A COMING JUDGMENT

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from His glorious power. When He comes on that day, He will receive glory from His holy people—praise from all who believe. And this includes you, for you believed what we told you about Him.

2 Thessalonians 1:7b-10

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

After His resurrection, Jesus met with His disciples one final time before He ascended to sit at God’s right hand, exercising all authority over everything in Heaven and on earth. He told them to go to Jerusalem where they would receive the Holy Spirit before taking the Gospel first to Jerusalem, then Samaria and Judea, and then to all the ends of the earth (Acts 1:1-9). And as we know, the disciples followed Jesus’ direction to the tee.

But Jesus didn’t ascend to remain in the heavens. Rather, He will be coming back again, this time to judge the world. He told us so Himself as we see in the Gospel of Matthew:

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 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 by My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation 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, I needed clothes and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you came to visit Me.’”

“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing clothes and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and go to visit You?’”

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.’”

“Then He will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire 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, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after Me.’”

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help You?’”

“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’”

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Matthew 25:31-46

Jesus is coming back and the souls of the dead and the living will face one of two eternal outcomes.

Those who placed their belief in Jesus will be counted among the sheep while those who rejected Him will join the group of goats. The former who Jesus calls the righteous will go onto everlasting life while the latter, the wicked, “go away to eternal punishment”.

In other words, you don’t want to be a goat.

Thankfully, the Christians in Thessalonica had placed their faith in Jesus as Savior and so their eternal future was secure. As we look at today’s passage, we find the Apostle Paul reminding the believers of this truth:

He will come with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from His glorious power. When He comes on that day, He will receive glory from His holy people—praise from all who believe. And this includes you, for you believed what we told you about Him.  2 Thessalonians 1:7b-10

The day of Jesus’ return will be the best day ever for the sheep and the worst day ever for the goats, those “who don’t know God” and refused “to obey the good news” of Jesus. Those who believed in Him will enter into the most divine worship experience ever, giving Jesus the full glory and praise that He deserves.

I don’t know about you but as a disciple of Jesus, I so look forward to the day He comes back. But until then, there is still much work to be done here to help the unsaved change course and put their hope in the only One who can save them, Jesus who is the Way and the Truth and the Life...and the only One who can bring a person to God the Father for all eternity.

Thanks be to God for His love and the gift of His Son!

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to Gods4all@aol.com