As I mentioned in the last lesson, one of the first things that has to happen following Armageddon is the judgment of the living nations by Christ to determine who will be allowed to enter into His kingdom. In the beginning of John’s account of the 2nd coming of Christ in Revelation 19:11 he mentions two things the Lord is going to do. He is going to wage war (Armageddon) and pass judgment (the judgment of the living nations).
This event is not specifically mentioned by John in his revelation; however, Jesus does in some detail in Matthew 25:31-46. I recommend you read all of Matthew 24 and 25, as it is His discourse explaining three end-time events: His 2nd coming, Armageddon and the judgment of the living nations. I would also recommend you go to the website and read the article, “The Kingdom of Heaven” and maybe even the section on the parables where Jesus illustrates this judgment (separation) over and over.
Matthew 25:31-33 sets the scene. “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, with all His holy angels, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. And all the nations will be brought before Him, and He will separate the people from one another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.”
“When” He comes, “then” He will sit on the throne. And, as in so many other references, the throne illustrates authority and judgment. There is an interesting aspect to this that we have to look at here involving “all the nations” in verse 32. When we get to the lessons on the Millennium, I’ll have more to say about “the nations”. But for now let me remind you that one of the purposes of the tribulation is to deal with the enemies of Israel. Therefore, the Jews are not part of this judgment; it is for Gentiles only.
This will be an individual judgment of all the people who are personally involved in any way with Israel at this point in time. I’ll make this clear a little later in this lesson. So, we have to make this distinction: there will be many on the earth at this time who will have no connection to these events due to their isolation or their nation’s decision to remain neutral. In other words, they have had no part in the campaign to destroy Israel. Some may be even supportive of Israel. There will evidently be some who will not even know that Christ has returned and some who will not know Who He is (Isaiah 2:2-4; 66:19-21 and Zechariah 8:23).
What we have to keep in mind here is that not everyone who wants to see Israel destroyed is going to be at Armageddon. After that slaughter, there will still be those on the earth that have been sympathetic to, or supportive of the Antichrist’s efforts to wipe out the Jews. These people must be dealt with before Christ can establish His kingdom. This is unfinished business connected to the tribulation. In Matthew 13:40-43 Jesus explains the process.
This brings us to verse 34 and the purpose of this judgment. “Then the King will say to those on His right, Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” So, the purpose is clear – to determine who will enter the kingdom and who will not. This is the fulfillment of Psalms 37:11, 29 and Matthew 5:5. The meek will inherit the earth and dwell on it forever. And I should explain that this term “meek” (from prautes) does not involve weakness, as suggested in its English usage. It is strength of character. I express it as “the determination to pursue the will of God, regardless of the circumstances” in my translation of Matthew 5:5 in the article on the Sermon on the Mount.
Another thing in the verse above is the statement regarding the kingdom having been prepared “from the foundation of the world”. We’ve looked at this phrase earlier in these lessons when we were talking about the destruction of the pre-Adamic race by Lucifer. This is katabole kosmos. Katabole is never used to describe the founding of anything (themelios would be the proper word). It means “overthrow” or “ruin”, and is used to describe destruction. Kosmos is “social system” used to describe a culture or race.
Here the connection is seen when you compare verse 34 with verse 41, “Then He will say to those on His left, Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” This kingdom was planned to restore conditions present on the earth before Lucifer’s rebellion. It is the vindication of God, His judgment of Lucifer and those who follow him and His blessing of those who choose to serve God and follow Him. It is the beginning of the final fulfillment of all that He has promised to both Jews and Gentiles.
Now, earlier I said this was to be an individual judgment of those personally involved with Israel at this point in time. So, we need to look at the basis of this judgment. Jesus explains the standards on which He will base His decision in verses 35-40 and again in 42-45. I’ll not quote them; you can read them for yourself. It’s obvious from what He says that He will bless or curse each individual according to how they have dealt with Israel. If they are determined to be an enemy of Israel, they’re cursed. If not, they’re blessed. God cannot fail to keep His word or fulfill His promise, but will respect the covenant He made with Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3.
And to follow up on something I said earlier, this is not a judgment that determines salvation in the strictest sense. There are actually three different classes of people here. Some are cursed and go immediately to the punishment of everlasting fire (verse 41). The rest are blessed and allowed to enter the kingdom. However, as noted above, the references from Isaiah 2:2-4, 66:19-21 and Zechariah 8:23 show that not everyone who enters the kingdom knows God. As we will see later, one of the first things that happens in the Millennium is the sending out of Jewish missionaries to those in the world that don’t know God. They have been allowed to enter into the kingdom, but unless they submit to the King, they will suffer the consequences. And, some will not submit. Then, there are the righteous who enter into eternal life (verse 46). These are the ones who survive the tribulation or have had no connection with it, but have become believers in the time since the rapture. They will live through the Millennium and into the eternal state, as long as they continue to serve God. We will look at more on that as we study the Millennium.