When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Some think of the final judgment as a kind of trial. The judge will decide who is good and who is not! But here the Teacher refutes that concept.
Notice carefully. Here Jesus is not pictured as deciding who is a sheep and who is a goat. Everyone is already one or the other! He is merely separating them for final sentencing.
The sentence? To the righteous on His right hand, He says - Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. Those on the left are not so fortunate!
The righteous are surprised by His reason for their acceptance:
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
The cursed are equally surprised when they are told of their failure to help Jesus when He was in need. So, both the righteous and the cursed ask essentially the same question – When did we see you hungry or thirsty or sick or in prison?
I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me! And, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.
If this is how it will be – how it is - should we start looking for Jesus every day?
Not just looking, but ministering to Him!
ReplyDeleteWe will be known by our fruits.
Great thoughts. Thanks again for this blog!