Scripture
Then Jesus said, “those people will be punished for ever. But the ones who please God will have eternal life.”

Observation
Jesus gives a description of the future judgement. Th whole of humanity will be judged by how they treated the least of His people.

The sheep are those who visited the imprisoned, fed the hungry, clothed the naked. They did it for Jesus even though they were not aware of this.

The goats are those who neglected the needy because they were intent on serving themselves.

The sheep go to eternal life but the goats go to eternal punishment.

Application
Our modern minds resent the implications of judgement. We feel that we should be free from the judgement of others, including God.

Our theology of judgement has taken a battering with theologians wanting to deny the reality of hell.

But here Jesus very plainly states there will be a judgement. The choices we make in this life will determine our eternal destiny.

We know that God is just and all-knowing so that His decision will be fair. He will know all the mitigating and the aggravating factors. Everything will be taken into account.

More than that, it is Jesus, the eternal Son who does the judging. The one who pays the price for our sin is the one charged with determining who is covered by His blood. Our determination to follow Jesus as Lord, our allegiance to Him as King of our lives, that is where the line of separation falls.

Hell and heaven are real. Eternity is real. Judgement is real. We need to become convinced of this and seek reconciliation with God now, walking in His peace every day.

Prayer
Lord we don't like to think of judgement as real. We don't like to think of hell as real. Please help me to live each day in the consciousness of eternal realities. Amen.