In light of the current global events in general and those happening in the USA in particular, many Christians feel as if the enemies of Christ are winning and we are left almost hopeless until King Jesus returns to recuse us. Our faith seems so little and our fears so large. The enemies of God seem so many and we seem so few and feeble.

“To our shame, we have lost our faith in the transforming power of the gospel. Few Christians sincerely believe that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most powerful force on this planet. We are willing to give the gospel a certain relevance and power in a few scattered individuals, but what we see it do in a few, we do not believe it can do in the majority. In so thinking, we self-consciously believe that the forces of evil are too powerful to be dislodged, unbelief too stubborn to be overcome, and unbelieving human authorities too numerous and well organized to be resisted on a broad scale successfully. This loss of faith in the power of the gospel is outright rebellion against Christ, treason against our Prince, and faithlessness to our solemn charge. If Christ has given us a command and instructed us to have a certain expectation, not to obey and believe is sin, betrayal, and cowardice. The fruit of our unbelief is the pagan culture of these United States. Christ has not done a mighty work here in recent times because of our unbelief. We have a culture of our own creation, the creation of an unbelieving, ashamed, and compromised Church that would rather be tolerated, respected, and prosperous than confront wickedness in high places, call heresy, heresy, and unashamedly stand for Christ's interests regardless of how the newspapers, general public, or even its members respond” (Pastor Chris Strevel).

In order to combat our fears and enlarge our faith in the power of the gospel, Jesus gave His church a set of 7 parables that assure the ongoing success of the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 13.

One of those is about wheat and weeds. After his disciples asked for an explanation of the meaning of the wheat and weeds, Jesus explained it to them in Matthew 13:37-40: “He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.”

Wheat is representative of the true, born again citizen of the kingdom of heaven. The weeds represent the counterfeit kingdom citizens of this world system sown by the enemy of King Jesus, the devil.

The point of this particular parable is to correct wrong views of history. Observing and concluding at any juncture of history that those who are against us as Christians are more than those that are with us, and as a result we are at risk of being overtaken and choked out by evil men and religious counterfeits, is to discount the presence, power, promises, and purpose of God. It is to lose sight of the reality that Jesus planted a field of wheat and an enemy sowed some weeds in the midst of the field of wheat.

The challenge for us is to live by faith in God’s Word and not by what we can see or sense with our eyes and ears. Our problem is that we see the darkness of the devil and his weeds more clearly than we see the risen triumphant Lord Jesus and his wheat. It is hard to comprehend the reality of the presence of the Kingdom of God when the kingdom of darkness is also obviously present. We look at the weeds more than at the wheat and conclude that the weeds will ultimately take over.

We see and hear from the news outlets the widespread riots, violence, and the attacks on every form of authority. We hear from pulpits and read in the books about Islam being on the march, globalists are plotting and planning to forcefully unify us all under a one world government, false religions are multiplying, and wickedness seems to be abounding on every street corner. And if that were not enough, COVID19 has shut the world down and caused us to embrace a spirit of fear that’s unprecedented. All this tends to cause us to believe that the wheat field has become a weed field and we can only be “weed watchers” instead of wheat sowers and harvesters for the Lord of the Harvest.

But we don’t live by sight and sound, but by ever word of Scripture. We must not form a pessimistic view of the kingdom from the fact that evil continues to exist and grow. When Jesus told this parable of the wheat and weeds in Mt 13:24-43, one of the points that he sought to make was that the coming of the kingdom does not mean the immediate destruction of evil. In fact, this present age is characterized by the growth of both good and evil, as Jesus said it would be. But the continuing presence of evil does not mean that the kingdom is entirely in the future, or that it will be choked out by the weeds of the evil one. The kingdom co-exists with the present evil age and will ultimately out-love, outlast, overcome, and defeat it.

Frustration with the continuing presence of evil should not cause us to conclude that the kingdom has not come.

The kingdom of heaven has been definitively established at the first coming of Christ and is being progressively extended since then. It’s establishment and extension are not dependent upon the prior destruction of evil.

We are to believe in the presence of the kingdom despite the continuing influence of evil. We cannot expect the immediate destruction of wickedness. Yet we must not allow our present co-existence with the kingdom of darkness to undermine our faith in the fact that the Kingdom of God is now and will continue to be victorious.

The emphasis of the parable is on the certainty of the harvest, not on the growth of evil.

We live in the present mixture of weeds alongside the wheat without pessimism. Where evil is growing like weeds in the field, it is all under the control of the Lord of the Harvest! The parable teaches that it is a mistake to magnify the presence and propagation of sinfulness and expect it to overcome and choke out the kingdom of heaven.

The purpose of the Lord Jesus Christ will be accomplished.

The last phrase in the parable in Matthew 13:30, finds Jesus speaking with certainty as he says, “…but gather the wheat into my barn.'”

It is his wheat field and it will grow large and loaded down with wheat for harvest. He sowed good seed, and he will have his barn filled with it at the last. So, child of God, do not be discouraged, depressed, or feel like defeat of the purposes of God are imminent due to the presence or even the proliferation of evil in the world. Christ will not be disappointed. The Scriptures declare: “He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied.”

“Gather the wheat into my barn,” says King Jesus. In light of this statement we can live in the confidence that Satan’s policy will fail. The enemy came and sowed tares or weeds among the wheat, hopeful that the false wheat would destroy or materially injure the true. But he failed in the end, for the wheat ripened and was ready to be gathered. Christ’s harvest shall be very fruitful and his barn shall be filled. The weeds of wickedness will not choke the wheat of righteousness. The evil one will be put to shame.

Remember, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the most powerful force on this planet.

Remember, child of God, be a “Wheat Watcher” and not a “Weed Watcher” much less a “Weed Wacker”!

The Lord of the harvest is expecting a bumper crop from every tongue and tribe on this earth and he will not experience a massive crop failure due to the presence of the weeds!

Revelation 7:9-10: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”