Separation part 4
Let me try to work this patch today: If there is NOTHING and no one (except ourselves, in a sense) that can separate us from the love of God... then what's the deal with the sheep and the goats? Because in Matthew 25:31-34 we see this, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Ok. First things first: When did the Son of man come in his glory? On the cross! So this isn't something that's GOING to happen, this is something that ALREADY happened! I like to say it like this, "On the cross, God got your goat!" And notice that nobody in this story is being separated FROM GOD. The sheep are being separated from the goats. And to me this simply means the old man beast (goat) nature is being dealt with. Or let me say it another way: On the cross, when Jesus died, YOU died. The old man died. The goat was separated, and the old man was buried. So now we're talking about the sheep. The Lamb of God. The Son of God. Jesus. Because on the cross, both Jesus and Adam died... but only Jesus was raised back up to life. And who is the Kingdom for if not for the King? See, we live IN the Kingom, but at the same time we ARE the Kingdom, because the King lives in us! Jesus is the King of kings and Lord of lords. That makes us kings and lords. Kings and priests. So when we see this prophecy--and remember, ALL the Bible prophecies were fulfilled in Jesus and His finished work of the cross--we don't see "Sinners going to hell, and saints going to heaven." We see the consuming fire that is God, that is love, consuming everything in us and about us that wasn't Him. We see purification. We see redemption. We see reconcilation. Ephesians 5:25-27 says it like this, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Chirst also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish." Jesus washed us with the Word (which is LOVE) on the cross. He separated the sheep and goat IN US, and presented us to Himself without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. Now we are holy and without blemish. Now we couldn't find anything to separate us from Him if we looked for it. Now we're not on a sin hunt, but a righteousness hunt. And our righteousness (the righteousness of Christ, not self-righteousness) isn't what we DO it's who we are! He became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him!