Judgment of the Nations
(25:31–46)
But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all
the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And 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.
Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are
blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something
to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and
you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you
visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.” Then the
righteous will answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see You
hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we
see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And
when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?” And the
King will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the
extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the
least of them, you did it to Me.” Then He will also say to those on
His left, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire
which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I
was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you
gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me
in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you
did not visit Me.” Then they themselves also will answer, saying,
“Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or
naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?” Then
He will answer them, saying, “Truly I say to you, to the extent
that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do
it to Me.” And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the
righteous into eternal life. (25:31–46)
The Bible makes clear that all sin is known to God and
that all sin must be punished. Moses declared, “Be sure your sin
will find you out” (Num. 32:23), and the writer of Proverbs
testified that “adversity pursues sinners” (Prov. 13:21). Moses
also wrote, “Thou hast placed our iniquities before Thee, our
secret sins in the light of Thy presence” (Ps. 90:8). In other
words, what may appear to us to be secret is actually in the full,
clear view of God. No sin escapes God’s notice or God’s judgment.
The consequence of sin is like a shadow that cannot be shaken, and
what the wicked “deserves will be done to him” (Isa. 3:11).
Judgment for sin is inevitable.
Paul sums up that basic truth in his letter to the
Romans: “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (1:18, emphasis added).
Later in that same letter the apostle wrote, “There will be
tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil”
(2:9, emphasis added). No sin and no sinner is exempted from God’s
judgment and punishment.
Not even the sins of Christians are exempt. The
marvelous and gracious privilege granted to Christians, however, is
to have had the judgment and punishment for all their sins placed
upon the Lord Jesus Christ, who died as the substitute for sinners.
By God’s divine grace working through their obedient trust in His
Son, believers have the guilt and penalty for their sins nailed to
the cross with Christ, who made atonement sufficient even for the
sins of the whole world.
But those who do not receive Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior must bear the penalty for their own sins, which is spiritual
death and eternal damnation. The warning to unbelievers is stated
over and over again in Scripture by word and demonstrated by direct
acts of divine judgment. When Adam committed the first sin, there was
judgment of massive proportions, confirming for all time the
seriousness with which God views evil. That sin committed by one man
not only devastated the human race but the entire created universe
with it. During the time of Noah, iniquity had become so widespread
and vile that God destroyed all mankind except for the eight
righteous souls in Noah’s immediate family. Sodom and Gomorrah
became so utterly wicked that God destroyed those cities
simultaneously with fire and brimstone (Gen. 19:24–25). Throughout
history God has chosen sovereignly to judge certain nations, cities
(see Matt. 11:21–24), and individuals, and those judgments stand as
divine signposts to mankind, warning that no person or group of
people, no matter how powerful by human standards, can sin with
impunity (cf. 1 Cor. 10:6–12).
God’s judgment is a repeated theme both in the Old and
New Testaments. The judgment emphasized in the Old Testament is
primarily temporal, whereas that in the New Testament is primarily
eternal. With significant exceptions, the Old focuses on punishment
suffered in this world and the New on punishment suffered in the
next. The Old more often speaks about God’s physically destroying
nations, punishing cities, or afflicting individuals because of their
wickedness. The New, on the other hand, more often speaks of judgment
that lasts through all eternity.
No one in Scripture spoke more of judgment than Jesus.
He spoke of sin that could not be forgiven, of the danger of losing
one’s soul forever, of spending eternity in the torments of hell,
of existing forever in outer darkness, where there will be perpetual
weeping and gnashing of teeth. No pictures of judgment are more
intense and sobering than those Jesus portrayed.
Yet nothing Jesus said or did was inconsistent with His
gracious love. He wept at the impending punishment coming on
Jerusalem’s people (Luke 19:41–44). His warnings of judgment and
punishment were acts of love, divine appeals for men to turn from
their sin in order to escape the condemnation that would otherwise be
inevitable. One of love’s supreme desires is to protect those it
loves from harm, and Jesus therefore spoke so much of judgment
because, in His infinite love and grace, it was not His wish nor the
Father’s “for any to perish but for all to come to repentance”
(2 Pet. 3:9). What more important and loving warning could there be
than warning about the eternal damnation every human being faces
apart from Jesus Christ? Jesus sought to draw men to Himself not only
through the attractiveness of salvation but through the horrors of
its only alternative.
Jesus’ closing words in the Olivet discourse-a sermon
on His second coming given privately to the disciples after His last
public teaching in the Temple—were one of the most severe and
sobering warnings of judgment in all of Scripture. Pictured as the
divine separation of the righteous sheep from the unrighteous goats,
that judgment will occur just before Christ establishes His
millennial kingdom on earth. Not only will it determine the ultimate,
eternal destinies of everyone living at the end of the Tribulation
but will also determine who will and will not enter the kingdom. Only
those who belong to the King, believers who have been born into God’s
spiritual family and been made citizens of His spiritual kingdom,
will enter His glorious kingdom.
The judgment of the sheep and goats is not mentioned in
any of the other gospels, no doubt because they do not focus on
Christ’s kingship, as does Matthew. For that same reason Matthew
places much greater emphasis on all aspects of the Lord’s second
coming than do the other gospels, because it is at His return that He
will manifest Himself as King of kings and Lord of lords in
consummate regal glory and power (Rev. 19:11–16).
The Setting of Judgment
But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all
the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all
the nations will be gathered before Him; (25:31–32a)
the judge
But when the Son of Man (25:31a)
The sovereign Judge over the separation of the sheep and
goats will be Christ Himself, the Son of Man. Jesus had
earlier declared that “not even the Father judges anyone, but He
has given all judgment to the Son, in order that all may honor the
Son, even as they honor the Father” (John 5:22). God the Father has
delegated all judgment authority to the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The most common title Jesus used of Himself was the
Son of Man. That title affirmed His incarnation, His identity
with mankind, His time of humiliation and sacrifice. It reflected His
condescension, His submissiveness, His humility, His meekness, and
His gracious love for fallen humanity.
That title also tended to be less offensive than “Son
of God.” To have referred regularly to Himself as the Son of God
would have aroused additional and needless hostility from the Jewish
religious leaders, and they would have given even less heed to His
teaching than they did.
In a similar way, to have referred regularly to Himself
as King would have aroused the hostility and opposition of the Roman
authorities, who were quick to suppress any hint of insurrection.
