Imagine this scenario, because you very well might live it. You belong to Jesus through the faith He formed in you and your baptism into His death. You have died years ago and have been with Jesus in Heaven, and now the Day has finally arrived. What day? Judgment Day. This should be largely irrelevant to you, right? Clearly you have already been judged and since you have been covered in the blood of Jesus, you have been found sinless in the eyes of God. All of this is true, except for the irrelevant part.
The Bible clearly states that Judgment Day is a day of judgment for all–saved or lost, living or dead. It is not a formality. It has a real bearing on our future.
Matthew 25:31f tells the “parable” of the sheep and goats. It is not exactly a parable. It uses one metaphor to explain that on Judgment Day, the righteous and the unrighteous will be spatially separated like a shepherd does with sheep and goats. This separation is important to note in this story, because it is where grace is found in this description. A reader who fails to recognize this will observe the judgment of our deeds which is described here and jump to a very false and dangerous conclusion–that we are saved based on our works.
In this description, the people on the right (those who are righteous) are commended for all the good things they did. But ask yourself, do you really think they never did anything wrong or missed an opportunity to do good? Why aren’t they being called out on the carpet for all their sins? It is because they are on the right, and those on the right have been saved by what God has done for them through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jesus covers their sins and all that is left is their good.
Those on the left are sternly rebuked for their sins. Ask yourself again, do you really think that these people never did anything charitable or kind? Why are they only condemned for their failures. The answer–they don’t have Jesus’ forgiveness, and without that no charity, goodness or kindness can compensate for or cover your sins. It is all for nothing. They are damned. Some of them are relatively nice people.
For those who are ultimately damned, Judgment Day is about their damnation. Clearly this is not a hypothetical group. It is a substantial group–a majority even. Why would a God of love do this? Because He is also a God of uncompromising justice and He had already provided a costly solution that was soundly rejected by this group.
The Sheep and the Goats discourse describes the Judgment Day experience as if it were a group experience. Next time, I will take you to another Judgment Day passage that describes it as an individual experience. I think it is very interesting and important. I hope you read it.
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