The Children of the Kingdom

In Matthew 13:38 we read in the parable of the wheat and weeds, “The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one.” Outward appearances can be deceiving. Only Jesus can truly judge between the wheat and weeds in the world. Even in the church, not all professing Christians are righteous. The visible church has always been a mixture of good and evil (1 John 2:19-20; Matthew 7:21-23; Romans 9:6; 2 Peter 2:20-22). At harvest the righteous will be visible because the children of the kingdom “will shine forth as the sun.”