Another parable put he forth unto them, saying,

The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tears among the wheat and went his way.

Hey listeners, this is Nick from Scripture Central, and today's podcast addresses the question,

what does the parable of the wheat and the tears teach about the apostasy?

As Jesus taught his disciples, he often used parables to convey various truths about the kingdom

of heaven. In one such parable, Jesus employed the image of wheat and tears to demonstrate the

future of the church until the second coming. A man, which can be interpreted as representing

Christ himself, sowed good seed in his field. And then, when men slept, Satan came and

sowed tears among the wheat and went his way. Even though the tares were a blight on the crop,

the sower instructed his servants, 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. Although it might seem odd,

this prescribed course of action was in fact beneficial, because it ensured that the young wheat

wasn't disturbed or destroyed before it was ready for harvest. According to John W. Welch and

Jeannie S. Welch, this significant parable reveals the basic truths of the great apostasy

and the wonderful blessing of the Father's plan of restoration and eternal salvation.

This graphic teaching of Jesus reveals that trouble would arise soon after Jesus had started

his church while humans were not paying close enough attention,

and that these problems would be widespread. In particular, the parable appears to address the

challenges presented by the apostasy in the early Christian church, its communities, and its families.

At the same time, it becomes clear that Jesus prophetically anticipated all these challenges

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