Matthew 25:31-46: “Jesus Tells His Disciples About the Sheep
And Goats Judgment At The End Times”
by
Jim Bomkamp
1.
INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study we looked at the Parable of the
Talents which Jesus taught His disciples
1.1.1.
We saw that Jesus taught His disciples this parable
after He had in chapter 24 delivered to them His Olivett Discourse in which He
answered the three questions His disciples asked Him:
1.1.1.1.When will these
things (the destruction of Herod’s temple) be?
1.1.1.2.What will be
the sign of Your coming? (the Second
Coming of Christ, not the Rapture of the church)
1.1.1.3.What will be
the sign of the end of the Age? (when
Christ returns to setup His millennial reign upon the earth)
1.1.2.
Jesus had then taught His disciples in the latter part
of chapter 24 about the importance of ‘being ready’ for His return, which means
to be living each day obediently before the Lord as if He might return that
very day
1.1.3.
Then, at the beginning of chapter 25 Jesus taught His
disciples the Parable of the Ten Virgins which again showed the importance
of being ready in heart for the Lord
(with the spare oil which the virgin maidservants brought along with them
symbolic of the Holy Spirit and of improving ourselves spiritually each day as
we wait in anticipation of the Lord’s return).
1.1.4.
Finally, Jesus taught the Parable of the Talents which
taught the truth that as we Christians are seeking to be ready for the Lord’s
return to occur at any moment, we must be people who are being responsible with
all of the stuff that the Lord has brought into our lives and made us stewards
of (it was the good and faithful stewards who entered into eternal life, but
the steward who had no good works who ended up in hell)
1.2.
In today’s study we will look at Jesus’ teaching about
the ‘Sheep and Goats Judgment’
1.2.1.
We will see that this judgment will occur at the
conclusion of the 7 Year Tribulation of the book of Revelation
1.2.2.
We will see that the ones who have become Christians
during the Tribulation, and thus are Christ’s sheep, will enter into His
Millennial Kingdom, but the ones who have resisted Christ throughout the
Tribulation, and thus are not Christ’s sheep but rather goats, they will be
cast into eternal hell
2.
VS 25:31-32 -
“31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with
Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “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.”” -
Jesus teaches His disciples about the Sheep And Goats Judgment
2.1.
Here in these verses and the ones that follow Jesus begins to teach His
disciples about another judgment, one which they have never heard of, the judgment
that will occur when Jesus separates the sheep from the goats.
2.2.
The questions that must be asked concerning these verses are, ‘Which
judgment is this which Jesus is teaching His disciples about?’, and, ‘When will
this judgment occur?’
2.2.1.
This is not the judgment of believers which we looked at last week, the
judgment that is called the ‘Bema Seat Judgment’.
2.2.1.1.This is the judgment which
is referenced to in several verses in the New Testament, including 2 Cor. 5:10, “10 For
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be
recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether
good or bad.”
2.2.1.2.This is the same judgment
referenced by the apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 3 where he taught that the day would
reveal each man’s works for they would be tried with fire.
2.2.1.3.This is a judgment that is
just for the church, and it is a judgment of rewards, not a judgment of
condemnation.
2.2.1.4.It appears that this
judgment will occur in heaven right after the Rapture of the church, and it
will occur along with the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
2.2.2.
This is not the judgment of non-believers which is called, ‘The Great
White Throne Judgment’, and is mentioned in the book of Revelation.
2.2.2.1.We read about this judgment
in Rev.
20:11-15, “11 And I
saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and
heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the
great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and
another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged
from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the
dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to
their deeds. 14 And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is
the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found
written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
2.2.2.2.This judgment is preceded by
the resurrection of the dead of everyone who is left in Hades, the place of
torments which is now reserved for those who are not God’s people.
2.2.2.3.It is a judgment of
condemnation, for everyone who appears before the throne of Christ at this judgment
is thrown into the
2.2.3.
I believe that this judgment will occur right at the end of the 7 Year
Tribulation of the book of Revelation, and it will be a judgment of the people
who are alive at that time, some of whom have come to Christ during the
Tribulation (all who are saved before the Tribulation begins will be taken up
in the air to be with Christ for eternity at the Rapture of the Church) and
thus are His sheep, and everyone else who is a goat.
2.2.3.1.In Daniel
12:11-13, we
read that Daniel spoke of events that would occur after the incident of the
Abomination of Desolation, which is that event that occurs right in the middle
of the 7 Year Tribulation Period when the Beast (Antichrist) takes his seat in
the temple to be worshipped, and in those verses Daniel speaks of two time
periods that will occur after that point, and he says that those will be
blessed who attain to the 1.335 days, “11 “And from the time that the
regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination of desolation is set up,
there will be 1,290 days. 12 “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains
to the 1,335 days! 13 “But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will
enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.””
2.2.3.1.1.1,290 days is approx. 3 ½
years in duration, however 1,335 days is 3.66 years, which means that the
person who is blessed is one who makes it not only through the Tribulation
alive, but also who makes it another .16 of a year. I believe strongly that this disparity (45
days) is the amount of time that this Sheep and Goats Judgment will take to
complete. The person who attains to the
1,335 is one of Christ’s sheep who will then begin to live upon the earth in a
physical life during Christ’s Millennial Reign.
