“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. ³² 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. ³³ And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴ 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: ³⁵ 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; ³⁶ I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ³⁸ When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹ Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ ⁴¹ “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴² for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

⁴⁴ “Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ ⁴⁵ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

We continue our study about Israel and the fact that the New Testament church has not replaced her based on the promises that have been made by God to her. God made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I thought I was done with the whole Israel study, but as I was planning today, I began to think of the situation in the world right now. Israel is at war with Hamas, and there is a clear divide right now in the nation; there are those who are for Israel and those who are against her. As I was going over that in my mind, this judgment came to mind and a question, “Are you living in a Sheep nation or a Goat nation?” This is one serious consideration that you need to make about where you live.

The context of this chapter is very important; the chapter begins with the parable of the Ten Virgins: five are wise (they have extra oil for their lamps), and five are foolish (they have no oil). The oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit. These ten virgins await the return of the Bridegroom (Jesus). When He returns, those with the extra oil (Holy Spirit) are allowed to enter the wedding feast, and the others, even after getting oil, are refused entry. This is a picture of the New Testament church, the Bride of Christ, as we await the return of the Lord to take us home to the marriage supper.

The next parable is that of the Talents. They are distributed by a master who is leaving for a far country, and he leaves his servants with work to be accomplished based on their abilities. Thus, the master has given them what they can handle and work with. The master then returns and assesses the work of the servants. Once again, we see a clear picture of our judgment before Christ for how we lived as children of God after we were saved. We will be called to give an account of ourselves to the master, Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:10-11, “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. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences” (NKJV).

The third parable has nothing to do with the New Testament churches or the saints, but we are told in verse 32, “all nations will be gathered before Him.” The ‘Him’ is Jesus; we know that from verse 31, “The Son of Man comes in His glory.” Seated on His throne, He executes judgment on the nations based on one criterion found in verse 40, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” How did the nations treat His brethren? Jesus, of course, is an Israelite, and the brethren He is referring to are His countrymen.

We are told in the Abrahamic covenant from Genesis 12:3 that “I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

The nation of Israel and our relationship with her as a nation is still very, very important. If I understand this parable correctly, only the nations who treated them well will be allowed into the Millennial kingdom. There is no way that Israel is no longer relevant if the nations will be judged on how they treat her.

How are your politicians speaking about Israel? How are our leaders speaking about Israel’s right to defend herself and protect her people? You can see the hatred for Israel coming to the top once these types of events happen. It amazes me that even people that Hamas would kill, like homosexuals, trans and others of that ilk, seem to be pro-Hamas. Idiots. The Abrahamic covenant is alive and well today, and the standard of it is still the standard by which God will judge the nations of the earth. Israel will never stop being relevant.

Just as a summary of Matthew 25, do you have the extra oil of the Holy Spirit? Will you be able to answer the call of the Bridegroom? If you can, and yes, are you serving the Lord and investing the talents He has given you in the world around you, and will you be able to be judged as a ‘good and faithful servant’? The second question is one that we all, as saved people, need to answer. None of us want to be like the lazy servant who, though saved, was not able to have all the blessings that he could have had. And stop comparing yourself to others in the Kingdom; the guy with two was judged faithful like the one with ten because he did the work assigned. As children of God, we should be praying for the nation of Israel, not just in wartime, but as often as we can.

Psalm 122:6-9, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek thy good.”

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook (live broadcast of Sunday’s Message at 11 am): https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Join us on Zoom every Sunday (10:30 am) for Sunday Service AND every Tuesday at 8:00 pm for Bible Study: Meeting ID: 700 794 460 Passcode: 032661 https://us02web.zoom.us/j/700794460?pwd=M3NFRG91ZW5Sa2Z3amVyWkFnYXd6QT09

Online: https://www.mmbchurch.ca

Email: support@mmbchurch.ca

Acts 1:6-7

⁶ “So when they came together, they asked Him, ‘Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?’ ⁷ Jesus replied, ‘It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.'”

