Seven Words
Seven words… one sentence…changed the way I look at the future:
“Let both grow together until the harvest.”
Matthew 13:30
These are the words of Jesus in His parable of the wheat and the tares. He later explained to His disciples that the wheat are the righteous, and the tares are the wicked. The harvesters are angels and the harvest is the end of the age – righteousness and wickedness ripening side by side as we move toward the Lord’s return and the final judgment. John saw the same scene (See Rev.14:14-20). Two angels reap the righteous; two the wicked.
I don’t look forward to living at a time when world wickedness has reached its zenith, but I must remember that this will also be the finest hour for the people of God.
Righteousness ripe! I like the sound of it! “Many will be purified, made holy and refined,” Daniel says in describing the same time period. “The righteous will shine like the sun,” Jesus said when explaining the parable (13:43). And will “lead many to righteousness,” Daniel adds (12:3). “Be merciful to those in doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire,” counsels Jude (vv. 22-23).
Let’s lean into the future with hope!
Blessings,
Don Finto
