We
are going to conclude our discussion of the signs of the times which
our Lord gave to us. I intend to conclude our discussion of them by
making a few remarks about Matthew 25:31-46. I would really appreciate
your reading these verses in your Bibles and reading also the chapter I
wrote on these verses in Mysteries of the Kingdom.
These
verses describe the final judgment that will take place when our Lord
comes again to take His whole church into heaven. It is a fitting
conclusion to the discussion of the signs of Christ’s coming, and it
ties in perfectly with the two parables that Jesus taught in the earlier
verses of this chapter. It explains what will happen to those who are
not waiting for the Lord’s coming, and what the reward will be for those
who do await His coming.
The
interesting part of this passage is that Jesus both teaches the
doctrine of election and at the same time speaks of the fact that the
elect receive the reward of grace.
The
doctrine of election is taught in two ways. The first is that the elect
are separated from the reprobate before final judgment is pronounced.
When the Lord comes again He will take His angels with Him and raise all
from the grave: the righteous and the unrighteous. All who ever lived
will be gathered before Him as He sits on His throne of glory. That will
be billions and billions of people. We cannot imagine very well how
that will be, but it will follow the general resurrection of the bodies
of those who are already in heaven or already in hell.
The
division of all takes place, of course, at the moment of death, for the
wicked when they die go to hell, and the righteous go immediately into
heaven – except those who are still living at the moment of Christ’s
return. In the judgment, therefore, the wicked and the righteous are
separated. And they are separated as already saved or rejected.
The
second reference to election is that the elect are called “sheep” while
the wicked are called goats. The name “sheep” is one of Scripture’s
favorite ways of speaking of God’s people. This is most pronounced in
John 10 where Jesus pictures Himself as the good shepherd who calls His
sheep by their names and leads them. And John, in his gospel, was
undoubtedly referring to Psalm 23. Christ loves His sheep and died for
them. And they are now publicly called sheep.
On
the other hand, the sheep are given the reward of grace, while the
wicked are sent into everlasting destruction. But the judgment is
according to whether or not men fed Christ when He was hungry, clothed
Him when He was naked, gave him a drink when He was thirsty, and visited
Him in prison. The Lord makes clear that taking care of Christ’s needs
was done by caring for His brethren, even the least of them, or refusing
to do these things to Christ’s brethren. There are many who claim to be
doing these things, but actually are not doing them at all.
What
is the difference that marks those who truly do these things to Christ
and those who do not? It is most interesting and comes to the heart of
the Christian’s life. Those who do these things in such a way that they
merit Christ’s approval, are not aware that they do them; while those
who do not truly do these things to Christ are eager to tell the Lord of
all that they have done.
Why is this the difference?
The
wicked claim to help people by all their good works out of the motive
of self-glorification. They are quick to tell the Lord that they did
these things at every opportunity. They gave money for many worthy
causes and they did much to alleviate suffering. But they know they did
it. And so they did these things for their own glory.
But
the righteous are different. They are not aware of doing these things.
Why not? They did these things because they were conscious of the great
miracle of their own salvation. They were conscious of the fact that
they were unworthy sinners who deserved only hell. They were not
thinking about what they had done for others, but what Christ had done
for them. But knowing their salvation, they were so thankful that they
lived in humble willingness to love their neighbor – which is to fulfill
the law. They did these things thoughtlessly, with no regard to their
own good work. They do not even remember it. They know that in
everything they did they sinned. “When did we see thee naked and clothed
thee? . . . .” They did not think about it at the time, and they had
forgotten what they had done. What they did was truly for God’s glory,
not their own.
And
so, when the Lord rewards them, they are surprised and perplexed. ”We
never did anything for Thee, Lord. All we did was sin. We are saved, not
on the basis of anything we did, but out of Thy great love for us.”
To
them the Lord says, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord!” They know that they are saved by grace. They
gave and do now give all glory to Christ and to God.
Such is the Lord’s teaching concerning our calling while we watch and pray, waiting for the Lord’s return.
May
God give us grace to live in constant hope of His coming and may we
pray from our hearts, “Come, Lord Jesus; yea, come quickly.” There is
nothing better in this life or in the life to come than to hear those
blessed words from our Lord’s mouth: “Well done, good and faithful
servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord!”
Prof. Herman Hanko
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