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For the next several Mondays, we will be looking at the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 25, specifically the scene of the Last Judgment, when the Son of Man judges all nations. 

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“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then he will sit on His glorious throne. Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.”
– Jesus, to the disciples (Matthew 25:31-33)

Jesus spoke of the coming Day of Judgment by comparing people to sheep and goats. In first-century Palestine, sheep and goats often intermingled during the day. But at night, the animals would have to be separated. Here, the one doing the separating is Jesus Himself, the Son of Man.

As the story unfolds, the nations are brought before the throne of Jesus. But nations do not face God’s judgment together. Jesus proceeds to separate the individual people one from another, putting some on His right and others on His left.

Every human being who has ever lived will stand one day before God. Before His throne, there is no middle ground, no separate section for the “good intentioned” or “sincere.” You are either on one side of Jesus or the other. Jesus sees only sheep and goats, no mutations in between.

Today, many Christians shy away from speaking of God as the Judge, perhaps because many preachers have manipulatively abused the imagery of judgment to force people to act a certain way. Aside from the religious rhetoric, though, judgment is the profound cry of the human race. When we hear of a father abusing his daughter, the governmental injustice endured daily by Christians in persecuted lands, or the evil attack of a terrorist, something deep within our soul longs for God to bring His justice to our world. This is, after all, what judgment means: God’s justice being pronounced and put into effect.

The problem is, the sin we would judge in others is present in our own hearts. Even the most honorable individual would still be unjust compared to God. That is why we must place our faith in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross in order to have our sins pardoned. Only those who have pledged their allegiance to the King will be able to stand to the right of His throne.

written by Trevin Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog

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