Judgment day will be a very busy time for God’s holy angels.

Half of them will be appointed to serve as God’s bailiffs, arresting and arraigning unbelievers to stand trial in God’s solemn final court proceedings. Jesus gave an earnest warning to all who had ears to hear that on the last great day you can run but you can’t hide from these swift heavenly agents: “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:40-42).

Weeping and gnashing of teeth indeed. Can you imagine the regrets of all the people who had no time for God during their lifetimes and now realize their terrible mistake? Can you imagine their terror as angels come for them, not gentle and sweet but menacing and inexorable? Can you imagine the endless loop running in their brains of “coulda, shoulda, woulda”?

It is our sacred duty as individuals and as congregation members to present the message of our Savior as clearly and as winsomely as possible. We can’t predict what people will do with the gospel of Christ, but we can tell the story and let the Word do its work.

The blazing furnace of hell is real.