed, the field is the world, the wheat are the sons of the kingdom, the tares are sons of the wicked one, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Satan sows at night, not among the wicked but among the good, to cause confusion and disrupt the church's peace. The tares are bearded darnel, a poisonous grass that looks like wheat until maturity and whose roots entwine with the wheat's. Because of this, no one but the Lord of the harvest can tell them apart, and human efforts to purge them have failed, fostering spiritual pride and hypocrisy. The visible church will therefore always be mixed, though the spiritual church contains only saints. God does the judging, and the tares will be burned while the righteous shine in the Kingdom. Church discipline is still warranted for flagrant sin or heresy, and false teachers can be recognized by their fruits (Matthew 7). Believers are not to label anyone a tare on suspicion but to examine themselves, resist Satan's deceptions and worldliness, and bear fruit where Christ has planted them. The Worldwide Church of God's slow apostasy illustrates how subtly such infiltration works.

In the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, the second parable of Matthew 13, Jesus presents a narrative of wheat and tares sown together in the same field by different sowers. He explains to His disciples that the field represents the world, encompassing a broad scope beyond any limited assembly. The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, planted by the Son of Man, who are revealed as righteous and glorified at the end of the age. Conversely, the tares are defined as the sons of the wicked one, sown by the enemy while men slept, a state symbolizing obliviousness or inattention. Jesus further illustrates that at the conclusion of the age, all who offend and practice lawlessness will be gathered out of His Kingdom, which spans the whole world. The righteous, in contrast, will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. This parable underscores a historical contention between the righteous, planted by God throughout time, and the offspring of the adversary, who bear his spiritual image. Even within the nation of Israel, leaders like the Pharisees are depicted as tares, bearing the likeness of their spiritual father, the devil. Despite their presence, Jesus commands His servants to leave these tares in place until the fulfillment of His purpose at the harvest, when the true sons of the kingdom, from the beginning of history, will be made perfect together.

In Matthew 13, the Parable of the Tares represents the relationship of the church to the wicked one and his agents. This parable, as part of the first pair of stories, illustrates the outward characteristics of the church and the working of the mystery of sin against it, highlighting the extent to which the Evil One is allowed to oppose the church in its day-to-day efforts. Through this parable, Christ conveys a prophetic summary of the historical development of His church, focusing on the challenges it faces from adversarial forces while carrying out His work of announcing the good news of the coming Kingdom of God.

In Matthew 13, Jesus Christ uses parables to foretell situations that would impact God's church through the centuries until His second coming. Among these, the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares reveals that God's work is opposed. This parable stands alongside others in Matthew 13, such as the Parable of the Sower where God's Word is rejected, the Parable of the Mustard Seed where attempts are made to thwart God's plan, and the Parable of the Leaven where God's doctrines are corrupted, all depicting the church's future progress and the challenges it faces from both external and internal forces. Specifically, the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares underscores the persistent opposition to God's work within the church, highlighting the struggle against adversarial forces that seek to undermine His purpose.

