The Work Of Our Enemy

by Chris Simmons

In the parable of the sower, Jesus addresses our duties and responsibilities as both sowers of the word of God and those upon whom the seed is sown. God prophesied in Isaiah 55:10-11 that His word would not return to Him without “accomplishing what I desire and succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.” In His seed is “the power of God” (Romans 1:16) to make man righteous and provide salvation. In the parable of the sower, Jesus teaches the power of the seed to bear fruit is realized when diligence is exercised …

• In keeping out the thorns which are the “worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things” (Mark 4:19).
• In strengthening our faith and increasing our perseverance (II Peter 1:6) in the face of “affliction or persecution” (Matthew 13:21) which comes because of our obedience to God’s word.
• In preventing our hearts from becoming hardened by the “deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13) and allowing Satan to take God’s word from our heart.

However, on the heels of the parable of the sower is another parable (Matthew 13:24-30) that adds another element to the agricultural picture presented. That element being an “enemy” who sows the “tares” amongst the good seed or the “wheat.” To fully appreciate this second parable about the tares, it’s important to understand that “tares” are called darnel which is a “false grain” (Strong) or a “degenerate wheat” (Vine) whose only difference is the “grains are black.” Though the seed and resulting growth make look similar, there is a critical difference between the two. While the good seed produces healthy wheat that gives life to the one who consumes it, the tares on the other hand have devasting consequences (addressed later in this article) that lead to death. Vine says of the word “tares,” “The seeds are poisonous to man … producing sleepiness, nausea, convulsions and even death” (Vine). Jesus is teaching us about the schemes of the adversary to sow deceit, lies, and damning heresy in his efforts to destroy the souls of men.

God warns us in His word of the “schemes” of our adversary (II Corinthians 2:11; Ephesians 6:11) and the “destructive” (II Peter 2:1) impact of his methods (I Peter 5:8). In the parable of the tares, Jesus speaks of our enemy’s work in this parable, when He stated that it was done “while his men (“sons of the kingdom”) were sleeping” (Matthew 13:25) and illustrates the point that our enemy executes his destructive sowing while we are inattentive and unprepared. That is why Jesus warned His apostles in the Garden of Gethsemane “keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). For that same reason Paul warns in I Thessalonians 5:4-6, “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.” While we are distracted by the cares and concerns of this life, our enemy takes advantage of our spiritual sleepiness and sows his seeds of error and deceit.

We also need to learn from the parable of the tares that our enemy focuses his work on sowing the tares among the wheat and not among a field of just tares. That is, Satan focuses his efforts on attacking the saints. He already has the world under his domain. In Revelation 12:10, John describes Satan as the “accuser of our brethren.” We must live in the world while not being of the world (John 17:11, 14-17), and great strength and faith are needed to resist our enemy’s efforts to sow his tares among us.

Paul refers to Satan’s army of “deceitful workers” who are continually “disguising themselves” even as Satan “disguises himself as an angel of light” (II Corinthians 11:12-15). Satan uses those who serve him (verse 14) to sow his seed in the hearts of men, through deceit and disguise. The enemy and his servants only have to alter the good seed a small degree to offer those “wanting to have their ears tickled” (II Timothy 4:3) a “different gospel” (Galatians 1:6-9) with a much more palatable message that doesn’t require any change.

To that end, Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” In understanding who “the thief” is, we need to refer to verse 8 of that context, where Jesus stated “all who came before Me are thieves and robbers,” and thus contextually refers to the Scribes and Pharisees and all the Jewish leadership that ruled on their own authority and stood opposed to the authority of Jesus. Satan uses anyone who lives and teaches by the authority men (Matthew 21:23-27) rather than God’s to sow his tares in the world. For all the work that has, is, and will be done to sow the good seed so that man might have abundant (eternal) life, our enemy has, is, and will continue to “steal and kill and destroy” through the teaching of error and false doctrine. It is incumbent upon each child of God to hold on to our “love of the truth” (II Thessalonians 2:10) and our commitment to “test the spirits” (I John 4:1) as the Bereans by “examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11).

The parable of the tares reminds us of the eternally devasting consequences of those who succumb to the enemy. Jesus said that the “harvest is the end of the age” (verse 39) and that at that time “the tares are gathered up and burned with fire” (verse 40). Jesus furthered described the destiny of the tares as “the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (verse 42) for all eternity (cf. II Thessalonians 1:9). By contrast, Jesus says in verse 43, “the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of His Father.”

Our enemy and his servants are real and relentless in their efforts to sow tares. Will we become just as relentless in our efforts to sow the good seed?