The Bible makes several references to “the nations being judged”. What is a “nation” that will be judged? Is France a nation? France is a hodgepodge of Franks, Celts, Normans, Germanic tribes, and dozens of what were once “nations”. The Roman Empire was an amalgamation of nations that reached from the nation of Spain to the nation of Parthia. Each of those “nations” were combinations of earlier groups of individual peoples. Are all the thousands of individual, component “nations” to be judged?
What of the idea that many peoples between India and Ireland are descended from The Twelve Tribes? Are they the “nations”?
What is a “nation” that will be judged? We know that each of us is in one “nation” or another because all of us are going to judgment. Matthew 25:31-33 makes it clear:
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.. .”
Is Matthew telling us that there are two nations? One, the humble, believing, obedient sheep. The other, prideful, apostate, self-willed goats.
We know that, at the end, the only thing that matters is being among the sheep.
How do we get there? We have free will. We can make the choices that will put us among the humble, believing, and obedient. Many reach this conclusion: “The more fully I obey Jesus, the better my chances of getting into Heaven. Since Jesus said ‘If you do not eat My Body and drink My Blood, you do not have life in you.’, I will do that. The only way to have life in me is to receive Catholic Communion, obtaining the Body and Blood of Jesus within me.”
Being Catholic is certainly the most risk-free thing to do. Who in their right mind would take a risk with their immortal soul?
