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Reading Matthew 25:31-33 about the final judgment at the throne of Christ, where He will consign the righteous to eternal life but the wicked will be sent to eternal punishment. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!
At the final judgment, the nations will be gathered before Christ. And for the righteous, they will enter into eternal life. But for the wicked, they will enter into eternal punishment, when we understand the text.
This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ, that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com.
Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone. Well, in our study of the Olivet Discourse, we have come to the final turn. Jesus has been telling his disciples what it will be like on the day of the temple's destruction, then the day of his return, and finally, what it will be like at the very end.
We come to the final judgment in Matthew 25, verses 31 to 46, which I'll read from the Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right, and the goats on his left.
Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom, which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat.
I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in. Naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty, and give you something to drink?
And when did we see you a stranger, and invite you in, or naked, and clothe you? And when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.
Then he will also say to those on his left, Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat.
I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, and you did not invite me in. Naked, and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then they themselves also will answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of you?
Then he will answer them, saying, Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment. But the righteous, into eternal life.
And we will read that passage again tomorrow, looking more at the specifics of what Jesus is saying to those on his right hand and on his left. For today, we want to consider the final judgment itself.
So let's come back to verse 31. When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne, and all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
Now there are some who have theorized here that this is a judgment that is happening all the time. So whenever anyone dies, they go and stand before the Lord, and a sentence is declared whether they will enter into eternal life or enter into eternal destruction.
Now there is some kind of judgment that happens like that when a person dies. And we know that from Luke chapter 16, where Jesus talks about the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man goes to a place of fiery torment.
Lazarus is carried by angels to Abraham's bosom, as we call it, or Abraham's side. And there he is being cared for. And they can even look across whatever chasm is separating the two in paradise. There's paradise, which is Abraham's bosom.
Then there's some sort of a chasm, and then there's the place of fiery torment. So that the rich man even asks that Lazarus would dip his finger in water so that he can drop the water on the rich man's tongue and cool him off in this place of fiery torment.
But Abraham says, you can't come over here, and we can't come over there. There's a gulf. There is a chasm that has been fixed between us. So there's a picture there of what paradise looks like. Those who are with God forever in glory apparently can see into that place where God is pouring out his wrath forever on those who are being destroyed.
And even those who are being destroyed can look and see the righteous ones who will be with God forever in his eternal kingdom. Now, I don't know if that's always going to be the case. That's just up until the very final judgment when death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire, as said in Revelation 2014.
And then after that, those who are with God forever in glory won't see what's happening when his wrath is being poured out on the wicked forever. I don't know. I'm not going to go off on that tangent.
Let's just focus on what we're talking about here concerning the final judgment. So some have that theory that this judgment talked about here in Matthew 25 is that everyday kind of judgment where anyone who dies stands before God and goes either to heaven or hell or a place of fiery torment.
But that's not what we're reading about here. This is the last judgment. This is like what's at the end of Revelation 20, verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them.
And I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were opened. And another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done.
And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them and they were judged each one of them according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. So that's the final judgment that we read about there in Revelation 20.
And that's what Jesus is describing here. Revelation gives us a little more details there where it's describing great books that are opened up. Jesus doesn't mention great books being opened up here, but you can see how these people are being judged by their works.
Just as it's as it said in Revelation 2012, the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And so here is Jesus even saying to the righteous on his right and the wicked on his left, you will enter into eternal life to those on his right.
You will go into eternal punishment to those on his left. And all of that based on what they had done. So Revelation mentions great books. Jesus is, in a sense, telling the righteous, here's what's written in the book about you.
And to the wicked, here's what's written in the book about you. So we're reading about that last judgment that's mentioned there in Revelation 20. And Jesus talks about this as well in John 5, where he says in verse 25, truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God and those who hear will live for as the father has life in himself.
So he has granted the son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the son of man. Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out.
Those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. That's what's said there in John 5. So we have multiple places where this is talked about.
Matthew is the only one that presents the final judgment in this way, where he puts the righteous on his right and the wicked on his left. So again, the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, and then he will sit on his glorious throne.
This is Christ's return. This is his second coming. And there is not a third coming. I know that there are there are people that will be frustrated with me for saying this. But nonetheless, I'm going to make it plain that I am not a dispensationalist.
