Our passage for study concludes Jesus' fifth and final discourse, "The coming of the Lord", 24:1-26:5. To drive home his exhortation "be prepared" ("keep watching" in the sense of keep focused on Christ, keep trusting Christ), Jesus relates two short teaching parables (illustrations) in 24:42-51 and two longer kingdom parables (riddles), the Ten Virgins, 25:1-13 and the Talents, 25:14-30. Jesus now concludes with a visionary description of the day of judgment. In that day the "blessed/righteous" will be separated from the "cursed". The righteous are blessed because they are prepared; they are prepared in that they accept (have faith in) Christ, which faith prompts their love of the brotherhood.

v31. Although Jesus doesn't identify the "Son of Man" with himself, there is no other reasonable possibility. This "Son of Man" is Daniel's Son of Man, the one who comes before the Ancient of Days to receive a kingdom, and to reign in glory and power, Dan.7, Jol.3:1-12. Note, his coming is a coming to heaven, not a coming to earth - the Son of Man gathers the saints (his "angels") and takes them to glory. It is interesting to note that in eternal terms he has already done this, Eph.2:6.

v32-33. Just as the farmer separates his sheep and goats at evening time (goats need shelter in winter), so the Son of Man will separate "the nations", with those at his "right" hand given power and honour. Although most scholars view this scene as a last-days judgement of all humanity, some see it as a separation of "the little ones" from mere professing believers. The problem is, if we accept the latter interpretation we are then inclined to see the good deed of brotherly love as a crucial ingredient for salvation. This is an unacceptable conclusion.

v34-40. The "blessed/righteous" are "the least of these brothers" ("little ones", believers, disciples). They now receive the inheritance of the kingdom, an inheritance the Father has prepared for them since the beginning of time. The crucial question is, how did they earn this reward? It could be argued that love of the downtrodden, or more particularly brotherly love, is the means of their salvation, but love of the brotherhood is more rightly a fruit of salvation, the fruit of faith (cf. 2Cor.5:10 - a similar idea). A believer, motivated by the compelling love of the indwelling Spirit of Christ, loves their brother in the Lord (although always imperfectly). So, the "blessed/righteous" receive their reward because of their faith in Jesus, not because they were loving.

v41-45. The "cursed" are banished to eternal fire. Their end is the same as the Devil and his demons. "True disciples will love one another and serve the least brother with compassion; in so doing they unconsciously serve Christ. Those who have little sympathy for the gospel of the kingdom will remain indifferent and in so doing, reject the Messiah King", Donald Carson. Another popular interpretation is that the cursed are "those who are inside the Christian community, but who are not the 'little ones'", George Gay. This interpretation is unlikely, so we are best to stay with the idea that the "cursed" are those who reject, even ignore Jesus. They are those who are without faith, who run out of oil and burry their talent.

v46. The final day brings complete separation. The righteous in Christ to eternal life, the cursed to annihilation.

In our passage for study Jesus paints a picture of the day of judgment. It is a day of sorting: sheep to the right, goats to the left; blessed to the right, cursed to the left. One can imagine that those standing before the Son of Man on that day would have expected a judgment based on their personal behavior, namely, their compassion toward humanity. Yet, they were shocked to find that their judgment before God was based on an exceedingly great expectation, one which was beyond the norm. Jesus makes it quite clear that a failure to act with total compassion serves as a personal affront to the Son of Man, an affront that leads to "the eternal fire."

When it comes to the subject of salvation, of finding ourselves on the right side of God and not on the left with the goats, Jesus often uses a reverse psychology teaching method. Eternal life has always rested on a free acceptance of the mercy of God. The trouble is, religious people often think that holding on to eternal life is all about being good. It is this type of flawed thinking that Jesus constantly seeks to expose and our passage for study is a perfect example of Jesus doing just that. If we honestly take to heart Jesus' words, we have to accept that we stand with the "accursed". But, is that the end of it?

The truth is that the only way a person will get to the right side of God and possess "eternal life" is if the Son of Man gets them there. Salvation, getting saved, staying saved, is totally dependent on the mercy of God; it is a gift of God, ours for the asking. Of course, such a person will reflect their standing with Jesus by their love of those who love Jesus, but in the end, it is their faith in Jesus, their trust in his promised mercy, that secures "eternal life."

So, take the warning; a person's eternal security depends on God's love, not their own.

What evidence is there that the blessed and the cursed do not represent two separate components of the Christian community, namely true believers and professing believers?