Matthew 25:31, commentary and pictures

When the Son of man comes in His glory with all the holy angels with Him, He sits upon the throne of His glory as King and Judge. His coming is personal, literal and visible in clouds with power and great glory, in perfect contrast to the humility of His first advent when His divinity was concealed. That throne is the kingdom of glory, still future while He serves as priest and mediator, and it is given to His people only at His personal coming after His mediatorial work is done. Then all nations are gathered before Him in public universal judgment, and He separates them into two classes as a shepherd divides sheep from goats, giving eternal decisions according to deeds. Eternal reward or punishment turns on what was done or neglected for Him in the poor and suffering, for care for the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned counts as done to Him. Therefore character and faithful use of entrusted talents decide place, and preparation must happen before He comes, for profession counts for nothing without obedience and the wedding garment of His righteousness.

Setting and Wording

Matthew 25:31 belongs to the discourse recorded in Matthew 24 and 25, delivered after a day of demanding work and extended speaking, shortly before entering Gethsemane.

The verse names Christ the Son of man and speaks of His coming in His glory with all the holy angels to sit upon the throne of His glory as King and Judge. During His humiliation His accusers repeated that claim about His coming and throne to mock Him, yet in doing so they were fulfilling prophecy without understanding it. The scene is the reverse of His trial, for instead of being surrounded and abused by a riotous mob He occupies the position of supreme Judge of heaven and earth, seated upon the Father's throne, from whose decisions there will be no appeal, coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory escorted by legions of angels to pronounce sentence upon His enemies, among whom will be that same accusing throng. There the Son of man on His throne listens to every sound from the human race and approves or condemns every action according to its good or evil nature, while all the holy angels are sent through the length and breadth of the earth to witness every suffering mortal's struggle against evil, to give divine aid, and to raise up the fallen and oppressed.

The verse stands within the instruction of Matthew 25:14-46, which embraces the parables of the talents and the virgins and the judgment of the nations, and which is to be studied and compared with the life record. It presents His glorious coming and enthronement as the setting for the judgment described in the chapter, making it a call to account for how one has lived, including whether one has followed Christ in humble obedience rather than self-trust. That instruction requires every person to put away boasting, for self-sufficiency is fearfully dangerous and makes the words of Christ of no effect. It shows His glorious return to reckon with His servants as part of the parable of the talents, and that parable embraces more than earthly, temporal employments and worldly goods, for the goods delivered are talents and endowments committed as a loan and sacred, higher trust to be invested for Him and used to the glory of God to advance His glory, not buried in worldly enterprises or used merely to accumulate worldly goods, with eternity and eternal interests kept in the reckoning, a servitude and entire obedience secured by His own blood and sufferings that makes men stewards of His grace, so that even the humblest service done at His bidding and for His glory becomes a consecrated gift. The final judgment day when the judgment shall sit and the books shall be opened reveals principles of eternal justice in decisions that turn not especially on revolting crimes and open breaking of sins but on neglecting to do what might and ought to have been done for lack of the moral qualifications Christ made every provision to place within reach of every sinner by clothing divinity with humanity to bring moral power to combine with human effort, examining what is the character of works and whether Jesus giving His life to transform character was accepted to become fit for the kingdom of God, with living connection with God and saving faith in Christ as personal Saviour shown by being doers of His words, as illustrated by the five wise and five foolish virgins who had lamps of knowledge of truth but no oil of grace and no vitalizing by the Holy Spirit.

Manner of Coming

The coming is personal, literal and visible, not merely spiritual or figurative. It is the promised return of the Son of man with heaven's hosts, certain and without distrust, a comfort to disciples and a hope to followers. While He is in heaven His sympathies remain with them as He pleads the merits of His blood before God, showing His wounded hands and feet as the price paid for His redeemed. They look for His glorious return with great joy and longing anticipation.

He comes in the clouds with power and great glory, in His own glory and the glory of the Father, crowned with glory. He is accompanied by all the holy angels and heaven's hosts, a company numbering ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, with trumpet and voice. Angels escort Him as heaven's King, and at His coming His voice and trumpet call the righteous dead from graves to immortal life and awaken the dead. At that time God's law is revealed in its majesty, and those who broke and rebelled against it understand the despised and trampled law is God's standard of character. Those who would reign with Him must be willing to suffer with Him on earth, for the once-rejected, thorn-crowned Saviour returns crowned.

