Doctrine and Covenants 86; Matthew 13: 24-30, 37-43

How can studying the parable of the wheat and the tares strengthen us?

"Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Kirtland, Ohio, December 6, 1832. This revelation was received while the Prophet was reviewing and editing the manuscript of the translation of the Bible.

1–7, The Lord gives the meaning of the parable of the wheat and tares; 8–11, He explains priesthood blessings to those who are lawful heirs according to the flesh.

1 Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servants, concerning the parable of the wheat and of the tares:

2 Behold, verily I say, the field was the world, and the apostles were the sowers of the seed;

3 And after they have fallen asleep the great persecutor of the church, the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy, even Satan, sitteth to reign—behold he soweth the tares; wherefore, the tares choke the wheat and drive the church into the wilderness.

4 But behold, in the last days, even now while the Lord is beginning to bring forth the word, and the blade is springing up and is yet tender—

5 Behold, verily I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields;

6 But the Lord saith unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also.

7 Therefore, let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is fully ripe; then ye shall first gather out the wheat from among the tares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned.

8 Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers—

9 For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God—

10 Therefore your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began.

11 Therefore, blessed are ye if ye continue in my goodness, a light unto the Gentiles, and through this priesthood, a savior unto my people Israel. The Lord hath said it. Amen." (Doctrine and Covenants 86)

"24 ¶ Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man;

38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." (Matthew 13: 24-30, 37-43)

And here's the beginning part of the commentary entitled: "The righteous are gathered to Christ in the last days." : 

"Doctrine and Covenants 86 contains an interpretation of the parable of the wheat and the tares, found in Matthew 13:24–30, 37–43. As you learn about the meaning of this parable, consider filling out a table like this one:

Symbols	Possible meanings	Questions to ponder
Sowers of the seed	Prophets and apostles	What kinds of “seeds” do prophets and apostles plant?
The enemy	Satan	How does the adversary try to stop the Lord’s work?"
Field	The world	How can the wheat avoid being choked by the tares while growing together with it in the "field"?
The whore	The apostate, the great persecutor of the church	How can we avoid being enticed by "the whore" to "drink of her cup"?

The insights I got as I'm studying the parable of the wheat and the tares by filling out this table, are these: 1) The wheat is in competition with the tares in using the resources like sunlight, soil, and water, so it could grow in the field. This competition can weaken the wheat and slow down its growth. 2) The wheat can be enticed by the whore to drink of her cup as it associates with the tare (which the whore soweth) that is growing along with it, hindering its growth more and choking it as the tare gains more power over it. 

We are the wheat and we don't want to give away our power away to the tares. We need to stay firm and stand in holy places and be not moved so the tares cannot get us to drink of the whore's cup, and choke us, or influence us a lot, and then take away our own power to influence others. We want to remain strong to be able to continue to help the Lord in doing His work.