Man’s Final Destiny

The Son of Man decides the destiny of every man. The Westminster Confession of Faith makes this statement about the final judgment: “God hath appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father. In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.” (Chapter XXXIII, Section 1) This portion of Scripture, Matthew 25:31-46, speaks about the Son of Man coming, not in humiliation but in his glory as King and Judge, to decide the eternal destiny of all humanity.

Jesus declared many times that he would come again in great glory and power to judge every person according to what he or she has done in the body. In Matthew 16:26-27 he said, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.” In Matthew 13:40-43 he said, “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.” In Matthew 24, verse 14, Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come,” and in verses 30-31 he said, “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.”

The Glory of the Son of Man

In Matthew 24:31 we read that the Son of Man will come in glory. What does that mean? A few days after speaking this, Jesus went to the cross to die in behalf of us, as we read in Matthew 26:2. His first coming was in humiliation, as a man born of a woman. There was no place for him at the inn, so his parents laid him in a manger. When he first came, he came for the specific purpose of dying as a criminal in behalf of us. But he is not humiliated anymore! Christ died, was raised, ascended into the heavens, and is seated on the right hand of God the Father. When he comes again, he will come in great glory.

There was a preview of his glory seen on the Mount of Transfiguration. Matthew 17:2 says, “There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.” In other words, this Jesus, who came in humiliation, was God clothed in human flesh. But he is coming again in the splendor of his glory. Paul says, “Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven, on earth, and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11) He is coming as God, in manifest splendor and glory.

The Son of Man will not only come in glory, but he also will have a glorious retinue. All the angels of heaven will accompany him. Just as the holy angels sang to him on the day of his birth, so also they will be with him as he comes down to judge. Their presence will enhance his glory. Jude spoke about this: “Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied . . . ‘See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone and to convict all the ungodly. . . .'” (Jude 14, 15) What a magnificent retinue! No angel has ever come with any other king at any time in history. We do read about kings coming in great pomp, such as King Agrippa and Bernice did when they came to listen to St. Paul in Acts 25:23, but no angels were with them. But all the holy angels will come with King Jesus Christ as he comes a second time to judge the destiny of every person.

Not only that, this glorious One who will come in glory has a glorious throne. He is called the King in verses 34 and 40, which are the only places where Jesus Christ did call himself King. But notice, Jesus said he will come and will sit on his throne in heavenly glory–the throne of his glory, in other words. He will sit on his glorious throne as King and Judge. All judgment, all authority, is given to the Son. This is the great white throne that we read about in Revelation 20:11. There will be dazzling glory everywhere in the throne room of this King. There will be brilliance, splendor, holiness, and awesome purity.

The Summons of the Son

When the Son of Man comes again in glory, with his angels with him, every person, dead and living, will be gathered to his presence. This was prophesied long ago, as we read in Daniel 12:2: “Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.” Jesus also spoke about it in John 5:27-29: “And he [the Father] has given him [the Son] authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.” Then he said, “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice and come out–those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.”

The elect of God will be summoned and gathered, as we read in Matthew 24:31: “And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds.” And not only that, the wicked will be summoned and be gathered, as we read in Matthew 13:41-42: “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This is what St. Paul declared to the dignified people of Athens as he spoke in the meeting of the Areopagus: “For he [God] has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31)

Everyone will be gathered. No one will have the power to resist this calling of the Judge. The dead and living, the good and the wicked–no one will escape. And the wicked will mourn. Look at Matthew 24:30 “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn.” In Revelation 20:12 John says, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. . ” Everyone will be there. The arrogant, the atheists, the idolaters of the world will be there. Kings, generals, industrialists, scientists, movie stars, slaves, rich, poor, educated, ignorant–everyone from every part of the globe will come when he summons.

Before this happens, Jesus says we, his disciples, must do something for all nations. In Matthew 24:14 he says, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end shall come.” In Matthew 28:19-20 he told his disciples, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” So here we see the basis of judgment, which is obedience to Christ, applies to all nations, including Israel. There are no exceptions! The gospel will be preached, and all nations must come when this Supreme Judge summons by his mighty power.

The Final Separation of the Son of Man

The purpose of this coming of the Son of Man is to separate people. Oh, now we can pretend that we are Christians and mingle with real believers, but when Jesus comes again, he will make a separation. The glorious Son of Man, the King, will divide humanity into two. He will declare who is good and who is wicked, like a shepherd who divides and separates his sheep from his goats. During the day the shepherd keeps the sheep and goats together, but in the evening he must separate them. Why? Sheep can remain in the open field, but the goats must be put into a warm shelter because they cannot endure the cold. In the same way, King Jesus will separate his disciples, the sheep, from the unruly, rebellious goats.

