Angels in Scripture: Partners with God on Judgment Day
Angels in Scripture: Partners with God on Judgment Day.
“And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world — from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.” (Matt. 24:31).
Come Gabriel and Blow Your Horn (feat. Reese Dickerson)
On Angels as Guardians of Righteousness at the End. Angels are mighty spiritual ambassadors and heavenly messengers created by God to serve His purposes on earth and in heaven, including the final judgment. In the parable of the fishing net in Matt. 13:47-50, God sends angels to separate the good from the bad at the end of the age, much as they did in the earlier story of the wheat and weeds (Matthew 13:24-30; 39-43). In these stories of Jesus, angels are responsible for partnering with God come Judgment Day. We see them in that role many times, including the judgment of Herod in Acts 13:23, and the judgment of Satan in Revelation 20:1-3. But angels do much more that deliver God’s punishment. Jesus said a number of times that the angels will be present at the Judgment throne, when He will “come in glory with His angels and render to everyone according to his deeds.” (Matt. 16:27). At God’s judgment, “Everyone who acknowledges Me among the people you meet, the Son of Man will also acknowledge before the angels of God; but he who disowns Me in the presence of others will be disowned in the presence of God’s angels… Whoever is ashamed of Me, the Son of Man will likewise be ashamed of him when He comes in His Father’s glory with the holy angels.” (Luke 12:8-9; Luke 9:26; Mark 8:38).
- Angels and the Fishing Net. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a fishing net that was thrown into the water and caught fish of every kind. When the net was full, they dragged it up onto the shore, sat down, and sorted the good fish into crates, but threw the bad ones away. That is the way it will be at the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked people from the righteous, throwing the wicked into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 13:47-50).
(a.) The fishermen threw their drag net into the lake to catch some fish. These particular nets were huge, very long, weighted with lead, and dropped to the bottom of the lake. The drag net was either dragged between two boats or laid out by a single boat and drawn to land with long ropes.
(b.) Because the net was dragged along the bottom, the fishermen were sure to catch a huge number and variety of fish, with many species among them. Generally, the fishermen would separate this large haul into three groupings when they got to shore: the kosher, edible fish; the unkosher, inedible fish (for example the eel, which had neither scales nor fins); and the worthless part of the catch, which would include creatures like crabs or crayfish. It’s interesting that when considering the Kingdom net, the fishermen would be likely to catch a lot of bottom-feeders. In the parable, the net contained some of every type of fish. There were about 24 species of fish in the lake during that time.
(c.) In Jesus’ story, the task of judgment was left to the angels. They executed the Lord’s punishment, separating the righteous from the unrighteous, the real believers from the pretenders and unbelievers. The fishermen were not allowed to do the final sorting. People don’t know how to sort the good from the bad by looking at the catch, they are not equipped to discern the hearts of others. Just as in the parable of the weeds and the wheat, the Kingdom on earth is mixed company, and it is difficult to distinguish between the good and the bad. The gospel net is to be cast broadly, and the Kingdom is to be spread far and wide, gathering every type of person imaginable. The final judgment is left to God in faith.
Jimmy Lee Henry – Gabriel Blow Your Horn – J-Sound 45 (WV)
(d.) The drag net represents the Kingdom of God, which collects all kinds of people… some who believe, some who don’t believe, some who pretend to believe, and some neither here nor there. How can the Kingdom collect the good with the bad? Referring to Jesus’ earlier parable of the four soils may be helpful here. In that story, the words of God, the pieces of the kingdom, the seeds of truth, are broadcast widely over several types of soil. One plot of land, but many types of soil. These good Kingdom seeds can indeed be planted in these differing soils, but then a lot can happen. One seed didn’t penetrate the hardened soil, the hardened heart, and the seed was snatched up by the evil one. Another seed didn’t grow any roots in the stony soil, so it fell away at the first sign of storms and trouble. The third seed was thrown amidst the thorns of earthly worry and the choking brambles of wealth. So no growth there. Finally, the last seed was planted on fertile soil, a fertile heart, and grew to the extent of producing a great harvest. Some good seeds grew, and some good seeds didn’t grow. Yet the seeds were all Kingdom seeds and were broadcast together. Some fish in the lake convert, some do not convert. Yet they are all together in one big net.
(e.) In many ways this is a tragic story. Jesus seems clear and unequivocal that there will be a Judgment Day, a separation. The “good fish” though should not feel especially smug or self-righteous or judgmental against what they consider the “bad fish.” We are assured it won’t get all sorted out till the end. Spread the net and pray for mercy for others and for yourself in the separation process. It’s hard to miss that the angels seemed intent and eternally tough in their display of divine justice. Somehow, Lord, may your judgment throne be a mercy seat. “So let us come boldly to the throne of grace. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:16). Let’s pray that verse for everyone, even the “bad fish.” Maybe somehow, after the angels are done sorting things out, Jesus, who has the Last Word, will say, “Father, forgive them, for they didn’t know what they were doing.” Maybe, somehow, the Lord will give the bad fish a final opportunity to flop into paradise.
