Wheat In The Barn

The Son of Man sows good seed with patience and purpose. Though weeds grow among the wheat, Christ will separate and gather His own. This chapter unveils the harvest of grace, the angels’ joyful work, and the eternal security of the righteous in the Lord’s barn.

"Gather the wheat into my barn."—Matthew 13:30 "Gather the wheat into my barn." Then the purpose of the Son of Man will be accomplished. He sowed good seed, and he shall have his barn filled with it in the end. Do not be discouraged— Christ will not be disappointed. "He shall see the fruit of his suffering and be satisfied." He went forth weeping, carrying precious seed, but he will return rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

"Gather the wheat into my barn;" then Satan's plan will fail. The enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, hoping that the false wheat would destroy or seriously harm the true; but he failed in the end, for the wheat matured and was ready to be harvested. Christ's storehouse will be full; the weeds will not choke the wheat. The evil one will be humiliated.

In gathering the wheat, good angels will be used: "the angels are the reapers." This highlights the defeat of the great evil angel. He sows the weeds, trying to ruin the harvest; and so the good angels are sent to celebrate his failure and to rejoice with their Lord in the success of God's work. Satan will gain very little from his interference; he will be thwarted in all his efforts, and so the threat will be fulfilled: "You will crawl on your belly and eat dust."

By giving the angels work to do, all intelligent creatures, of whom we know, are drawn into the work of grace; whether out of malice or awe, redemption excites them all. To everyone, God's wonderful works are made visible; for these things are not done in secret.

We often forget the angels. Let us not overlook their tender concern for us; they watch the Lord rejoicing over our repentance, and they rejoice with him.

They are our guardians and the Lord's messengers of mercy; they hold us so that we do not stumble, and when we die, they carry us into the presence of our Lord. One of our joys is that we belong to a countless company of angels; let us think of them with affection.

I will now stick closely to my text, preaching almost word by word. It begins with "but," and that is a word of separation.

Note that the weeds and the wheat will grow together until the time of harvest comes. It is a great sorrow to some of the wheat to grow side by side with weeds. The ungodly are like thorns and briers to those who fear the Lord. How often does the godly heart sigh: "Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!" A man's enemies are often found within his own household; those who should help him most may hinder him the most; their conversation troubles and torments him. It is often futile to try to escape them, for the weeds are permitted in God's providence to grow with the wheat, and they will do so until the end.

Godly people have emigrated to distant lands to build communities of saints, and yet sinners have appeared even among them. Attempts to weed out ungodly and heretical members have led to persecution and other troubles, and the plan has largely failed. Others have secluded themselves in hermitages to avoid worldly temptations, hoping to achieve victory by fleeing; this is not the way of wisdom. The word for now is, "Let both grow together," but a time will come when a final separation will occur. Then, dear Christian woman, your husband will no longer persecute you.

Godly sister, your brother will cease mocking you. Pious worker, the ungodly will no longer taunt you. That "but" will be an iron gate between the god-fearing and the godless; then the weeds will be cast into the fire, but the Lord of the harvest will say, "Gather the wheat into my barn."

This separation must occur; for the wheat and the weeds growing together on earth cause much pain and harm, and this will not continue in a better world. Godly men and women might wish their unconverted children to be with them in heaven; but this cannot happen, for God will not allow his purified to be defiled, nor his glorified to be tried by the presence of the unbelieving. The weeds must be removed for the perfectness and usefulness of the wheat. Would you have weeds and wheat heaped together in the barn? That would be terrible husbandry. They cannot be put to proper use until thoroughly separated.

Likewise, the saved and unsaved may live together here, but not in the next world. The command is clear: "Gather the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn."

Sinner, can you hope to enter heaven? You have never loved your mother's God, and will he allow you in his heavenly courts? You have never trusted your father's Saviour, and yet you hope to see his glory forever? Will you swagger through heaven, letting fall an oath, or singing loose songs?

You grow weary of worship on the Lord's Day; do you think the Lord will tolerate unwilling worshippers in his temple above? You find the Sabbath tiresome; how can you hope to enter God's eternal rest? You have no taste for heavenly pursuits, and they would be profaned if you were allowed to partake; therefore, that "but" must come, and you must part from the Lord's people forever. Can you bear to be separated from godly friends for eternity?

That separation involves a terrible difference of destiny: "Gather the weeds in bundles to burn them." I cannot draw the full picture; but once the bundle is bound, its only place is the fire. May you escape from all that anguish. It is no trivial matter that the Lord of love compares to being consumed by fire. No words can fully convey its terror. We often speak of the wrath to come; yet we surely understate it. What did the tender, loving, gracious Jesus mean by "Gather the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them"? Consider the vast distinction between the fate of the Lord's people and Satan's followers. Burn the wheat? No—"Gather the wheat into my barn." There they are safely and happily housed forever. Oh, the infinite gulf between heaven and hell—the harps and angels, the wailing and gnashing of teeth! Who can measure the distance between the glorified saint, white-robed and crowned with immortality, and the soul driven forever from God and his glory? That "but" is dreadful. Remember, it divides brother from brother, mother from child, husband from wife. "One will be taken and the other left." And once that sword descends, there is no reunion. The separation is eternal.