Ezekiel 34:17 speaks about this separation. Jesus Christ also spoke about it in John 10, where he says he calls his own sheep by name: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them and they follow me.” (John 10:4, 27) We see this idea of separation in the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:24-30). Neither moral relativism, secularism or humanism shall prevail that day, but only the word of God. On that day, the Judge will separate the good from the wicked. There will be only two groups, good or bad. There will be no third group. The division will be clear cut, based on one’s response to the gospel and one’s relationship with the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Supreme Judge, Jesus Christ.

How great is this separation? There will be a great, uncrossable gulf between the two groups. This separation will be unappealable because this King is the Supreme Judge. It will be infallible because it is the King who divides. This separation is final. After the King makes his separation, no one can get out of hell and no one can get out of heaven, as we read in Luke 16:19-31.

The Sign of the Basis of Separation

Salvation is by grace, but judgment is always on the basis of works. Liberalism would look at this passage and say that the basis of divine judgment is whether one did social service or not. Now, liberalism is not Christianity, as J. Gresham Machen pointed out in his book, Christianity and Liberalism . It is an entirely different religion, but this is what is preached in many churches today. Liberals would say that the basis of divine judgment has nothing to do with Jesus Christ, but has everything to do with whether one is a philanthropist or not. That is foolishness! Salvation has nothing to do with social service in that way. Salvation is by grace, and the person who is so saved by grace demonstrates the authenticity of that salvation by doing good works.

Liberalism fails because it has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. These religious professors refuse to acknowledge Jesus Christ as God. The sign of this separation is simply this: Do you love Jesus Christ? Did you put your faith in Jesus Christ, whose gospel was preached by the church throughout the world? That is the basis. Do you trust and believe in him? Are you saved by him? The greatest sin in the world is not murder or adultery. Such sins are not cited in this judgment. The greatest sin is not to believe in Jesus Christ, who will be proclaimed to all the world before this judgment. In John 16:9 Jesus said the Holy Spirit convicts the world “in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me.” Unbelief in Christ is the most reprehensible and heinous sin a person can commit. In 1 Corinthians 16:22 Paul makes this amazing statement: “If anyone does not love the Lord,” meaning the Lord Jesus Christ, “a curse be on him.” And then he says, “Come, O Lord!”

If anyone believes in Jesus Christ and is so saved, he or she will demonstrate his or her faith by acts of love and obedience. The evidence of salvation is good works, which God causes us to will and to do. Faith without works is the devil’s faith. A believer in Christ loves Christ and delights in keeping his commandments, including the new commandment that Jesus gave, that you love one another (John 13:34). In Matthew 22:37-38, Jesus summarized the entire Law, saying, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” A true believer loves Christ and therefore he especially loves the household of faith.

How do we fulfill this command? In Matthew 10:40-42 Jesus said, “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. . . If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.” ” You see, the little ones, “the least of these brothers of mine” (Matt. 25:40), are disciples. James says, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress. . . .” (Jas. 1:27) In 1 John 3:17, the apostle John says, “If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him?” Such a person is not a Christian, in other words. If the love of God abides in a person, he or she will demonstrate it by sharing his or her material possessions with those who love God. Thus, the wicked who refuse to believe in the gospel will not love Jesus or show love to him by sharing material things with Christians in need. Good works, or the lack thereof, are the sign of this separation.

You may say you feel the pain of someone else, but good feelings are not going to be the basis of your acceptance. You will not be accepted on the basis of good feelings, good thoughts, or even the good words you may speak. We read about this in James 2:15-16: “Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?” But read Isaiah 58:7. There God reveals what true religion, true piety, is. “Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter–when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn. . . .” If you have been born from above, saved by grace, you will do these things.

Deeds alone matter–not good feelings, good thoughts, or good words. But these are not deeds of empire building or of some great scientific discovery. They are the deeds of caring for a needy Christian person in terms of his daily necessities. So notice, this King said, “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.” Here Jesus identifies himself with his people. He is our federal head and we are in him. He is the vine and we are the branches. So our hunger is his hunger, our sickness is his sickness, and so on. When Saul was traveling to Damascus to persecute the Christians there, Jesus asked him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Jesus Christ identifies with us. And these loving deeds were done for “the least of these brothers of mine,” not just prominent Christians. Remember Jesus said that when you give a feast, you should invite the poor, the crippled and the blind? Care should be given especially to the obscure, to the least, to those who are not famous, and to orphans, widows, and the like.

