41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Those pictured as goats are bad news. Their destiny is stated in unambiguous terms, eternal fire (41) and eternal punishment (46). We observe a number of facts. Their punishment will be painful. It is said that burning is the most painful way to die; how much more burning for eternity. Yet, this painful consequence of a life selfishly lived will be eternal; cessation of existence will never come. The idea of a painful punishment without end seems repugnant to many today, as though retribution for eternity far exceeds the sin committed in a relatively short time span on earth. However, the Sovereign Lord of creation sets the standard of what is appropriate punishment. In fact, He finds the sin of the “goats” to be repugnant. In this context, the “goats” exhibited a total disregard for their fellow human beings, who are made in the image of God. In essence, the “goats” were disregarding God. This is an absolute tragedy, that a creation of God would so treat God’s image in that way.
The duration of the punishment for the goats is comparable to the duration of the reward for the sheep—eternal. Both their lives are judged on how they treated the needy of society. That is where the similarity ends. On the very surface of it, Christians need to be about looking after the hungry, the outcast, the sick, the imprisoned. Smugness and self-righteousness have no place here.
Is this not what James referred to in his letter: “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself” (James 2:14-17). This is not to say that good deeds bring about salvation, for Paul teaches otherwise (see Ephesians 2:8-9). But it does mean that faith that does not result in caring for the needs of others may not be genuine faith at all.
Lord, help me to be a doer of the Word, not just a hearer (James 1:22)
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