But one might ask, "Why such a difference?" Because there has always been a difference. The wheat was sown by the Son of Man; the false wheat by the enemy. There has always been a difference in character—the wheat good, the weeds evil. At first this difference may not be visible, but it becomes apparent as the wheat and the weeds mature. They are entirely different plants; so too a regenerated and an unregenerated person are entirely different beings. I have heard an unregenerate man claim he is as good as a godly man; in doing so, he reveals his pride.

Surely, in God's eyes, the difference between believer and unbeliever is as great as between light and darkness, or life and death. One has life, the other does not; the difference is vital and radical.

Oh, may you never trifle with this matter, but truly be the Lord's wheat! It is not enough to bear the name of wheat—we must have its nature. God cannot be mocked; he is not pleased by those who call themselves Christians while they are not. Do not be satisfied with church membership; seek membership with Christ. Do not speak of faith; exercise it. Do not boast of experience; possess it. Be the wheat, not an imitation. The terrible "but" will roll like a sea of fire between the true and false. Oh Holy Spirit, let each of us be transformed by your power.

The second word of our text is "gather"—a word of congregation. What a blessing this gathering is! It is a pleasure to bring multitudes to hear the gospel; is it not a joy to see a house full of people, on weekdays and Sabbaths, willing to travel to hear the gospel? That is great; but the gathering of the wheat into the barn is far more wonderful. Gathering is inherently better than scattering, and I pray that the Lord Jesus may always draw people here; for he is no Divider, but "to him shall all the gathering of the people come." Has he not said, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself"?

Observe that the congregation in our text is chosen and assembled by skilled gatherers: "The angels are the reapers." Ministers could not do this alone, for they do not know all the Lord's wheat and are prone to mistakes—some being too lenient, others too severe. Human judgment occasionally excludes saints and admits sinners. Angels know their Master's property. They know each saint, for they were present at their birth. Angels know when sinners repent and never forget the penitent.

They have witnessed the lives of believers and helped them in spiritual battles. Yes, angels, by a holy instinct, discern the Father's children and are not deceived. They will gather all the wheat and leave out every weed.

But they are gathered under very strict rules. According to the parable, the weeds—the false wheat—are first removed, and then the angelic reapers gather only the wheat. The seed of the serpent, fathered by Satan, is separated from the seed of the kingdom, belonging to Jesus, the promised Deliverer. This is the one distinction; no other is considered. Even the most amiable unconverted person, standing among the saints, would not be carried to heaven by the angels, for the command is, "Gather the wheat." Even if the most honest man stood in the centre of the church, surrounded by members and ministers pleading for his mercy, if he were not a believer he could not enter the divine storehouse. There is no exception. The angels have no choice; the peremptory command is, "Gather the wheat," and they must gather no one else.

The gathering will come from vast distances. Some wheat ripens in the South Sea Islands, in China, and in Japan. Some flourishes in France, and broad fields grow in the United States. There is hardly a land without some of God's good grain. Where all of God’s wheat grows, I cannot say. There is a remnant, according to the election of grace, among every nation and people; but the angels will gather all the good grain into one storehouse.

"Gather the wheat." The saints will be found in every rank of society. The angels will bring a few ears from palaces, and great armfuls from cottages. Many will be collected from the humble homes of our villages and hamlets, and others will be raised from the back streets of our great cities to the metropolis of God. From the darkest corners, angels will bring those children of sweetness and light who rarely saw the sun, yet were pure in heart and knew their God. The hidden and obscure will be brought into the light, for the Lord knows those who belong to him, and his harvesters will not miss them.

It is a wonderful thought that they will come from all ages. Let us hope that our first father, Adam, will be there, and mother Eve, following in the footsteps of their dear son Abel, trusting in the same sacrifice. We shall meet Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, Daniel, and all the saints made perfect. What a joy to see the apostles, martyrs, and reformers! I long to see Luther, Calvin, Bunyan, and Whitefield. I love the rhyme of good old father Ryland: "They all shall be there, the great and the small, Poor I shall shake hands with the blessed St. Paul."

I do not know exactly how it will be, but I am confident we will have fellowship with all the saints of every age in the general assembly and church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.

No matter when or where the wheat grew, it shall be gathered into the one barn—never to be scattered again. They grew in different fields. Some flourished on hillsides where Episcopalians prosper, and others in lower soil where Baptists multiply and Methodists thrive. But once the wheat is in the barn, no one can tell which field the ears came from.

Then, indeed, shall the Master’s prayer have a glorious answer: "That they may all be one." All errors removed, all mistakes corrected and forgiven, the one Lord, the one faith, and the one baptism will be fully known, and there will be no more vexing or envy. What a blessed gathering!

