Title: Lord, When We
Contents
Have you ever imagined the Last Judgment? There are parables in our Bible books that make you imagine what the Last Judgment will look like.
When Jesus comes again to judge this world, surrounded by his angels, surrounded by glory, Jesus will come and sit on the glorious throne prepared for him. Jesus will gather all nations before Him and will divide people as a shepherd separates sheep from goats. The sheep will be on his right, and the goats will be on his left.
And the king is speaking to those on your right.
"Come, you who are blessed by my Father, and take possession of this kingdom prepared for people like you from the time of the creation of the heavens and the earth." (Mt 25:34)
In this way, the people on the right side of the king, that is, those who are classified as sheep, are “those who are blessed” by God. Jesus invites them to come to Him. And it means that you are to take possession of that "country" that God has prepared in advance from the time of creation. And the king explains to them the fact that they deserve the treatment they deserve, giving specific examples.
“I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you cared for me, I was in prison and you visited me.” (Mt 25:35-36)
But since they had never cared for, visited, or treated the Lord like that, they were so embarrassed that they told the Lord that they had never done such a thing, and that they had no merit to inherit the kingdom that was allotted to them. I confess that I am unqualified.
“Lord, when did we see you hungry and give you something to eat, when we see you thirsty and give you something to drink, when we see you become a stranger and welcome you, when we see you naked and give you clothing, when you are sick or imprisoned? Did you go and see it?" (Mt 25:37-39)
Then the king will say to the righteous:
“I tell you the truth, you are here among my brothers and sisters,
Whatever you did for one of the most insignificant people, you did for me."
In this way, those who were at the right hand of the King who judges will receive the blessings of God and will inherit the eternal kingdom.
And at the same time, the King, the Judge, will also speak to those on the left, those classified as goats.
"Depart from me, you cursed ones, and enter into the eternal fire prepared to imprison the devil and his men."
Thus, the people to the left of the king, those classified as goats, are said to have been "cursed" by God. Jesus drives them away from you. And that is to say, from the time of creation, to go into the "eternal fire" that God has prepared in advance to imprison the devil and his subordinates. And the King explains to them the fact that they deserve such a punishment by giving specific examples.
“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 welcome me, I was naked and you did not give me clothes, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” (Mt 25:42-43)
But these people admit that they never cared for, visited, or treated the Lord like that. But they ask the Lord when has He ever given them such an opportunity? Ask them when the Lord has ever given them such an opportunity to receive or visit Him. They say that there is no reason for them to be rebuked by the Lord, and they complain that it is too injustice to be cursed, rejected by the Lord, and thrown into eternal fire for that reason.
“Lord, when did we see you hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or imprisoned and did not take care of you?”
Then the king will answer them like this:
“I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these men, you did not do for me” (Matthew 25:45)
In this way, those who were at the left of the King who judges are cursed and thrown into eternal fire. In the end, the wicked go into a life of eternal punishment, and the righteous go into a life of eternal blessing.
Since the righteous had never cared for, visited, or treated the Lord like that, they were so puzzled that they told the Lord that they had never done such a thing, and that they had no merit to inherit the kingdom allotted them I will confess that I am unqualified.
The wicked will admit that they never cared for, visited, or treated the Lord like that, but they would ask when the Lord had ever given them such an opportunity. And they will complain that they have no reason to be rebuked by the Lord, and that for that reason they are cursed, rejected by the Lord, and imprisoned in eternal fire is so unfair.
What both the righteous and the wicked have in common is that they do not know when they received the Lord, nor do they know when they rejected the Lord. For the final judgment in which people are divided into those who are accepted by God and those who are rejected by God, there is no such anticipation book for us to prepare in advance. Because we will face the final judgment with what we know nothing of. I don't have the authority to teach you what to expect. All we know is that we will be tested with questions that are totally unexpected.
Even if the Lord had walked around saying, 'I am the Lord,' this would not have happened because the Lord has always hidden Himself from many people in various ways. So, the question of the righteous is, “Lord, when did we do such a glorious thing to receive you?” And the question of the wicked is also, “Lord, when did we commit such a mistake when we saw and did not receive you? "is.
The righteous seem really righteous. It is that he did something worthy of praise from the Lord, even though he did such a grand job, without knowing what it had to do with receiving the Lord. It means that he did it without even imagining that it would be something to be proud of before the Lord. What you did without any calculations turned into accepting the Lord. So, when the Lord praises, they say, "Lord, when are we?" and I'm surprised
When God Himself came into the world in the body of the baby Jesus, the world did not recognize him and did not receive him. The Lord, who is with us even now, seems to pass by us in the form of little things that we do not care about.
Those who are classified as goats at the Last Judgment are likely to blame the Lord for rejecting them.
“Lord, why do you pass before us in the form of insignificance and cause us to reject you?
Some of those who were classified as goats at the Last Judgment will blame themselves rather than blame the Lord for rejecting them.
How many, how long, how many little things that we did not pay attention to, which we did not receive, which we did not take care of, passed by us, and the Lord was there...
"When I received the cup of the sacrament, I thought that I had the blood of the Lord in my body, but when I broke the bread of the sacrament, I thought that I had the flesh of the Lord in my flesh...
The same was true for those classified as unaware of the situation. If they thought that what they do to the most insignificant ones they did to the Lord, it would never have been their positive evaluation in the final judgment. What makes it difficult to stand before the judging table is that no one can anticipate the problem. Perhaps this exam in our text will not be retaken. Because it's already a public issue. Heungbu took the test without knowing it and was blessed, and Nolbu was cursed because I gave the exam with the expected problem and I scored it. Our {Heungbujeon/Nolbujeon} story is also a good meditation spot for those of us who meditate on the Last Judgment.
I want you all to be those who stand at the Lord's right hand. Even if the Lord praises you, "Lord, when did I do such a good thing?" I hope that you will be able to stand among those who ask you in a happy way. This does not mean that you should have a humble attitude such as "You do everything you have to say" or "You're welcome" even if the Lord praises you. This is because, perhaps, not all of the things we do consciously to receive the Lord as "Nolbu's Ethics" are worthy of advocating at the Last Judgment. If we stand before the Lord with pride, such boasting is what the righteous say, "Lord, when are we?" And that's not to say that it's not something that can be swept away.
In the Last Judgment, God's judgment of us is something we did completely unconsciously. If we are righteous, those things that we can always ask, "Lord, when did we do such a good thing?" will prove valuable at the judgment seat. As long as we remember it after giving it to our neighbors, we have not received the Lord, but only glorified ourselves. Forget everything you give to others. When we forget, the Lord remembers. Forget what you give to your neighbors. When you remember what you give, you want to be rewarded, and when you don't, you feel betrayed.
We need to remember the wrongs we have done to our neighbors, and it is painful when others remind us of them, but I think we should. The memory of our mistakes will make us mature. However, this may be relatively easy.
What's really difficult is that at the Last Judgment, something more fundamental will be questioned, not related to the memory or oblivion of what we've done. Don't you think for a moment that our unconscious world becomes a problem when we are judged? When the Lord praises you, the person who can truly ask, “Lord, when am I?” is the one who can be surprised and ask the person who is saved.