When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left. Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by 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 took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited 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? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ And they too will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then the King will answer, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for Me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
In my vision in the night I continued to watch, and I saw One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.
Walk the Square · a single-voice walk of this pair around the Clowney square13:45
Significance
The judgment of the sheep and goats is the most explicitly Danielic of all Jesus' parousia scenes: "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him" (Matt 25:31-32). The title "Son of Man," the enthronement in glory, and above all the gathering of "all the nations" before His throne render Daniel 7:13-14, where the Son of Man receives dominion so that "the people of every nation and language should serve Him." Daniel's heavenly courtroom — thrones set, the court convened, the kingdom awarded (Dan 7:9-14, 22, 26) — becomes here the throne of the Son of Man who separates and judges the nations and welcomes the blessed to "inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (v.34). The connection is promise-fulfillment: the dominion and universal allegiance promised the Son of Man in Daniel are realized as He sits in final judgment over every people. The telos is the King who is also the Shepherd — the Son of Man enthroned in glory who identifies Himself with "the least of these" and grants His own kingdom to those who are His. To behold this Judge is not to shrink in moralistic dread but to find that the King of the universe is the One who was hungry, thirsty, and a stranger, and who counts mercy shown to His people as mercy shown to Himself — a glory that wins the heart to love and serve Him.
Found via
Beale & Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Baker, 2007)