And I do not see in the Bible anywhere that there is a secret rapture. We talked about this earlier with Christ's return. It's going to be bright and loud. Nowhere, nowhere in the Bible, nowhere is the return of Christ ever described as a secret.
Rapture.
Nowhere.
That it's just like suddenly people just vanish and nobody knows what happened. What was that? People are gone. You know, just the way it is shown in all the apocalyptic entertainment, like Left Behind or Like a Thief in the Night or any of those other films, books, whatever.
It seems like the genre of Christian apocalypse is only that. It's only the secret rapture, seven years of tribulation, and then Christ comes back.
Again.
It's the only story they know how to tell. Is there any Christian film out there that's gone with the historic premill, the amillennial or the postmillennial perspective? I guess the other three views just don't make for good theater.
But the the dispensational view of there being a secret rapture, then a seven year period of tribulation where you have the Antichrist, God dealing with Israel and things like that. And then at the end of that seven year tribulation, if you if you look at the graphs or the or the timelines, they'll put Christ's return at the end of that seven year tribulation as being the second coming.
But really, that's the third coming, isn't it? Since his second coming would have been the rapture that happens at the beginning of the seven year period of tribulation. And then his third coming would be what happens at the end of the seven year period of tribulation.
There's not two second comings. Jesus doesn't come back twice. He returns once. And everywhere that we have this talked about in the New Testament, he comes back with his angels and he executes judgment.
Consider what we had read earlier in First Thessalonians four when we were discussing these things, Paul had said, I do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with a voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.
And so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore, encourage one another with these words. Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you for you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
While people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night.
Those who get drunk are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with him.
Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing. Now then, as Paul has said that there twice, I read from chapter four, verse 13 through chapter five, verse 11. And at the end of both sections in chapter four, verse 18, he says, encourage one another with these words in chapter five, verse 11, he says, encourage one another and build one another up.
I don't see our disagreements on the timeline of things that are going to happen at Christ's return as being a cause for division. I have many dispensationalist brothers and I will rib them for it and they rib me for it and we'll say, you know, I'm going up when the rapture happens.
I don't know what you're going to do. You're going to hang out down here, you know, something like that. I believe that the rapture and the judgment are the same event when Christ returns and the judgment happens.
If you do a reading through first Thessalonians four and five, just like I did there, I don't see how you can come to the conclusion that there's some sort of seven year period of tribulation that happens somewhere in the middle of all of that.
It is, it's such a secret rapture that the Bible doesn't even mention it. So again, I'll rib my dispensationalist brothers for it. I don't see it. It's not in the Bible anywhere. They'll rib me about it.
It's not a cause for division, but nonetheless, of all four end times views, this is the one where I know I don't stand. I'm not in the dispensationalist camp simply because there is not a secret rapture, a seven year period of tribulation, and then another return of Christ.
Everything that we read about concerning the return of Christ in the New Testament puts the taking up of the saints and the judgment of the wicked on the same day. It's the same event. Consider what we read in second Thessalonians chapter one.
It is right for God to repay with affliction, those who afflict you and to give rest to you who are afflicted and to us as well at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, executing vengeance on those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might when he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who have believed for our witness to you was believed.
There you have it said in second Thessalonians one that Christ returned in the judgment of the wicked and the taking up of his saints who marvel at the majesty of the glory of Christ. All of that is happening on the same day.
And it's going to be then that when Christ takes up his saints that he pours out judgment on the wicked. The great white throne of judgment as it's called in Revelation 20 happens there. When Christ returns that's the last event and we're all going to be taken up with him.
We will all be gathered before his throne and the judgment will be issued. Those who do wicked will go away to eternal punishment but the righteous to eternal life and that's the picture that we have happening here in Matthew chapter 25.
All the nations are gathered before him and he will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right and the goats will go on his left.
Then we have this dialogue that happens in the middle here with Jesus addressing first the righteous and then talking to the wicked. And then the final statement at the end of Matthew 25 in verse 46 is this.
These will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life. There is really a hell. It is a real place as timid and as cowardly as many preachers are to talk about it. No one talked about it more than Jesus did.
