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Matthew 13: The Problem of Evil and Final Judgment
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We continue our summer series on the kingdom of heaven, exploring how Jesus taught through parables to unlock the mystery of God's kingdom. Last time, we identified three reasons Jesus used parables: they lock away secrets of the kingdom, revealing who truly belongs to God's people; they distinguish those who genuinely understand from those who merely hear; and their continued use signals both that salvation is still available and that the end times are near.
Today we examine the parable of the wheat and the tears (or weeds) from Matthew 13:24-34, which addresses one of Christianity's deepest questions: the problem of evil.
"He presented another parable to them. The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and left. When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared. The servants came to him and said, 'Master, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?' An enemy did this, he told them. So, do you want us to go and pull them up? the servants asked him. No, he said, 'When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time, I will tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.'" (Matthew 13:24-30)
Unlike the first parable where one seed produces different responses based on the soil, this parable presents two kinds of seeds:
The field itself is not different soil types but the world, where both grow together.
Later, Jesus explained the parable to his disciples:
"The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one. The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age. And the harvesters are angels. Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels and they will gather from his kingdom all who cause sin and those guilty of lawlessness. They will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom." (Matthew 13:37-43)
This is the longest of Matthew 13's parables and contains the most explanatory elements—the master, the seeds, the field, the servants, the enemy, the harvest, and the reapers.
At its heart, this parable addresses the problem of evil—one of the most discussed topics in Christian apologetics and philosophy of religion. The question is simple but profound: If God is all good and all-powerful, why does He allow evil to exist?
This problem can be framed as:
This is not merely a Christian concern. Every religion and philosophical system must grapple with evil and suffering.
Even ancient philosophers recognized this dilemma. The Greek philosopher Epicurus formulated what we call the Epicurean paradox:
"If God wants to stop evil but cannot, then God is powerless. If God can stop evil but is unwilling, then God is evil. If God neither wants nor cannot stop evil, then God is both powerless and evil. If God both wants to stop and can stop evil, then why is our world full of evil?"
Epicureans believed nothing is absolute—only pleasure matters. They were polytheists, but they denied that the gods possessed absolute moral character. To them, gods could be morally compromised, which explained evil in the world. If the gods are flawed, the world will be flawed.
Modern atheists use the problem of evil as their central argument against belief in an all-good, omnipotent God. The British philosopher Bertrand Russell, a Nobel laureate, wrote his famous book Why I Am Not a Christian using the problem of evil as his primary argument. In a 1948 BBC debate with Catholic theologian Frederick Copleston, Russell appealed to Darwinian evolution and the existence of evil—disasters, tragedies, and "bad design" in creation—to refute the classical design argument for God's existence.
For modern skeptics, the problem of evil is "the stone or the rock of atheism."
When the servants in the parable ask, "Do you want us to go and pull them up?" they represent a common human response to evil: we should eliminate it ourselves.
This reflects the humanist perspective: If we cannot rely on God, we must take action. Some humanists believe there are good people and bad people, and it is the moral duty of good people to remove the wicked. They argue this even benefits the human gene pool.
But the master's answer is clear: Do not pull up the weeds yet. Why? Because in uprooting the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat. You must protect the innocent.
The master's refusal to immediately destroy evil reveals God's wisdom. The simplest answer to why God waits is this: the righteous might be descendants of the wicked.
If you kill all the wicked today, their good descendants will never be born. If you cut a branch from a tree, nothing that could grow from it will ever exist. Bad people can have good children—descendants who believe in God and serve Him.
But this answer requires that God be omniscient—all-knowing. The God of the Bible is omniscient. From eternity, God sees all creation and knows His plan for everyone who will be saved. God knows who will repent. Therefore, God's servants should not rush to pull up the weeds. We do not know, but God knows.
The third and fourth parables emphasize the necessity of patience:
"The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown, it is taller than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches." (Matthew 13:31-32)
"The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds of flour until all of it was leavened." (Matthew 13:33)
It takes time for a mustard seed to grow. It takes time for yeast to leaven fifty pounds of flour. The outcome is inevitable, but it requires patience. Rushing the process backfires and makes things worse. The results are revealed only at the very end.
Why wait? Because the value of the harvest far exceeds everything encountered in the process.
