Before him are gathered all nations, represented as sheep and goats. It is graphic illustration language.
It is a day of great joy or of utter terror. Where are you placed? Do you depend on Christ or is God nothing to you? Is your soul hungry, starving, out of touch with Christ? You must trust in him, pour out your heart to him, and then in last day will be safe. How much we need him!
The world was never designed by God to continue forever. We can see this even from a human perspective. Man seems incapable of living in peace together, and political upheavals shake the world. We now have the ability through weapons of mass destruction to obliterate each other, and there are concerns about rogue states getting their hands on such weapons or spreading mayhem through dirty bombs. Then there is global warming. If this is true then the conduct of men is making our planet unsafe. How unstable this world is. But Scripture teaches that the world will not end with any man-made disaster, though it may get close. It will end with a supernatural event: the return of the Lord Jesus Christ to judge this world. He will come in his glory. He is keen to take his power, and to end human rebellion. Before him will be gathered a vast crowd – those still alive at his coming, and all who have ever lived, raised up to stand before him. We are deeply impressed by vast crowds, but there has never been a crowd like this. We are before him now, but on that day we shall recognise it. They will be so subdued. Blasphemers will cower before him; hypocrites will be consumed with shame. He will separate mankind into just two groups.