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In the Name of the Father and of + The Son and of The Holy Ghost

The Prophet Isaiah already has told you that the Lord sits on His throne in His temple. Christ does sit in the eternal presence of the Father and the Paraclete. Christ does constantly intercede for you and love you.

Isaiah saw with the eyes of a "vision" what you see with the eyes of Spirit-born faith: That Christ's robe, His Presence, His Righteousness fills the temple even as He fills all things in heaven and earth. The eternal temple has the ante-room, the porch, the narthex, the footstool which is THIS place-the one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church on earth; THIS place-the parish of the Augustana in Shawnee, Kansas; This place-where the siblings of the Savior are gathered by His broadcasts, His cleansings, and His banquets. The Prophet saw the Seraphs and you too see the angels, just like Gehazi saw them circling the surrounding mountains; you see the Host of Sabaoth who join in with you in celebrating the Lamb Who was slain. Incense filled the temple. Prayer and petitions fill this temple. The Holy Ghost fills these temples.

There will be judgment at the end. There will be division of the Saved from the damned. The Shepherd "knows" His own flock. He knows them with Divine Omniscience but that really is not the point. Power is important but incidental. The Shepherd is a Savior not a King David the Second. Christ was anointed not with olive oil by Samuel, but with a spikenard of burial perfume by Mary; for He was to die and be buried in your place. The Messiah is anointed not with Glory but with Suffering and Shame so that you might sit with His Father as your Father. Jesus "knew" and "knows" you like Adam knew his wife. It is an intimate, embrace of salvation and re-creation. The two shall become one by faith.

You have already been judged and declared innocent in the inter-workings of the most Holy Trinity.

You were first selected and separated out and apart from the rejecting goats before the beginning of the beginning. Before time and the world itself, the Lord knew you and elected you to be His own. This was not a pre-destination based upon His all knowledge that you would someday believe the Message of His Son's Person and Work on your behalf. No.

The Lord's fore-"Knowledge" (as the Greek language and usage helps to make clear) is rather a choice, an action and decision on God's part to Love you and Make you His.

You were next culled out from the goats at the Tree. When the Judge Himself willingly and passionately allowed Himself to be the victim, the condemned prisoner, the real scape-GOAT, you were declared to be the lambs of his pasture. When the bloody suffering servant looked down from the Cross, His temple was filled with His life-giving blood, and you and your Mother, the Holy Church were given one-to-another for all eternity.

You were judged "in time" and in a particular "place" when you were brought to faith by the Workings of the Holy Ghost, your Lord and Giver of Life. The Spirit takes that which is of Christ, His Word, His Remission, and His Body & Blood and gives it to you. You were judged innocent, once again, at the Font of Forgiveness, at the Confessional of Christ, and at the Rail of Righteousness.

This is why you fear not the great Separation of the Lambs from the Goats at the final Parousia. You tremble not because you have been standing with the Judge, In the Judge, since the beginning. Jesus has already judged you IN HIMSELF, when He died for you at Calvary. He is alive. He suffers no more. He is seated at the right hand. You are in Him, and all that He has He gives to you.

Do not fret, argue, quibble, nit-pick, or be sinfully disagreeable over the reason, rationales, and descriptions of the actions that both the sheep and the goats are credited with by the Lord in this morning's reading.

The goats don't think they ignored and failed to serve Jesus and their brothers. The lambs don't remember serving Jesus either.

This text is not about your self-conscious surface-strivings to be obedient and to do all the stuff you're supposed to do. You don't do what you're required to do, and you won't no matter how hard you try and no matter how much you focus on yourself.

The difference between the goats and the sheep is not that one group was nice and friendly while the other group was mean and insular. The dividing line is not based on the good works and charity and giving money to foreign missions of the good group, and the lack of civic love and welfare on the part of the goats. NO!

What divides the heaven-dwellers from the prisoners of Hades is Faith. And more precisely, because even Faith can be twisted by the pompous inner man of pride, into a self-work, it is CHRIST for you, in you and with you that sets you on His Right Hand of hallowedness. Those who have received Jesus are lambs and sheep. Those who have rejected Jesus are goats.

This can be shown, and often is, by HOW one reacts to the Jesus in their midst. Jesus is among you in His fellow brothers and sisters. Jesus is amongst you in His Word and Sacraments. These living embodiments of God the Second Person are not abstract, theoretical, gossamer-like thoughts, remembrances or will-o-the-wisps. Christ is actually present in the stuff of physicalites. Jesus' brethren, that is, the "little children" in your circle, are the pastors, the Churches, the parishes, where His gifts are always present to be given out freely to you. You feed, clothe, visit in prison, provide for, and do good to Him, to His servants, to His House, to His family, to all who are also in Him, when you do the highest form of worship and work there is - - when you simply, receive Him and His merits in faith.

In the Name of The Father and + of The Son and of The Holy Ghost