In addition to those reasons, for Jesus regularly to
have used any such exalted title of Himself would have tempted His
followers to be presumptuous and arrogant, missing His message of
spiritual salvation. It would have greatly increased their already
staunch conviction that, as Messiah, He would soon overthrow the
Roman yoke and establish His earthly kingdom on the throne of David.
In addition to those reasons, His referring to Himself
as Son of Man provided a profound contrast with the titles and
roles He will have when He comes in glory. It suggested a clear
distinction between His two comings.
On the other hand, His referring to Himself both as Son
of Man and as heavenly King (vv. 34, 40) reinforced the truth
that He is indeed both. The condescending, humble, and humiliated Son
of Man will return one day as the glorious, sovereign, reigning,
and judging King of kings and Lord of lords.
Until this point in His ministry Jesus had never
directly referred to Himself as King. He had told a parable about a
king who represented God the Father (Matt. 22:1–14); but not until
now, talking privately to the Twelve (24:3), did He speak of Himself
as King. Even when Pilate asked, “Are You the King of the Jews?”
Jesus replied simply, “It is as you say” (Matt. 27:11). But
Pilate did not take that claim seriously, at least not in a political
sense, as evidenced by the fact that he offered the Jews an
opportunity to secure Jesus’ release, knowing “that because of
envy they had delivered Him up” (vv. 17–18).
For a long while the Jewish people, and certainly their
religious leaders, knew that Jesus claimed to be a kind of king,
because He claimed to be Messiah (see Luke 23:2). It was because they
hoped that, as Messiah, He would conquer Rome and reign over a
delivered Israel that they had acclaimed Him during the triumphal
entry. There was no misunderstanding among Jews that Jesus claimed to
be Messiah, the coming great King. Nor could there be any
misunderstanding that He claimed to be God’s own Son. But publicly,
Jesus nevertheless was always judicious in the way He made such
claims. He did not want to needlessly incite the ire of His enemies.
Now, however, in privacy with His disciples on the Mount
of Olives, He unambiguously declared that He, the Son of Man,
would one day take His rightful place as the great King and Judge.
The point of this account is that, sitting “on His glorious throne”
(v. 31), He will reign over the earth and that His first act as
sovereign Lord will be to decide who enters His millennial, earthly
kingdom and who does not. And because His kingdom will encompass the
entire earth, it is obvious that those who are not allowed to enter
will not remain on earth. As Jesus explicitly states, “these will
go away into eternal punishment” (v. 46).
The certainty of God’s ultimate judgment of the wicked
was prophesied even by “Enoch, in the seventh generation from
Adam.” Through divine revelation, that ancient man of God declared,
“Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to
execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all
their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of
all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him”
(Jude 14–15).
In light of the utter and perfect holiness of the
Almighty and the persistent sinfulness and ungodliness of man that
Enoch pointed out, it is not the Lord’s coming in wrath to render
judgment that is amazing but rather His first coming in grace to
offer salvation. The wonder is not that Jesus will some day come in
glory to judge the world but that He first came in humility to save
sinners. The marvel is not that God promises to condemn sinners for
their sin but that He first offers them deliverance from it. In
coming to save those who trust in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ
demonstrated His great love for the unlovely by bearing the penalty
of their sin, dying the death they deserve. What is remarkable is
that He came to redeem sinners who are worthy only of His judgment.
The Time
comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him,
(25:31b)
The time of judgment will be Christ’s return, when He
comes in His glory. Although we do not know at what precise
time in history that event will occur (Matt. 24:36, 42, 44, 50), we
know that He will appear “immediately after the tribulation”
(24:29).
Apparently His judgment will be instantaneous, at the
moment He appears, and when that occurs the opportunity for faith in
Him will be past. As pictured in the parable of the virgins, when the
Bridegroom comes the door will be shut (Matt. 25:10). When the Lord
comes to earth in glory with His angels and saints, there will be no
opportunity for unbelievers then living to receive Him as Messiah.
The full Tribulation will last seven years, and the
second half of it, the Great Tribulation, will last three and a half
years, or 1260 days (Dan. 7:25; 9:27; 12:7; Rev. 11:2–3; 12:14;
13:5). Daniel also spoke of an expanded period of 1290 days (Dan.
12:11), 30 days more than the basic 1260 of the Great Tribulation,
and then of a 1335-day period (Dan. 12:12), adding another 45 days to
make a total addition of 75. As suggested in chapter 3 of this
volume, it seems that the best explanation for those additional days
is that they will cover the time when the Messiah descends to the
Mount of Olives, creates the great valley in which the nations of the
world will be judged, and then executes that judgment (see Zech.
14:4–5). But whatever transpires during those additional days,
there will be no further opportunity for people to receive and
confess Jesus Christ as their Lord.
Accompanying and assisting the Lord at His appearing in
glory and judgment will be the magnificent host of all His heavenly
angels. At that time, Paul says, “the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing
out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thess. 1:7–8).
When He appears, “immediately after the tribulation of
those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its
light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the
heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will
appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn,
and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with
power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels” (Matt.
24:29–31).
The Lord will come not only with His angels but with His
saints. “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed,” Paul assured
the Colossian believers, “then you also will be revealed with Him
in glory” (Col. 3:4). The Old Testament saints, the saints of the
church who will have died, the saints who will have been raptured,
and the saints who will have been martyred during the Tribulation
will all accompany Christ and join the saints still living on earth
when He descends to earth to establish His millennial kingdom.
the place
then He will sit on His glorious throne. (25:31c)
The place of Christ’s judgment will be the earth,
where He will sit on His glorious throne. Then “there will
be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the
throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold
it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore”
(Isa. 9:7). Christ will first reign over the restored earth for a
thousand years and then over the newly created heavens and earth
throughout all eternity.
While Mary was still only betrothed to Joseph, the angel
told her, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son,
and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called
the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne
of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob
forever; and His kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:31–33).
David’s throne was in Jerusalem, and that is therefore
where Christ’s throne will be. When Jesus returns, “His feet will
stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the
east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east
to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will
move toward the north and the other half toward the south” (Zech.
14:4). From that passage it becomes obvious that the Jerusalem then
in existence will be cataclysmically transformed to be made suitable
as the place of Christ’s divine, glorious throne.