The Brothers Comatose & AJ Lee – “Angel Band”
- The Parable of the Weeds and the Wheat. “Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “An enemy did this,’ he replied. The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time, I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30, and 36-43).
(a.) Most of the time Jesus didn’t unpack his parables. But this particular story of the weeds and the wheat stumped the disciples. So Jesus explained it later, after He had left the boat and entered a nearby house. Jesus said that in the story the farmer sowing the good seed, the wheat, is Himself, the Son of Man. The field is the whole wide world, the good seed is the children of His Kingdom, the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed the bad seed is the devil. The harvest is the End of the Age, Judgment Day, and the reapers are God’s angels (Matt. 13:39). With Jesus explaining the story so clearly, the disciples seemed to understand. There were no follow-up questions.
(b.) The weeds were darnel, which is known as wild wheat, or tares, or creeping wheat, because the roots creep underground and become intertwined with the good wheat’s roots. These weeds were a poisonous rye-grass found all over the Middle East, very common, and looks just like wheat until the grain finally appears on the wheat. There is no point to uprooting the good wheat with the bad until the time of harvest, when the reaper can distinguish clearly between the two.
(c.) The farmer sowed good seed, which will grow and be fruitful. The responsible sower is careful to plant only that seed which will result in life-giving grain and fruitfulness. At harvest, the full-grown grain, the children of Faith, will be gathered into the Father’s Kingdom.
(d.) Notice that the evil sower only plants his bad seed after the good seed has been planted. He wants to produce a counterfeit to wreak havoc during the growing season, and bring confusion to what is good and what is evil. “Falsehood comes in after truth; after the prophets came false prophets; after Christ will come the Anti-Christ. The devil fashions falsehood and heresy to resemble the true Faith.” (Orthodox Study Bible).
(e.) Also note that the enemy sows bad seed after the farmer is asleep, when his guard is down. Interesting. The world is such that the evil is allowed to be planted with the good. Good and evil are allowed to grow side-by-side until the Final Harvest. One has to be careful not to allow the roots of the weeds to be intertwined with the wheat, beneath the surface, at the deep level that no one sees.
(f.) As stated often in Scripture, we can tell the difference between good and evil by the fruit, in this case by the grain on the stalk. And what is the fruit? Love. When good and evil look similar, choose love, and you won’t be wrong. Distinguishing between good and evil is an important duty of every child of the Kingdom. There is no need to be “vague, timid or indifferent.” (H. Thielicke). Discern between the spirits, choose not to be a person “by whom others are drawn into error, and all who do iniquity and act wickedly,” as Jesus said in verse 41. Instead, live into “the grace that teaches us how to live each day as we turn our backs on ungodliness and indulgent lifestyles, as it equips us to live self-controlled, upright, godly lives in this present age.” (Titus 2:12). We show ourselves to be good wheat… by our fruit of love and faithfulness.
(g.) We need to be careful as we distinguish between good and evil, as we notice the bad seed in amongst the good seed, the weeds amongst the wheat. We can’t judge a person’s eternal identity or destination. We don’t know someone’s heart, where they are in their pilgrimage. We don’t know where someone is in the process of perhaps going from bad seed to good seed, from bad grain to good grain. Only God knows, and He will make the final sorting come harvest time. In the meantime, “live in the grace of the long view.” (Thielicke). Judge not, and offer a blessing of love instead of personal judgment. Judge behavior, not people. Judge the fruit, not the destiny.
(h.) “Why does Jesus want to stifle the Holy Zeal of his people and say to them ‘Hands off! Let both grow together until the harvest. This is not your affair. God will take this thing in hand in his good time. God is patient, and long is the season of grace.’” (Thielicke).
(i.) We cannot eradicate evil in this fallen world. The problem is within each heart, including ours. Each of us has weeds among the wheat. We will remain a wheat among the weeds if we remain children of the Kingdom.
(j.) No amount of social activism will do away with all the evil in the world. Until the end, there will always be weeds. Work for justice, yes, and work for peace too. But we will continue to see the dark hand of the Evil One sowing weeds in our strong moral efforts. We can be, through Jesus, light in the darkness, but that assumes there will always be some darkness on this side of the Harvest. Sheer will power will not erase evil, because there will always be a weed in our wills, a tare in our heart. Let the Holy Spirit be the One who brings us safely to Harvest. And let God’s sun shine on the just and the unjust, let His rain fall on the good and the evil.
(k.) Trust God to be in charge of the Harvest, to be the perfectly righteous and discerning Judge. Sometimes we simply can’t discern between the weeds and the wheat. Trust God to help us develop our discernment between good and evil behavior, but we need to let God to make the ultimate judgments between the authentic and the counterfeit, between the children of the Savior and the children of the Destroyer, at the Last Harvest.