In the Parable of the Wheat and Tares, Jesus Christ offers vital instruction for Christian life, illustrating how to deal with tares within the church while growing together with the brethren toward God's purpose. Jesus relates this parable in Matthew 13:24-30, likening the kingdom of heaven to a man who sowed good seed in his field, only for his enemy to sow tares among the wheat while men slept. When the tares appeared alongside the wheat, the servants asked if they should uproot them, but the owner cautioned against it, fearing damage to the wheat, instructing them to let both grow together until the harvest, when the tares would be gathered for burning and the wheat stored in his barn. Jesus later explains the symbolism in Matthew 13:37-40, identifying Himself as the sower of good seed, the field as the world, the good seeds as the sons of the kingdom, the tares as the sons of the wicked one, the enemy as the devil, the harvest as the end of the age, and the reapers as the angels. He notes that just as the tares are gathered and burned, so it will be at the end of this age. Within this field, God has established His church, yet the devil has sown false brethren and ministers, creating counterfeits that appear religious but lack true understanding or love. The parable highlights the challenge of distinguishing wheat from tares during growth due to their similar appearance, emphasizing that only at maturity, by their fruit, can they be identified—wheat with large, golden berries and tares with small, gray ones. Attempting to uproot tares prematurely risks harming the wheat, so God permits both to grow together, reserving the separation for Himself at the harvest. This parable carries warnings for the church. First, it acknowledges the reality of tares—counterfeit members and false ministers—within God's church, urging vigilance to avoid being led astray by their deceptive attitudes or teachings. Second, it cautions against hasty judgment of others, as even true wheat may act improperly while growing, and some tares may hide their corrupt hearts. God alone knows who belongs to Him, allowing both to grow together as a test of patience and love among brethren. Jesus Christ also sets a personal example of how to treat tares, as seen in His interactions with Judas Iscariot, a tare among His disciples. Despite knowing Judas' corrupt character, Jesus allowed him responsibilities and showed him kindness, never revealing his nature to the others, even washing his feet in humility. By not exposing Judas, Jesus protected His other disciples from potential harm, demonstrating love and courtesy toward an enemy. As Christians mature, their responsibility is not to remove or expose tares, a task reserved for God, but to grow in kindness, patience, and godly love, producing good fruit and reflecting the perfect image of their Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares is the second of the eight kingdom parables in Matthew 13. Jesus spoke it to the multitudes, and it pairs in the chiasm with the seventh parable, which gives the spiritual solution to its problem. Its conflict is the dismaying presence of tares among the wheat. God did not plant the tares; their origin is satanic rather than divine, and they threaten to diminish the harvest. When Jesus spoke it, the tares were embodied in the Pharisees and other religious leaders who oppressed those with whom God was working. Jesus rebuked them in Matthew 23:13 for shutting up the kingdom of heaven against men, neither entering themselves nor allowing others to enter. Their active opposition to the good seed resulted directly from their corrupt, leavened beliefs about righteousness. The symbolism of leavening, introduced in the fourth parable, therefore explains this parable. False beliefs lead people away from God, and Jesus classified those who opposed Him as Satan's children (John 8:44). In the field of the world (Matthew 13:38), the Father has hidden faith, and the leaven's corrupting influence is countered by that God-given faith.

In the exploration of Matthew 13, the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares reveals a critical aspect of satan's strategy against the church. Jesus Christ explains that He, as the Son of Man, sows the good seed, which represents the sons of the kingdom, within the field of the world. However, the enemy, identified as the devil, sows tares, which are the sons of the wicked one, among the wheat. These tares symbolize secret agents of satan, cleverly disguised within the church, appearing as true Christians to the extent that they may not even recognize their own deception. They mimic the righteous in speech and action, yet their purpose is to undermine the good seed. Jesus instructs His angels to leave the tares among the wheat until the harvest, indicating that their presence serves to test and prove the faithful. Ultimately, the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. This parable unveils satan's second step in his plan to destroy the church: to send secret agents to infiltrate and sabotage from within, targeting the faithful after their initial calling.

The Parable of the Wheat and the Tares is one of the first four parables of Matthew 13, which Jesus spoke to the great multitudes on the shore rather than to His disciples alone. Its audience is therefore the physical nation, the remnant citizenry of the earthly Kingdom of God, and especially the leadership that continually rejected the dominion of heaven. Jesus was responding to the attitude and approach of that nation, which was displayed in the confrontation of Matthew 12. Its primary meaning must be grasped in this setting before other applications are sought, even though the multitude could not comprehend the full depth of the parables. Only after Jesus sent the multitude away and entered the house did His disciples ask Him to explain the parable of the tares of the field. That explanation was reserved for those whom God had prepared to hear, the good soil, while the crowds fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy of hearing without understanding. The parable belongs to the King's final testimony to the subjects of the physical Kingdom. When they rejected it, He turned His focus to the budding spiritual nation that had Abraham's faith rather than merely his blood.

