The Son of man comes in his glory

25:31-46 The Son of man comes in his glory

This is the last section in the Olivet Discourse. What I find especially intriguing is what Jesus emphasizes. (Please see Note at the end for an explanation of this post.)

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 the sheep from the goats:
33  And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

What a glorious scene: the Son of man coming in his glory, accompanied by all the holy angels, and sitting on the throne of his glory! What a day that will be!

When Jesus described his coming earlier (24:28-31), he said the angels would gather together his elect. Resurrection. Here he says all nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them one from another. Judgment.

“Sheep, which have ever been considered as the emblems of mildness, simplicity, patience, and usefulness, represent here the genuine disciples of Christ. Goats, which are naturally quarrelsome, lascivious, and excessively ill-scented, were considered as the symbols of riotous, profane, and impure men.” (Adam Clarke)

34  Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35  For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36  Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37  Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38   When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39   Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Come ye blessed of my Father – There are a couple of clues to their blessedness: (1) they are sheep; (2) they are on his right hand – right hand is good, left hand is bad. All ye left handed people, please don’t be mad at me! this is simply how ancient people viewed it. “The right hand signifies, among the rabbis, approbation and eminence: the left hand, rejection, and disapprobation. The right and left were emblematical of endless beatitude and endless misery among the Romans.” (Adam Clarke)

inherit the kingdom prepared for you – the results of this judgment appear to be eternal. The difference between sheep and goats is the kingdom. When the King comes he will bring the kingdom in its fullness: righteousness, peace, and joy on the earth. This will be the answer to our prayer, Thy kingdom come. Amen.

For I was hungry, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.

This is the point Jesus is making. The way these people lived marked them as sheep. Look how they cared for Jesus!

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

The sheep are now called the righteous. They are sheep, blessed of the Father, righteous.

Lord, when? – They are shocked! When did we take care of You?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Ah, they didn’t literally take care of Jesus, after all, he is in glory, they took care of his brethren, even the least of these my brethren and in this ye have done it unto me.

I believe my brethren refers to Christians. Jesus is emphasizing the care we should have one for another. He mentions six physical acts of mercy: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, house the homeless, clothe the naked, visit the sick, visit the prisoner (why would the brethren of Jesus even be in prison? Because of their faith in Christ. To visit people in prison in those days involved being associated with them, comforting them, and actually caring for their needs). This is how we should care for one another in the church. In the early part of Acts we read:

And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common... Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,  And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

neither was there any among them that lacked. Wow! We have to be intentional about this. Not living with one eye on the reward, but with both eyes looking for any in our fellowship that lack. Is there anyone in our fellowship that lacks? That is in need? Meet that need. I believe our eye and our works should radiate outward: our spiritual family, our natural family, our neighbors, people we encounter.

41  Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42  For I was hungry, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43  I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44  Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45  Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

The goats on his left hand receive terrible news: Depart from me, ye cursed. And why are they cursed? Because they did not do these physical acts of mercy unto his brethren.

Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels – As I said, the consequences of this judgment are eternal. Sheep are blessed of the Father, goats are cursed. Sheep inherit the kingdom, goats everlasting fire.

prepared for the devil and his angels – hell is real, but was not prepared for people. When you throw in with the one who rebelled against God at the beginning, you share his fate.

46  And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

There are many who say everlasting punishment is not everlasting, that it will cease after some period of time and all will be saved. There are those who believe the wicked will cease to exist. Jesus has here taught otherwise. And here is the key: everlasting and eternal are the same Greek word. The punishment of the wicked lasts as long as the bliss of the righteous. If punishment is temporary, so is the bliss. If the bliss is eternal, so is the punishment. Therefore, this is one of the most somber verses in the Bible. Throughout the entire Bible we are invited, urged, to come to Jesus that we might live and not die. Oh reader, have you believed in Jesus?


“From what our Lord has here said, we may see that God indispensably requires of every man to bring forth good fruit; and that a fruitless tree shall be inevitably cut down, and cast into the fire. Let it be also remarked that God does not here impute to his own children the good works which Jesus Christ did for them. No! Christ's feeding the multitudes in Judea will not be imputed to them, while persons in their own neighborhood are perishing through want, and they have wherewithal to relieve them. He gives them a power that they may glorify his name by it and have, in their own souls, the continued satisfaction which arises from succouring the distressed. Let it be farther remarked, that Christ does not say here that they have purchased the eternal life by these good deeds. No! for the power to work, and the means of working, came both from God. They first had redemption through his blood, and then his Spirit worked in them to will and to do. They were therefore only workers together with him, and could not be said, in any sense of the word, to purchase God's glory, with his own property. But though God works in them, and by them, he does not obey for them. The works of piety and mercy they perform, under the influence and by the aid of his grace. Thus God preserves the freedom of the human soul, and secures his own glory at the same time. Let it be remarked, farther, that the punishment inflicted on the foolish virgins, the slothful servant, and the cursed who are separated from God, was not because of their personal crimes; but because they were not good, and were not useful in the world. Their lives do not appear to have been stained with crimes, - but they were not adorned with virtues. They are sent to hell because they did no good. They were not renewed in the image of God; and hence did not bring forth fruit to his glory. If these harmless people are sent to perdition, what must the end be of the wicked and profligate!” (Adam Clarke)


Note at the end – There is room for a lot of discussion concerning things relative to this chapter that I am not covering in this post. For example: What is the relationship of this judgment to the Great White Throne judgment in Revelation 20? There are those who see this chapter as describing events that will take place before a one thousand year reign of Christ on the earth. In their view there are two judgments and two resurrections, separated by a thousand years.(Actually, some of them believe in three judgments and three resurrections!) Others believe this chapter speaks of what is called the ‘general judgment’ (the one and only final judgment). While all this can be helpful in developing an understanding of the eschaton, the overall picture of the last days, I have avoided that in this post. Why? I am limited in my space, so I decided to focus on what Jesus was emphasizing – judgment and what would commend or else condemn people in that day.

finis