When the Lord returns, “the nations [will] be aroused
and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,” where He will declare,
“Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the
wine press is full; the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the
Lord is near in the valley of decision” (Joel 3:12–14). But the
decisions in that day will not be made by men but by God. The time
for deciding to receive Christ will be past, and the decisions people
already will have made regarding Him will determine His decision
regarding them. Those for whom He is Lord and Savior will enter the
kingdom, and those who have rejected Him will be forever excluded. At
that time the Lord will roar “from Zion and [will utter] His voice
from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth [will] tremble. But the
Lord is a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the sons of
Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in
Zion My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will
pass through it no more” (Joel 3:16–17).
At the ascension, an angel made clear that Jesus’
return would be bodily and historical, not figurative or merely
spiritual. He told the astonished disciples, “This Jesus, who has
been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as
you have watched Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). When He returns
to earth He will reign personally on a literal throne, in a
literal Jerusalem, and over a literal people.
The Subjects
And all the nations will be gathered before Him;
(25:32a)
The subjects of Christ’s judgment will be all the
nations. Ethna (nations) has the basic meaning of
peoples and here refers to every person alive on earth when the Lord
returns. Although He will have taken all believers into heaven at the
Rapture, during the following seven years of the Tribulation many
other people will come to believe in Him. During that dreadful time,
multitudes of Gentiles (see Rev. 7:9, 14), as well as all surviving
Jews (Rom. 11:26), will be brought to faith in Christ.
As Jesus makes clear later in this passage, those who
are alive on earth when He returns will include both saved and
unsaved, represented by the sheep and the goats, respectively. And
those two separate peoples will have two separate destinies. The
believers will be ushered into the kingdom and the unbelievers into
eternal punishment (Matt. 25:46).
Just as death immediately crystallizes eternity for
unbelievers when they die, so will the second coming of Christ
crystallize eternity for unbelievers who are then alive. They will be
destroyed on the spot and ushered instantaneously into judgment and
eternal punishment.
But believers who are alive at the Lord’s coming in
glory will go directly into the earthly kingdom in their earthly
bodies. There is no indication in Scripture that those saints will
experience any sort of transformation at that time. But mingling with
them and ruling over them will be the glorified saints of all ages
who will then be reigning with Christ (Rev. 20:4). Although their
bodies will be of vastly different orders, those two groups of saints
will be able to communicate and interact with each other just as
Jesus communicated and interacted with the disciples in His glorified
body after the resurrection.
Amillennialists do not believe Christ will reign in a
literal, thousand-year kingdom on earth. They consider the Millennium
to be a figurative, spiritualized picture of Christ’s reigning on
earth through the hearts of His redeemed people. But what would be
the purpose of God’s giving His saints glorified bodies capable of
living on the physical earth if they would never have opportunity to
live there? The resurrected Christ was the perfect illustration of
millennial kingdom living by glorified saints, because before His
ascension He demonstrated His ability to live on this earth in the
same glorified body in which He would forever occupy heaven.
There will be reproduction during the kingdom, but
apparently all the children born to the redeemed people who enter it
will not become redeemed themselves-any more than children born to
redeemed parents in any age necessarily become redeemed themselves.
At the end of the millennial kingdom there appear to be many
unbelievers, who will participate in Satan’s final rebellion
against God (Rev. 20:7–9). Obviously, those rebels will be
descendants of the saints who went directly into the kingdom at
Christ’s return. We should not be surprised that there are those
who will not believe in Christ even though He will be in their
presence. Most of His hearers did not believe the first time He came,
either.
That final rebellion against the glorified Christ and
His kingdom of perfect love, wisdom, justice, and righteousness gives
final and irrefutable testimony to man’s natural depravity.
Although their environment will be perfect in every respect and Satan
will be bound and unable to tempt or in any other way influence men,
some people will nevertheless reject Christ even during the
Millennium. The only possible source of their sin and rebellion will
be their own corrupt hearts (cf. Jer. 17:9).
Contrary to what some Bible teachers and theologians
claim, the idea of a literal, physical, earthly Millennium did not
originate in modern times. As the astute German theologian Erich
Sauer has well documented, belief in such a literal thousand-year,
earthly kingdom was the common and orthodox view of the early church,
from New Testament times through the middle of the third century (see
his The Triumph of the Crucified [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1951]). Early church Fathers such as Papias, Justin, Tertullian, and
Hippolytus all affirmed a literal and earthly future kingdom ruled
directly by Christ. It was only later, as allegorical hermeneutics
became fashionable, that literal millennialism was rejected in favor
of a spiritualized interpretation (p. 144).
Those who reject a literal Millennium must do one or
more of three things. The first is to confuse Israel and the church,
taking the church to be a spiritualized form of the ancient nation of
Israel. In that case, the Old Testament curses were for literal
Israel, being already fulfilled, and the promises of blessing to
Israel would be fulfilled in the church, but in a spiritual, not
literal, way. That kind of divided, inconsistent hermeneutics in
unacceptable. The second is to make present or past what is clearly
future, assuming that all the promises to the literal nation and
people of Israel have already been fulfilled, making the earthly
kingdom unnecessary. The third is to arbitrarily spiritualize certain
Old Testament prophecies, taking predicted places, events, or persons
as being merely symbols of spiritual ideas or truths instead of
physical and historical realities.
In the book just mentioned above (pp. 144–53), Erich
Sauer suggests five compelling arguments for a literal and historical
future kingdom. First of all, such a kingdom would be the only
adequate confirmation of the truthfulness and reliability of God’s
promises. Isaiah predicted that the Messiah would establish an
everlasting kingdom on the throne of David (Isa. 9:6–7). Paul
declared that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable,”
referring specifically to His promises to ancient Israel (Rom.
11:29). But if those promises were merely figurative, their
fulfillments could never be verified and would be meaningless. In
particular, the prophecies about the Messiah would have no clear
meaning and could never be verified. But Isaiah himself declared that
the Lord’s promises are more unshakable than the mountains (Isa.
54:10) and Israel’s endurance as a nation will be as permanent as
the new heavens and the new earth that the Lord will one day create
(66:22). Jeremiah affirmed that God’s covenant promises are more
secure than the pattern of night following day (Jer. 33:20) and more
stable than the courses of the sun, moon, and stars (31:35–36).
Second, an earthly millennial kingdom is the only
explanation of the end times that corresponds to Jesus’ teaching in
the gospels. For example, His promise to the apostles that one day
they would “sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel” (Matt. 19:28) would be meaningless apart from a literal,
historical restoration of Israel.