3.
VS 25:33 - “33 and
He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.” - Jesus tells His disciples that the sheep will
go to His right, but the goats to His left
3.1.
The ‘right hand’ of any ruler was considered to be a place of honor, and thus
we see in the scripture that Christ ascended up to the ‘right hand’ of God in
heaven.
3.1.1.
Those who have come to Christ during the Tribulation will be put at the
place of honor before God and come and live in His Millennial Kingdom.
3.1.2.
Those who have chosen to reject Christ all throughout the Tribulation,
and who have received the Mark of the Beast, will be cast into hell during this
Sheep and Goats Judgment.
4.
VS 25:34-40 -
“34 “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. 35 ‘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; 36
naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and
you came to Me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when
did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You drink? 38 ‘And
when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39
‘And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “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.’””
- Jesus tells His disciples that the
king will say to the sheep on his right hand that they are to inherit his
kingdom
4.1.
The sheep who go to the king’s right hand are called ‘blessed of My
Father’, for these are the children of God, Christians who have become such
during the 7 Year Tribulation of the book of Revelation.
4.2.
The sheep will also ‘inherit the kingdom’, that is, they will be those
who will live upon the earth during the Millennial Reign of Christ upon the
earth.
4.3.
Jesus so relates to His people that everything that is done good or bad
to His people are done to Him.
4.3.1.
He tells His people that those who are sheep of His right hand of honor
are those who have done good things to His people:
4.3.1.1.He was hungry, they gave Him
something to eat.
4.3.1.2.He was thirsty, they gave
Him drink.
4.3.1.3.He was sick, they visited
Him.
4.3.1.4.He was in prison, they came
to Him.
4.3.2.
Jesus says that even those things that have been done ‘to the least of
them’ have been done to Him, referring possibly to age, social status, station in
life or the church.
4.3.3.
It is interesting to see here that deeds determine who was righteous and
who wasn’t, however salvation as we know is by ‘grace through faith, and not as
a result of works’ (Eph. 2:8-9), however it is also the case that as James says
in chapter two of his epistle, ‘faith without works is dead’, since faith
produces works.
5.
VS 25:41-46 -
“41 “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;
42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you
gave Me nothing to drink; 43 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.’ 44 “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?’ 45 “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.’ 46 “And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the
righteous into eternal life.”” - Jesus tells His disciples that the king will say to
the goats on his left hand that they are to go away into eternal punishment
5.1.
These ones who are on Christ’s left are goats, for they are people who
have insisted upon rejecting Christ all of the way through the 7 Year
Tribulation of the book of Revelation, and now they are called by Him,
‘accursed ones’, for their destiny is the Lake of Fire which was prepared for
the devil and his angels.
5.1.1.
Note here that hell was not created initially by God for people, it was
created for the devil and his angels.
God does not desire that people go to hell. There is a doctrine which hyper Calvinists
believe that teaches that God predestined some people go to hell for all
eternity. However, I believe that these
verses show that that view is wrong, for though God did predestine some to
spend eternity with Him, He did not predestine some to spend eternity in
hell. He knew they would spend eternity
there, however He did not plan for such for He did not create hell for them, He
created it for the devil and his angels after they sinned.
5.2.
Again we see that Jesus so relates to His people that everything that is
done good or bad to His people is done to Him.
5.2.1.
He tells His people that those who are goats of His left hand are those
who have not done good things to His people:
5.2.1.1.He was hungry, they did not
give Him something to eat.
5.2.1.2.He was thirsty, they did not
give Him drink.
5.2.1.3.He was sick, they did not
visit Him.
5.2.1.4.He was in prison, they did
not come to Him.
5.2.2.
Again, salvation is not earned by good works, but rather is by ‘grace
through faith’, however again as James chapter 2 teaches, ‘faith without works
is dead, being by itself’’. These goats
will spend eternity in hell for their very works reveal that they were not
people who had faith in Jesus for salvation.
5.3.
So, we see then that the goats are immediately sent into the
5.3.1.
This then explains many puzzles from the scriptures, for in the many Old
Testament descriptions of the
5.3.1.1.Isaiah
65:17-25, “17 “For
behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18 “But be glad and rejoice forever in what
I create; For behold, I create
5.3.1.1.1.Verse 17 of the verses
refers momentarily to the period of the ‘New Heavens and Earth’ after the
Millenium. The Old Testament scriptures
often skip back and forth between the two parts of the future things. You can tell which one is being referenced
because if the Millenial period is being referenced then life is described as
being more similar to things in this life rather than dissimilar.
5.3.1.2.Zechariah
14:16-21, “16 Then
it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against
Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts,
and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 17 And it will be that whichever of the
families of the earth does not go up to
5.3.1.3.Rev. 20:1-6, “20:1 And
I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great
chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is
the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into
the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive
the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these
things he must be released for a short time.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to
them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the
testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not
worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark upon their
forehead and upon their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for
a thousand years. 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the
thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and
holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second
death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will
reign with Him for a thousand years.”