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He will put the goats on His left by Jean-Louis Coraboeuf "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in... And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:31-35,46). When Jesus comes as King of Kings, He will judge the nations as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The sheep and the goats represent two sorts of nations, those who are well disposed to Israel and those who persecute Israel. In the scriptures, the Hebrew word attoud means 'goat', 'head', 'great', 'powerful'; and the nations are often represented by their heads. This judgement will come after the taking up of the Bride and the Church, and before the establishment of the Kingdom of God on the earth. In fact, when Jesus establishes his Kingdom on the earth, he will be accompanied by his Bride (Revelation 19:11-16). And as he cannot live together with the kingdom of darkness, the wicked of the earth will be thrown out (Matthew 25:46 and Revelation 19:17-21) and Satan bound (Revelation 20:1-2). The scriptures say: "How the oppressor (Satan) has come to an end! How his fury has ended! The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers, which in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression… the grave [Sheol] below is all astir to meet you at your coming; it rouses the spirits of the departed to greet you- all those who were leaders [Attoud] in the world; it makes them rise from their thrones, all those who were kings over the nations" (Isaiah 14:4-9). Satan is thrown in the sheol for a thousand years then "all the lands are at rest and peace, they break into singing. Even the pine trees and the cedars of Lebanon exult over you and say, now that you have been laid low no woodsman comes to cut us down" (Isaiah 14:7-8). For a thousand years all the earth will enjoy a time of rest for the Kingdom of God will be established there according to Isaiah 11. When Satan is thrown into sheol, he will be welcomed by the goat-leaders of the nations, that is to say those who have been deceived What a welcome! In this context, we see that Israel will have been re-established on the earth (Isaiah 14:1), it was the re-creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The judgement of the goat-nations will be part of the consolation of Israel (Isaiah 12). Then Israel will be fully consoled for all that she has endured for 2000 years from the nations (hunger, thirst, rejection, nudity, sickness, prison), by the coming of the Messiah to Jerusalem. This will be the Day of vengeance of God who will comfort afflicted of Zion and will give them a crown instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise (Isaiah 6:31). When Jesus said "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40). it is down to the brothers of Jesus the Jew after all, that we should consider if we don't want our nation to be wiped off the earth. |