The final three parables make this clear:
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." (Matthew 13:44)
"The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it." (Matthew 13:45-46)
"The kingdom of heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea. It collected every kind of fish, and when it was full, they dragged it ashore, sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but threw out the worthless ones." (Matthew 13:47-48)
The treasure, the pearl, the good fish—these represent God's children, the kingdom's harvest. They are worth far more than all the world's riches and all the evil encountered in the process.
God's patience appears to be a kind of grace period. God bestows grace and mercy upon all His creation—what theologians call "common grace." It is almost as if God temporarily benefits even the devil, His enemy.
Why? Not because God lacks righteousness, but because God works all things together for the good of those who love Him. The ultimate reward of gaining what He truly desires far exceeds the temporary cost of tolerating what He dislikes.
We can view the final judgment as God's answer to the problem of evil. The harvest at the end—the greater good—outweighs the evil. It is precisely because of the final judgment that we can tolerate evil in the world. The hope for the future gives us energy and love to live today.
This perspective is beautifully illustrated in Genesis 50:20, where Joseph, after years of betrayal, slavery, and imprisonment, tells his brothers:
"You planned evil against me. God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people." (Genesis 50:20)
Joseph's life seemed like a mystery, a locked box without a key. Why the dreams of greatness followed by slavery and prison? Forgotten by his friends and seemingly by God—until the day he met Pharaoh. Then everything unraveled. God had appointed Joseph not only to save his family but to save an entire nation from famine. Had God not positioned Joseph, multitudes would have starved.
Joseph is a type (foreshadow) of Christ. Jesus also endured betrayal, injustice, and apparent abandonment. Yet even dying on the cross, Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Jesus understood, just as Joseph did.
We can distinguish different types and phases of evil:
These are mysteries we may never fully understand. But through a biblical worldview, they all find their ultimate answer in the final judgment. Jesus took upon Himself the judgment for us. Through Jesus, God's love is demonstrated to all creation.
God temporarily permits evil in this world for one ultimate reason: to allow the good harvest to grow. If God removed evil too soon, He might deprive the righteous of their opportunity to develop and multiply.
But this tolerance is only temporary. The final judgment will soon distinguish good from evil. Jesus reminds us repeatedly that He is coming back soon. Do not assume God will delay indefinitely.
"The kingdom of heaven is near." (Matthew 3:2)
This is the message Jesus proclaimed and commanded His disciples to share. So what should we do? Repent. We must go out and tell people: Come to church, not for parties and good food, but because the kingdom of heaven is near. This final judgment is imminent. Repent.
These truths rest on two essential theological premises:
1. God's Sovereignty
God has full knowledge of all future possibilities. He can determine whether the ancestors of the wicked will produce good descendants. At the same time, if a nation has reached terminal illness—beyond redemption, with no righteous person to be saved from it—it may be righteous for God to exercise His sovereignty and judge that nation before the final judgment.
The biblical examples are sobering: Sodom and Gomorrah, God's judgment through Israel on Canaanite nations, Noah's flood. These are not cruelty or genocide, but the least cruel option—to end evil's persistence rather than allow it to continue indefinitely.
2. Human Moral Responsibility
Although God has a plan and knows all things, we are endowed with the responsibility to make moral choices. It is our job to tell people to repent. It is their job to repent. Every generation, every individual must take responsibility for their own decision.
God may have predestined some descendants to repent and believe, but at the same time, every individual must still take responsibility to repent and come back to God. It is their choice. It is true for all of us.
The gospel is before you. Whether you accept it is up to you. That is the biblical worldview. It consists of all these elements together: the final judgment, which is imminent; the problem of evil, which is not an argument against God's existence but rather gives us hope to live a righteous life today.
When we think about all the evils in the world, knowing that they are beyond our understanding, remember that Jesus took on all of them Himself. Through His sacrifice and coming judgment, God provides both justice and hope.
The world calls us to instant gratification, to have everything today. The stock market is "a church with a casino attached," driven by greed and gambling rather than long-term value. Many Christians have fallen into the same trap, burned out by trying to accomplish everything as if there is no tomorrow.
But the biblical worldview teaches patience. Like the mustard seed, like the yeast in the flour, like the merchant seeking pearls—we work and wait for something infinitely more valuable than all this world offers.
God's grace allows both the righteous and the wicked to grow together for now. But that season is ending. The harvest approaches. Jesus is coming soon. Let us repent, let us live with love for our neighbors, and let us share the gospel with them so they can make their own decision to follow Christ.
The hope for the future is what gives us energy and love to live today.
