The Good Berries

One summer many, many years ago we decided to go camping out in a nearby National Forest, with a very specific mission in mind: collecting blueberries. That particular year the wild blueberry plants had produced a massive yield of berries so after our camp was set up we grabbed our buckets and set out to begin the collection.

Never in my life have I ever filled a bucket full of blueberries so quick as I did that summer. With such an incredible crop of berries we always had blueberry pie at each meal.

In the preparation of those pies, we had to go through all of the berries which we had collected. Because not all of the berries were good (we occasionally got some unripe or overripe berries mixed in as we picked) we needed to go through them, separating the good ones from the bad. All of the good ones were set aside to be later made into those delicious pies, and all of the bad ones we threw back out into the woods.

This sort of separation is similar to what is going to happen on Judgement Day, except that instead of berries, it is going to be people who are going to be separated. The good from the evil. The believers from the unbelievers.

Matthew 13:47-50  “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

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

And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Do you know what happens when you pour oil onto water? They separate, the oil just doesn’t mix, but it rises to the top. It is rather neat then how oil in the Bible often represents the Holy Spirit, and those who are filled with the Holy Spirit will be raised up to be with Jesus when the angels take them to be with Jesus in the air when He returns.

Matthew 25:31-46  When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:

And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:

I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.

Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?

Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

It is the great separation, the sheep from the goats, the good from the evil. When that day comes we need to be certain that we are ready, that we have lived our lives in a pleasing way for the Lord. We need to keep the Lord’s commandment, which is, namely, to love one another, and to love God over all. Unfortunately there will be many bad berries when Christ returns, who will be cast away and separated from His presence. Like a bad apple in a barrel which needs to be thrown away. 

Are you one of the good “berries?”

In Christ,

Andrew