Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no man comes to my Father except by me. Lamsa Bible John 14:6
Yeshua said to him, “I AM THE LIVING GOD, The Way and The Truth and The Life; no man comes to my Father but by me alone.” Aramaic Bible in Plain English John 14:6
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. John 10:9
And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein… Isaiah 35:8-9
All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. Matthew 11:27
So the way into God, which is the way into heaven, is through a belief in Jesus Christ who is God.
I started looking at a child’s interpretation of a parable, which got me wondering about the role of angels in this process. The Baby Bible tells a story of fishermen catching fish in a net.
Jesus told a story. “One day,” He said, “some fishermen took their boat out. They threw their nets into the water. All kinds of fish swam in the lake. When the fishermen returned to shore, they dragged their nets out of the water and looked through their catch,” said Jesus. “They kept all the good fish and tossed out all the bad fish.” Jesus said the fishermen’s net is like God’s kingdom. “Everyone wants to be part of His kingdom, but the angels will come and separate the godly people from the ungodly people. The godly people will live in heaven with me forever.”
This Baby Bible does seem to leave 2 issues as problematic.
- What are ‘godly’ people versus other people?
- Do angels have judgment power when entering heaven?
Angels are ministers, messengers, and warriors. They are musicians and have Divine power. There is no place that I am aware of where God gives angels a prerogative to ‘judge’ and decide who gets into heaven. It is clearly stated in scripture Jesus is access to God, who is in Heaven.
Let’s look at Matthew 13:
47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea, and it gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was filled, they drew it to the shore, and sat down and sorted them; the good ones they put into bags, and the bad they threw away. 49 So will it be at the end of the world; the angels will go out and separate the bad from among the righteous…
Who are the righteous?
In the New Testament, righteousness (Greek: dikaiosynē) refers to being in right standing with God, a status defined by alignment with God’s character and commands rather than human moral perfection.
It is fundamentally a gift received through faith in Jesus Christ rather than an achievement earned by works of the law.
In other interpretations of the Bible, it seems to indicate godly versus wicked, but I want to show you this is not what was meant. A person can be one who is displaying “human moral perfection” but not righteous. A person can be a really good person. But being a really good person is not what gives entrance to God and the kingdom of heaven.
This comes up in class when family members have passed, and I wanted to take the time to show the full explanation, so you could understand. Also to know angels and I myself are not judging who gets in. It is God’s prerogative, but ultimately each individual chooses their path in life.
One final thought, the people of Israel are God’s chosen people. There are references in the Old Testament to a place in Heaven. God has the final say in all those who join him. Being a good person is not enough, though, to enter into sanctuary with God.