Matthew 25:41 Commentary and Bible Study

Those on Christ’s left have heard all his gracious words spoken to the righteous and seen the wonderful eternal future awaiting them, but they are acutely conscious that none of these blessings are for them, for their hearts condemn them before Christ. What will he say to them? Tragically, their sentence is fixed and there can be no further offer of mercy. They hear his unwavering pronouncement of doom and know that his words are final: he will never change his mind now. How seriously we should take the words of the Son of God. When he judges, who can justify, and when he sends the lost away from him, who can persuade him to offer mercy again? How can it be that one who was so full of love and mercy can now be so implacable in condemning the lost? He can do so because he always warned mankind that this day would come, and he waited so long before shutting the door. He pleaded with the lost to come to him, though he might only have commanded them to come as their King. He patiently bore with their intransigence and hostility, sending his servants to them again even after they had been mistreated, but still they rejected him. His longsuffering in pleading with them was unreasonable. He did so even though he was the offended party, and even though, in pleading in this way, he risked portraying himself as weak. But finally when that day comes, he will be ready to pronounce their judgment. Though he sends them away with tears, those tears do not indicate any indecisiveness in his heart. Though they might have appealed to his mercy, now it is closed off to them. Therefore he commands them to depart from him, for he will no longer have them in his presence, which is the only place of hope and of eternal blessing. All hope that they might successfully cry to him will be removed, otherwise their cries would go on ringing in his ears for all eternity. But now he is ready to brace himself against all such cries for ever. This command to depart is a command that must be obeyed however terrible the consequences, for the word of the Son of God is compelling even when it banishes men to eternal punishment. The lost have no power to resist. They are ‘cursed’ for the curse of God placed on the whole world has settled on them while the elect have been delivered from it. But where must they depart? The existence of hell requires an explanation. How could God ever make such a terrible place? Did he make it for the lost portion of mankind to inhabit? The passage does not deny this, and yet hell was initially created for the devil and that great company of angels that rebelled and fell with him. They were marked out for punishment from the beginning and have been reserved in chains until that day. Their destiny was never in any doubt nor were they ever offered any opportunity of forgiveness. But mankind was in a different state. As Calvin says, it is true that the reprobate were always secretly reserved by God for hell, but nevertheless, they were allowed to live in the world for a time and were offered pardon from God and eternal salvation. In view of that, Christ does not speak of them as in the same state as the devil, who knew from the start that hell was reserved for him. Those now standing on Christ’s left hand could have repented and believed, but they refused and now the day has come when judgment will not wait any longer.