THE GOATS ON THE LEFT
Matt.25:
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all
the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall
be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a
shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
The day is almost here. No one knows the day or the hour,
but all who have the Spirit can discern the times. And on that day, Jesus the
Messiah will come again to this earth. Only this time He does not come as a
gentle Shepherd as He did when He walked among us for over thirty years. This
time He comes wrapped in all of His glory, the glory He had before time was.
This Redeemer, this King, this Lord comes from the majesty of His own throne
room and He enters this time and space reality, one that He Himself created,
and He takes up His rightful throne. And every eye will see Him; every knee
shall bow.
And with one Word He gathers the entire human race before
Him. Every soul that was ever born. All ethnic groups, all the aborted babies,
all who died in war, all who worshiped idols, all who lived one day and all who
lived over a century. Every soul is gathered before Him, and He will separate
them into only two groups. Those who have no redemptive garment and who stand
in the judgment of their own sins will be moved to the left. Those who wear the
blood washed robe of His righteousness will be moved to His right hand. And
looking out over the billions of souls the goats stand at His left awaiting
judgment while the sheep stand on His right awaiting entrance into His
everlasting kingdom.
In the arresting moment of that scene, the Great Shepherd
of our souls turns to His sheep and invites them into His everlasting kingdom.
And at that moment which of us will not be filled with wonder since now that we
stand in His presence we are assured we have done literally nothing to deserve
His favor. Then and only then we will understand the true meaning of God’s
grace. And now because of His blood and His offer of grace we will spend
eternity in His presence. All doubt is gone and all burdens are relieved.
And with a terrifying reality the Creator of all there is
casts the goats into everlasting fire which is also the eternal dwelling place
for the devil and his angels. This must be the most horrifying day in all
eternity when souls by the billions are cast away for all eternity. On that day
all the discussions and arguments about the existence of such a place will seem
like the debates of fools. There will be historical figures from all over the
world. There will be those who openly rejected Him and those who thought is
wise to wait. There will be ordained Christian preachers. There will be
people who tried to do good. There will be our loved ones who thought of us as
fools. There will be the kings of the earth. If they are allowed to scream as
they go, I can only imagine the intolerable wailing that will rebound all over
the halls of eternity.
This may be imagery now, but one day it will be reality.
Eternity will have arrived and all will be where they will be forever. This is
no fairy tale although it is an inconceivable event. But please, consider this.
If this event, which we say we believe will come, is actually a future reality,
where is the atmosphere of crisis and passion within the church? I mean if
every person born will either be ushered into everlasting bliss or everlasting
judgment, why are we so placid about the urgency such an event should bring?
The answer is very simple. We do not believe it.
If I may add, whenever this verse in Matthew is brought up, I am always reminded of what our Lord said in Chapter 7 of Matthew.
ReplyDelete21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
These words have scared me. They have sent me into prayer. The Christ is speaking of people who believe they are His. They claim His works and words. Yet the Lord casts them out. Just as sobering as the separation of the goats and the sheep. Just another aspect of it isn't it?
I really can't think of anything else to add to that conclusion. It would seem we don't believe that anymore...almost like a lack of interest.
ReplyDeletePastor Rick, please clarify - when you ask '...where is the atmosphere of...why are we so placid...?' are you referring to our own preparedness, or for the role we play in bringing others to Christ??? I suspect you mean both. As for the latter, please help us out here in your ministry. In this day and age, people (even church leaders) are very hostile toward those who try to live the gospel. Even in modern first world western countries, Christians are mildly persecuted for their faith. The pressure to conform to sexualy immorality and other abuses is constant. One does not even have to announce that they are a Christian to experience this. Aside from praying and standing firm, what else can we do?
ReplyDeleteI was referring to the lack of concern and passion for the lost, although your point about our own sanctification is well taken.
ReplyDeleteThanks for clarifying Pastor Rick. In this day and age the world often sees the believer as lost. The practice of greed, lust, selfish ambition etc is supposedly normal. It's very difficult to know what to do.
ReplyDeletelastdaysoftheage, thanks for your comment. When Jesus said he never knew them He means thst they were still unsaved, for the unsaved will be cast out from His holy presence.
ReplyDeleteWhat can we do?
ReplyDeleteWe can be humble enough to consider that there is more that God intends for us to learn in these Last Days, and be diligently willing to learn what was delivered by Christ through the Apostles to the Early Church.
We can be open to the fact that there is much more leaven we've accumulated in our lives than we even realize, and be diligently willing to remove what is shown.
We can consider that God promised to do a work in these last days, a work that we wouldn't believe if we were told, and be diligently willing to consider that He has in fact been accomplishing that work for some time, even as we have been unaware.
We can respond to the Truth, even when it means casting aside much of what we might now consider true, whether by tradition or our own perception, and be diligently willing to admit that yes, even we have been deceived in many ways by the father of lies.
Rick, I shared a ministry with you in the past. I pray you took some time to consider it. If you dismissed it without taking the time to consider, I would humbly request that you consider it once again. Thank you for the time.
In Him,
Chris