Reklamation Ministries
Seeing the Church and the World in Plain View
be gotten rid of before the gathering of the wheat. But from where are the tares to be uprooted and the wheat garnered? Of course, they both grow in the field
What is the Significance of the Field?
"‘The field,' Christ said, 'is the world.' But we must understand this as signifying the church of Christ in the world. The parable is a description of that which
kingdom of God, his work of salvation of men; and this work is accomplished through the church. True, the Holy Spirit has gone out into all the world; everywhere it is moving upon the hearts of men; but it is in the church that we are to grow and ripen for the garner of God." 4
Clear it is that the wheat and tares grow in the church. But what church are we speaking about? Well, it has to be the church of the last days. The church in the time of the end or "end of the world." That church of course, is our beloved Seventh-day Adventists church. The harvest, then, will begin with the separation among those who hold to the faith of the Third Angel's Message. Put another way, it will begin with us. The first thing the angels of God will do is remove the unconverted from among the faithful in the field, the church.
Brothers and sisters, this is
absolutely imperative to
understand! Do you get the lesson?
No wonder the Apostle wrote, "Judgment must begin at the house of God." (I Peter 4:17). So before the gospel can be preached with the miraculous power of the Spirit of God, and the in-gathering the great harvest of souls, (Matthew 24:14, Revelation 18: 1 - 4) the Seventh-day Adventist Church must be purified by the removal of the unconverted in its midst. That may be shocking, but that is what the Scriptures are telling us.
More Proof
Let us look at (Matthew 13: 40, 41). "As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity."
This text is typically explained to be the second advent of Christ. But it cannot be. It actually applies to the same separation of the tares from the wheat in the church. Why? Because if you compare this text with (Matthew 24:30, 31), which undeniably refers to the second coming, you will notice a significant difference. Notice that in (verse 31), it tells us that Christ sends "his angels with a
great sound of the trumpet, and they shall gather together his
takes place in the world. They are two different events. The first, the purifying of His church, takes place before the final close of probation, while the second at His second coming; at which time the "elect"
are taken to heaven for a thousand years and the wicked left in their graves. Thus there are two judgments. The first is for Seventh-day Adventists, the second takes place in the world in the form of the seven last plagues and the destruction at the Second Advent. So there is one probation for the church and another for the world.
In Harmony with the Spirit of Prophecy
Some may be concerned about several of Ellen White's statements that appear to contradict the idea that the harvest is not the second coming. Let us look briefly at three of the most common ones.
"The tares," says Sister White,