“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. Matt. 25:31 - 32
People ask, if Jesus is the King on the glorious throne of God, why are so many things wrong, impure and painful in this world? If the promised Messianic Kingdom of the Prince of Peace came when Jesus went to heaven to be crowned King of all, how must we understand that so much of our experience in life is still about injustice, sadness, sin and death?
The answer simply is: Until Jesus comes again there are both goats and sheep in the world. He reigns and cares for his sheep amidst the reality that the sheep and goats have not yet been separated. Jesus tends his sheep and leads them to his new heaven and earth and glorious dominion, in spite of the fact that his sheep follow him while goats are all around, often being influential and seemingly winning most the time.
The truth about sheep and goats is that one day judgment will be handed down on the basis of whether we are sheep or goats. The King will say, “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink.” And on the other hand he will say, “I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,” It will be our living or not living according to the standard of love and mercy of the Kingdom of Christ the King that will be the standard for judgment.
Yet everyone knows that it is faith that saves by grace. Following Christ the King and accepting him as Lord of our lives, turns our lives around and the evidence about our lives is that we have been turned around form being goats to being sheep. And this miracle of our metamorphosis from goats to sheep, is a free gift! It is pure grace!
And this all happens because your Judge is also your Saviour!
This is how we glorify Christ the King! We live for him. We live out his heart within the needs around us. Jesus said, whatever you did for the least of his brothers and sisters, you did for him! We make his will visible, we show his heart and we allow the light of his dominion to become visible in this dark world. Then more people can believe that Christ the King, the Messiah, indeed reigns and that they too may believe in him and be saved through faith in him. People will begin to believe in Christ the King, when we act out our status as the sheep in the flock of Jesus
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