Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

²⁶  “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also.

 ²⁷  “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’

 ²⁸  “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ 

 ²⁹  “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.

 ³⁰  ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ‘”  Matthew 13:24-30. 

For today’s devotion, we will look at the foregoing Matthew 13:29:  “”But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them.”  Now, we know from Jesus’s own explanation of the parable a few verses later who are the tares and who are the wheat (also referred to as the good seed).  “and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;”  Matthew 13:38.  The wheat are the Elect or righteous ones (sons of the kingdom) and the tares are the reprobates or wicked ones (sons of the evil one).

We also know that “… The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him.”  Ezra 8:22.  God is willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, and destroy the wicked as stated in Romans 9:22 and 2 Peter Chapter 2 and through many other passages in Scripture.

So, why does God not just take out and destroy the wicked? 

One reason is explained immediately after Romans 9:22.  Here is the whole context and explanation.  “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?  And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,”  Romans 9:22-23.  Likewise, when God delivered Israel through the Red Sea, God did not let that demonstration of His lovingkindness and faithfulness stand alone.  God made Israel view the dead Egyptians.  “Thus the LORD saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.”  Exodus 14:30.  There is a contrast between how the wicked are treated and how the righteous are treated by God.  This contrast helps the righteous better understand the riches of His glory upon them.  Consider the stars against the black background of space.  White is best shown against a black background.    

There is another reason eloquently stated by John Gill in his Commentary on this verse:  “there may be such in churches, not altogether agreeable in principle and practice, whose character and situation may be such, that there is no removing them without offending some truly gracious, useful persons, in whose affections they stand, who may be tempted, by such a step, to leave their communion; and so cannot be done without a considerable prejudice to the church.”

Let me be broader or clearer.  It is not just in the church that there are such tares who are important to us.    God forbid, but it may be possible that some of our close relatives upon whom we depend for love and support may be such “tares”.  Even further, it may be possible that there are those who provide valuable services to us who may be such “tares”.  It does not take much imagination to agree that if these people were just removed from our presence that it could uproot us more or less. 

In conclusion, we can trust God to protect and preserve us.  Let us appreciate more the grace that He shows us, particularly contrasted with how he deals with the wicked.  Let us also appreciate more God’s patience and desire not to just remove the wicked from our presence which could uproot us.