I hope that you are enjoying this series and that it answers questions or maybe just settled queries for you. I do not want to belabor the point too much longer, but I have heard too many people in the Lord’s churches talk about how the church has replaced Israel – that the final act of rebellion by rejecting Jesus to the cross set their fate and now the church has replaced Israel. This is sad to hear; it truly is because it calls into question all the promises that God made to us.

If God can renege on Israel, then maybe He can renege on the promises made to us. This is scary. The salvation we have was designed by, imagined, paid for, and secured for eternity by God. We do nothing except accept it. We cannot save ourselves, and we cannot keep ourselves saved; it is all God, ALL GOD!!

In our passage today, a short one recorded in Acts by Doctor Luke, we find the 11 remaining Apostles and others who are there asking a question about the Kingdom of Israel. They wondered if Jesus was about to restore the Kingdom of Israel. If you look at the other Gospels, Matthews tells us that Jesus gave the group their marching orders, Matthew 28:18-20,

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”

Mark 16:14-18, “Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name, they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.'”

These are all parts of the same conversation that Jesus had on the Mount of Olives with His Apostles before He left. We see Luke 24:50-52,

“And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven. And they worshiped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple praising and blessing God. Amen.”

The Holy Spirit does not lead Luke to give us details about the conversation until he begins writing in what we know to be the book of Acts. In this book, right off the top, Luke records the final conversation between Jesus and these men. There was noted excitement here; some feared, yes, and there were some doubts and unbelief, as was recounted in Mark’s version. But here these men were, and before them stood Jesus the risen Savior. One who could feed more than 5,000 with a few loaves and fish, One who could heal all manner of diseases, and One whom they had seen raise the dead. One whom they had seen crucified, and here He stood before them.

If anyone could overthrow the Romans, it was Him, and so, the natural question was, ‘Hey, Lord, are we going to destroy the Romans and take our nation back?’ You and I would have asked the same question. Here is the question from Luke’s account, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Jesus could have said NO, this is not going to happen; there is no more Israel. But He did not; rather, He told them that only the Father knows when this will happen.

The inference here is that the Kingdom of Israel will be restored at a pre-determined time that only God the Father knows. There will be a new Kingdom of Israel, and these men were not asking about the New Jerusalem described to us in Revelation; they were asking about the present one that they lived in. Jesus knew that. He led these men to believe that God the Father had a set time in place when He would restore the physical Kingdom of Israel. Well, you and I can see the physical Kingdom of Israel in its growing form right before our very eyes. There is no Temple yet, but Daniel tells us that it will come; Daniel 9:27,

“He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven,’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And at the temple, he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.”

There will be a Temple for the Man of Sin to defile and where the Jews will perform sacrifices for the first half of the Tribulation period in a false peace that is negotiated by a man whom they will accept as the Messiah. This false messiah will turn on them and defile their Temple. But the Temple will be there to be defiled. If the Temple is there, run by Jews and where the sacrifices are being performed, then the Jews have control of the Temple Mount or some degree of agreement with their Muslim counterparts. As we can see, there is no such ‘peace’ right now. But it is coming. This is the precursor to Revelation 19, when Jesus comes to take His place in Jerusalem on the throne of his father, David.

Jesus assured them that the Kingdom of Israel would be restored but in God’s timing. In the time in between, the Lord’s churches are to tell the world what Jesus did to pay for their sins on Calvary. Let us be about the Father’s business.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding

Pastor of Mississauga Missionary Baptist Church

How to Connect with Us

On Facebook (live broadcast of Sunday’s Message at 11 am): https://www.facebook.com/MississaugaMissionaryBaptistChurch

Join us on Zoom every Sunday (10:30 am) for Sunday Service AND every Tuesday at 8:00 pm for Bible Study: Meeting ID: 700 794 460 Passcode: 032661; https://us02web.zoom.us/j/700794460?pwd=M3NFRG91ZW5Sa2Z3amVyWkFnYXd6QT09

Online: https://www.mmbchurch.ca

Email: support@mmbchurch.ca