The Lord has told us in Matthew 24:1414And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14) that the “gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” This will be after the church has been caught up to heaven. Those who will carry this message to all the world will be the faithful servants of Christ from among the Jews. The gospel of the kingdom that they proclaim will not be the gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus, which tells of an accomplished redemption. But it will announce to all the world that the King is coming to set up His kingdom, that He is about to crush the serpent’s head and to take His great power and reign.
We can see how contrary the course of this world is to the purposes of God with respect to His beloved Son. Satan, the Beast, and the men of this world, who want the earth for themselves, will be set to oppose any interference from God with their schemes. But “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (Psa. 2:44He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. (Psalm 2:4)). Yet the tidings of the coming kingdom will bring upon the Lord’s messengers such fierce persecution that those who dare to show them even the smallest ordinary kindnesses will do so at the risk of their lives.
Now in our chapter, from verse 31 to the end, we have the judgment of those living nations to whom this gospel of the kingdom has been sent.
“When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all nations.” Here it tells us that the holy angels will be with Christ when He sits in judgment. Elsewhere we learn that His saints shall also accompany Him when He comes from heaven (2 Thess. 1:10; 2:110When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. (2 Thessalonians 1:10)
1Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, (2 Thessalonians 2:1); Rev. 19:1414And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14)). During this present interval of grace, the Lord is in heaven sitting upon the Father’s throne, but in that day He will sit upon His own throne, for all things in heaven and earth shall be put under Him.
Judgment on Earth
The judgment of the wicked dead at the great white throne, one thousand years later, will be in heaven (Rev. 20:7-157And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:7‑15)). The solemn judgment scene before us is on earth. It is not a question of a general judgment, as many believe, but the living nations are judged according to how they treated the messengers of the gospel of the kingdom. It is of this only that they give an account to the judge.
There are three classes spoken of here — the sheep, those who received the messengers kindly; the goats, those who did not; and the brethren of the Judge, the messengers themselves. The sheep are set on the King’s right hand and He says to them: “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” The sheep do not pretend to have shown any kindness to the King personally, but all that they had done to His messengers He takes as having been done to Himself. He credits them as having received Him.
The goats on the other hand, those who had rejected the messengers, are set on the King’s left, and He tells them, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” They might only have shown indifference to the messengers or they might have rejected them outright, but the King takes it as having been done unto Himself. We can see from this that even now it is a solemn thing to hear the message of God’s love and grace and to turn from it.
Further Meditation
1. Who are the goats referred to in this passage?
2. Where else is the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom referred to?
3. A thorough book on the subject of the kingdom can be found in Lectures on the Second Coming and Kingdom of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by W. Kelly.