Now listen, I understand the timidity by which some people do. They just don't want to talk about hell. There was one time I was listening to K-Love. I know that was a mistake but it was one of the women DJs that was on.
I had actually turned it on because I was doing a review for my blog and it was like I haven't listened to K-Love in a long time. Let me see how much the sound of the radio station has changed since the last time I listened to this.
But anyway, the woman DJ was on. I wish I had recorded it. I would have saved that recording and played it every chance I got. But anyway, she was on and she had read a quote from C .S. Lewis and you could tell that she had not read the quote in advance because Lewis mentioned hell in this quote and she had a problem even saying that word.
And she got to the word hell in the quote and she stopped. There was like a second or two of dead air while she's processing, I don't really want to say the word hell. And so she changed it to Hades, but she didn't just say Hades, she went Hades, whatever, and then kept going.
And it was stunning as I'm sitting there listening to it. But on the one hand, I relate, I understand, because hell, it's a harrowing thing. It really is a scary, scary thing to think about this. Of somebody being in eternal punishment forever and ever and they will never come out of it.
It is the wrath of God being poured out on them forever. And in a place, as we had read earlier, where Jesus describes it as being a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. And I've explained that before.
There are some that will be in sorrow for all eternity, others that will be angry and gnashing their teeth at God for all eternity, the way that Jesus describes what this place will be like. But it's eternal punishment under the judgment and wrath of God forever.
And there's no hope, no way out. That's where a person is for all eternity. What a scary, scary thing to think about. So I understand why a person can be timid when it comes to talking about hell. I do relate in that sense.
But at the same time, it's not a subject we can shy away from because our Lord did not shy away from it. He talked about hell as much as he did. Number one, because no one was more qualified to talk about it.
Who else to talk about what's on the other side than the one who came from the other side. But number two, it was so you would not go there. Because it is indeed a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Hebrews 10 31. If we understand the urgency that those who do not believe in Jesus will go away to eternal.
Punishment.
If we understand that, that's really going to change the way that we approach evangelism. We'll understand it is a life or death issue. And even beyond that, this is an eternal issue. Your eternal soul is at stake.
And that is why we want to share the gospel with the lost, because we don't want them to go there so that they will turn from their sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. So that they will have their sins forgiven and have fellowship with God and the promise of eternal life with him forever in his glorious kingdom.
That's what we want. We don't want to see people go to hell. We want to see them turn from their sin to Christ and be saved. Now, as a person who loves righteousness, I still want to see the righteousness of God accomplished, which means he will pour out his wrath on the wicked.
That's going to happen. And Revelation even gives a picture of heaven of the saints around the throne rejoicing in God because he poured out his judgment and wrath on the wicked. We will praise God for that because his justice was done in the earth.
But for the time being, we need to have a heart for sinners. As Paul describes, weeping for them in Philippians chapter 3 and in Romans chapter 9, because he doesn't want them to go to destruction. He wants them to be rescued and come and celebrate God with us forever in his eternal kingdom.
So it is a terrifying thing to consider hell, but Jesus nonetheless ends the Olivet discourse with this, that the wicked go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. And we'll consider more of the specifics of this tomorrow as Jesus has this exchange between the righteous and the wicked continue in the way of Christ, pursuing holiness.
As Peter said in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 11, since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt away as they burn.
But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness.
Dwells.
Let us pray. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we have read here. And I pray it does fill us with hope, but also a sense of understanding that the gospel is the only message that is going to save a person from that destiny of eternal punishment and bring them into eternal life.
So let us be bold with the gospel. Romans 1 16, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. And so we share the gospel with others because we don't want them to fall into judgment.
We would rather have them join us celebrating Christ our savior in eternal life. Keep us steadfast in the faith, doing those things that we have been directed to do in Christ Jesus according to your word, growing in holiness, fleeing from sin.
May it be far away from us, God, keep the temptations of our flesh away and our focus upon Christ, the author and the perfecter of our faith. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray.
Amen.
Pastor Gabe is the author of several books and Bible studies available in paperback or for your e-reader. For titles and more information, visit our website at www .wutt .com. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in God's word when we understand the text.