His second appearing is in perfect contrast to the humility of His first advent, when His glory as Son of the Infinite God was concealed by the garb of humanity without worldly royalty or visible manifestation. Then divinity is no longer concealed, for He comes as one equal with God, His own beloved Son, Prince of heaven and earth, Redeemer of His people and Lifegiver, with the glory of Father and Son seen to be one, substantiating His claim to be one with the Father and shining forth gloriously before His ancients. In place of the crown of thorns He wears a crown within a crown, and in place of garments of humility and the mockers' robe He is clad in a robe whiter than the whitest white, with King of kings and Lord of lords inscribed upon vesture and thigh. His return is pictured by the high priest emerging from the holy of holies to the waiting congregation in glorious garments after completing service, for having first humbled Himself as servant and offered Himself as both priest and sacrifice, He comes again as King of kings and Lord of lords. This personal revelation in the clouds with power and great glory surpasses all the eye has ever seen and exceeds imagination, and obedience or disobedience to the Lord's authority decides every soul's case and who will meet Him in peace.

The advent is public, triumphant and universally witnessed before the whole world, not a resurrection already occurred secretly or weeks, months or years earlier. It is a public, unmistakable event that cannot be counterfeited by Satan's impersonation of Christ or appearance in separate places as a false Christ in a particular place. Those who rejected, mocked and struck Him will see Him in this royal glory as the great judgment day begins and all nations are gathered before Him.

While all the world is plunged in darkness there will be light in every dwelling of the saints, and they will catch the first light of His appearing. Unsullied light will shine from His splendor, and Christ the Redeemer will be admired by all who served Him, who share His splendor and see His glory while the lowly are exalted. While the wicked flee from His presence, His followers rejoice in the undimmed rays of the brightness and glory of the King in His majesty. They are prepared for the communion of heaven because Christ has been to them a daily companion and familiar friend, they have lived in close contact in constant communion with God, the glory of the Lord has risen upon them, and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ has been reflected in them, with heaven in their hearts. His coming is joyful for His redeemed who welcome Him as Lord, when He returns for His obedient children to take them to Himself and stand again upon the Mount of Olives, fulfilling His promise to receive His disciples to Himself where He is. The saints must receive the outpouring of the Holy Ghost and share God's glory before the advent so they can stand before His brightness, and that coming requires work now to prepare men and women physically and spiritually with means and self-denial and sacrifice.

Throne and Kingdom

The throne of glory is the kingdom of glory, still future and not yet established while Christ serves as priest and mediator with the Father. That kingdom of glory is distinct from the kingdom of grace established through His death, and it will be set up only when He returns in glory with all the holy angels and sits upon the throne, after His mediatorial work is ended when God gives Him David's throne and an everlasting kingdom on earth. All nations are then gathered before Him.

The kingdom is not established before the second advent but is given to His people only at His personal coming, when after His mediatorial work He sits as King in majesty. At that coming He separates the righteous as sheep from the wicked as goats and as King calls those on His right hand to inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. Inheriting that incorruptible everlasting kingdom requires the great change at His coming, when the righteous dead are raised incorruptible and the righteous living are changed and made immortal, because mortal corruptible flesh and blood cannot inherit it. Until He comes and confers immortality His people are only heirs and cannot enter the kingdom.

His glorious reign is established at the final judgment, when the resurrected saints are gathered into the kingdom of God upon the new earth. That is the future time not yet transpired, belonging with the judgment and the establishment of the saints, when the righteous receive their reward and the wicked are punished. At His return He receives His people to Himself to live in God's presence in Eden restored, where the redeemed walk and talk with God and Christ and the angels.

Those who closely shared His sufferings will share that glory with Him when He returns to earth in power and great glory with the heavenly hosts to awaken the dead and sit as King in majesty, revealing also the Father's glory. Peter, who followed the Lord he had denied and chose to be crucified head downward, will be a partaker of that glory. Though He was King of glory He laid aside His royal honor and became poor so that men might gain heavenly treasure, and those who would reign with Him must be willing to suffer with Him on earth in self-denial, truth and righteousness for the truth. While the world is in darkness the saints catch the first light of His appearing and see His splendor, and those who have served and received Him share it, so that the lowly are exalted.