Third, an earthly millennial kingdom is the only
consistent interpretation of Messianic prophecy. It is obvious from
the gospel records that a great many of those prophecies were
literally fulfilled during Jesus’ lifetime. He was born in
Bethlehem, just as Micah predicted (5:2). He rode into Jerusalem on a
donkey, was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, and was pierced in
the side, just as Zechariah predicted (9:9; 11:12; 12:10). His hands
and feet were literally pierced, precisely as the psalmist predicted
(22:16; cf. 16:10), and He literally died, was buried, and was
resurrected, just as Isaiah predicted (53:8–12).
Those fulfillments were so obviously literal that no one
suggests the predictions of them were merely symbolic of spiritual
truths. Yet many other equally specific and detailed predictions
about the Messiah, such as His establishing an eternal throne over
the kingdom of David, were just as obviously not fulfilled
during Jesus’ earthly ministry. Therefore, to reject the idea of a
literal Millennium is to maintain that some of the Old Testament
prophecies were literal and some were not. And to take that position
is to assume arbitrarily that all prophecies not literally fulfilled
by New Testament times are to be spiritualized.
At the time they were written, all Old Testament
predictions obviously pertained to the future. By what logic or
authority, then, does one take some of their fulfillments to be
literal and others to be only figurative?
Fourth, an earthly, visible kingdom is the best possible
way for Jesus Christ to demonstrate that He is the supreme ruler over
His creation. How else could He prove Himself to be King of kings and
Lord of lords? How could He verify that His rulership is superior to
that of all other monarchs if He had no opportunity to rule an
earthly kingdom? How better could He prove Himself to be the
supremely just King than by personally meting out justice to His
subjects? How better could He prove Himself to be the infinitely
merciful Lord than by personally showing mercy on His subjects? To do
those things He would have to have an earthly kingdom, because in
heaven there is no need either for justice or for mercy.
Could it be that, besides the brief time between the
creation of Adam and the Fall, the world will know no dominion but
Satan’s? Could it be that God will literally destroy but not
literally restore this vast creation, all of which longs to “be set
free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of
the children of God” and in that longing “groans and suffers the
pains of childbirth” (Rom. 8:21–22)?
The perfect millennial kingdom will testify through all
eternity that Jesus Christ is the supreme sovereign, who alone can
bring absolute harmony and peace to a world even while it is still
infected by sin.
Fifth, an earthly millennial kingdom is the only and
necessary bridge from human history to eternal glory. Paul declares
that in the end Christ will deliver “up the kingdom to the God and
Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power”
and that “He must reign until He has put all His enemies
under His feet” (1 Cor. 15:24–25, emphasis added). What other
kingdom could Christ deliver to His Father but an earthly kingdom?
The Father already possesses the kingdom of heaven. The Millennium
could not refer to the church as a spiritualized form of the kingdom,
because the kingdom that Christ will deliver to the Father will
include His subjected enemies, of which there are none in the
redeemed church. And it will be a kingdom over which Christ exercises
total authority, which could not apply to any kingdom the world has
known thus far, including the ancient theocracy of Israel during its
most faithful days.
The thousand-year reign of Christ can only refer to a
literal, earthly kingdom that Jesus Christ could present to the
Father in the way Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 15. It is the
kingdom of a literal earth, which Christ will literally and
personally judge, restore, rejuvenate, and rule in righteousness for
a literal one thousand years. And at the end of that time, after
Satan is released for a brief period and then permanently defeated
and cast into the lake of fire, Christ will present that earthly
kingdom to His heavenly Father.1
*
The Process of Judgment
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. Then the King will say
to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was
thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me
in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was
in prison, and you came to Me.” Then the righteous will answer Him,
saying, “Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or
thirsty, and give You drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and
invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You
sick, or in prison, and come to You?” And the King will answer and
say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to
one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to
Me.” Then He will also say to those on His left, “Depart from Me,
accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the
devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to
eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a
stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe
Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.” Then they
themselves also will answer, saying, “Lord, when did we see You
hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison,
and did not take care of You?” Then He will answer them, saying,
“Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of
the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” And these will go
away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
(25:32b–46)
The process of Christ’s judgment will include the
absolute and unerring separation of the saved from the unsaved. When
all the nations and peoples of the earth will have been gathered
before Him at His return, the Lord Jesus Christ will separate them
from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
In the ancient Near East, as in much of that land still
today, sheep and goats are frequently herded together.
But sheep are docile, gentle creatures, whereas goats are unruly and
rambunctious and can easily upset the sheep. Because they do not feed
or rest well together, the shepherd often separates them for grazing
and for sleeping at night.
In a similar way the Lord Jesus Christ will separate
believers from unbelievers when He returns to establish His
millennial kingdom. He will put the believing sheep on His
right, the place of favor and blessing. But the unbelieving goats
He will put on the left, the place of disfavor and rejection.
In ancient biblical times, a father’s blessing was
extremely important, because it determined who would receive the
major part of the inheritance. When Jacob was about to bless his two
grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, he was careful to place his right
hand on the one who would receive the inheritance. Because the major
blessing normally went to the eldest son, Manasseh was placed on
Jacob’s right and Ephraim on his left. But when the time for
blessing came, Jacob crossed his hands so that his right hand was on
Ephraim’s head rather than Manasseh’s. Against Joseph’s
objection, Jacob insisted on giving the major blessing to Ephraim,
because God had chosen him over his brother (Gen. 48:8–20).
The Inheritance of the Saved
Then the King will say to those on His right, “Come,
you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave
Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me drink; I was a
stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was
sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.”
Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, “Lord, when did we see
You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? And when
did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe
You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?”
And the King will answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, to
the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the
least of them, you did it to Me.” (25:34–40)
Jesus here reveals unequivocally that the Son of Man who
sits on the glorious throne (v. 31) is also the Son of God, the
divine King. After his subjects are separated, the King
will say to those on His right, “Come, you who are blessed
of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world.” Those will be the believers who have
survived the holocaust of the Tribulation, and they will be ushered
alive into the millennial kingdom, which has been prepared for
them from the foundation of the world.
Doubtlessly anticipating the salvation-by-works
interpretations that would be made of verses 35–45, the Lord made
clear that believers will not inherit the kingdom based on
good deeds they will have or will not have performed on earth. Their
inheritance was determined countless ages ago, even from the
foundation of the world. Those who enter the kingdom will not do
so on the basis of the service they have performed for Christ but on
the basis of their being blessed by the Father because
of their trust in His Son. They will in no way earn a place in the
kingdom. A child does not earn an inheritance but receives it on the
basis of his being in the family. In exactly the same way, a believer
does not earn his way into the kingdom of God but receives it as his
rightful inheritance as a child of God and a fellow heir with Jesus
Christ (Rom. 8:16–17).