What a meeting! The elect of God, the finest of all centuries, of whom the world was not worthy.

I would not want to be absent. Even if there were no hell, it would be hell to miss such heavenly company. Even without wailing and gnashing of teeth, it would be dreadful to miss the presence of the Lord, the joy of praising him forever, and the bliss of meeting the noblest beings who ever lived. Amid the controversies of the age, I, who have seemed a man of strife, long for the blessed rest where all spiritual minds shall blend in eternal accord before the throne of God and of the Lamb. Oh, that we were all right, that we might all be united in one spirit!

In the text, the next word is one of designation. I have already touched on that. "Gather the wheat."

Nothing but "the wheat" may enter the Lord’s homestead. Lend me your hearts while I urge you to a searching examination for a few minutes. The wheat was sown by the Lord. Are you sown by the Lord? Friend, if you have any religion, how did you receive it? Was it self-sown? If so, it is of no use. The true wheat was sown by the Son of Man. Are you sown by the Lord? Did the Spirit of God plant eternal life in your heart? Did it come from that hand nailed to the cross? Is Jesus your life? Does your life begin and end with him? If so, it is well.

The wheat sown by the Lord is also the object of his care. Wheat requires much attention. The farmer gains nothing if he does not watch it carefully. Are you under the Lord’s care? Does he preserve you? Is it true to your soul: "I, the Lord, keep it; I water it every moment: lest any harm it, I guard it day and night"? Do you experience such keeping? Answer honestly, for the sake of your soul.

Next, wheat is useful, a gift from God for the benefit of humanity. The false wheat was good for nothing; it could only feed swine, making them stagger as if drunk. Are you one who is wholesome in society—like bread to the world, so that if men receive your example, teaching, and life, they are blessed? Judge whether you are good or harmful in life and influence.

"Gather the wheat." God must put the goodness, grace, strength, and usefulness into you, or you will never be wheat fit for angelic gathering. Wheat is the most dependent of all plants. I have never heard of a field of wheat that grew and ripened without a husbandman’s care.

Some ears may appear after harvest, but I have never heard of plains covered with unsown wheat.

There is no wheat without a man, and there is no grace without Christ. We owe our existence to the Father, the husbandman. Yet, dependent as it is, wheat holds honour and esteem; likewise, godly people are esteemed by those of understanding. We are nothing without Christ, but with him we are full of honour. Oh, to be among those through whom the world is preserved, the excellent of the earth, in whom the saints delight. God forbid we should be among base and worthless weeds!

Finally, a word of destination: "Gather the wheat into my barn." The process of gathering will be completed at the day of judgment, but it is ongoing every day. Saints are gathered continually, moving heavenward even now. I rejoice to hear that departed members of my own church find joy in being harvested. Glory to God, our people die well. Living well is best, but dying well often testifies most powerfully to vital godliness. The world senses the power of a triumphant death.

Every hour, the saints are gathered into the barn. That is where they wish to be. We feel no sorrow at this ingathering, for we desire to be safely stored by our Lord. If the wheat in the field could speak, each ear would say: "The goal for which we live and grow is the barn, the granary." For this purpose the frost and sun, the dew and rain, all labour. Every process of the wheat moves toward the granary. Likewise, everything in us works toward heaven—the gathering place, the congregation of the righteous, the vision of our Redeemer's face. Our death causes no discord; it completes our life’s symphony. For the wheat, the barn is a place of security. There is no mildew, frost, heat, drought, or wet once inside. All perils are past. It has reached perfection, rewarded the husbandman’s labour, and is safely housed. Oh, long-awaited day, begin! Oh, brethren, what a blessing when we reach maturity, and Christ sees in us the fruit of his soul’s travail.

I delight to think of heaven as his barn—what a thought! Language is poor that we must call the home of our Father, the dwelling of Jesus, a barn. Heaven is the King’s palace, yet to us a barn, a place of security, rest, and safety. It is Christ’s homestead, and we are ripening for it. Think of it with ecstatic joy; for gathering into the barn is a harvest home. Men do not weep at earthly harvests, nor follow the sheaves with tears. They clap, dance, and shout for joy. Let us do similarly for those already housed. With grave and sweet melodies, let us sing around their tombs.

The bitterness of death is past. Remember their glory, and rejoice like a woman whose child is born, "who remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world." Another soul begins singing in heaven—why do you weep, heirs of immortality? Is eternal happiness the birth that follows death-pangs? Then blessed are those who die. Is glory the outcome of what fills our homes with mourning? Thank God for bereavements, for sad separations. He has promoted our dear ones to the skies! He has blessed them beyond all we could ask or imagine, taking them from this weary world to lie in his bosom forever. Blessed be his name, if for nothing else but this.

Would you keep your old father here, full of pain and weakness? Your dear wife, enduring suffering? Your husband from the immortal crown? Your child to return to earth from bliss? No.

We long to go home ourselves, but concerning the departed, we rejoice before the Lord as at harvest. "Therefore comfort one another with these words."

THE END