Who are the King’s brothers? His disciples. In Matthew 12:48-49 Jesus asked, “‘Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?’ Pointing to his disciples he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.'” Or look at Matthew 28:10: “Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.'” Therefore, we who are Christ’s disciples are the least of his brothers, and particularly those among us who are needy.

Judgment is based on works performed because of salvation by grace. This passage does not teach salvation by good works. To do so would be to contradict the rest of Matthew’s gospel. In Matthew 1:21 he introduces this King: “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” In Matthew 11:28 Jesus Christ said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened,” meaning sinful, “and I will give you rest.” It is Jesus who saves us. In Matthew 20:28 he said he came, not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life as a ransom for many. So this passage in Matthew 25 is speaking about good works which come from salvation by grace.

The Son’s Benediction

This King, the Son of Man, is the Judge, and after dividing the sheep from the goats, he pronounced a benediction on the sheep on his right. What was it? First he said, “Come!” What did that mean? He was inviting them to come for communion with him, to come to be in his presence forever. In his presence there is fullness of joy and on his right hand there are pleasures forevermore. (Ps. 16:11)

Then he said, “You who are blessed. . .” It is a perfect passive, meaning you who have been blessed in the past, you who are blessed in the present, and you who will be blessed in the future. This is salvation by grace. God has blessed you and you are a blessed people. In Ephesians 1:3 Paul says that we have been blessed “in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus.” We have been blessed with eternal life.

Then the King said, “. . . blessed by my Father.” Oh, the Father has a great interest in us. When we read Romans 8, we understand that he loved us before the creation of the world and predestinated us to be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. God had a plan for our salvation from all eternity. We are a people blessed by the Father. He planned our salvation, as we read in John 17:6, “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.”

And then the King said, “Take your inheritance. . .” Now, we did not earn this inheritance. To inherit means there is relationship. God has made us sons and daughters, and because we are sons, we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17) We have been saved by grace, but to inherit here means to come into the full possession of this salvation. Now we only have a foretaste of this great pleasure, but there will be a time when we come into our majority and have our inheritance in its fullness. And what is our inheritance? It is the kingdom of God. It is eternal life in the presence of God, where we shall see him face to face. In 1 Corinthians 2:9 Paul says, “‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him. . . .'” Paul is speaking about our inheritance, God’s kingdom.

Then the King said that this inheritance was already prepared. That means we did not prepare it. Salvation is by God’s grace, not by our works. Who prepared it? God the Father. God planned our salvation; Jesus Christ died on the cross to fulfill the plan; and the Holy Spirit was sent to apply the fruit of Christ’s redemptive work into our hearts. It is like preparing a feast, which takes a lot of thought, planning and work. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit have done it.

The inheritance is “for you,” said the King, meaning for the sheep, not for anyone else. Christ loved his church and gave himself for her. Sheep are the disciples of Jesus Christ. When was it prepared? “Since the creation of the world,” he said, meaning from all eternity. In Ephesians 1:4 Paul said, “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” In 2 Timothy 1:9-10 Paul says, “. . . This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” Before he ever created the whole universe, God chose us and blessed us in Christ!

These people upon whom the King pronounced his benediction were called righteous in verses 37 and 46. Did they become righteous by doing good works? No! They were saved by grace, justified by God the Father on the basis of the perfect righteousness of Christ. As a result of that, they were able to do good works. These are the righteous.

The righteous were surprised by the King’s benediction. They asked, “`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?'” Let me tell you, a good tree will produce good fruit. Why? That is its nature. These righteous ones had just lived out their daily Christian lives. For them it was not unusual to care for the poor and the widows, or to share their material possessions out of love for Christ. It was natural for them to do so. So the King had to explain to them, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

The Son’s Malediction

Then the King spoke to those on his left: “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Oh, what terrible words! This is extremely serious, brothers and sisters. Your friends, your parents, your children will be told this if they are not lovers of Jesus Christ. Instead of inviting them to come, the King told them to go away from him–away from all that is good, from all that is blessing, from all that is light, from all that is pleasurable, from all that is joyful, from all that is peaceful. “Depart from me!” he said. And look at his description of them: “You who are cursed. . .” Cursed! They are not blessed; they are cursed.