Judgment Scene

His coming begins the judgment day, when He sits upon the throne of His glory as King and Judge, and all nations are gathered before Him to be examined with justice and accuracy, with eternal decisions, rewards and punishments given according to deeds. The wedding garment must be received in this life, for it represents the righteousness of Christ and the provision of grace and sanctification, without which none is prepared for that examination. The Judge is Jesus Christ the Son of man, to whom the Father has committed all judgment and given authority to execute judgment. He is God manifest in the flesh, who in added humanity became the Prince of sufferers, came from heaven to save from eternal death, submitted to be arraigned before an earthly tribunal, was despised and rejected and suffered the death of the cross, accepted humanity and lived a pure sanctified life, and He alone will pronounce the sentence of reward or of punishment. His word that He would sit on the right hand of the power of God is then fulfilled, with Enoch's prophecy that the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints to execute judgment upon all the ungodly for their deeds and hard speeches.

The judgment is held in public in the presence of the world and before the assembled universe and all the worlds, not of a few individuals or one nation but of a whole world of accountable human beings, so that the love, integrity and service of men for God may be glorified and honored on the largest scale. All nations are gathered before Him and separated into two classes as a shepherd separates sheep from goats, sheep on the right and goats on the left, the just and the unjust, the righteous and the unrighteous. Every person may be saved through faith in Christ who draws every soul, but not all will be saved. The words then spoken decide forever the eternal destiny of the two classes, revealing the character God accepts.

That judgment is wider than the destruction of Jerusalem and concerns the end of the world, when the impenitent and unbelieving suffer condemnation for their sins after rejecting the mercy made available through the Redeemer's death. He comes then attended not by a murderous mob as at His crucifixion but by God's mighty hosts. The judgment sits with the books opened and every person judged by what is written, testing heart, conduct, life tendency, disposition and actions. Its standard is God's law, with obedience marking those made holy to the Lord and transgression marking those stained with sin, confronting each person with the choice between obedience to God and rebellion against Him. The decisions turn less on revolting crimes and open breaking sins than on neglecting to do what might and ought to have been done for lack of the moral qualifications Christ made every provision to place within reach by clothing divinity with humanity to bring moral power to combine with human effort, as illustrated by virgins with lamps of knowledge of truth but no oil of grace and no vitalizing by the Holy Spirit.

In this judgment God's government is vindicated and His honor and His law stand forth as holy, just and good, every case decided and sentence passed upon the whole world. The glory that accompanied God's presence at Sinai foreshadows the terror and majesty of this coming for the execution of God's sacred statutes and the vindication of divine authority. Sin no longer appears attractive but is seen in all its hideous magnitude, and the relation in which each stands to God and to each other is seen. At that time God's law is revealed in its majesty, and those who broke it and rebelled against its precepts understand that the law they despised and trampled underfoot is God's standard of character, with the Sabbath's institution in Eden and the giving of the law at Sinai vividly brought before them, including teachers who taught that God's law or the Sabbath was no longer binding. Through this public judgment the value of eternal life is recognized, God's commandment-keeping people are honored, transgressors receive condemnation, and the righteous see the consequences of sin.

The light of Christ's presence gives life to those who love Him but is death to the ungodly, who cannot endure it and want to hide from the face of the Redeemer they rejected. Transgressors who disregarded God's commandments and trampled Christ's blood underfoot cannot look upon His glory, just as Israel could not look upon Moses' shining face after he had communed with God. At His appearing in royal glory with the holy angels the wicked dead see and recognize the one they rejected and crucified, and His glory fills them with terror so that they flee and cry out. The lost then recognize the sacrifice and love they rejected, while their final recognition that they chose wrongly and chose Satan's service comes too late to change destiny. The scene reverses His trial, for instead of being surrounded and abused by a riotous mob He occupies the position of supreme Judge of heaven and earth seated upon the Father's throne, coming in the clouds with power and great glory escorted by legions of angels, pronouncing sentence upon His enemies among whom will be that same accusing throng, from whose decisions there will be no appeal. At that coming all will be convinced of the truth that God has set apart the godly for Himself. At His coming in glory with the holy angels to sit on His throne for judgment, hypocrites and unbelievers who rejected Him, like the Pharisees who scorned the sinners He welcomed, will receive the portion of hypocrites and unbelievers, while those they scorned will be gathered into His kingdom.

