EDITORIAL: Judgment of the Living Nations

• 2 min. read • grade level: 7

In a recent issue we wrote about "A Time of Many Nations." This month we add a few comments from C. E. Lunden on this subject.

When the tribulation begins, the Lord will judge providentially through such means as civil war, famine and economic collapse. Later He will deal directly with the apostates of the earth, including Israel and the revived Roman Empire who dare, under the leadership of the beast and the false prophet, to make war with Him and fall under His wrath as God the Almighty. Christendom, too, falls under His righteous vengeance.

Then the Son of man shall come, sit upon the throne of His glory, gather the nations before Him and judge them. This is the sessional judgment of the living nations. Psa. 83, Joel 3 and Matt. 25 refer to these nations and their judgment.

“They [a confederacy of ten nations] have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." Psa. 83:4⁴They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance. (Psalm 83:4).

“Let the heathen [the nations] be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about." Joel 3:12¹²Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. (Joel 3:12).

“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." Matt. 25:31-33³¹When 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: ³²And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: ³³And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. (Matthew 25:31‑33).

This judgment of the living will be final like the great white throne judgment when the dead are raised and judged.

The ten nations led by Edom (see Obadiah) will be the nations who will lay siege to Israel just before Gog the Assyrian enters the land (Zech. 12:2²Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. (Zechariah 12:2)).

Gog with the ten nations, Israel's neighbors, will attack Jerusalem, but Gog's army will be slain on the mountains of Israel.

Those of Gog and the ten nations who are goats will be judged at that time and cast into the lake of fire (Matt. 25:46⁴⁶And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (Matthew 25:46); Isa. 30:31-33³¹For through the voice of the Lord shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod. ³²And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the Lord shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it. ³³For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. (Isaiah 30:31‑33)). The sheep, of course, will enter into the kingdom. Ed.

Am I a God at hand, saith the Lord,

and not a God afar off?

Can any hide himself in secret places

that I shall not see him? saith the Lord.

Do not I fill heaven and earth?