We have come to
the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount of
Olives, as contained in Matthew 24
& 25. It contains Jesus’ most succinct teaching on the end times. From
here follows a further plot to kill Jesus, His anointing at Bethany, the
institution of the Lord’s Supper, the betrayal and arrest, the crucifixion and
resurrection, ending with the Great Commission in Matthew 28.
Today is Palm Sunday, the day on which the church remembers the Lord’s
triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Normally we would focus on Matthew 21:1-11, but in the providence of God we can look to the
greater fulfilment of that triumphal entry.
The ultimate triumphal entry will
be the second coming of the Lord Jesus, and the ultimate event associated with
that 2nd coming is the final judgement, our focus for today. We have seen the Lord Jesus speaking about His
triumphal coming in 24:29ff. This
was followed by 2 parables. The parable of the 10 virgins (25:1-13) is an exhortation to be
prepared for His second coming, and the parable
of the talents (25:14-29)
deals with the matter of giving a personal account to the Lord
for the investment that He has
made in us. The closing words of the
parable of the talents (25:28-30)
lead us to the words on the final judgement (25:31-46). So, what we now read from v.31 onwards, builds
on what Jesus has said before! These are solemn and heart searching words.
Our text
contains a description of
1.
His ultimate
triumphal entry (v.31) “When the Son of Man comes in his glory…”
2.
The gathering
of all the nations (v.32a) “Before Him will be
gathered all the nations”
3.
The great
separation (vv.32b-46) “And he will separate people from one
another…”
1. THE ULTIMATE
TRIUMPHAL ENTRY (v.31)
V. 31 The judgment
of the whole world (all nations) begins when the Son of Man comes in
His glory and all the angels with him…”. We will comment on the role of the angels later. This same Jesus who first came
in the form of a little baby- supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit in
Mary, born in humble circumstances, taking on the form of a servant, despised
and rejected by men, nailed to a cross, suffering the punishment that was due
to the worst of criminals - this same
Jesus now comes in His true glory – the glory He had before the world
existed (Jn.17:5).
“He will sit on His glorious
throne”. God is on the throne of the Universe. This is the God whom Isaiah
saw in Isaiah 6:1ff. The throne is a
place of authority and judgement. God is the Supreme Judge.[1] God the Father has submitted all judgment to
Jesus (Jn. 5:22). He and the Father are one, and they are united in
their judgement.
2. THE GATHERING OF ALL THE NATIONS (v.32a)
“Before Him will be gathered all the nations…” – these are all people, created in his image, from all times, since the beginning of the creation of man, from Adam and Eve to the last one born before the coming of Christ. All will be gathered before Him who is seated on His glorious throne.
3. THE GREAT SEPARATION (vv.32b-46)
This is what constitutes the main part of our text. These are Jesus’
closing comments of His teaching on the
final things. The key word is separation[2]: “And he will separate people from one another as a shepherd separates
the sheep from the goats“.
In the first place we need to ask, “What
gives Him the right to separate the peoples of the world in this way?” The people of the world may now say, “but, I never belonged to this Christian
religion! I was a Muslim, a Buddhist, or an Atheist. He has no right to judge me.” The Bible however maintains that this
YAHWEH, the LORD, this JESUS whom they
have denied and despised is in fact the
sovereign ruler of the earth. The Bible steadfastly maintains that “the earth is the LORD’s and the fullness
thereof, the world and all those that dwell therein” (Ps.24:1). Since then He owns all
people, He has the right to judge all people/ nations.
Secondly, we need to ask, “How
will he judge all people, seeing that many have returned to dust?” Now we
need to remember that the second coming of Christ will be associated with a
general resurrection of the just and the unjust (Acts 24:15). Note that the
righteous dead will be resurrected first (1
Thess. 4:16,17). All this is in accordance with the prophecy of Daniel: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the
earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting
contempt“(Dan.12:2). The Bible insists that at the end of the ages
there must be a righteous judgement, and we are glad, for there is so much
unfairness and injustice in this world now. So, He must judge all! This teaching is
strongly represented in the apostolic message. Peter, when called to
speak to the household of Cornelius, said in Acts 10:42: “He
commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God
appointed as judge of the living and the dead”. To the Athenian
philosophers Paul said, “he has set a day when he will judge the
world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this
to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). To the Corinthians he wrote,
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the
body, whether good or bad.”(2 Cor. 5:10)
Associated with the coming of Christ will be the angels. They do
not only accompany Him in an impressive dazzling splendor at His triumphal
return, but we note that they have a specific job to do. Their work is to gather
the evil doers. In Matt.13:41-42
(Parable of the weeds) we read “The
Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom
all causes of sin and all lawbreakers,
and throw them into the fiery furnace.” But
their work will also be to gather the elect (Matt.24:31). “And he will send his angels with a
loud trumpet call, and they will gather his
elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.” So
we see then that the world (the nations) – the just and the unjust, the wicked
and the elect are both spoken to by the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole world is accountable
before God (Rom 3:19).
