We notice that the Son of Man will send out His messengers. These may be spirit-angels or human-angels. The term "angel" means messenger, nothing more.

The messengers will remove the weeds out of "his kingdom." We are not speaking of removing sin from the world but from the Kingdom of God, the kingdom that is in Heaven at the present time and is destined to be located on the earth.

We are so accustomed to think in terms of "going to Heaven" that we cannot perceive the things Jesus said. The Lord Jesus never talked about going to Heaven but about the Kingdom of Heaven. The Gospel has to do with the coming of all the glory of Heaven to the earth, not the removal of human beings to the home of the angels.

Sin began in Heaven. There is no sin in the Kingdom of God, the rule of God. God's will is being done today in Heaven because the rule of God, the Kingdom of God, is in control there. Soon the rule of God is to come to the earth.

Our goal as Christians is not to go to Heaven but to enter the Kingdom of God. As in the parable we are discussing, the reference has nothing to do with going to Heaven as to a place but is directed toward the Kingdom of God, the rule of God. This is why "everything that causes sin" must be removed. It may require another generation before the believers are able to change their thinking from going to Heaven as a place to the coming of the government of God to the earth.

But don't we want to go to Heaven where all is love, beauty, freedom from dread, sickness, and death, where we can renew relationships with deceased loved ones? Yes in the present hour. But no in the future, because all that we desire is destined to come to the earth along with God, Jesus, and the holy angels.

We are being prepared for the Kingdom of Heaven, the rule of God. We are not being made ready to go to the realm of angels to live forever! This is why it is so totally important that we are delivered from all sin. Does this make sense to you?

First, all that causes sin is removed from the Kingdom. Then all who do evil. If we do not allow the Holy Spirit to remove sin from us, then we will be one of those who do evil.

In order to be saved we must receive the Lord Jesus Christ, believing in Him when He is presented to us. But you will find in the Gospel accounts that the division that will come at the end of the age will not be between those who believe and those who do not but between those who do evil and those who do not.

In the case of the five virgins who could not go to the Bridegroom the issue was foolishness and carelessness, not belief in the Gospel. In the case of the man who lost his talent and was cast into outer darkness the problem was wickedness and laziness.

To be continued.