Ground of Verdict

Eternal reward or punishment turns on what was done or neglected for Christ in serving the poor and suffering, for care shown to the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick and imprisoned counts as done to Him, while neglecting them counts as neglecting Him, though those judged do not necessarily recognize Him as the one served or neglected. Faithfulness in that day is tested by works of mercy to Christ in the least of His brethren, separating all nations as sheep from goats to eternal life or everlasting punishment, and many will be disappointed because they did not understand this test. He may be received and served now by pity and benevolence to the poor and suffering as His representatives, and to neglect or mistreat them is to neglect or mistreat Him.

Those placed on the left neglected Him in the person of the needy, standing unconscious of guilt because they lived self-absorbed and blinded without care for others' needs. Wealth given to relieve and comfort His suffering children was shut away in costly dwellings and splendid churches and spent on pride, selfishness and ambition, failing to enter the poor man's place, understand his temptations and struggles, or relieve his lack of food and clothing. At the throne He declares He Himself was hungry and thirsty while they feasted, homeless while they were at ease, destitute while they crowded wardrobes with rich apparel, and languishing in prison while they pursued pleasure, and their neglect ends in rejection with the words, I know you not.

The brethren by whom He tests are all who are born into the heavenly family, bound together by love that reveals the divine relationship. To make men members of that family He became a member of the earthly family as Son of man and brother to every son and daughter of Adam, identifying Himself with every child of humanity, so followers are part of the great web of humanity as brothers to sinners as well as saints. Every deed of kindness to uplift a fallen soul and every act of mercy to the fallen, erring and sinful is therefore accepted as done to Him.

He recognizes faithful work even by those who knew little theology but cherished His principles and were a blessing through the Holy Spirit. Among the heathen are those who cherished kindness, befriended missionaries at peril of life before hearing words of life, worshiped God ignorantly without human preaching, and heard His voice in nature without the written law and did the things the law requires. Grace softened their darkened minds and even savage natures through the Holy Spirit, so their works prove their hearts were touched, they will not perish but are recognized as children of God, and to their surprise and gladness they hear His approval.

Humble acts are precious even when unremarkable and unnoticed by men, such as giving a cup of cold water or speaking a timely word, and even a pittance of bread or flimsy garments given to the starving and freezing is giving to the Lord of glory. Such deeds done from love and humility are preserved by angels, make music in heaven, and are rewarded rather than self-promotion seeking human notice. The Father from His throne numbers unselfish workers among His most precious treasures, and angels are sent throughout the earth to comfort the sorrowing, protect the imperiled, and win hearts to Christ, so that welcoming His needy ones welcomes unseen angels bringing joy and peace.

Profession counts for nothing in the judgment; character determines each person's place and reward when all nations are gathered and separated as sheep from goats. The saved are those living by grace through faith and repentance, sharing the light received, showing loyalty through obedience to God's law, and cooperating with Christ in faith and works to restore God's moral image rather than denying Him by an ungodly life. Obedience marks those made holy to the Lord, while transgression marks those stained with sin.

People are held accountable not only for wrongs committed but also for good they could have done and failed to do, and decisions turn less on revolting crimes and open sins than on neglecting what might and ought to have been done. That neglect comes from lack of the moral qualifications Christ made every provision to place within reach of every sinner by clothing divinity with humanity to bring moral power to combine with human effort. It is illustrated by the five wise and five foolish virgins who had lamps of knowledge of truth but no oil of grace and no vitalizing by the Holy Spirit, and by those who did no evil yet lived to please themselves, carried no responsibility, and did not work for Him, who are placed with those who did evil and receive the same condemnation.

The reckoning embraces eternity and more than earthly, temporal employments and worldly goods, testing the use of every entrusted ability, talent and endowment as a loan and sacred, higher trust to be invested for the Master to advance His glory and not buried in worldly enterprises or used merely to accumulate worldly goods. Christ secured this servitude and entire obedience by His own blood and sufferings, making men stewards of His grace, and He can make even the humblest service done at His bidding and for His glory a consecrated gift, while self-sufficiency makes His words of no effect. The record reveals neglected duties and what was done for Him by serving the poor, afflicted, orphaned and widowed, for genuine love shown in deeds is counted.

