A Deeper Dive Into the Book of Revelation - Part 15

The Left Behind film series gets its name from the presumption that the believers (wheat) are taken first in the great harvest at the end of this age, and the unbelievers (tares) are left behind, but is that what Jesus told us in the parable of the Wheat and the Tares?

We may have mistakenly believed that the Christians will be taken first, and that the wicked will be left, but that is not what Jesus teaches us in Matthew 13, and that was not what the apostles experienced with Judas.

Both groups—the wheat and the tares—will remain in the world (the field) until a great separation takes place. Then, it will not be the believers who are taken first, but the children of the devil will be taken first and removed—not out of the world—but out of the Kingdom of God, just as Judas was removed from Jesus’ disciples. The tares will no longer be able to co-mingle among us.

Jesus taught us that the tares would be dealt with first, *before *the wheat is harvested. In different ways, He taught us that the children of the devil would be removed first, and the children of God will be left.

Days of Noah and Lot

Jesus taught us that at the time of His return, it would be like the days of Noah and like the days of Lot.

Who was taken away in Noah’s time, and who was left after the flood?

“Remember how it was in the days of Noah. It will be the same when the Son of Man comes. In the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking. They were getting married. They were giving their daughters to be married. They did all those things right up to the day Noah entered the ark. They knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be when the Son of Man comes.”—Matthew 24:37-39 (NIRV)

In Noah’s time, the people who were taken were the unrighteous ones who did not know God. They had no clue that judgment was coming. Luke makes this even clearer.

“People were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark and the flood came and destroyed them all.”—Luke 17:27 (CEB)

Noah and his family were the ones who were left behind after the judgment was over.

“Likewise in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building. But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”—Luke 17:28-30 (CEB)

In Lot’s time, as in Noah’s time, it was the *unrighteous *people who were taken. Lot and his daughters were the ones who were left behind.

In fact, Lot’s daughters believed they were the only ones left in that entire region of the earth!

Two in the Field

“At that time two men will be in the field; one will be taken [for judgment] and one will be left.”—Matthew 24:40 (AMP)

Most of the Church has been taught that the believers will be taken first, but Jesus taught us that there will be a great separation before His return. The children of the devil will be taken first and bound on earth in preparation for their final judgment.

The children of God will be left behind. They will be gathered later in the harvest.

“Let the weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest time. At the harvest time I will tell the workers this: First, gather the weeds and tie them together to be burned. Then gather the wheat and bring it to my barn.”—Matthew 13:30 (ERV)

Two Women Grinding at the Mill

“Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken [for judgment] and one will be left.”—Matthew 24:41 (AMP)

Jesus tells us that in the Great Separation that is prophesied in the parable of the Wheat and the Tares, there will be two women. One will be taken and will receive judgment. The other woman will be left.

Jesus didn’t use words carelessly. If He told us that there will be two women, then we should be able to find these two women in Scripture.

But who are these two women?

We find two women in the book of Revelation. One is taken for final judgment. The other is left in the field until the final harvest.

John is shown one of these women in Revelation 17.

“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters”—Revelation 17:1 (NKJV)

This woman is the false Church. She is the counterfeit Church. She is the offspring of Satan. She is taken for her final judgment which is detailed in Revelation chapters 17 and 18.

We see the other woman in Revelation 12.

“Then I witnessed in heaven an event of great significance. I saw a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head.”—Revelation 12:1 (NLT)

I believe this woman is the true Church. She is left in the field until the final harvest.

“Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that she would be nourished there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days (forty-two months; three and one-half years).”—Revelation 12:6 (AMP)

After the judgment of the great harlot is complete, the next thing that we see is the Bride of Christ. This woman is gloriously prepared to meet her Bridegroom.

“Let us rejoice and shout for joy [exulting and triumphant]! Let us celebrate and ascribe to Him glory and honor, for the marriage of the Lamb [at last] has come, and His bride has prepared herself. She has been permitted to dress in fine (radiant) linen, dazzling and white”—Revelation 19:7-8 (AMPC)

This is exactly what Jesus prophesied to us in His interpretation of the parable of the wheat and the tares.

“So just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears, let him hear.”—Matthew 13:40-43 (NASB)

Two Kinds of Servants

At the time of the great Harvest at the end of this age, Jesus tells us that there will be a separation among His servants. It will be made clear at the harvest time who are the faithful and wise servants of God who can be trusted with greater authority, and who are the wicked servants who prove themselves unworthy of God’s trust.

“So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time?** **It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.

“But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards.** The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. **He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”—Matthew 24:44-51 (NIV)

The Parable of the Net Filled with Fish

In Matthew 13, Jesus gave us seven parables that prophesy what will happen in the Church Age from the time of His ministry on earth until the final harvest at the end of the age.

In the seventh parable of the net filled with fish, we see a picture of the final harvest at the end of this age.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”—Matthew 13:47-50 (ESV)

In Revelation chapter 14, we see a partial fulfillment of this parable.

The Main Harvest of the Wheat and the Tares

Jesus prophesied that before the wheat (the true children of God) are harvested, the tares (children of the devil) will be separated out from among the true wheat and bound in preparation for their final judgment.

Then the children of God will be gathered to experience their rewards in God’s Kingdom.

The children of the devil will be gathered to experience God’s wrath.

We see a partial fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy in Revelation 14:14-20. These verses describe the final harvest and judgment of the wheat and the tares.

After the tares are removed from the true wheat, the wheat is gathered. This is the harvest of the children of God.

“Again I looked, and behold, [I saw] a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud One resembling a Son of Man, with a crown of gold on His head and a sharp scythe (sickle) in His hand.

“And another angel came out of the temple sanctuary, calling with a mighty voice to Him Who was sitting upon the cloud, Put in Your scythe and reap, for the hour has arrived to gather the harvest, for the earth’s crop is fully ripened.

“So He Who was sitting upon the cloud swung His scythe (sickle) on the earth, and the earth’s crop was harvested.”—Revelation 14:14-16 (AMPC)

Then the tares (children of the devil) are gathered to suffer the wrath of God, before they are cast into the Lake of Fire to burn for all eternity.

“Then another angel came out of the temple [sanctuary] in heaven, and he also carried a sharp scythe (sickle).

“And another angel came forth from the altar, [the angel] who has authority and power over fire, and he called with a loud cry to him who had the sharp scythe (sickle), Put forth your scythe and reap the fruitage of the vine of the earth, for its grapes are entirely ripe.

“So the angel swung his scythe on the earth and stripped the grapes and gathered the vintage from the vines of the earth and cast it into the huge winepress of God’s indignation and wrath.

“And [the grapes in] the winepress were trodden outside the city, and blood poured from the winepress, [reaching] as high as horses’ bridles, for a distance of 1,600 stadia (about 200 miles).”—Revelation 14:17-20 (AMPC)

This is partial fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy of the harvest of the wheat and the tares.

Ultimately, after suffering the wrath of God, the tares will be judged and cast forever into the Lake of Fire, as we see in Revelation 20:15:

“Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.” (ISV)

And, just as Jesus prophesied in His interpretation of the parable of the Wheat and the Tares, the righteous wheat will shine forth like the sun in God’s Kingdom.

Ultimately, we see this fulfilled in the last 3 chapters of Revelation as Jesus reigns on earth for 1,000 years, and afterwards on the New Earth when the New Jerusalem comes down “from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:2 NLT).