Depart From Me, You Who Are Cursed for paper. March 22

This article is a follow up to the last time I wrote. While we Christians struggle with sin daily as we walk the journey of this life, and are in constant need of God’s gift of grace through the forgiveness of our sins, we have a tremendous future before us in that while today we may be stained by sin, when we go to heaven we will go perfected. Our sin will be removed from us as far as the east is from the west.

But what about the judgement we all face, Christian or non-Christian at the return of Christ. Christ tells us that we will be judged by what we have done. Well we will certainly be judged, but there are some interesting things about that judgement. Read the following account.

Matthew 25:31-46  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 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. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, `Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 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, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, `Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, `I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

“Then he will say to those on his left, `Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

What is interesting about this judgement is that no mention is made of any “sins” of the sheep, and no account is taken for any good deeds of the goats?? All “bad” people do some good things, and all “good” people do some bad things, but there is no weighing off of one against the other. So while we are all judged by what we have done, Christian’s sins are not a part of the judgement and the good that non-Christians do does not help them.

The following verses show why the goats are simply told to depart, that they are cursed, and no account is made of anything good they may have done.

Romans 8:8  Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

Hebrews 11:6A  And without faith it is impossible to please God,

And the following verses indicate that Christians go to heaven perfected, holy, with no account being made of any sin they may have committed.

Romans 8:1  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 5:27  and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

Colossians 1:22  But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.

This tremendous blessings is made possible by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. He paid the full penalty for our sin. As he was dying on the cross the full wrath of God for all our sin was taken out on him.  So Christians need have no fear of the judgement we all face. Christ has died in our place, so we go to heaven perfected, holy, without blemish and free from accusation.

Blessings,