Bible Talk - Sunday 1st June 2025 at 10am (God Willing)

Christadelphian Hall
40 Paddock Close
Pershore
WR10 1HJ

Jesus often used powerful similes to make his messages stick in his listeners’ minds. On one occasion, he described his second coming as the time when he will judge all nations of the world, and pictured it in terms of a shepherd separating the sheep in his flock from the goats:

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...’ Then He will also say also to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed...’ (Matthew 25v31-34, 41)

This powerful picture shows us that Jesus will sit in judgment when he returns to the earth. Elsewhere in the Bible, we are told that this judgement doesn’t only apply to those who are alive at his return: the dead will be raised at the same time and will also come under his scrutiny. One of the New Testament letters says this:

I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom...
(2Timothy 4v1)

This was one of the key messages of the first century apostles. In fact, Peter explained that they had been commanded to emphasise this aspect of Jesus’ work:

He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead.
(Acts 10v42)

This should have an impact on our lives today. When Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, he reminded them that knowledge of this future judgement should influence their daily lives:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
(2 Corinthians 5v10)

So this raises one vital question: what are we doing in our lives now so that Jesus will forgive our many failings when he returns to judge us? Other articles in this series give you the Bible’s answer.

[All Bible references are from the New King James Version unless stated otherwise (NLT = New Living Translation)]

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