Matthew 13:24-30 Another parable He put before them, saying, “The reign of the heavens has become like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel among the wheat and went away. And when the blade sprouted and bore fruit, then the darnel also appeared. And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? From where then does it have the darnel?’ And he said to them, ‘A man, an enemy did this.’ And the servants said to him, ‘Do you wish then, that we go and gather them up?’ But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the darnel you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I shall say to the reapers, “First gather the darnel and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my granary.”
Have you ever wondered why The Master chose to use the comparison of Wheat and Darnel in this parable? I have. Perhaps a look at the traits of both would be helpful;
Wheat
Wheat has been proven to help provide the body with energy, is effective in patients with metabolic disorders, helps prevent chronic inflammation, helps prevent gallstones, improves metabolism, helps reduce nausea, constipation, promotes woman’s health, helps prevent childhood asthma, is a good liver detoxifier, protects against heart disease, improves gut health, improves skin health, improves eye health, has anti-cancer properties, is a mood enhancer, and more!
Darnel
For many centuries, perhaps for as long as humans have cultivated cereal grains, wheat’s evil twin has insinuated itself into our crops. In a big enough dose, this grass, darnel, can kill a person, and farmers would have to take care to separate it out from their true harvest—unless they were planning to use darnel in achieving varying levels of intoxication. When its seeds are consumed, the affects are dizziness, imbalance, nausea, and impaired vision and speech. Its official name, L. temulentum, comes from a Latin word for “drunk.”
Looking at the comparison above, it appears that wheat is a metaphor representing fruitful lives receiving and growing in HIS Word. Darnel is a metaphor representing the counterfeit. These reject HIS Word, practice lawlessness in a spiritual drunken stupor, stumbling and becoming stumbling-blocks to others in their disobedience to HIS Word…
Now, let’s consider The Master’s explanation of the parable…
Mat 13:36-37 Then, having sent the crowds away, Yahshua went into the house. And His taught ones came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel of the field. And He answering, said to them, “He who is sowing the good seed is the Son of Adam.
The sower is identified as “the Son of Adam”,who according to the flesh, is a physical descendent of Adam, but through The Spirit, HE is Yahshua, The Son of Yahweh. HE came, “born of a woman“ to reverse the rebellion that occurred in Gen 3 by sowing “the good seed” (The Word) that has the potential of producing good fruit, depending upon the condition of the soil or person who receives it. (As seen in The Parable of the Sower)
Mat 13:38 and the field is the world. And the good seed, these are the sons of the reign, but the darnel are the sons of the wicked one,
Adam was created from the dust of the earth. Through birth we inherit Adam’s physical traits, his proneness to idolatry, his rebellion to The Word and subsequently, death. When HIS Word, “the good seed”, is received, falling “on good soil”, we experience true repentance allowing HIS Spirit to cultivate HIS Truth. As we mature HIS Spirit produces increasing fruitfulness through our lives, proving us to be wheat / “sons of the reign.” (See Article “True Repentance = True Conversion“)
However, when HIS Word falls“by the wayside, on rocky places or among the thorns” (Mat 13:19-22), it produces what may appear to be wheat for a time, but as time goes by the counterfeit / darnel becomes more obvious, (to those who know the difference), revealing who they truly are; “sons of the wicked one.”
Mat 13:39-43 “…and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. And the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the messengers. As the darnel, then, is gathered and burned in the fire, so it shall be at the end of this age. The Son of Adam shall send out His messengers, and they shall gather out of His reign all the stumbling-blocks, and those doing lawlessness, and shall throw them into the furnace of fire – there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the reign of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
There is a faithful Bride in covenant with Yahshua! And there is a faithless whore / idolater who is in covenant with the devil. The Faithful Bride is made up of those referred to in the parable as Wheat! The faithless whore / idolater is made up of those referred to as Darnel! They have an outward appearance of being part of the Bride of Messiah, but they are not.
Consider the following verses describing the judgment of the whore / idolater in light of the influence of darnel on those who partake of it! Darnel causes impaired vision and speech as well as the inability to walk straight. In Latin; “drunk.”
Jer 51:7 Babel was a golden cup in the hand of Yahweh, making drunk all the earth. The nations drank her wine, that is why the nations went mad! (mad; to rave foolishly)
Rev 14:8 And another messenger followed, saying, “Babel is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her whoring / idolatry.”
Rev 17:1-2 And one of the seven messengers who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying to me, “Come, I shall show you the judgment of the great whore / idolater sitting on many waters, with whom the sovereigns of the earth committed whoring, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her whoring / idolatry.”
Rev 17:15 And he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the whore / idolater sits, are peoples, and crowds, and nations, and tongues.
Rev 18:3 because all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her whoring / idolatry, and the sovereigns of the earth have committed whoring / idolatry with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the power of her riotous / luxurious living.”
Rev 18:23 “And the light of a lamp shall not shine in you any more at all. And the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you any more at all. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth, for by your drug sorcery (poison) all the nations were led astray / deceived.
What entity is large enough to affect all peoples, crowds, nations, tongues? Who proclaims to be in the “New” covenant with her “husband”, though she is not faithful to the vows (HIS Word / Commands) ? You decide…
7 Largest Belief Systems (Based on a World Population of approx 7 Billion)
Christianity (Including Romanism & All of Protestantism) (31.2% or 2.18B)
Islam (24.1% or 1.68B)
None (Secularism) (16% or 1.12B)
Hinduism (15% or 1.05B)
Buddhism (6.9% or 483M)
Folk Religions (5.7% or 399M)
Sikhism (0.29% or 20M 300K)
Judaism (0.2% or 14M)
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from the heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. Do You Hear HIM Calling?
Rev 20:12-15 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before the throne, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged from what was written in the books, according to their works.(works; deeds, acts, fruit) And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and death and the grave gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. And the death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And if anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Rev 22:14 “Blessed are those doing His commands, so that the authority shall be theirs unto the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city.”
Footnotes: Long before the books were compiled to form “The New Testament,” Rev. 22:14 was quoted, as it is here given, by Tertullian (CE 208), and by Cyprian (CE 251) – see the well-known Antenicene Fathers.