THESE words of Jesus in the last verse of Matthew 25 are truly serious and terrifying. Yet most people have never considered them, and many who call themselves Christians have never read them, and if they have they have turned away from them with the idea that modern thought rejects them. What does Jesus tell us in these words?
Jesus teaches here that after this life is over and death overtakes us, there are only two realities which we end up in. Jesus tells us here that these two realities are eternal. Once a person has reached one or other of these existences after death, they can never change. Time only is a realioty in this earthly life, after death it is an eternal present.
One of these is an experience of eternal punishment. This punsihment is described by Jesus in different ways. One is of eternal fire and burning. Another is eternal destruction. Another unquenchable fire. Whatever these describe is is suffering terrible which never ends. Many clergy these days reject these words of Jesus and say because God is love this could not be true.
The other destination is called eternal life. This is described in the Bible as a place of perfect blessed life, where all is perfect in holiness, and perfect creation better than even the paradise which Adam and Eve were placed before they disobeyed God, and plunged the world into the chaos which we now know.
Only the righteous will find themselves in eternal life. All the rest, whatever their beliefs and living will end in eternal punishment. The righteous are described in the Bible as the ones who repented of their sins and have cried for mercy, and have been given the grace to believe and trust in our Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour, the one who has suffered the punishment for their sins on the cross, and have thereafter their lived in obediance to Christ. The rest may plead that they were good people and had done much good, but they will find that this has availed them nothing.
Can I plead with you seriously to consider these words of Jesus, and seek eternal life in the words of Jesus 'God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish (in Hell), but have the gift of eternal life.' John 3: 16.
Living Word