Prepared for you accentuates the selectivity of
salvation. From before the time the world was created, God
sovereignly chose those who will belong to Him. And “whom He
foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His
Son, that He might be the first-born among many brethren” (Rom.
8:29). The source of salvation is the Father’s blessing, the
reception of salvation is through faith, and the selectivity of
salvation is in the advance preparation of the Father made in ages
past. Stressing the same truth, Peter declared, “Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy
has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance
which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved
in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through
faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1
Pet. 1:3–5).
The good deeds commended in Matthew 25:35–36 are the
fruit, not the root, of salvation. It cannot be emphasized too
strongly that they are not the basis of entrance into the kingdom.
Christ will judge according to works only insofar as those works are
or are not a manifestation of redemption, which the heavenly Father
has foreordained. If a person has not trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord
and Savior, no amount of seemingly good works done in His name will
avail to any spiritual benefit. To such people the Lord will say, “I
never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness”
(Matt. 7:23).
Nevertheless, the genuinely righteous deeds Jesus
mentions in verses 35–36 are measurable evidence of salvation, and
He therefore highly commends those who have performed them. He is
saying, in effect, “Come into My kingdom, because you are the
chosen children of My Father, and your relationship to Him is made
evident by the service you have rendered to Me by ministering to your
fellow believers, who, like you, are My brothers” (v. 40).
The Lord then lists six representative areas of need:
being hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, and in
prison. The kingdom is for those who have ministered to such
needs in the lives of God’s people, because those good deeds
evidence true, living faith. They are characteristic of God’s
children and kingdom citizens. “If a brother or sister is without
clothing and in need of daily food,” James warns, “and one of you
says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,’ and yet you
do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself” (James
2:15–17). John proclaims the same truth in similar words: “Whoever
has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes
his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in Him? Little
children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and
truth” (1 John 3:17–18). Scripture is very clear in teaching that
the evidence for assurance of true salvation is not found in a past
moment of decision but in a continuous pattern of righteous behavior.
The response by those whom the King commends is
remarkable and is another proof of their salvation. Because they have
ministered in a spirit of humility and selflessness and not to be
seen and honored by men (see Matt. 6:2, 5, 16), they have seemingly
forgotten about the many things they have done and are surprised that
these are worthy of such mention by the Lord.
The King addresses them as the righteous, not
simply because they have been declared righteous in Christ but
because they have been made righteous by Christ. Their works of
service to fellow believers give evidence that they are themselves
the product of divine “workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in
them” (Eph. 2:10).
The good deeds mentioned in these verses all deal with
common, everyday needs. There is no mention of monumental
undertakings or of spectacular accomplishments (cf. Matt. 7:21–23,
where the claim to the spectacular is useless) but only of routine,
day-to-day kindnesses that help meet the needs of fellow believers.
Nothing more evidences conversion than a life marked by the
compassion of God and the meekness and love of Christ. When the
disciples of John the Baptist wanted evidence that Jesus was the
Messiah, He replied by telling them not just about His spectacular
healings but also about how He treated those in need (Matt. 11:4–6).
When He announced His messianic credentials to the people of
Nazareth, He again reflected not on the amazing but on the way He
treated the poor, the prisoners, the blind, and the downtrodden (Luke
4:18–19). The person who belongs to Christ will demonstrate such
compassion and be humble about it.
When the King’s self-effacing servants ask, “Lord,
when did we do all those things for You?” the King will
answer and say to them, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you
did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you
did it to Me.”
The King’s addressing these people as brothers of Mine
gives still further evidence that they are already children of God
and do not become so because of their good works. The writer of
Hebrews declared, “For both He who sanctifies and those who are
sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not
ashamed to call them brethren” (Heb. 2:11). “The one who joins
himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him,” Paul says (1 Cor.
6:17), and because of that union a believer can say, “It is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me,
and delivered Himself up for me” (Gal. 2:20).
When the disciples were arguing about which one of them
was the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus set a small child in
front of them and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are
converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom
of heaven” (Matt. 18:3). A person who does not come to Christ in
the humble trustfulness that is characteristic of small children will
have no part in His kingdom at all, much less be considered great in
it. Jesus continued, “Whoever then humbles himself as this child,
he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one
such child in My name receives Me” (vv. 4–5). The physical child
standing before them represented the spiritual child of God, the
person who is converted (v. 3) by believing in Christ (v. 6). The
person who lovingly serves the children of God proves himself to be a
child of God.
“He who receives you receives Me,” Jesus told the
disciples on another occasion, “and he who receives Me receives Him
who sent Me” (Matt. 10:40). Whatever believers do for each other
they also do for their Lord Jesus Christ, and the person who
genuinely receives and serves Christians in Christ’s name proves he
himself is a Christian. The self-giving service of Christians to each
other in Christ’s name is a key external mark that identifies them
as God’s people. Jesus said, “By this all men will know that you
are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).
It is to the practical manifestations of such love that
Christ the King will call attention as he ushers the Tribulation
saints into His millennial kingdom. Believers during those seven
years, especially during the devastating last three and one-half
years, will have great need for the basics Jesus has just mentioned.
Because of their identity with Christ, they will often be hungry,
thirsty, without decent shelter or clothing, sick, imprisoned, and
alienated from the mainstream of society.
Those who will have met the needs of fellow believers
will themselves have suffered great need. Few, if any, believers
during the frightful days of the Tribulation will be able to give out
of abundance. Most of them will have resources hardly sufficient to
meet their own needs. Their divinely inspired generosity to each
other will have set them apart as the Lord’s people even before, as
returning King, He publicly declares them to be His own.
The Condemnation of the Unsaved
Then He will also say to those on His left, “Depart
from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared
for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me
nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I
was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not
clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.” Then
they themselves also will answer, saying, “Lord, when did we see
You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in
prison, and did not take care of You?” Then He will answer them,
saying, “Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it
to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.” And these
will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal
life. (25:41–46)
To the lost who will be gathered on His left the
King will say, “Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal
fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Joining the unredeemable devil and his angels in the eternal
fire of hell will be those human beings who refused to believe.
It is just as obvious that Christ does not condemn these
people because they failed to serve Him (vv. 42–43) as it is that
He does not save the others because they did serve Him (vv. 34–35).
