Verses 24-30, 36-43: the Parable of the Tares AT 13:24-30{AT 13:36-43{This Parable Is the First of Ten Parables That Are Said to Be Likenesses of the Kingdom of Heaven. Six of the Ten Are Found in This Chapter and the Remaining Four in the Following Passages: Matt. 18:23-35; Matt. 20:1-16; Matt. 22:1-14; and Matt. 25:1-13. As Might Be Expected, Since These Parables Have to Do With the Kingdom in Its Mysterious Aspect, They Have to Do Primarily With This Present Dispensation, During Which God Is Taking Out a Heavenly People for Himself

Although the explanation of the parable of the tares does extend on into the millennial kingdom, the parable itself is a characterization of what is taking place morally in the world at this present time. A man sows good seed in his field. Then, as men (not the householder) sleep, the sower's enemy comes and sows tares among the wheat. The wheat and the tares both grow up together and the householder's servants offer to take the tares out from among the wheat. Fearing they might uproot the wheat as well as the tares though, he tells them they should leave them alone. When the wheat is fully mature, he will have his reapers gather the tares into bundles for the burning; and the wheat will be gathered into his barn. At the time of harvest then, he will send forth the reapers to cast the tares into the furnace for the burning.
At this point, the Lord Himself explains the parable to His disciples alone. He, the Son of man, is the sower; the field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the tares are the children of the wicked one, which professing to be Christians, are nevertheless without faith; the enemy is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age in which the Lord was then speaking; and the reapers are the angels.
He goes on to explain further. At the end of the world (or "the age" in which He was then speaking), the Son of man will come and will send forth his angels to gather out of His kingdom all things that offend and do iniquity. The unbelieving apostates, left over from the "assembly age," will then be taken, one here and one there, and cast alive into the lake of fire for the burning. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. (See also Matt. 24:40-41.) After that, the heavenly saints will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father as they reign with Christ above the earth for a thousand years. (See Rev. 21:9-22:4.)