The saints, who are a firstfruits of God's creatures, will be the first to receive the Life of God in Christ. The elect will receive a double portion of eternal life and then will bring that life to the saved of the earth (Romans 8:21).

Notice that Christ prays for the elect rather than for the nations of the earth:

I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. (John 17:9)

The elect are not part of the world.

They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. (John 17:16)

The elect have been called to be an eternal part of God.

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. (John 17:21)

From the moment Abraham was called out of Ur of the Chaldees, continuing through the separation of Israel from Egypt to the present hour, the Lord Jesus has been and yet is drawing His elect to Himself. The Divine Seed, the Holy Nation, is being separated from the world and reconciled to God by the Lord's grace and by a response of faith and obedience on the part of the called individual.

Meanwhile the nations of the earth are awaiting the Day when Jesus will return from Heaven with His saints and establish the Kingdom of God on the earth. Then righteousness, peace, and joy will be brought to the nations.

I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles [nations]; (Isaiah 42:6)

The Servant of the Lord is Christ—Head and Body. One of the tasks of the Servant of the Lord is to bring justice and peace to the nations of the saved, to the nations that remain after Christ judges the nations of the earth.

He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment [justice] in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. (Isaiah 42:4)

And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16)

"Every one that is left," the surviving nations!

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: (Matthew 25:32)

The preceding verse often is preached as though the elect of God are the "nations" and they are saved by ministering to the needs of people in distress. The elect should always minister to the needs of people in distress. But the elect are not saved by ministering to those in need but by entering the salvation that God has provided in Christ for the royal priesthood.

The elect are not the nations gathered before King Jesus. The elect are the "brothers," of verse 40. The people of the nations will be judged on the basis of how they treated Christ's brothers, Christ's witnesses.

The "nations" are the nations, but the "brothers" are the Lord's witnesses from every age. They are the saints of God. The saints will not be called before Christ at His appearing and judged on the basis of how they treated Christ's brothers; rather, the saints, God's holy ones, are judged in this life on the basis of how faithfully they respond to the Divine call that abides on them.

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ. (Philippians 3:12)

To be continued.