¹⁵ Notice his remarks at Matthew 25:31-33: “When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left.”

17. Why is the situation today serious for all people?

¹⁷ In the parable, the Shepherd-King puts the sheeplike ones on his right hand and the goatlike ones on his left. The right-hand side turns out to be a judgment with a favorable outcome​—everlasting life. The left-hand side represents an unfavorable judgment​—that of everlasting destruction. The King’s determination of the matter has serious consequences.