Working In The "Field" Before The Harvest

The disciples of the Great Teacher were puzzled. Jesus had just related a brief story about wheat and weeds. It was one of a number of parables that he spoke that day. When he was finished, most in his audience left, but his followers knew that there must be a particular meaning to his parables - especially the one about the wheat and the weeds. They knew that Jesus was not just an interesting storyteller.

Matthew reports that they asked: "Explain to us the illustration of the weeds in the field." In response, Jesus interpreted the parable, foretelling a great apostasy that would develop among his professed disciples. (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-38, 43) This did occur, and apostasy spread quickly after the death of the apostle John. (Acts 20:29, 30; 2 Thessalonians 2:6-12) Its effects were so pervasive that the question Jesus posed, as recorded at Luke 18:8, seemed very appropriate: "When the Son of Man arrives, will he really find the faith on the earth?"

Jesus' arriveal would mark the beginning of "the harvest" of wheatlike Christians. That would be a mark of the 'conclusion of the system of things,' which begun in 1914. So it should not surprise us that there were stirrings of interest in Bible truth in the period leading up to the onset of the harvest. - Matthew 13:39.

An examination of the historical record makes it evident that especially from the 15th century onward, minds were being stirred, even among the masses in Christendom who were like the "weeds," or imitation Christians. As the Bible concordances were prepared, honesthearted individuals started searching the Scriptures carefully.

Next time: The Light Brightens