Sunday, August 18, 2024

The Parables of Christ # 7 When The Nations Gather Before The Throne

                       When The Nations Gather Before The Throne

 

            According to a World Bank Report, Of the world’s 736 million extremely poor in 2015, 368 million lived in 5 countries. The five countries with the highest number of extremely poor are (in descending order) India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh. They are the most populous countries of South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, which account for 85 percent (629 million) of the world’s poor.[1] 

            Those of us living in the US, one of the world’s wealthiest countries, may not understand the world’s poverty and hunger. Having lived in India, I have seen abject poverty and people suffering from hunger. In their recent trip to the Dominican Republic, our young people have observed first-hand how many people live in poverty and go to bed hungry each night.

            The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has turned the Gaza Strip into a wasteland of poverty and hunger. A news report notes, “A mother of seven finds herself begging for food on the mud-caked streets of Rafah in Southern Gaza. She tries to feed her kids at least once a day, she says, while tending to her husband, a cancer and diabetes patient. Parents go hungry so that they can feed their children. Many Palestinians in northern Gaza have resorted to grinding animal feed into flour to stave off hunger.”

            What should Christians respond to when we watch or hear such heart-breaking news? Some might quickly jump to social action. Others might say we should care more about the soul’s salvation, so we must preach the gospel. Should we believers only preach the gospel? Or can we also render physical and material help to those in need? Or should we do both? Today’s parable of The Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25:31-46 will help us find the balance.

            In our series of the Parables of Christ, this parable has eternal consequences for the listener at the end of time. Jesus shared this parable in anticipation of his second coming and the subsequent establishment of His Kingdom on the earth. The setting of this parable is Heaven.

 

I. The Heavenly Court

            Matthew 25:31, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.” The parable opens up with, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him.” The Son of Man is a title Jesus used for himself, Jesus. “When He comes in, his glory with his angles,” suggests his second glorious return.

            Imagine yourself at the end of your journey on this earth; you were taken into the heavenly court, standing before the righteous judge Christ himself. You were speechless seeing Him seated on His glorious throne. As you observe, all the nations of the earth are also being gathered around the throne. What Happened when the nations gathered around the throne?

            Jesus separated people one from the other as a shepherd would separate the sheep from the goats. He keeps the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Before we go further, we must address a potential misinterpretation of this parable. Given our country’s current enthusiasm for politics, when we read “the right and the left,” we might quickly conclude Republicans and Democrats. This parable has nothing to do with our two political parties.

           

 

            Jesus used the sheep and goats analogy not to show one is better than the other but to highlight the vast differences between these two animals, which parallels the differences between the righteous and the wicked—Christ’s followers and non-believers. For a non-shepherd, the sheep and goats may look the same outwardly; a true shepherd has a keen eye to observe the innate differences based on their nature and personality. In the heavenly court, the prosecutor, the defense, the jury, and the judge are Jesus Christ, and the person being tried is you and me.

 

II The Random Acts Of Love and Compassion (Vs. 34-40)

            In verse 34, we read that the King begins the case by pronouncing the final Judgment on those on the right. He said, Come, you who my Father blesses; take your inheritance, the Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. Then he goes on to explain why.

            “I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was homeless, and you gave me a room. I was shivering, and you gave me clothes. I was sick, and you stopped to visit. I was in prison, and you came to me.”(The Message).

            The righteous must have been unexpectedly joyful by this royal welcome to inherit the Kingdom. Perhaps, to clear their doubt, they asked, “Lord, when did we see you going through all that and help you? Then the King replied, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” What is going on in these verses?

            Who were the least of these brothers and sisters that Jesus referred to? They could be the literal poor and people in need in the world or his disciples, those who were poor and struggling. Jesus wants us to be kind to the poor, the broken, the hurting, and the incarcerated.

            Prov 19:17, “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.” Matthew 6:3-4, “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

            Hebrews 13:3, “Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” Jesus treats whatever we do to the poor and the needy as we have done unto Him and rewards us with His Kingdom on the final day of Judgment. The righteous have cultivated a lifestyle of random acts of love and compassion. Ultimately, that kind of right living earned them rich rewards.

 

III. The Disguised Jesus (41-46)

            After hearing the rousing welcome and royal treatment of those on the right, those on the left may have expected a similar treatment. Instead, the King delivered this harsh  Judgment, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angles.” Then he gave reasons why. “I was hungry, and you gave me no meal. I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was homeless, and you gave me no bed. I was shivering, and you gave me no clothes. I was sick and in prison, and you never visited.”(The Message).

            Those on the left must have been shocked, but they, too, asked the same way those on the right did. They got a similar answer from the King, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” Those on the left are the unrighteous, or at times, the Bible refers to them as wicked. They are only concerned about themselves.

            They ignore the cries for help from the poor. This is how God deals with them. Proverbs 21:13,“Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.”

            Proverbs 14:31: Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.” The unrighteous failed to see that Jesus could come in disguise in the form of the poor, widows, orphans, homeless, strangers, and incarcerated.

            They missed the opportunities to help them in their time of need. Ultimately, that banished them away from God in Hell. How could a loving God send some to Heaven and others to hell, you may wonder?

            God is a loving God. He does not want anyone, including the wicked, to perish in hell, so he warns them to turn from their evil ways. (Eze 33:11) But He is also righteous judge, so in his final Judgment He sends the righteous to Heaven and the Wicked to hell, which is prepared for the Devil and his angels. When you face the great white throne, which side will you be on? On the right or the left? That depends on what you do or don’t do for the Lord here on the earth.

 

           



[1] https://blogs.worldbank.org/en/opendata/half-world-s-poor-live-just-5-countries#:~:text=The%205%20countries%20with%20the%20highest%20number,that%20together%20account%20for%2085%20percent%20(629