As stewards and trustees with no ownership, all must settle accounts for means entrusted to advance God's cause, whether one talent or two or five, with not a farthing to be squandered on selfish indulgence. Selfish interest, acquisitiveness, clever schemes, sharp dealing, withholding money in emergency, murmuring at expense for God's work, hiding the Lord's money in the earth or in the world, loving to seem rich while accumulating wealth by withholding help, and robbing Him by withholding from the poor and the gospel bring retribution like the unfaithful steward who hid his talent. Every act of oppression, double dealing and fraud is registered, talents of tact and skill and worldly treasure were given to cooperate with Christ as a channel of blessing without abuse, and worldly gain profits nothing when the soul is lost.

Neglect of those who could have been helped is charged against the neglectful, and the neglected themselves bear witness against those who failed them. At the last day the poor will rise in judgment and condemn those who spent wealth on pride and ambition while others lacked food and clothing, and those who neglected the poor will be found guilty before God.

The judgment examines whether heart and conduct harmonize with the spirit and work of Jesus toward the needy, oppressed, fatherless, widow and all afflicted ones, counting their claims for sympathy, help, comfort and Christlike love as His own. Those condemned wear religion as a mask, follow imaginations of evil hearts, honor the rich and those in high positions, show little regard for the poor, live unrighteously in business and social relations, give no encouragement to virtue and no support to methods and institutions by which the poor receive consolation and substantial help, turn a deaf ear to the oppressed, and speak hard cutting words, thereby offending God daily. If unrepented and unreformed they receive according to evil works, while only those who learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, and keep the commandments in love can receive the blessing and inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world.

Good works are the criterion in the final judgment, for everyone's works are tested whether good or evil, and good works result from justification by faith as the fruit of true faith. The whole life tendency, disposition and actions are examined in the courts of heaven before God who makes no mistake, to see whether character was formed after the pattern given in Christ Jesus or after the pattern of the enemy of all righteousness, decided day by day in the common incidents of probationary time given to form character for eternal life, with no compulsion, threats, harsh words or condemnation.

Readiness for that examination requires the wedding garment received in this life, as the king came in to examine the guests. It is the white linen representing the righteousness of the saints, the righteousness of Christ, provided at infinite cost to heaven through grace and sanctification of the Spirit to make them part of the blood-washed throng, and to be found without it brings loss and leaves a person unprepared for just, accurate discrimination.

Timing and Events

The verse looks to a time still ahead, not yet fulfilled, belonging to the judgment and the setting of the saints in the kingdom on the new earth, when Christ will appear soon in power and great glory as Judge with people found at His right hand or at His left. Before the great sign of the Son of man there will be signs and wonders in the heavens. The gathering has been long foretold yet is delayed because the work for the wicked is not done and God in wonderful long forbearance holds back deserved judgments. Meanwhile the impenitent eat and drink and marry as in the days before the flood and say His coming is delayed, but judgments will surely come and no one has been given grounds to say His coming is delayed.

That coming after waiting and sleep was applied to the expected advent in 1844, when prophetic and symbolic arguments for its timing led believers to proclaim the midnight cry and prepare to meet the Lord. At His coming with the angelic host His voice and trumpet call the righteous dead from their graves to immortal life and ransom them from the grave. Then the righteous are crowned with glory and honor, while the wicked are separated and banished from the Lord's presence and consumed and destroyed by fire. This happens when the world is corrupt, boastful, presumptuous, self-willed and arrayed in rebellion against God's law, denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ, trampling upon His blood and despising His atonement. Those raised when Jesus rose were trophies of His victory over death and a pledge of the resurrection of all the righteous dead at that coming.

Believers are pilgrims seeking a better country, the city whose Builder and Maker is God, so their citizenship is in heaven and they are to prepare to receive Him at His coming. Satan tries to becloud minds on this important subject, so preparation means so living as to have fought a good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith. One position places this glorious coming with the holy angels at the beginning of a judgment day lasting 1,000 years, raising the sleeping saints and changing the living saints, after which He sits on the throne of His glory with them. In that reckoning the gathering and separation of all nations before Him take place only at the end of the 1,000 years, when the wicked dead are raised and gathered outside the Holy City while the saints are inside it.

Call to Readiness

Matthew 25 belongs to preparation for the kingdom through faithful service, and the present is the time to use God-given abilities for the Master and work zealously for the salvation of others, for church membership alone does not secure entrance into heaven. Its instruction in Matthew 25:14-46 is to be studied and compared with the life record, requiring every person to put away all boasting, since self-sufficiency is fearfully dangerous and makes the words of Christ of no effect. That same comparison of life with the instruction calls to account for how one has lived, including whether one has followed Christ in humble obedience rather than self-trust.

