THE MYSTERY REVEALED
HE WILL JUDGE THE NATIONS
This paper is about that judgment to come and what may be waiting out in eternity for each one of us, both believers and unbelievers. The scriptures may be telling us some things that could be much different from what has been passed down to us by our church fathers.
My teachers and preachers told me that all who believe and obey the gospel will be saved and that all others will be condemned to eternal hell fire. They did not openly say that but it was inferred. They knew more than I knew so I accepted what they said and when I read the scriptures, I ignored some of the things that were written.
After years of ignoring what some of the scriptures were saying, I decided to take a new look at what the future holds for us by listening to all scripture that I can find that speaks of our final destiny. I will try to show how some of our Christian beliefs may not be supported by scripture. I will also present some possibilities that could be scriptural.
Your requirement is to believe God’s word, not just what our preachers and teachers have said or what I think the scriptures may be saying. I am asking you to read what I have written but only believe the scriptures.
Listen to Jesus describe how judgment of the nations will take place. He says that when He sits on His throne, "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.” (Matthew 25:32-33)
He continues, "Then the King will say to those on His right, `Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
Jesus will tell them how they are heirs to that kingdom because they did good deeds for Him. They gave Him food when He was hungry, drink when He was thirsty, etc. He will explain how they did those deeds for Him when they did them to, “one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them”.
He tells those on the left they are accursed and to depart into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels because they did not do those good deeds for His brothers. He says, “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:46)
Why does Jesus not mention faith or faithful service as He is judging the nations? The scriptures tell us how we are justified by grace through faith and not by works. Some scriptures do, however, mention people being judged by their deeds, including what we just read in Matthew.
Other scriptures mention what will take place on that day. One thing has to do with how that day will begin. If we back up one chapter in Matthew, we can listen to Jesus speak of how that day will begin.
He says, "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory. "And He will send forth His angels with A GREAT TRUMPET and THEY WILL GATHER TOGETHER His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.” (Matthew 24:30-31)
Jesus was speaking of that day when He said, “- -for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28-29)
Those raised to life are the elect but they are also Christ’s brothers. He will send forth His angels to get His brothers from every nation on earth and bring them to Jesus. Everyone else will be resurrected for judgment.
If He will gather together His brothers from among the nations and then judge the nations based on how they treated His brothers, why not keep His brothers with Him as He judges the nations? Will He do exactly that? He will not tell those on the right they are blessed because they did good deeds for, “each other” but for, “one of these brothers of Mine- -”.
It appears that the LORD was speaking through Joel of that same judgment of the nations when He would restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem. He said that, “I will gather all the nations And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; And they have divided up My land.” (Joel 3:2)
It sounds like God is speaking of those earthly nations that surrounded Judah being judged in that valley but we know there was never a judgment like that. God judged them but not in the valley of Jehoshaphat.
The LORD speaks of the valley of decision and how the sun and moon will grow dark and the stars will lose brightness; “Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, And strangers will pass through it no more.”
The only Jerusalem where strangers will pass through it no more is that heavenly Jerusalem to come after judgment of the nations. It appears that Joel is speaking ahead of what will come after Christ judges the nations.
If God was speaking through Joel of how Christ will judge the nations and if He will judge those nations on behalf of His people, His people would not be out there among the nations when they are being judged.
We can see that when John speaks of that day and tells us, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.” (Revelation 20:11)
He says, “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”
Remember, the nations will be judged based on those good deeds they will have done for Christ’s brethren.
We can see it happening after the resurrection of the dead has taken place when John then says, “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.”
He is speaking of outsiders being judged, not Christians, because Christians will have been given eternal life after they became born again of God’s Spirit. If they will be raised to life, they will not be among the dead being judged on that last day. Only outsiders are being judged. It appears that His brothers will be with Him when He judges the nations.
Paul may be saying that when he speaks of the day when Christ will descend from heaven with a shout and the trumpet of God and says that, “- - the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17)
God’s people will be resurrected and caught up to meet Jesus and Paul says they will always be with Him. If they will always be with Him after that, it appears they will be with Him as He judges the nations. If so, will they assist Him in that judgment?
Jesus told His apostles that they would assist Him; “And Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28)
The regeneration will happen when the last trumpet sounds and our perishable bodies will become imperishable (1 Corinthians 15:52).
If the twelve will judge Israel, will Gentile Christians help judge the Gentile world? Paul told the church at Corinth, “Does any one of you, when he has a case against his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and not before the saints?” (1 Corinthians 6:1)
He tells them, “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?”
Those angels who rebelled are being kept under darkness for the judgment on that great day (Jude 1:6).
