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Throughout the ages, countless speculations have been made about the final day of history.
Some speculate about the time, others about the events that shall transpire. Such surmising
has produced all sorts of strange doctrines, religions, and cults. The honest Bible student,
however, sets aside speculations and accepts as doctrine only that which God reveals in His
inspired Word, the Bible. With this in mind, notice from Matthew 25:31-46 a few facts
that can be known about that final day.
Consider how Jesus began this portion of his discourse: “When the Son of man shall come....” There are no questions of if or perhaps — it is definite! This same certainty is proclaimed throughout the Bible. Solomon wrote, “For God shall bring every work into judgment” (Eccl.12:14), Paul preached that God “hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world” (Acts 17:31), and Peter penned that “the day of the Lord will come” (2 Pet. 3:10). Truly, the Bible teaches the certainty of that great day. Often, preachers point out from the Scriptures that heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people (cf. Jn.14:1-3). The text under consideration plainly emphasizes this point. Those who heard the words, “Come, ye blessed of my Father,” are those who diligently prepared themselves for that heavenly welcome. One Bible student suggested several reasons why we should prepare for that beautiful place called heaven:
Surely, those who want to hear those words of welcome on that day will diligently prepare themselves this day. Sadly, those who fail to prepare themselves for heaven, in essence, prepare themselves for hell. Even though that place of eternal torment was designed for the devil and his angels, much of humanity shall be doomed there to everlasting destruction (Mt. 7:13,14). In contrast to those who demonstrate their faith by good works (Mt. 25:35,36), those who shall hear the dreadful words, “Depart from me,” are those who demonstrate their lack of faith by their lack of obedience (Mt. 25:42,43). While separations from friends and loved ones are often difficult, no separation can compare to the eternal departure of an immortal soul from a just and benevolent God. While numerous individuals and groups might choose to make broad and ungrounded speculations about that final great day of history, there are a few things we can know for sure about it:
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