2004-02-20
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
Two weeks ago, I began writing about the Olivet Discourse, knowing full well that there was more to say than I could put in one message. You’ll remember that this is Christ’s teaching that came out of some questions His disciples asked Him, while they were on the Mount of Olives, in MT 24 and 25. Christ begins by speaking of the destruction of the temple and goes on to troubles and persecutions, the Abomination of Desolation, His own coming, the lesson of the fig tree, the truth that no one knows the day and hour that He will come except the Father, and finally the Parable of the Faithful or the Unfaithful Servant in MT 24. Our Savior continues with the Parable of the Ten Virgins and the Parable of the Three Servants, in MT 25: 1-30. I am led today to begin looking at MT 25: 31-46, His teaching on the Final Judgment in this message.
Imagine if each of us were sitting there listening to Christ speak. We must ask ourselves what we would be thinking and what questions we might put to Him. That is likely to be pretty revealing as to the state of our own heart-attitudes. MT 25: 31-33, “When the Son of Man comes as King and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His royal throne and the people of all the nations will be gathered before him. Then He will divide them into two groups, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the righteous people at His right and the others at His left.” Everyone on earth will see Christ’s second coming. Yes, there is a limit to God’s patience with sin. Each of us will indeed need to make a decision as to which of His sides on we prefer to be. My leanings toward being a “type A personality” cause me to put this together with Christ’s words in MT 24: 36, about no one except the Father knowing the exact time when He will come, and come out with the conclusion that it’s of major importance for me to get my “spiritual house in order.” Another person may reason, “I’ve got time; I’ll get to it later-when I’m ready.” Still another will reason, “This is claptrap; I’m not listening to any more of it” and get up to leave. And yet another will think, “I’ve got nothing to worry about; I’ve got it all together; I’m ready for Christ to come at any time.” The nature of one’s faith tells the story. Christ is omniscient, and I believe with all my heart that He knows what’s in our hearts. The question is: Do we really know and understand? Peoples’ faith ranges from everything through total indifference, to rejection, to procrastination, to mild concern, to feeling the urgency of getting rid of sin and learning to obey right away, to smugness and self-satisfaction, to confusion, to really being ready for Christ to come.
One question that might be asked: Is this Kingdom to come literal or spiritual? The way an individual grappling with this issue approaches it has a lot to do with the way they have been taught to think about it. We all know that some perfectly good people take the stories of the Bible, particularly those found in prophetic books, as allegories used to teach truths the human mind can’t comprehend any other way. Often, they reject the idea of a chronological layout of the events of the latter days. Some people are not interested in “all the gory details;” they accept the basic principles as what matters only. Others take the opposite view that every detail God includes in the Scriptures matters, and that there is a definite order to the events seen in Revelation and the other prophecies of the Bible. This second group is just as righteous as the first group- they just think differently. It’s a third group that is God’s headache. These are the people, like Judas Iscariot, who hear the truth and reject it outright. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist for true believers to know how they will meet their final fate. God has been clear and forthright about that. So, to get back to the question raised at the beginning of this paragraph, I will step out on a limb and offer my belief. I believe the Kingdom is both spiritual and literal. I will repeat my belief that the Kingdom of God is now in the hearts of true believers. The Psalmists words in PS 143: 13 and PS 93: 1-2 lend support to this assertion. “Your Kingdom is and everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations…The Lord is King, He is robed in majesty; the Lord is robed, He is girded with strength. He has established the world; it shall never be moved; Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting.” That explains to me how the Kingdom can be spiritual. As to it being literal, that I must take on faith. My faith in this is not groundless, however, because we have the evidence of past history to see that God keeps all the promises He makes to people. He’s never broken one yet. I have not forgotten the Davidic covenant of 2 SAM 7: 12-13, [God speaking to David] “When you die and are buried with your ancestors, I will make one of your sons king and keep his kingdom strong (referring to Solomon). He will be the one to build a temple for Me, and I will make sure that His dynasty continues forever (referring to Christ’s kingship over the Eternal Kingdom).” We must bear in mind RO 4: 25, “Because of our sins He was given over to die, and He was raised to life in order to put us right with God.” When we put that together with Christ’s own words in JN 6 :39-40 about His commitment to bringing as many people as the Father has given Him back to the Father, God’s will and His intent can’t be missed.
PRAYER: O Lord, once again we come before You in our state of imperfection to reiterate our utter need for You. You have told us that repentance of our sins and belief in Your Son is the only way to You [JN 14: 6]. We state our belief in that, Dearest Abba, and are dedicated to living out our time on earth making the changes that You demand of us, so that we may reside in Your eternal Kingdom. We fully acknowledge the enormous sacrifice that You made of Your Son on the cross to give us the opportunity for salvation. We know that we cannot bring salvation about through any act of our own; it only comes to us through Your magnificent grace [JN 3: 16; HE 10: 10]. Each day, we make it our business to spend time in Your word and to improve the quality of our prayer lives. Some of us do this better than others, but all of us know that this is Your will. You never ask us to do anything that You don’t equip us to do, even if it means we must leave our “comfortable places” to do it. Once again, Dearest Father, we state our heartfelt belief that You have no evil in You and that all that You ask us to do is in our best interests in the eternal sense. This points up the over-riding truth that You are a righteous God Who is the Source of all goodness on earth. PS 31: 19, “O how great is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee; which Thou has wrought for them that trust in Thee before the sons of men!” EPH 2: 8-10, “For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith. It is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift, so that no one can boast about it. God has made us what we are, and in our union with Christ Jesus He has created us for a life of good deeds, which He has already prepared for us to do.” We often begin our prayers with supplications to You. This prayer will end with one. Each of us needs Your presence, guidance, and encouragement to overcome his trials and to focus on learning to obey You and please You. So, that is the most important supplication we can submit. Be with us always, guide us through our trials, and encourage us to keep our hearts and eyes focused on You. We pledge You our eternal love, praise and thanks. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, I am led to go on writing about MT 25: 31-46, for there is even more to mine out of this spiritual treasure trove. As the years roll by, I tend to write often about our utter need for God and His delight when we recognize that. Only God can satisfy real hunger and thirst. This I believe! PS 63: 1, “O God, You are my God, I seek You, my soul thirsts for You; my flesh faints for You.” PS 143: 6, “ I lift up my hands to You in prayer. As a dry land needs rain, I thirst for You.” Those are the words of the Psalmist’s heart, and they are in my heart too. Christ recognized the importance of knowing our own spiritual poverty without Him when He wrote in the Sermon on the Mount in MT 5: 3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit; they shall inherit the Kingdom.” As for that Day of Judgment, it is my belief that each of us needs to take this coming event seriously. Christ has more to say about this in MT 25, and that is why I will take this up next week. In the meanwhile, we must not forget for one second just how much God loves each of us. The opportunity for salvation, the gift of the Holy Spirit, the ability to study His word given to us, and the open two-way channel of prayer we have with Him are only a few of the myriad of blessings which are evidence of that love. Let David’s beautiful words about God reverberate in your minds this week, as they will in mine. PS 36: 9-10, “For You are the Fountain of Life; our light is from Your light. Pour our Your unfailing love on those who know You! Never stop giving Your salvation to those who long to do Your will.”
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn