The other night I had just finished shoveling the driveway. It was about 12 degrees and as I looked up, sharp cold against my face, I could see that the sky was mostly clear except for puffs of white clouds streaming rapidly above me from West to East. The whole experience was incredibly beautiful.
"Are there cold shimmering nights in Heaven where one stands in awe of what God has created?" I wondered. "Does the Eskimo think of Heaven being like this? Can man even comprehend the tenth of what awaits us?"
I have been reading the gospel of Matthew this month and in it Jesus tells a bunch of parables about the kingdom of Heaven. The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in the field . . . The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field . . . The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until is was all leavened . . . The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field . . . The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls . . . The kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea . . . The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard . . . The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.
It says in Matthew 13: 34-35 All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: "I WILL OPEN MY MOUTH IN PARABLES: I WILL UTTER THINGS HIDDEN SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD." After this Jesus disciples come to Him and ask Him to explain the parable of the tares of the field (a man who sowed good seed in the field).
And He said, "The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one;
and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age.
The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of the kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness; and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Then The Righteous shall shine forth as the Sun in the kingdom of their Father,
He who has ears, let him hear . . .
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind,
and when it was filled, they threw it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away.
So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire,
in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
We are confronted in Matthew with a little shocking news; not all will be sons and daughters of the kingdom and those that are not will end up in a place which is described in two ways; a furnace of fire and a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
This little bit of information does not come from my imagination or made up by theologians to be placed in the canons of organized religion. It was proclaimed to us by Jesus as heard first hand by one of His disciples, Matthew, the tax collector.
Just as I cannot begin to comprehend God who made the heavens and the earth and created in them incredible beauty which ultimately speaks of Him, so too I cannot comprehend the anguish and pain of being separated from the love of God for eternity. Heaven I can dream of but what it really looks and feels like is mostly speculation. And Hell? It is not for me to downplay and suggest that Jesus didn't really know what He was talking about.
The world wants to ignore ultimate truth. It calls darkness light and says that God cannot judge because God is love.
God is love, but I don't get to define what that means. He is holy and righteous and worthy of all praise, and I only slightly understand what that all means. He is just, and I certainly only partly comprehend what His justice requires. Sometimes when I realize my ignorance I tremble. He is so much more than I can take in. Now I see through a glass darkly but one day I will see Him face to face.
We all know the verse from the 3rd chapter of John where Jesus says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life and it goes on to say that God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
Jesus then goes on to say;
He who believes in Him is not judged;
he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
This is the judgment,
that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
It is time to step out of the darkness and into the light. It is time to humble oneself and learn that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I would rather witness to the joy and peace that He gives each and every day and tell you how I see my Lord in things both great and small. But we must also hear this clear warning. There is a place called a furnace of fire and in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He who has ears, let him hear . . .
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