To be cursed means to be cut off forever from the presence of God. We previously referred to 1 Corinthians 16:22: “If anyone does not love the Lord–a curse be on him.” Paul meant that such a person would be cut off from the presence of God. In Genesis 3:14, a curse was pronounced upon the serpent. What a terrible thing, to be cut off from anything and everything that is good–cut off from all grace.

They were sent “into the eternal fire.” They were sent away from God, away from blessing, into the sphere called eternal fire, or eternal punishment, as we read in verse 46. It is a place of such shame and contempt.

God the Father prepared this destination also. For whom is it prepared? For the devil and his angels. Human beings chose to become sons of the devil. Jesus said in John 8:44, “You belong to your father, the devil.” This means it is our responsibility. Hell was prepared for the devil and for his fallen angels, but some human beings are going there. Why? They did not love Jesus Christ. When the gospel was preached, they walked away from the gospel. They hated that gospel and Jesus Christ.

Notice in verse 44 they called out to the King: “Lord!” Every tongue shall confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father, isn’t that true? So these wicked people opened their mouths and said, “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?” And Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” They did not love Jesus. They did not believe in him. They were bad trees, continually producing bad fruit.

The Son of Man Was Cursed

How can those who are cursed be blessed? The Son of Man himself was cursed for us. Soon after saying this to his disciples, Jesus Christ went to the cross in behalf of those who were cursed, and he was judged. He spoke about this judgment in John 12:31: “‘Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth'”–speaking about his crucifixion and resurrection–“will draw all men to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.”

St. Paul understood that all of us are cursed, even from our mother’s womb. All who are descendants of Adam are cursed, because we have transgressed the law, and the law curses those who transgress it. But in Galatians 3:13-14 Paul said, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus.”

That’s wonderful! All are cursed, and as we read in Psalm 14, all are atheists. How, then, can we be blessed? How can we become theists who will worship and adore God? That is where the cross comes in. Jesus Christ took our curse and he was judged on the cross in behalf of us, that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Jews and the Gentiles through Christ Jesus.

Jesus said he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and that is what he did on the cross. He was ministering to us by taking away our curse once and for all. His name is Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.

Are We Blessed or Cursed?

What does Jesus say to us now? His words to us are, “Come! Come! Come!” One day he will say something different, when he comes to judge, but now, through the church, he is still saying, “Come!” It is he who first said, “Come unto me,” and now through the gospel the church says, “Come unto Jesus Christ. He will give you rest–the rest of salvation, the rest of forgiveness, the rest of glory, rest of benediction and blessing. Come!”

In Revelation 22:17 John wrote: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!'” So the Holy Spirit is saying, “Come,” and the church of Jesus Christ is saying, “Come.” And John adds, “Let him who hears, say, ‘Come!'” In other words, now every believer must say the same thing: “Come! Come! Come! Everything is ready–come to Jesus Christ. “Whosoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” What is this gift? Jesus Christ is the living water. He is the living bread. “Come,” he says.

What if you do not come now? Then one day this glorious Son of Man, this glorious King, will sit on his throne in all his glory and power and authority as the unappealable Judge, and will say to you, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” We need to think about this.

In his treatment of this passage, Dr. S. Lewis Johnson, Jr., cites a story from George Whitefield. “Once he was preaching on the text, ‘and the door was shut!’ Two foolish young men, at a considerable distance from Mr. Whitefield in the large crowd, lightly commented to themselves, ‘Well, what if the door be shut, another will open.’ Whitefield had not gone far when he said, ‘It is possible there may be some careless, trifling person here today, who may ward off the force of this impressive subject by lightly thinking, “What matter if the door is shut, another will open.”‘ The two young men were paralyzed, and looked at each other. Whitefield went on, ‘Yes, another door will open. And I will tell you what door it will be! It will be the door of the bottomless pit! The door of hell!–the door which hides from the eyes of the angels the horrors of damnation!'”

You see, we’ve been brought up in modern times. We’ve been brought up to laugh at the word of God. There was a time when people looked upon the Bible as the very word of God, but now we are sophisticated and into liberalism. We may think this is a joke, but one day the Son of Man will sit and summon, and all will come.

May we humble ourselves now and acknowledge that we are sinners, damned and cursed. May we trust in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, who was cursed on the cross on our behalf, who took God’s wrath away from us by drinking the cup of wrath to its very dregs. May we receive God’s grace, repent and trust in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation. My prayer is that when he comes again to judge, God’s Son will speak words of benediction to you!