These are accursed because they rejected Christ, just as those
who enter the kingdom are righteous (v. 37) because they accepted
Him. Their rejection of Christ left them in a state where they were
not able to do righteous deeds.
Jesus is speaking of eternal separation from God
and from His goodness, righteousness, truth, joy, peace, and every
other good thing. He is speaking of eternal association with
the devil and his angels in the place of torment God prepared
for them. He is speaking of eternal isolation, where there will be no
fellowship, no consolation, and no encouragement. He is speaking of
eternal duration and of eternal affliction, from which
there will be no relief or respite.
The evidence that those rejected people never belonged
to Christ will be that they did not love and serve His people. Their
response to believers’ needs will have been just the opposite of
those who enter the kingdom. When, vicariously through the needs of
His people, Christ was hungry or thirsty or a
stranger or naked or sick or in prison,
those unbelievers refused to minister to Him. And in so doing they
proved they did not belong to Him.
Like the righteous who are received into the kingdom,
the accursed who are rejected will also be amazed at the Lord’s
words to them. But they will ask, “Lord, when did we not
minister to you in those ways?” He will reply, “Truly I say to
you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of
these, you did not do it to Me.” To fail to serve Christ’s
people is to fail to serve Him, and to fail to serve Him is to prove
one does not belong to Him.
It is significant that the marks of lostness Jesus
mentions here are not gross sins committed but rather simple acts of
kindness not committed. The five foolish virgins who had no
oil for their lamps were not shut out of the wedding feast because
they were morally wicked but because they were unprepared for the
bridegroom (see Matt. 25:1–13). In the same way, the slave with one
talent was not cast into outer darkness because he embezzled the
master’s money but because he failed to invest it (vv. 14–30).
Also in the same way, a person who is shut out of the kingdom of God
is not condemned because of the greatness of his sin but because of
the absence of his faith. It is not that those who are damned to hell
are equally wretched and vile; their common reason for damnation is
lack of faith.
Jesus uses the same word (aiōnios, eternal)
to describe salvation and condemnation. If believers will be in
heaven with God forever, the lost will be in hell with the devil
forever.
Since the millennial kingdom will be worldwide, there
will be no place on earth for the accursed to go. They will be slain
on the spot and go immediately into the eternal punishment of
hell, suffering permanent, everlasting crystallization of their state
of spiritual death. At the end of the thousand years their bodies
will be raised (cf. John 5:28–29), and they will again stand before
God for final sentencing and final condemnation in bodies suited for
hell’s torments.
But
the righteous
will go away into
eternal life, to
spend all eternity glorified with their Lord and Savior. In marvelous
contrast to the prospect of the accursed, at the end of the
thousand-year earthly kingdom the righteous will discover that their
eternal blessedness will only have begun.
Christ’s Coming and the Gentile Nations (Matt.
25:31–46)
This section explains to us how Jesus Christ will judge
the Gentile nations. The word nations in Matthew 25:32 means
“Gentiles,” and it is in the neuter gender in the Greek. The word
them in that same verse is in the masculine. This means that
the nations will be gathered before Jesus Christ, but He will judge
them as individuals. This will not be a judgment of groups
(Germany, Italy, Japan, etc.) but of individuals within these
nations.
We must not confuse this judgment with the Great White
Throne Judgment described in Revelation 20:11–15. Some scholars
merge both passages and call this “the general judgment.” The
Bible knows nothing of a “general judgment.” This judgment takes
place on earth immediately after the Battle of Armageddon. The White
Throne Judgment takes place in space somewhere (“the earth and the
heaven fled away,” Rev. 20:11). The judgment here in Matthew 25
takes place before the kingdom is established on earth, for
the saved are told to “inherit the kingdom” (Matt. 25:34). The
White Throne Judgment will take place after the 1,000-year
reign of Christ (Rev. 20:7ff).
There is another error we must avoid. We must not force
this passage to teach salvation by good works. A superficial reading
would give the impression that helping one’s neighbor is sufficient
to earn salvation and go to heaven. But this is not the message of
this passage. Nobody at any time in the history of the world was ever
saved by good works.
The Old Testament saints were saved by faith (Heb. 11);
the New Testament saints were saved by faith in Jesus Christ (Eph.
2:8–10). People today are saved the same way. The gospel of “do
good” is not a scriptural message. It is right for believers
to do good (Gal. 6:10; Heb. 13:16), but this is not the way
unbelievers can be saved.
If we keep in mind the three groups in the account, it
will help to solve this problem: There were sheep, goats, and
brethren. Who are these people that the King dares to call “My
brethren”? It seems likely that they are the believing Jews from
the Tribulation period. These are people who will hear the message of
the 144,000 and trust Jesus Christ. Since these believing Jews will
not receive the “mark of the beast” (Rev. 13:16–17), they will
be unable to buy or sell. How, then, can they survive? Through the
loving care of the Gentiles who have trusted Christ and who care for
His brethren.
The interesting thing about this judgment is that the
sheep individuals are surprised at what they hear. They will
not remember having seen the Lord Jesus Christ and ministering to His
needs. But just as they lovingly ministered to the believing Jews,
they did it to Christ. Their motive was not reward, but sacrificial
love. In fact, these Gentiles took their own lives in their hands
when they welcomed the homeless Jews and cared for them. “He that
receiveth you receiveth Me,” Jesus said to His disciples (Matt.
10:40); and surely this would also apply to His brethren.
The individuals designated goats were judged
because they did not trust Jesus Christ and give evidence of that
faith by caring for His brethren. They apparently received the mark
of the beast and took care of themselves and their own, but they had
no time for the Jewish remnant that was suffering on earth (Rev.
12:17). There are sins of omission as well as sins of commission
(James 4:17). Not doing good is the moral equivalent of doing evil.
When we compare the two judicial sentences (Matt. 25:34,
41), we discover some interesting truths. To begin with, the sheep
were blessed of the Father; but it does not say that the goats were
“cursed of the Father.” The sheep inherit the kingdom, and
inheritance is based on birth. Because they had been born again
through faith, they inherited the kingdom.
This kingdom was prepared for these saved individuals,
but Matthew 25:41 does not state that the everlasting fire was
prepared for the goats. It was prepared for the devil and his angels
(Rev. 20:10). God never prepared hell for people. There is no
evidence from Scripture that God predestines people to go to hell. If
sinners listen to Satan, and follow his ways, they will end up where
he ends up—in the torments of hell. There are only two eternal
destinies: everlasting punishment for those who reject Christ or
eternal life for those who trust Him.
