Jesus Will Judge the Nations

Matthew 25:31-46

31 "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. 33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'

37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'

41 "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.'

44 "Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 45 Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

Jesus will come back in all His glory not fully displayed as the first time He came into the world as the Son of Man to take on our sin and crucify it with Him.  This second coming will show who the Son of God really is to all and cannot be denied when the angels accompany Him for then the deniers and rejectors will be speechless when faced with the King of kings and Lord of lords (Isaiah 45:22-24, Philippians 2:10-11, 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 17:14, 19:13, 16) as He comes to judge the world in righteousness (Psalm 9:8, Acts 17:31).  He will assemble everyone from all nations, including Israel, and separate those who are His in the righteousness of Christ from those who are not as symbolized like sheep and goats.  Only the sheep called into His everlasting pasture are His because they have been given the kingdom prepared before creation to be there in the end having escaped the condemnation of judgment by God’s marvelous grace (1 Peter 2:9).  Those who continue in rejecting Jesus Christ face this as demonstrated by their lack of love for their neighbor (Romans 2:4-8), a hallmark of the true sheep according to 1 John 2:3-4, 10-11, 3:10, 14).  The works of love by the sheep are not always consciously known even, for they do these things out of a changed heart that follows the word of God written there by the finger of His Spirit (Romans 2:15, 2 Corinthians 3:3) as much more than a code on tablets of stone for Moses to try to follow.  Those who God never knew (though some convinced themselves they were of Christ by association or the works they did) the Lord will be cast away from Him as cursed for not believing and receiving His Son (John 1:12) as their lives display a lack of true love from the heart for others. Those who have been transformed through repentance and faith by God’s work will be granted entrance to the kingdom to come while all others will suffer everlasting consequences of punishment.  Only those souls made righteous (Romans 5:19, Hebrews 12:22-24) in Christ have this promise of eternal life in the presence of God.  When judgment comes, may all who read these verses have been born again to this living hope (1 Peter 1:3) as the called, chosen, and faithful (Revelation 17:14) of God in Jesus Christ our Lord.