“The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom (Christians); but the tares are the children of the wicked one (lost); the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. Therefore, the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man (Jesus) shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend (offend Him), and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire (Hell): there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (grit and grinding of teeth). Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 13: 38-43 KJV).
The earth is a field with a crop of souls that will one day be harvested. As Solomon said, there is “a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted” (Ecc. 3: 2).
As with Israel, when God put them in the Promised Land, He planted them as a noble vine, but they turned to idols and became degenerate (Jer. 2: 21), even so God created man a noble creature, but he fell into sin and became degenerate.
God sent His Son Jesus to redeem fallen man and regenerate them through the new birth. Those who believe the good news of salvation and by faith receive Jesus Christ as their Savior become the children of God (Gal. 3: 26) and are harvested out of this world at the Rapture, of which Christ was the “firstfruits” (1 Cor. 15: 20, 23).
The lost, who are the children of the devil, are drawn out and harvested at the last. They are seen as degenerate and ignoble grapes crushed in the winepress of God’s wrath during the Battle of Armageddon at the Second Coming of Christ (Rev. 19: 11-21) at the end of the Tribulation (Joel 3: 3, 4; Rev. 14: 18-20).
The world is a field full of people who are as plants; they’re either wheat or tares, either of the Woman’s Seed, which is Christ and the children of God, or of the Dragon’s seed and the children of the devil. The children of God will be gathered into the house of God their Father, and the lost will be gathered and cast into the Lake of Fire.
As the farmer looks forward to the time of harvest, so does the Christian look forward to being gathered together with other believers and taken to Heaven. God is also looking forward to the harvest but is waiting for the “precious fruit of the earth.” “Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandmen waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth (The redeemed), and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain” (James 5: 7).
Just as a field is bare after harvest and sometimes burned over, so will the world be after the harvest of the human race (2 Peter 3: 10-12; Rev. 21: 1).
After the harvest of the human race, every soul must then reap what they have sown.