That whole chapter (Matthew chapter 25) is about Christ’s judgment. That chapter begins with the parables of the virgins and the talents. Those parables speak of how Christ will judge His servants, not outsiders.
In the parable of the talents the master went away on a journey and left his slaves in charge of his possessions. Scripture says, “To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.” (Matthew 25:15)
When the master returned, he settled accounts with his slaves. The slave who had been given five talents reported how he had gained five more talents. Jesus says that, “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.” (Matthew 25:21)
The one with two talents gained two more talents. He was praised for his faithful service and was told the same thing as the one who had gained five talents. The slave that had the one talent hid it and did nothing with it.
For the slave that did nothing with his talent, Jesus said, “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”.
His next words were, "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne." He then speaks of judgment of the nations. He will judge His servants based on their faithful service, not based on how they have treated His brothers.
His brothers will have been those servants who had been judged and found faithful and will have entered into the joy of their Master. If His faithful servants will have entered into the joy of their master, they should be there with Him as He judges the nations.
Some day God will keep the promise that He made to Abraham when He first called him. He promised to make his name great and to make him a great nation. He also told Abraham, “And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:3)
Paul said the last part of that promise was the gospel message. He says, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.” (Galatians 3:8)
The last part of God’s promise to Abraham included the gospel message of how all who are in Christ Jesus, the true heir of promise, will be saved. God will keep that part of His promise to Abraham on that last day.
Will He keep the first part of that promise on the last day also? The first part applies to outsiders. Some will be blessed and some others will be cursed, depending on how they will have treated Abraham’s descendants. It appears that Christ is telling us how it will happen when He sits on His throne to judge the nations.
Jesus will tell those on the right, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” He will tell those on the left (who refused to help His brothers), “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels”.
Those on the right will be blessed because they treated Abraham’s spiritual descendants well and those on the left will be cursed because they treated them badly in their time of need.
We heard Jesus speak of how He would judge His servants before He spoke of judgment of the nations (in the parable of the talents). Peter also spoke of God’s people being judged before outsiders are judged in his first letter.
He says, “For it is time for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)
God’s people will be judged before outsiders and that judgment began in their day. If so, it must happen as each one of us departs this life. Paul did say, “But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.” (Philippians 1:23-24)
Paul would only be able to stay there with Christ in heaven if he had already passed judgment but he knew that Jesus would receive him and tell him, “Well done good and faithful slave, enter into the joy of your master.”
Stephen may be confirming that to be true when he was being stoned to death. He called out, “- - Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” (Acts 7:59) He was giving his all for Jesus and he knew that Jesus would also tell him, “Well done, good and faithful slave” when He received Stephen.
It sounds like Jesus may judge His servants first, based on their faithful service, then He and His brothers will judge the world based on how those outsiders will have treated His brothers on this earth.
Remember Jesus once told His disciples, “For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.” (Mark 9:41) Jesus was speaking of rewarding those outsiders who have done good deeds for His disciples.
Jesus told John that it will happen when He returns; “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.” (Revelation 22:12)
Of those evil ones on the left, we heard Jesus tells us, “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” If the evil ones will “go away” into punishment, but the righteous will “go away” into eternal life, will the righteous go away into eternal life out on that new earth, outside of God’s heavenly city? Will they inherit kingdoms out there?
Daniel may be telling us that there will be kingdoms out there. He saw the court sit for judgment and said, “Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.” (Daniel 7:27)
That will not happen on this earth. Will all dominions under that new heaven be given to the saints on that new earth? Jesus did say that, “He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON - - -.” (Revelation 2:26-27)
It must happen on that new earth because John says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:1-2)
It appears possible that if I am able to overcome this world and keep Christ’s deeds of love until the end of my life on this earth, I will sit with Christ and rule over the nations of that new earth. If so, I may have some high level servants out there assisting me in ruling over the nations.
Will those people who mistreated God’s people be cursed to burn in a spiritual fire of being ruled over with a rod of iron?
I hope that God will bless those outsiders that have been kind to me during my times of trouble on this earth. I hope that they will have a good life in a kingdom somewhere out on that new earth.
I have given you some possibilities of what the scriptures may be saying about final judgment and what lies beyond this earth for everyone. Your duty is to believe God, not just blindly accept what our church fathers have said or what I think the scriptures may possibly be saying. Go back and read the scriptures presented here because they mean what they say.
The scriptures are sometimes a little hard to understand because Jesus only speaks to the crowds in parables (Matthew 13:34). He explains the spiritual meaning of His parables to His disciples but not to the crowds. We need to keep listening to the inspired scriptures so that we can hear Him do that.
"Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org )
Johnny Rogers 8-15-18 Revised 4-5-22
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