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“The Righteous Ones Will Shine as Brightly as the Sun”The Watchtower—2010 | March 15
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The Long-Anticipated Harvesttime
10, 11. (a) When is the time for the harvest? (b) How is the symbolic wheat being brought into Jehovah’s storehouse?
10 Jesus tells us: “The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things, and the reapers are angels.” (Matt. 13:39) During the last days of this wicked system of things, a separating takes place—the sons of the Kingdom are to be gathered and separated from any weedlike ones. Regarding this, the apostle Peter tells us: “It is the appointed time for the judgment to start with the house of God. Now if it starts first with us, what will the end be of those who are not obedient to the good news of God?”—1 Pet. 4:17.
11 Shortly after the beginning of the last days, or the “conclusion of a system of things,” the judgment started for those who claimed to be genuine Christians—whether they were actually “sons of the kingdom” or “sons of the wicked one.” “First” Babylon the Great fell, and “then” the sons of the Kingdom were gathered together at the start of the harvest. (Matt. 13:30) But how is the symbolic wheat now being brought into Jehovah’s storehouse? These harvested ones were either brought into the restored Christian congregation, where they have God’s favor and protection, or they received their heavenly reward.
12. For how long does the harvest continue?
12 How long does the judgment last? Jesus referred to the harvest as a “season,” so it continues over a period of time. (Rev. 14:15, 16) The judgment of the individual members of the anointed continues throughout the time of the end. It will last until they are finally sealed.—Rev. 7:1-4.
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“The Righteous Ones Will Shine as Brightly as the Sun”The Watchtower—2010 | March 15
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They “Will Shine as Brightly as the Sun”
16, 17. What did Malachi prophesy concerning God’s temple, and how did this start to be fulfilled?
16 At what time do the wheatlike ones “shine as brightly as the sun”? (Matt. 13:43) Concerning the cleansing of God’s temple, Malachi prophesied: “‘Suddenly there will come to His temple the true Lord, whom you people are seeking, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you are delighting. Look! He will certainly come,’ Jehovah of armies has said. ‘But who will be putting up with the day of his coming, and who will be the one standing when he appears? For he will be like the fire of a refiner and like the lye of laundrymen. And he must sit as a refiner and cleanser of silver and must cleanse the sons of Levi; and he must clarify them like gold and like silver, and they will certainly become to Jehovah people presenting a gift offering in righteousness.’”—Mal. 3:1-3.
17 In modern times, this prophecy evidently started to be fulfilled in 1918 when Jehovah, along with “the messenger of the covenant,” Jesus Christ, inspected the spiritual temple. Malachi tells us what happens once this cleansing is completed: “You people will again certainly see the distinction between a righteous one and a wicked one, between one serving God and one who has not served him.” (Mal. 3:18) The surge in activity on the part of the reinvigorated true Christians points to that period as the beginning of the harvesttime.
18. What did Daniel prophesy would happen in our day?
18 The prophet Daniel spoke of our day when he foretold: “The ones having insight will shine like the brightness of the expanse; and those who are bringing the many to righteousness, like the stars to time indefinite, even forever.” (Dan. 12:3) Who are these ones who shine so brightly? Why, none other than anointed Christians, the genuine wheat that Jesus referred to in his illustration of the wheat and the weeds! The ‘collecting out’ of the weedlike imitation Christians has been clearly recognized by an ever-increasing great crowd of sheeplike ones. In attaching themselves to the remnant of spiritual Israel, these prospective subjects of the Kingdom likewise let their light shine in this bedarkened world.—Zech. 8:23; Matt. 5:14-16; Phil. 2:15.
19, 20. What do “the sons of the kingdom” eagerly await, and what will we discuss in the next article?
19 Today, “the sons of the kingdom” eagerly await their glorious, heavenly reward. (Rom. 8:18, 19; 1 Cor. 15:53; Phil. 1:21-24) Until that time, though, they must remain faithful, continuing to shine brightly, standing out as different from “the sons of the wicked one.” (Matt. 13:38; Rev. 2:10)
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“The Righteous Ones Will Shine as Brightly as the Sun”The Watchtower—2010 | March 15
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The Illustration of the Wheat and the Weeds
3. Explain the problem that faces the man in the illustration and how he decides to handle this problem.
3 This is the illustration: “The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man that sowed fine seed in his field. While men were sleeping, his enemy came and oversowed weeds in among the wheat, and left. When the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the weeds appeared also. So the slaves of the householder came up and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow fine seed in your field? How, then, does it come to have weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy, a man, did this.’ They said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go out and collect them?’ He said, ‘No; that by no chance, while collecting the weeds, you uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the harvest season I will tell the reapers, First collect the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up, then go to gathering the wheat into my storehouse.’”—Matt. 13:24-30.
4. (a) Who is the man in the illustration? (b) When and how did Jesus start to engage in the sowing of this seed?
4 Who is the man who sowed the fine seed in his field? Jesus provides the answer later when he explains to his disciples: “The sower of the fine seed is the Son of man.” (Matt. 13:37) Jesus, the “Son of man,” prepared the field for planting during the three and a half years of his earthly ministry. (Matt. 8:20; 25:31; 26:64) Then from Pentecost 33 C.E. onward, he started to sow the fine seed—“the sons of the kingdom.” This sowing evidently took place when Jesus, as Jehovah’s representative, began to pour out holy spirit upon the disciples, thereby anointing them as God’s sons.b (Acts 2:33) The fine seed developed into mature wheat. So the objective in sowing the fine seed was eventually to gather the full number of those who would become joint heirs and rulers with Jesus in his Kingdom.
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