The certainty and nearness of facing the Judge and being separated to the right or to the left calls for holy conduct and readiness to stand on His right. Those who will stand before Him without fear are those who have made a good record by learning purity and integrity, refusing what harms true character and retards divine life like the lily that gathers only what builds its pure growth and stays uncontaminated, and standing firm on principle amid evil influences like Daniel to receive wisdom and influence from God by constantly growing in grace rather than being swayed by temptation. Standing acquitted at His appearing requires now a serious and solemn work of cleansing the soul from spot and stain. His coming in glory with the holy angels gives force to the call to live purely and be ready, because He will receive His people and take them to a pure heaven. Those who cling to selfish and unjust principles will not see the King in His beauty, so reform of life is necessary, for choices made in this life decide eternal destiny.

Preparation must happen before He comes, for the character a person has at His coming is the character retained, with no further opportunity afterward, and the judgment exposes whether people have cared for their neighbors' salvation and lived as representatives of Christ. That coming in glory with all the holy angels makes the time for work short and gives urgency to preparing people physically and spiritually. The preparing work must be a united whole and not divided, with gospel ministry and medical work joined together, physicians laboring as earnestly and thoroughly for salvation of the soul as for restoration of the body, by presenting truth that must be received to sanctify people and make them ready to stand before Him and stand firm in the last great day, embracing all that was embraced in Christ's ministry. This work now of preparing men and women physically and spiritually calls for means and for self-denial and sacrifice in laboring with all power, since at that coming He will fulfill His promise to receive His disciples to Himself where He is.

The prospect of meeting the coming Lord makes readiness urgent, for everyone will know Him whether willing or not, and those who spend life refusing His call and choosing worldly pleasures will lose heaven and face punishment. Saints must receive the outpouring of the Holy Ghost and share in God's glory before the second advent, so they can stand before Christ's brightness when He appears in glory with all the holy angels. His soon coming should be talked of often and kept as the uppermost thought in mind, for He will come with power and great glory, every eye will see Him, and all the holy angels will accompany Him, a company numbering ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands. This event of His return in glory leading into the judgment, when all nations are gathered before Him, and the preparation for it, should be kept clearly before the people.

Present words and conduct are answerable to Him who will come in glory accompanied by all the holy angels, so lips and hearts are to be kept clean, sanctified and refined in imitation of Christ. People will be separated forever at the Lord's coming and final judgment, including family members and those close to one another, and impatience or unchristlike conduct that makes Christ's religion distasteful to others carries grave consequences for their salvation. The day is coming when ministers are called to account for their work for Him and asked what they have done for Him, whether they searched the Scriptures for themselves, brought God's Word into daily life and character, and with burning living faith sought to save perishing souls in sin and iniquity around them who need light and truth and were purchased by blood, opening their understanding to accept Jesus in the truth and the Word sent them. Those who do God's service with selfish, sharp, keen, designing principles in order to make their own line of work look successful will be bitterly disappointed at His coming in glory to sit in judgment and decide who has a place in the kingdom, to find they have no place there, for false principles will never prevail in heaven and not one thread of selfishness belongs in any part of God's service on earth.

When the Son of man comes in His glory and sits upon the throne of His glory before the assembled universe, God will bring forward the charge of neglecting and robbing one's own family, as when a man who brings children into the world forsakes his rightful wife and children, leaves the burden of their support upon the wife, and fails to bring his earnings into the house for them, and that sin will be exposed and proclaimed in the ears of the assembled universe, with no entrance into heaven without thorough conversion and payment of those honest debts for support of wife and children. Christ's coming brings a final judgment and settlement of accounts in which treatment of a poor stranger belongs to the record faced then, and exploiting his poverty or treating him unjustly is contrary to Christ's way and will bring shame. His glorious coming stands at the beginning of the judgment when people will be called to account for harm done to others, including driving the weak into temptation and spiritual ruin. When He comes in His glory with all the holy angels to sit upon the throne of His glory, all nations gathered before Him to be separated as sheep from goats on the right and the left, the words then spoken decide forever the eternal destiny of the two classes, revealing the character God accepts and educating what must be done for the soul.