18, The Award of The Judge

I. When the trial and conflict of the angels was over, a separation of good and bad took place. “The great dragon was cast out, the old serpent . . . and his angels were thrown down with him” (Apoc. xii. 9). The good angels were confirmed in grace and in the possession of heaven. This involves a summing up of results and a judicial award, a preliminary general judgment of the supramundane universe. In all that was essential, the angels had worked out their destiny and made their final choice for once and all. Our Lord implies this judgment where He says, “the prince of this world is already judged” (John xvi. 11). The conflict is still being continued, but in this lower sphere. When that is complete, the final summing up and judgment of all will take place; and in this the angels will be included, according to the Apostle: “The angels who kept not their principality . . . He hath reserved under darkness in everlasting chains unto the judgment of the great day” (Jude 6). That will be the day of the great victory of God. It will be the manifestation of His justice and mercy, the revelation of the hidden ways of His providence, the justification of His dealings with men and angels. Then will you, if among the blessed, rejoice, that, having trusted in the Lord, He has delivered you. Let the thought of that day make you patient in the obscurities and difficulties of this life.

II. From the moment of their creation, the angels had possessed natural beatitude, consisting in the exercise of their natural powers and faculties upon God as their object. To this God had added, as in the case of Adam and Eve, a certain supernatural grace and divine indwelling in them, which was accompanied by a clearer revelation and knowledge of Himself. The good angels, having proved their fidelity, and passed through the difficulties of the conflict with evil, were admitted by God to the fulness of their reward, to the sight of the Beatific Vision, and to the state of confirmation in grace for ever. From what Our Lord has revealed to us concerning the future general judgment of the world, we may picture to ourselves that first judgment in heaven. The Eternal Father would have rehearsed the services of the spirits found faithful, comforted them for the troubles they had undergone, commended their virtues, invited them to take possession of their kingdom. What overwhelming joy for those blessed spirits! What surprise at the unmerited abundance of their reward! You are now enduring their experiences of trial and conflict. Be patient and persevere, and you will enjoy their experiences of judgment and glory.

III. At the same time God exercised His justice by awarding to the traitor angels the lot that they had deliberately chosen for themselves. They had sought for self without God; He leaves them to themselves without any portion of the Supreme Good, which is Himself. They had rejected and scorned His love, and bounty, and indwelling presence; He of necessity withdraws these, and leaves His irreconcilable foes to their own pride, perversity, blasphemy, falsehood, unsatisfied desire, frustrated spite, hatred of goodness and virtue. “And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world; and he was cast to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying: Now is come salvation and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ, because the accuser of our brethren is cast forth” (Apoc. xii. 9, 10). Thus was evil overthrown once in its conflict with good. So it will be again, and its next overthrow will be final. Do not be discouraged at the temporary pre-eminence of evil. Right and Truth are stronger and must prevail.