And so now that my tongue has done its fair share of rambling, I will ramble yet further concerning the multi-cuts of this diamond given us as the parable of the wheat and the tares.
It used to be that my mind-set could only see an expression like "bind them in bundles to be burned" as God's wrath of destruction. Everything was to me like the old cowboy movies where there were good guys wearing white hats and bad guys wearing black hats. And that "I know me and I know I am a good guy" attitude worked against me in many ways. Because of it I could not use the word but in a way that set my self up in my imagination as better than another whom I judged be wearing a black hat through their own choice to remain ignorant. That attitude is more despicable than any I sought in others to correct. I had not yet cast the beam out of my own eye before pridefully imagining that I wore a white hat and was smiled upon by God to be one of his teachers.
Brothers, think about how serious that matter is. This is how men unknown to themselves end up actually doing Satan's work rather than God's. Do you see in that how there is even a basis for compassion toward such ones? It makes us more fully appreciate James' counsel:
James 5:7-9 "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door."
What I now see as the principle reason the scripture teaches us the things that it does is so that we are equipped with the knowledge and understanding to look for these things in ourselves. "Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door."
It is rather obvious that in this field of the world (the enlarged territory wherein God seeks to harvest out his "lost sheep" for the purpose of also bringing with them the valuable things out of all of the nations).
Psalms 105:42 For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant.
43 And he brought forth his people with joy, and his chosen with gladness:
44 And gave them the lands of the heathen: and they inherited the labour of the people;
45 That they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws. Praise ye the LORD.
That is why the tares are tolerated. Our great Father is performing delicate surgery to untangle us all, both of the house of Israel who are the stewards of his church and of a great crowd of other sheep throughout each generation of man.
As this untangling occurs we see the visible church further segregate into bundles. These bundles appear to be churches of Christ but are not. They are being subjected to further trial by fire for God does not delight in their death, either. The weeping and gnashing of teeth is these bundles biting at one another and especially at God's wheat-like ones. They are not willing to accept that they have been wrong. Yet some will eventually admit they were wrong made possible by the merciful patience of God.
Every visible church delights to see themselves as God's barn. But I tell you that we walk by faith and not by sight; we keep our eyes fixed not on the temporal things seen, but on the imperishable things that are unseen. And God has hidden the true church from the fleshly eyes of men lest men slay them.
Do I speak like a mad man? Yes, I do. For now I am telling you that you can see the true church for in these last days it is firmly established atop of the mountains and to it people of all nations stream.
Isaiah 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
3 And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.
Isaiah 11:16 And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
Isaiah 35:8 And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but is shall be for the redeemed: the wayfaring men, yea fools, shall not err therein. (ASV)
Hebrews 12:22 but ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels,
23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel.
25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not when they refused him that warned them on earth, much more shall not we escape who turn away from him that warneth from heaven: