SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/29/2024 10:58 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Process of Judgment”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
25:32b-46
Message of the verses: “and He will
separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the
goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34
“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. 35
‘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;
36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison,
and you came to Me.’ 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when
did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something
to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked,
and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40
"The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one
of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to
Me.’ 41 "Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from
Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil
and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I
was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did
not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and
you did not visit Me.’ 44 "Then
they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty,
or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45
"Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of
the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 "These will go
away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’”
Well we are getting closer to end our studies on
what is called “The Olivet Discourse” as we begin to look at these verses. Now this is the second main point in this 10th
chapter of John MacArthur’s commentary which covers chapters 24-28 of Matthew,
and so I will again quote from his introduction to these verses and then we
will begin tomorrow (Lord willing) begin to look at the different sub-sections
under this main section.
“The
process of Christ’s judgment will include the absolute and unerring separation
of the saved from the unsaved. When all
the nations and peoples of the earth will have been gathered before Him at His
return, the Lord Jesus Christ will separate them from one another, as the
shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
“In the ancient Near East, as in much of the land
still today, sheep and goats are frequently herded together. But sheep are docile, gentle creatures,
whereas goats are unruly and rambunctious and can easily upset the sheep. Because they do not feed or rest well
together, the shepherd often separates them for grazing and for sleeping at
night.
“IN
a similar way the Lord Jesus Christ will separate believers from unbelievers
when He returns to establish His millennial kingdom. He will put the believing sheep on His right,
the place of favor and blessing. But the
unbelieving goats He will put on the left, the place of disfavor and rejection.
“In
ancient biblical times, a father’s blessing was extremely important, because it
determined who would receive the major part of the inheritance. When Jacob was about to bless his two
grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, he was careful to place his right hand on the
one who would receive the inheritance.
Because the major blessing normally went to the eldest son, Manasseh was
placed on Jacob’s right and Ephraim on his left. But when the time for blessing came, Jacob
crossed his hands so that his right hand was on Ephraim’s head rather than
Manasseh’s. Against Joseph’s objection, Jacob insisted on giving the major blessing
to Ephraim, because God had chosen him over his brother (Gen. 48:8-20).
We
have two sub-sections which are under this main section and then once we are
done with those two we will be done with “The Olivet Discourse” something that began
on the 19th of November 2023.
3/29/2024 11:18 AM
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