Today's Gospel

So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just. –Matthew 13:49

Reflection

We understand from this verse that God will sever the wicked from among the just in the last days. The Bible says, “And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be” (Revelation 22:12). We can’t help but ask: How will the Lord do such work when He comes again? It is recorded in the Bible, “And I will come near to you to judgment; … said Jehovah of hosts” (Malachi 3:5). “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17). “Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come” (Revelation 14:7). “For He comes, for He comes to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth” (Psalm 96:13). From these scriptures, we can see that God will do the work of judgment starting from the house of God. Through judgment, God will reveal those true believers in God and those evil servants in the church. Evil shall return to evil, good shall return to good. God says, “In His final work of concluding the age, God’s disposition is one of chastisement and judgment, in which He reveals all that is unrighteous, in order to publicly judge all peoples, and to perfect those who love Him with a sincere heart. Only a disposition such as this can bring the age to an end. The last days have already arrived. All things in creation will be classed according to their kind, and divided into different categories based on their nature. This is the moment when God reveals humanity’s outcome and their destination. If people do not undergo chastisement and judgment, then there will be no way of exposing their disobedience and unrighteousness. Only through chastisement and judgment can the outcome of all creation be revealed. Man only shows his true colors when he is chastised and judged. Evil shall be put with evil, good with good, and all humanity shall be classified according to their kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the outcome of all creation will be revealed, so that the evil may be punished and the good rewarded, and all people become subject to the dominion of God. All this work must be achieved through righteous chastisement and judgment. Because man’s corruption has reached its peak and his disobedience become exceedingly severe, only God’s righteous disposition, one that is principally compounded of chastisement and judgment and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform and complete man. Only this disposition can expose evil and thus severely punish all the unrighteous. Therefore, a disposition such as this is imbued with the significance of the age, and the revelation and exhibition of His disposition is made manifest for the sake of the work of each new age. It is not that God reveals His disposition arbitrarily and without significance. Supposing that, in revealing the outcome of man during the last days, God were still to bestow upon man infinite compassion and love and continue to be loving toward him, not subjecting man to righteous judgment but rather showing him tolerance, patience, and forgiveness, and pardoning man no matter how grave his sins, without any jot of righteous judgment: then when would all of God’s management ever be brought to a close? When would a disposition such as this be able to lead people into mankind’s appropriate destination? Take, for example, a judge who is always loving, a judge with a kindly face and a gentle heart. He loves people irrespective of the crimes they may have committed, and he is loving to and forbearing with them whoever they may be. In that case, when will he ever be able to reach a just verdict? During the last days, only righteous judgment can classify man according to their kind and bring man into a new realm. In this way, the entire age is brought to an end through God’s righteous disposition of judgment and chastisement.”

Extended Reading:

Knowing Meaning of God’s Work in His Incarnation From Parables