A Cup of Cold Water

"And when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then will He sit upon His glorious throne. 

All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another 
All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 

And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His 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: 

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; 

I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' 

"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 

When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 

Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 

"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 brothers, you did it to Me.' 

"Then He will also say to those on the left, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels: 

for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 

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.' 

"Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and we did not minister to You?' 

"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, neither did you do it to Me.' 

 "And these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Mat. 25:31-46. 

The Rapture Predicted

Some Bible commentaries insist that Matthew 24-25 relate specifically to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.  As mentioned earlier, some prophecies in the Bible apply to more than one situation.  It seems that these two chapters fit into that category.

Throughout our study of these two chapters, we have noticed that Clarke's Commentary has insisted that these prophecies relate to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD.  He maintains that point of view until 25:31 where he writes This must be understood of Christ’s coming at the last day, to judge mankind: though all the preceding part of the chapter may be applied also to the destruction of Jerusalem. Clarke.

It is significant that words to this effect, when the Son of Man comes, are found 7 times in Mat. 24 and 25 alone.  This indicates that the return of Christ, which is the Rapture of the Church, cannot be overemphasized.  The lesson to learn from that fact is that Christ said, For this reason you also must be ready, for at an hour that you think not, the Son of Man comes. Mat. 24:44.

Several points insist that these words cannot apply to the fall of Jerusalem:

1. the Son of Man comes in His glory (this does not sound like the fall of Jerusalem).
2. all the holy angels with Him. (This is said to refer to the Roman soldiers; but can we really think of them, as holy angels.)
3. All the nations will be gathered before Him (not just Judea).
4. He will separate them one from another. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left.  (This separation happens at The Judgment Seat of Christ which is also known as The Great White Throne judgment.)

all the holy angels: The word holy is omitted in many texts, and some have supposed that this signifies that both holy and unholy angels will be present at the judgment seat of Christ.  The unholy angels will be there to collect those who were placed at Christ's left hand and take them to eternal punishment.  

This sounds like an unwarranted supposition, because:

1. the angels will come with Christ from glory, surely that fact would exclude the evil angels.
2. even if the word holy should not be in the text, the best argument that there will be unholy angels is the argument of omission; the text does not say that there will be no unholy angels and so we must assume that there will be some.  Such an argument, in this case, really carries no weight.

Rewards or Punishment?

Then the King (Christ) will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit.  Paul wrote to the Christians in Galatia, Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, also an heir of God through Christ. Galatians 4:7.  An inheritance is not what one gets because it has been earned, it is received because one is a member of the family.

It is essential to be "born again" and accept that Christ is the master of your life.  This, of course, means doing your best to live as Christ would have you live.  In the two parables, Christ told, starting in verses 14 and 31, as recorded in Matthew 25, He made it very obvious that our rewards will be in accordance with how we have lived our lives (how kind we have been) and not on how well we knew or obeyed the church's doctrines.

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink?  This phrase certainly speaks of humility.  It says that when we do good deeds for others we are not doing them to be noticed by people.  We do them out of the goodness of our hearts; that goodness is implanted in us by the spirit of Jehovah because we are members of His family.