Not only does Jesus talk about individual judgement but he also talks about the judgement of cities (Matt 11:21-23) and the judgement of nations (Matt 25:31-46).
But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. Matt 25:31-33 (emphasis added)
Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 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, “Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?” The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ Matthew 25:34-40 (emphasis added)
Sheep Nations and Goat Nations
The judgement of the Gentile nations biblically has always been based upon how they treated the nation of Israel (e.g. Ezek chapters 25-28, Is 49:24-26, Jer 30:16, 50:10-15, 51:24, Ezek 29:6-7, Zech 1:14-15). The measuring stick for Israel has always been according to her faithfulness to God, obedience to His laws, innocent bloodshed and how she treated her poor (e.g. Jer 7:1-7, Is 10:1-2, Ezek 22:29). The church, being grafted into Israel, will be judged on all accounts.
The phrase in the above passage that most people overlook is one of these brothers of Mine. When Jesus spoke this parable, there was no church. His disciples could only have understood that He was talking about His Jewish people. This is the primary meaning.
How will our nation stack up on Judgement Day? Have we stood with the Jewish people as a nation? To date, Australia has done better than many, and therefore we have been blessed. The promise given to Abraham still stands.
And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed. Genesis 12:3
We are however, in danger of losing this status, as there are many in our government and nation who would like us to abandon Israel. We must be vigilant. New Zealand, of late, has not had such a good record so there is urgent work needed to correct this.
What about the church? Throughout history, Jews have been persecuted and hated by Christians. From the Crusades to the Spanish inquisition, and from Russian pogroms to Nazi Germany, Jews have been tortured and murdered as ‘Christ-killers’ by people calling themselves Christians. Is it any wonder that Jews have a hard time accepting our Gentile Jesus? Much repentance and practical action is needed to tip the scales.
However, God is doing a new thing. He is bringing Christians who love Jews to Israel especially to prophetically celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles. One orthodox Jew I know saw the coming of the Gentiles to Jerusalem to worship God as a sign of the imminent arrival of the Messiah. He did not want to miss that, so has booked his front-row seat by migrating from New York to Israel.
The church needs to lovingly and fearlessly preach the gospel to Jew and Muslim alike. God is appearing to many Jews and Muslims in dreams, visions and supernatural signs. More remarkably, He is giving many former Muslims a love for the Jews, which is totally in opposition to their upbringing. This is exciting to behold. Will you be one who will resist the world’s anti-Semitism and stand with Israel? Are you prepared to be active in praying for and lobbying to ensure Australia and New Zealand are sheep nations according to the standard of Matthew 25?
I believe that much of the trouble in the Middle East today could have been avoided had the British and French made a concerted effort to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to their mandated regions. Do we have the boldness to now go and fill this void with the message of life?
Pictures:
1. Sheep and Goat nations – Web
http://weseeasthroughaglassdarkly.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/sheepgoatworldmap.jpg
2. Jewish star – By Kitkatcrazy at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13371647