Matthew 13:24-30
The kingdom grows in a mixed field until the Lord’s harvest separates wheat from weeds.
24 He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,
25 but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weeds also among the wheat, and went away.
26 But when the blade sprang up and produced fruit, then the darnel weeds appeared also.
27 The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?’
28 “He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’
29 “But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.
30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ”
The kingdom grows in a mixed field until the Lord’s harvest separates wheat from weeds.
Matthew records Jesus teaching the parable of the wheat and weeds to reveal that the kingdom presently grows amid hostile counterfeit presence until the master’s appointed harvest separates the righteous from the wicked.
Jesus continues teaching the crowds in parables within the Matthew 13 discourse.
The Kingdom in Parables: Hearing, Hiddenness, Growth, Worth, and Judgment
The kingdom of heaven is revealed through the word, received by fruitful hearers, hidden from hardened hearts, growing amid opposition, worth everything, and moving toward final judgment under the authority of the Son of Man.