The Sheep and the Goats

The Sheep and the Goats

Scripture:

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. ³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ ⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ ⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire 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, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ ⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ ⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46

Observation:

In the last part of His discourse on the events of the End times, the Lord speaks of the final judgment when He will sit on His glorious throne and all the nations will be gathered before Him. At this throne, there will be a great separation, between the sheep and the goats. The sheep are those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, were hospitable to strangers, clothed the needy, looked after the sick and visited those in prison. The goats are those who did not do any of these. Those who did the good deeds were deemed to have done it to the Lord Himself while those who did were deemed to have neglected the Lord Himself. From this, we see the love the Lord has for the poor and needy of the world, even equating Himself to them. Throughout Scripture, we see God’s heart for the poor and needy, and there is a call for us too to have that heart of compassion for the them too.

However, does this passage apply to Christians? We know that we are saved by grace, through faith, not by works so that no one can boast. Our deeds do not save us. It is only our faith in Jesus Christ that enables us to receive God’s gift of salvation. Scripture is true and thorough on this fact. What then is this passage about?

To understand this event better, we need to compare it with Revelation 22, which describes a great White throne where the dead are raised to life and judged according to their works. Books are opened, which record the deeds of each person, and there is also a book of life. Those not found written in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire.

This Great White Throne event in the book of Revelation only takes place after the 1,000 year millennial reign of Christ, much later after Jesus has come in the skies and brought the true Christians to Himself in the Rapture.

Through the centuries that man lived, there must have been millions who did not hear the gospel, who did not have a chance to know Jesus and be saved. How will they be judged? According to their works, and God is completely fair in this. The way the sheep here responded, it appeared they did not know Jesus, but those who were inherently good and helped the poor and needy, it appears that Jesus allowed them to also enter Heaven. It would appear though that this group would not include anyone who rejected Christ, for the Lord also stated that whoever acknowledged Him, He would acknowledge before God the Father in Heaven while those who disowned Him, He would disown. This would also not apply to any who received the mark of the Beast, for Scripture confirms that all who do are condemned.

In Romans 2:14-16, Paul said “Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.” Interpreting this, it seems that when Gentiles by nature do things required by the law, they become a law to themselves even though they don’t have the law. Likewise, when Gentiles by nature act out kindness like a follower of Christ, even when they have not yet known Christ, it is as if they are a follower themselves. And this is consistent with Paul’s final reference to the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, which will happen when the books showing the record of their lives are opened.

Application:

Although, we as Christians are not judged by our works, the good deeds described by the Lord here are ministries that please Him so much so that He considers the same kindness as done to Himself personally. We would do well to participate in giving or serving in ministries that feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, clothe the poor, or visit the sick and those in prison.

The same principle mentioned in the last point about Gentiles also applies inversely. If a Christian by nature does evil things that a true follower of Christ wouldn’t do, even while knowing Christ, it is as if they are not a true believer. As the Lord warns, some will come to Him at the end and say “Didn’t we cast out demons and perform miracle in Your name?” and He will reply “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers”. We should never take our salvation for granted, but make it our continual desire to seek to know Him deeply and intimately more and more as our Lord and Savior. Instead of judging others, we need to remain humble and focused on the Lord of our Salvation.

It is interesting to note how no typical bad deeds like stealing, killing, or even lying was mentioned of the goats. They were guilty seemingly only of sins of omission yet were allotted the same faith as the devil and his angels. This is consistent with the fate of the servant who did nothing but bury his bag of gold in the ground. He had not done anything noticeably bad or evil other than omitting to invest his gold. Many Christians think they are ok living life to themselves, perhaps attending church on Sundays, but do no good deeds and help no one. How terrible it would be if we imagined ourselves to be saved and all but end up missing the Rapture and instead standing before the Great White Throne judgment as a goat who did nothing for Christ.

Prayer:-

We thank You, Lord Jesus, for Your love for the poor and needy, for the way You provide and take care of them. Give us that same heart of compassion for them O Lord. Teach us and lead us to ways that we might serve and help the hungry and the thirsty, the poor, the sick, and those in prison.

We also pray, Lord, that You teach us to be humble and always thankful for the great salvation You have granted us. May we always remain faithful to the end, In Jesus name, Amen.