The Parable of the Tares belongs to the first of three sections into which the eight parables of Matthew 13 are divided, a section whose summary statement is Satan's Plan to Destroy the Church. This section, which also includes the Parable of the Sower, the Parable of the Mustard Seed, and the Parable of the Leaven, was the focus of two prior sermons that examined the extremes to which Satan would go to derail the church as a whole and its individual members. That earlier material could seem overwhelming, even depressing or sobering, particularly given the conclusion drawn from the Parable of the Leaven that the whole church organization had been leavened. Within the discussion of the Parable of the Dragnet, the Parable of the Tares is invoked directly as a point of comparison to clarify the meaning of judgment at the end of the age. Both parables share the image of a final separation followed by the casting of the wicked into the furnace of fire. However, a distinction is drawn between the two: the emphasis in the Parable of the Tares falls on the wicked themselves and on the works they perform, with their judgment resulting specifically from their wickedness and their deeds. This contrasts with the Parable of the Dragnet, where the highlighting shifts away from the wicked and their condemnation toward the broader process of judgment itself—a process that includes not only condemnation for evildoing but also salvation and reward for those who do good, giving the Dragnet parable a more positive emphasis than the Tares parable carries. This connection serves a larger purpose within the overall message. Having spent considerable time establishing Satan's side of the spiritual conflict through the first section of parables—including the Tares—attention turns to the encouragement Christ offers to those aligned with Him, covered in the second and third sections dealing with Christ's work on behalf of the church and the minister's duty to the church. The Tares parable, understood as centering on the wicked and their eventual judgment for their works, thus functions as the darker counterpart against which the more encouraging elements of the Dragnet parable and the parables of the Hidden Treasure and Pearl of Great Price can be appreciated. Together, these comparisons reinforce the overarching theme that while the spiritual battle depicted through parables like the Tares is real and serious, Christ and the Father are working to ensure that believers are equipped, protected, and ultimately vindicated, so that those who once seemed overwhelmed by the reality of satanic opposition can instead find confidence in the certainty and fairness of God's coming judgment.

Jesus spoke the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares to the multitude, and it reveals an aspect that directly affects God's church: the workings of the mystery of sin against the church and the extent to which the evil one is permitted to oppose it. The parable shows that the church's present mixed character will culminate in a final separation between religious hobbyists and true saints—two distinct groups, one unconverted and the other genuinely converted. The parable features two sowers, two kinds of seed, and two harvests, one good and one bad. The sower of good seed is Jesus Christ Himself, the householder and Son of Man, who as Creator made man in His own image. The other sower is His enemy, the Devil, called diabolos, meaning the accuser, misrepresenter, liar, betrayer, and opposer of all that is true and righteous. This enemy sows tares in the field while the servants sleep, at night, reflecting Satan's sly preference for darkness in his diabolical work. Significantly, Satan does not bother sowing wicked seed among the wicked but deliberately sows it among the good, intending to cause confusion and problems within the church. The tares are identified as darnel, a plant nearly indistinguishable from wheat while upright, so that attempting to uproot the tares would also destroy the wheat—a task beyond the servants' ability. Only after the wheat matures can the tares be detected, after which they are bound in bundles and destroyed by fire. Many who are not truly in the process of conversion resemble true Christians outwardly, attending church and reading the Bible, yet remain mere religious hobbyists. Jesus calls them children of the wicked one; though not originally his offspring, they develop their character under his strong influence and are led by him, making them his children by association. They will ultimately be destroyed as tares. This parable exposes how evil intermingles with good not only within congregations but also across nations, communities, and homes—Satan's consistent method of operation. The servants' perplexity about the seeds illustrates that the presence of sin is often a mystery. God cannot be blamed for the tares, since He does not sow evil; Satan does. Yet God uses this mixture to strengthen His one church, one Spirit. Jesus prophesied that God's church in its physical, earthly form would remain imperfect. The spiritual church consists of dedicated, Spirit-filled members who nonetheless retain personal defects, while the physical church also includes unconverted individuals who recognize the truth but attend mainly for social association or argument. The parable's purpose is to enlighten and warn true saints of this reality, not to expose religious hobbyists prematurely—God will reveal the bad seed once the good seed has matured. The good seed represents the baptized members indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the saints and elect, produced by the Word received, understood, and obeyed. Jesus places His redeemed ones in this sinful world to train and test them as true witnesses preparing for the Kingdom of God, as illustrated by His warning to Peter that he would be sifted by Satan—a caution for all believers to guard their hearts against tares such as bitterness, complaining, or spiritual laziness.