Now follows the teaching on the great Separation: “… and
He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep
from the goats. And He will put the sheep
on his right and the goats on
his left.” (25:32b-33). The
parable of the wheat and the weeds teaches us that sheep and goats, Christ’s
people and non- Christians live together in this world, until that day
when the Great Shepherd comes. On that day He will make an accurate distinction
between the two. But what will be the
criteria by which He separate them?
25:34- 46 A Commendation and a Condemnation
Here we find the basis of Jesus’ acquittal and
judgment, respectively on the righteous (25:34-40) and the on the unrighteous
(25:41-46).
1. The commendation (25:34-40) with respect to the sheep
comes first. V.34 is a crucial text. “Then the King
will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father;
inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. Why is this verse important? It forms the
basis of a true believer’s justification before God. Now look at vv. 35
& 36. If you read this without first considering v.34, you might come to the
conclusion that the commendation of the righteous is primarily
based on their good works! “I fed the hungry; I welcomed strangers; I
clothed the naked; I visited the sick; I visited the prisoners….”. The
tempting conclusion is that since I did
these things, therefore I
will inherit the kingdom. But NO! The
justification of the righteous is established on the basis of their election in
eternity… ”from the foundation of the world” (v.34). This matches Jesus own teaching in this
sermon, here (see Matthew 24:22,24,31)
and elsewhere. The basis of God’s salvation
is rooted not in our works but in His mercy. The Bible teaches that God’s sheep are
justified before the beginning of time.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ; for
he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and
blameless in his sight. In love He predestined us … (Eph.1:3-4)
“God … who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of
anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This
grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.“ (2 Tim.
1:9)
Nobody is ever justified on the basis of their works before God. We are always
justified on the basis of God’s sovereign grace ALONE, which is based on the atoning
death of Christ for sinners ALONE. He ALONE is the ROOT of our salvation.
Having said that, what then about the strong emphasis on the good works
(or the absence of them) that the Great Judge, the Lord Jesus Christ sees, (or fails
to see) here? They are the FRUIT, or the lack of FRUIT which demonstrate our salvation.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING – FRUIT BEARING CHRISTIANS
You will remember that throughout His ministry on earth, the Lord Jesus
had stressed the importance of showing mercy to the poor, the hungry and the
naked and the sick and those that were imprisoned because of righteousness.[3] He commands each believer to do the same.
What is of significance here is the
fact that in each case, a little need is met in the lives of the least of my brothers (i.e.
those of the Christian household- who should be always first à Gal. 6:10). Serving the members of Christ in this way honours and
serves the Lord Jesus Christ (v.40). Jesus is most honoured in the
daily, spontaneous, random little acts of Christian compassion. They are daily
moved by the love of Jesus to do these things, and they are mostly not aware of
the good that they do to their brothers. These are called the ‘blessed’
here. Wonderful!
By way of contrast we find the proof of absent works in vv.41-45. Christ’s words to them begin with a condemnation
(v.41): “Depart from me, you cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels“. Notice - their judgment rests on the proof of
absence of love for the least of these
members of his household. Notice that not
a single mention of the really bad sins, murder, idolatry, adultery, theft etc.
is mentioned! The Bible is clear that these will not inherit the kingdom of
heaven (Gal. 5:19-21). Jesus is here
focusing on the subtle sins and signs of absence of grace in the heart. Notice that the wicked express surprise at the
fact that they are judged for their
lack of caring for these ‘ little things’
(v.44). But in truth their lack of care in these matters shows that they
have an unbelieving heart. They have no ROOT and therefore no FRUIT. The result
product of unbelief is eternal
punishment (24: 51; 25: 30 41, 46)
CONCLUSION
Jesus’ teaching on the end-times in Matt 24 & 25 does not only reveal the destruction of the physical temple, and the deception of
many by the anti- Christ, and the
subsequent victorious coming of Christ – and the destruction of the universe as we know it. He draws attention to our readiness to receive Him. He draws
attention to the fruitfulness of our
lives in the parable of the talents, and in particular our daily fruitfulness in the ordinary things that flow out of our hearts in
particular to our brothers and sisters in Christ. He concludes His teaching by
speaking of your and my commendation or condemnation at the end of days!
It begs us to take a good look at ourselves and the great question therefore
is this: WHERE WILL YOU SPEND ETERNITY?
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