The sheep will be ushered into the kingdom to share in
Christ’s glory. The church will be reigning with Christ, and Israel
will enjoy the fulfillment of the promises made through the prophets.
All of creation will share in the glorious liberty of God’s
children (Rom. 8:19–21). Jesus Christ will rule from David’s
throne in Jerusalem (Luke 1:30–33), and peace will reign for 1,000
years (Isa. 11).
As we look back over the Olivet Discourse, we should
review several facts. To begin with, God is not finished with the
people of Israel. Jesus made it clear in this sermon that Israel
would be purified and brought to faith in the Messiah. God has not
cast away His people (Rom. 11:1ff).
Second, the Old Testament promises of the kingdom will
be fulfilled. The Tribulation period will be a very difficult time
for people on the earth. But it will be “travail” in preparation
for the birth of the kingdom. The suffering will lead to glory.
Third, God is going to judge this world. He is not
sending cataclysmic judgments today because this is a day of grace
when His message is, “Be you reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:14ff).
The heavens are silent because man’s sins have already been judged
at the Cross. God has spoken once and for all through His Son, and He
will not speak to this earth again until He sends His judgments
during the Tribulation.
Fourth, we as Christians and members of His church are
not looking for signs. “The Jews require a sign” (1 Cor. 1:22).
There will be no signs given prior to the sudden return of Christ in
the air for His church. However, as we see some of these Tribulation
signs beginning (“When these things begin to take place,”
Luke 21:28, nasb), we feel that the end is not far away. It seems
that international tensions and problems are increasing to the point
where the world will cry out for a dictator, and Satan will have his
candidate ready.
Finally,
no matter what view of prophecy we take, we know that Jesus is coming
again. As Christians, we must be alert and ready. We must not waste
our opportunities. We may not have a great deal of ability or a great
many gifts, but we can still be faithful in the calling He has given
us.
31–46.
The judgment of the nations concludes our Lord’s prophetic
discourse. Christ’s return in
his glory to be
enthroned on the throne
of his glory marks
the great interruption of history as He brings the Tribulation Period
to an end and ushers in the millennial kingdom. This judgment of all
nations must be
distinguished from the Great White Throne Judgment at the end of the
Millennium. The nations
(Gr ethnos)
are those peoples living through the Tribulation on earth at the time
of Christ’s return. This is a judgment of separation: sheep
on his right
… goats on the left.
At this judgment all nations (better, “all Gentiles”) stand
before Christ who then separates the sheep (the saved) from the goats
(the lost) in a manner reminiscent of the wheat and tares parable.
Some view this as the last general judgment (Atkinson, p. 801),
whereas premillennial commentators see this as the judgment of the
nations who have survived the Tribulation Period, with the saved
going into the millennial kingdom. Note that these are living
nations, whereas the Great White Throne Judgment is one of the wicked
dead whose bodies are resurrected to face the final judgment of the
lost. Thus, the saved are invited to come into and share the
blessings of His Kingdom: Come,
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom.
The basis of their acceptance seems to be their treatment of the
least of these my
brethren, i.e., the
saved of the Tribulation. The acts of kindness (vss. 35–38) were
done by these sheep nations unto the persecuted Jewish believers and
their converts during the reign of the Antichrist and now bring the
blessing of God’s salvation upon these nations. The acts of
kindness do not themselves merit salvation apart from the atonement
of Christ. Since the nations are the Gentiles and “my brethren”
are neither, they must be the Jews. The goats are banished into
everlasting fire
or hell. Both the judgment and the blessed life are designated by the
same adjective, “eternal” (Gr aionios),
clearly indicating their equal duration. This eternal judgment is in
keeping with Revelation 14:11; 19:15. No unsaved adults are admitted
into the millennial kingdom when it is begun on earth. A natural and
legitimate conclusion, then, is that the Rapture must occur before
this event. Thus, the Rapture precedes the Tribulation Period, which
itself precedes the millennial kingdom.2
116
THE JUDGMENT OF CHRIST
Matthew 25:31–46
If someone were to ask me,
concerning all the doctrines taught in the Bible, which three are
most hated, I would say that they are the doctrines of hell,
predestination, and the last judgment. We can only imagine how odious
would be a biblical passage that sets forth all three of these
doctrines. However, that is what we find in the passage that is
before us in this chapter.
This chapter will complete our study of the Olivet
Discourse, which is found in Matthew 24 and 25. In the most recent
passages we have examined, Jesus taught His disciples some important
lessons about how they should await His coming. First, He counseled
them to be vigilant (24:45–51), for, He said, no one knows the day
and hour of His coming except God the Father (24:36). Second, by
means of the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, Jesus taught
them to be prepared for His coming (25:1–13). Third, in the parable
of the talents, He told His disciples to be diligent and productive
while they waited (25:14–30). Again, we are not sure whether He was
instructing them at that point to be ready for His coming in judgment
on Jerusalem in AD 70 or His final coming, which is yet to happen.
However, it matters little, for just as the disciples needed to be
prepared and productive as they waited for the destruction of
Jerusalem, so we need to be prepared and productive as we await His
climactic return.
As He closed this discourse, Jesus seems to have been
addressing His final return, for here He foretold what will happen at
the end of the age. All the nations will be gathered before Him, He
said, and He will make a separation. That is, He will judge each and
every individual. Sadly, He will find some who were not vigilant, who
were unprepared, and who were not productive before His return.
Separating Sheep and Goats
Matthew tells us that Jesus said, “When the Son of
Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He
will sit on the throne of His glory” (v. 31). This is the first
time in all of Scripture when Jesus clearly referred to Himself not
only as the Son of Man but also as the King, for He said He will sit
on “the throne of His glory.” He then added, “All the
nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He
will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left”
(vv. 32–33). Jesus’ throne will be a throne of judgment. The
first thing He will do when He comes in His glory will be to gather
everyone from every nation before His throne. Then that gathering
will be followed immediately by a separation.
This kind of teaching is very hard for people in modern
Western culture, which embraces pluralism, relativism, and
universalism, and which has an incurable allergy to any hint of
exclusion. The idea of separation goes completely against the grain
of our culture, especially since this particular separation means
that some will enter the blessedness of eternal life in heaven and
the rest will enter the everlasting misery of judgment in hell. Most
Westerners, even in the church, believe it will be easy to pass
through the last judgment on their way to heaven. We make jokes about
St. Peter at the pearly gates, and he always seems to be blind to any
sins that would preclude someone’s entrance into heaven. We live in
a world and in a nation that believes in salvation by death. All you
have to do to go to heaven is to die.
