The Great Separation will come after the Great Tribulation

Sermon for Trinity 26

2 Thessalonians 1:3-10  +  Matthew 25:31-46

Last week we heard Jesus warn His dear disciples about the great tribulation that is coming on the world leading up to His return. And here we are, right in the middle of it! And because of it, the Christian mourns in this world. That doesn’t mean you go around crying all the time or sad all the time. But those who know the difference between right and wrong, those who know the only true God and who believe His Word can’t help but be troubled when we see right being labeled as wrong and wrong as right, can’t help but mourn when we see lies being told and taking hold in our society, can’t help but mourn when we see evil triumph—or seem to, at least. Not only that, but anyone who would be true to the Christian faith has to be hated for it and mistreated for it in this world, to some degree. In fact, if you aren’t mourning at all, if your righteous soul isn’t troubled by all the evil and injustice that surrounds you, if you suffer nothing for your confession of Christ, then you’d better reevaluate what you believe and how you’re living in this world. No, the Christian who is faithful and practicing his or her faith mourns and is troubled, and suffers at least some degree of persecution.

But all of that is coming to an end. It isn’t coming to an end immediately; your God-given place on earth isn’t to fix everything here, isn’t to usher in a brave new world where justice reigns, isn’t to win the battle of good vs. evil while the sun still shines. God will win that battle on the Last Day, when the sun stops shining and the days of earth come to an end. That’s when good truly wins, that’s when the great tribulation will be over, when the King returns, to deal with the believers and the unbelievers, with the sheep and the goats. Both of today’s Scripture lessons direct our attention to the Last Day the great separation that will happen on that day, the great separation that comes after the great tribulation.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. And all nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

This is the great separation, at the end of the age. It doesn’t happen now. Now, the godly are scattered among the nations—among all the nations of the earth. The children of God live alongside the children of the devil. And we can’t always know for sure who is who, either. Those who openly deny Christ are obviously among the goats. But Jesus says that many will say to Him, Lord! Lord!, on the last day, and He won’t acknowledge them as His own. In other words, many who appear to be sheep to us are known not to be sheep to God. So for now, believers live alongside unbelievers, not with animosity toward them, but with a desire to see them come to repentance and become children of God together with us. There is animosity in the other direction, though, from the world toward faithful Christians. They “trouble you,” Paul writes to the Thessalonians. But the troubling won’t go on forever. Everything will be sorted out at the Great Separation, when Jesus comes and separates the sheep from the goats.

The Lord won’t have any trouble figuring out who is His on that day. He already knows. As Paul writes, The Lord knows those who are His. He sees the repentance that His Spirit worked in believers. He sees the Baptism that marks them as His own, and He sees faith in the Son of Man by which sinners are justified. He also sees how you suffer in the world and are mistreated in the world. But that part is coming to an end.

Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you blessed ones of my Father! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. St. Paul uses similar words when speaking to the Ephesians Christians, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved, that is, in Christ, the beloved Son of God.

Already Christians have been blessed by God. Already He knows those who believe in His Son and who will still be believing in the end. For those children of His, God has been preparing an inheritance since the beginning of time—mansions that Jesus Himself is right now preparing, an inheritance that you will receive because of Christ, because you have believed in Him and been baptized into Him, because faith in Him—and faith alone!— has made you accepted and acceptable to God.

So Jesus sees faith in the sheep, true, genuine faith in Him as our one Mediator with God, as our atoning Sacrifice and as our great High Priest who cleanses us by His blood. And on the basis of that faith, the sheep have become heirs of eternal life.

What else does Jesus see in these sheep of His? He sees what Paul already saw in the Thessalonian Christians: We boast about you among the churches of God because of your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the tribulations that you endure. Jesus sees our patience and faith as we bear up under the cross, as we confront the great tribulation of this world with courage and with steadfastness.

