The period of development is necessarily a time of intermingling, in
which, side by side, the antagonistic principles embodied in their
representatives work themselves out, and beneficially affect each
other. But each grows towards an end, and, when it has been reached,
the blending gives place to separation. John's prophecy is plainly
quoted in the parable, which verbally repeats his 'gather the wheat
into his barn,' and alludes to his words in the other clause about
burning the tares. He was right in his anticipations; his error was
in expecting the King to wield His fan at the beginning, instead of
at the end of the earthly form of His kingdom. At the consummation
of the allotted era, the bands of human society are to be dissolved,
and a new principle of association is to determine men's place.
Their moral and religious affinities will bind them together or
separate them, and all other ties will snap. This marshalling
according to religious character is the main thought of the solemn
closing words of the parable and of its interpretation, in which our
Lord presents Himself as directing the whole process of judgment by
means of the 'angels' who execute His commands. They are 'His
angels,' and whatever may be the unknown activity put forth by them
in the parting of men, it is all done in obedience to Him. What
stupendous claims Jesus makes here! What becomes of the tares is
told first in words awful in their plainness, and still more awful
in their obscurity. They speak unmistakably of the absolute
separation of evil men from all society but that of evil men; of a
close association, compelled, and perhaps unwelcome. The tares are
gathered out of 'His kingdom,'--for the field of the world has then
all become the kingdom of Christ. There are two classes among the
tares: men whose evil has been a snare to others (for the 'things
that offend' must, in accordance with the context, be taken to be
persons), and the less guilty, who are simply called 'them that do
iniquity.'
Perhaps the 'bundles' may imply assortment according to sin, as in
Dante's circles. What a bond of fellowship that would be!
'_The_ furnace,' as it is emphatically called by eminence,
burns up the bundles. We may freely admit that the fire is part of
the parable, but yet let us not forget that it occurs not only in
the parable, but in the interpretation; and let us learn that the
prose reality of 'everlasting destruction,' which Christ here
solemnly announces, is awful and complete. For a moment He passes
beyond the limits of that parable, to add that terrible clause about
'weeping and gnashing of teeth,' the tokens of despair and rage. So
spoke the most loving and truthful lips. Do we believe His warnings
as well as His promises?
The same law of association according to character operates in the
other region. The children of the kingdom are gathered together in
what is now 'the kingdom of My Father,' the perfect form of the
kingdom of Christ, which is still His kingdom, for 'the throne of
God and of the Lamb,' the one throne on which both sit to reign, is
'in it.' Freed from association with evil, they are touched with a
new splendour, caught from Him, and blaze out like the sun; for so
close is their association, that their myriad glories melt as into a
single great light. Now, amid gloom and cloud, they gleam like tiny
tapers far apart; then, gathered into one, they flame in the
forehead of the morning sky, 'a glorious church, not having spot,
nor wrinkle, nor any such thing.'