When Jesus spoke of this separation He will make, He
used the metaphor of sheep and goats. He also likened His judgment to
a shepherd dividing sheep from goats. Vesta and I grew up in a suburb
outside of Pittsburgh, very close to the farmlands of the region. If
we drove just a mile or two out of our town, we could see pastures
where cows grazed in some fields, sheep in others, and goats in still
others. We never saw these three types of animals grazing together,
so it was not difficult for us to distinguish the sheep from the
goats. But we were on a trip in a third-world country a few years
ago, and the tour guide pointed out a pasture that held both sheep
and goats, and we could not tell the difference, at least not from
our vantage point. We would have needed to get much closer and have
detailed knowledge of the anatomy of sheep and goats in order to
distinguish them.
In ancient Israel, just as in that third-world country,
it was common for sheep and goats to be kept together. But the
animals had to be separated on a daily basis. As the evening began to
fall, the shepherd would go into his fields and draw all of the goats
away because they did not have that wonderful wool sweater to protect
them as the temperature began to drop. The goats needed more warmth,
so the shepherd would go out and make this separation and bring the
goats into a warmer place. The shepherd, of course, was intimately
familiar with his animals, so he was well able to make that
separation.
However, Jesus did not suggest He will separate the
figurative sheep and goats for some utilitarian reason, as did the
shepherds of Israel. Rather, He will separate them so as to place the
sheep on His right and the goats on His left, that is, in the place
of honor and dishonor respectively.
Blessed Sheep
Jesus then began to tell His disciples what He will say
to these two groups, speaking first to the sheep: “Then the King
will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and
you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked
and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison
and you came to Me’ ” (vv. 34–36).
The sheep, He will say, are “blessed of My Father,”
so they will inherit “the kingdom prepared for [them] from the
foundation of the world.” The ultimate blessing the Father gives to
any human being is the blessing of being His gift to the Son.
Elsewhere Jesus said, “All that the Father gives Me will come to
Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out” (John
6:37). In His High Priestly Prayer on the night when He was betrayed,
He said, “Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is
lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be
fulfilled” (John 17:12). These individuals whom the Father gave to
the Son have been predestined to inherit the kingdom of God from the
foundation of the world.
When the Father adopts us into His family, we become, as
it were, younger brothers and sisters of Jesus, who is the singular
heir of the Father (Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5). Thus, we become joint heirs
of the Father with Him (Rom. 8:17). At the last judgment, Jesus will
say to us: “You’re in the will. You were put in the will from the
foundation of the world.” You were not put into the will because
God foresaw with His omniscience what you would do when you heard the
gospel. Before you were born, before you ever did any good or bad
thing, that the purposes of God’s sovereign grace may be
established and that the Son of God might be honored for eternity,
God ordained you to be His heir and wrote your name in the Lamb’s
book of life (Rom. 9:10–13).
Whenever my grandchildren do anything that remotely
displeases me (yes, it happens occasionally), my standard response
is, “You’re out of the will.” We know how painful it is to be
disinherited in this world. But to be excluded from the inheritance
of the kingdom of God is the worst calamity that can befall a human
being.
This doctrine of predestination causes not just
confusion and bewilderment but fury, even among professing
Christians. This always baffles me. There is no greater demonstration
of grace than this doctrine, because I cannot point to any reason why
am I in the kingdom of God and someone else is not. It certainly is
not because of something I have done.
At this point, you might be thinking: “This whole text
is about works, about feeding the hungry, giving drink to the
thirsty, taking in strangers, clothing the naked, and visiting the
sick and the prisoners. Doesn’t that show that works are involved
in salvation?” It might seem so, but we are told over and over
again in Scripture that justification is by faith alone. Thus, works
play no part in salvation. However, justification is not by a faith
that is alone; it is not by a mere profession of faith. Anyone who
possesses saving faith immediately begins to do good works. We are
not justified by our works in any way whatsoever, but we are
justified to good works. Thus, the ultimate test by which we
will be determined to be in Christ or not is the presence or absence
of fruit. On the last day, our professions of faith will be judged by
the works we have performed. Again, we are not justified by our
works, but if we do not have works, that is clear evidence that we do
not have saving faith.
Jesus showed that good works come naturally to those who
are justified. He said: “Then the righteous will answer Him,
saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty
and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in,
or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison,
and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them,
‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the
least of these My brethren, you did it to Me’ ” (vv.
37–40). The sheep will not be aware that they were serving Jesus
when they served their neighbors. They simply did what the Spirit
laid upon their hearts to do. But in that service, they were obeying
Christ.
Cursed Goats
Jesus told His disciples that He will have a very
different message for the goats. He said: “Then He will also say
to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was
hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no
drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did
not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me’ ”
(vv. 41–43). These will be told to depart from Jesus into
everlasting fire, for they are cursed, not blessed. Why? Because they
failed to do the very things the righteous did: feed the hungry, give
drink to the thirsty, take in strangers, and so on.
Jesus added: “Then they also will answer Him,
saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger
or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ ”
(v. 44). The implication here seems to be that if they had ever
seen Jesus in such need, they certainly would have ministered to Him.
But by committing sins of omission in failing to minister to Jesus’
people, to the least of these who belong to Him, they failed Him. As
Jesus said, “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I
say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of
these, you did not do it to Me’ ” (v. 45). The goats
will not have the works to show they are justified. So, “these
will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into
eternal life” (v. 46).
There is no purgatory. “It is appointed for men to die
once, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). There is no second
chance. There is no reincarnation to a new life on this earth. The
only reincarnation is the resurrection of the body for heaven or for
hell. That is why it is so perilous to keep evading the issue,
dodging the question. A judgment awaits each of us, a judgment
according to the standards of God’s righteousness. Remember what
Paul said to the Athenians: “These times of ignorance God
overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent” (Acts
17:30). Why? “Because He has appointed a day on which He will judge
the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained” (v.
31a).
Do yourself a favor. Before you go to bed tonight,
before you fall asleep, ask yourself: “Am I a sheep? Am I a goat?
Is my faith real? What is my destiny?” Jesus is going to return one
day, and when He does, judgment will happen. Make sure you are
prepared.3
2
Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV
Bible Commentary (pp. 1951–1952). Nashville:
Thomas Nelson.