What else does Jesus see in these sheep of His? He sees faith being put into action. In other words, He sees love! And above all, love for one another. Love for their brothers and sisters in Christ, for this family of believers, some of whom we know, most of whom we don’t, but those whom we know—we go out of our way to show them mercy and help in times of need, whatever the need may be. I was hungry, and you gave me food; I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in; naked, and you clothed me; I was sick, and you visited me; I was in prison, and you came to me. It’s the same thing Paul said he saw in the Thessalonian Christians: We should always thank God for you, brothers, as is fitting, because your faith is growing very much, and the love each of you shows toward one another is increasing. As Jesus makes clear in this parable, He’s talking about the works of love that Christians do for fellow Christians, because they bear the name of Christ just as we do.

And, wonder of wonders, Jesus promises to reward those acts of love as if they were done directly to Him. Truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these my brothers, you did for me. That’s how much He cares about His Christians as they suffer in this world, that He should honor and reward His Christians for the love they show to one another.

That’s comforting for believers, but it should also be encouraging and inspiring and instructive. See how Jesus values these acts of love, how serious He is about them. In fact, this very parable, which Jesus spoke with the full intention that future Christians would read it and take it to heart before the Great Separation, is Jesus sending out His people of all ages to render this aid to one another! So be mindful of your fellow Christians. Focus your attention on helping your brothers and sisters to make it through this great tribulation that comes before the great separation, to remember that how you treat your fellow Christian is how you treat Jesus. That should also serve as a warning for you, to be careful not to sin against your brothers and sisters in Christ, not to cause any of His little ones to stumble.

Because look at what the future holds for those who mistreat His people. Oh, how terrible it will be for unbelievers at the Great Separation. They were allowed to live alongside God’s people here and trouble God’s people here, for a time, just as Christ Himself was allowed to be troubled here, for a time. But that time will come to an end. And then, as Paul writes in the Epistle, God will repay with troubles those who trouble you.. when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God and who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will be punished with everlasting destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from his glorious might. Or as Jesus simply puts it, Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Unbelievers don’t “go to a better place” when they die. They don’t escape any pain or suffering here. The suffering here will only be followed by greater suffering, first for the soul, and then, at the Last Day, they rise to be sent to the eternal or everlasting flames and everlasting punishment, with no prospect of escape.

Now, as the rest of Scripture makes clear, unbelievers will be condemned and punished for many sins, for all their idolatry, for all their lies, for all their despising of God, and for all sorts of sins of commission, for all the troubling of Christians and for all the wicked behavior they’re guilty of, and for all the evil they promote and embrace. But Jesus here chooses to highlight only the sins of omission, their indifference to the suffering of Christians, all the good that they refused to do for Jesus’ brothers and sisters here. I was hungry, and you did not give Me food, etc.

“When did we not do these things for You, Jesus?” When you didn’t do them for the least of these, My brothers, you didn’t do them for Me. See again how much Jesus cares for His brothers and sisters here on earth, how it pains Him to see us mistreated and neglected and troubled. It has to be this way now, though even now He tempers it and controls it so that things never get worse than we are able, with His help, to bear. But soon, when the Son of Man comes in His glory, He will bring about the great separation and mete out the punishment the unbelieving have coming, because they refused to obey the gospel, as Paul says in the Epistle.

What does it mean to “obey the Gospel”? Well, what does the gospel say? It says, Hear the Word of God! Repent of your sins against God and man! Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins! And then live as children of God in the world! And love one another, as Christ has loved you! Those who failed to do those things in this life will go away into eternal punishment, while those who repented and believed in the Lord Jesus and were baptized and lived as children of God in the world—the righteous!—will inherit eternal life.

So take heart in the midst of this Great Tribulation, and don’t worry when you see evil flourishing in the world, or when you yourselves are troubled by the world. The Great Separation is coming, and the righteous will be separated from the unrighteous, and the righteous will receive their reward. So spend your time, not in worrying, or in despairing, but in seeing to it that you are found among the righteous and believing when the Son of Man comes in His glory! Amen.