Reading Assignment: Matthew 25:31-46
Key Verse: Matthew 25:34
Truth: Jesus will welcome His sheep.
Overview of Jesus’ distinction between
1. Sheep who inherit the kingdom
2. Goats who are banished from punished
Prayer:
1. Thank God for the inheritance of salvation.
2. Commit to loving God’s people.
Transcript
Let's pray and we'll begin our time together.
God, we live every day with life and breath, because You lend us life and breath. Thank You for Your sustaining grace upon our lives and that even amid the trials of life, You give us grace every day. Thank You for Your encouragement. Thank You for Christ who came to save us, who has demonstrated for us Your great love so that no matter what we face in life, we can trust in You, and know that You love us and that even through trials of life You are working for our good. We read it in Your word, that even when things may appear evil, in the end You intend good for our salvation. And in this, we wholeheartedly thank You and trust in You. All of history, everything in our lives, everything that exists is under Your good care and control. Our Father, our hearts find our rest in You. Thank You for Your grace this day. Bless our time together now as we look to Your word. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
The next passage to be read is Matthew 25:31-46, slightly a shorter passage compared to last time. And the central truth I want to highlight here is that Jesus will welcome His sheep. The slightly longer truth is that Jesus will welcome His sheep into His Kingdom. The key verse is found in verse 34, where Jesus says to His people (“His sheep”) who are on His right, “Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” This is Jesus' plan for His people. It's a wonderful, beautiful, hopeful outlook for our future. He tells us that we are "blessed of My father” and that we will “inherit the Kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world.” This is the wonderful plan of God for His people from eternity past (“before the foundation of the world”).
Now, in this third parable from Matthew 25, we see the picture of a shepherd who distinguishes between the sheep and the goats. In its substance, it looks ahead to when Jesus comes again to establish His Kingdom on earth. When He begins to reign, the first matter of business He has is to separate believers from unbelievers among those who have survived the tribulation. It's important to remember the context of this conversation which began in Chapter 24, that this is about Jesus’ second coming and the end of the age. The end of this age will mark the start of the millennial Kingdom, the thousand-year reign of Christ. Verse 31 points out that Jesus at this time will sit on the throne. He's the judge. He's the king. And so it says, “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.” Now when you hear the word “throne,” you might be thinking the Great White Throne from Revelation 20. But this is not that event, because the timing of the two is quite different. The timing of the Great White Throne judgment is after the millennial Kingdom. The timing of this is at the coming of the Son of Man before (or at the beginning of) the millennial Kingdom. And so there is a bit of a distinction there. However, the essence of what happens from that throne is not terribly different, in that Jesus will, on that day, have His day of accounting with those who have survived the tribulation. Verse 32 further elaborates on this and says, “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.” This is where we see that picture of the sheep and the goats. The rest of this passage tells us how Jesus will deal with the sheep and the goats. Verse 33 further tells us, “He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.” A shepherd knows the difference between sheep and goats. Thus, the Lord will make a distinction and separate these into two parts. That's the picture. And the passage neatly divides into these two sections.
First, the sheep. “Then the King will say to those on His right [these are the sheep], ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.’” Even before we go on to see how Jesus has evaluated His sheep, let me first make a remark about who these sheep are. First, we are talking about “all the nations,” which shows us these are Gentiles. Both in Greek and in Hebrew, the word for “nations” is the same as the word for Gentiles. In Greek it's the word ethnos, the word used here. Now, you'll notice here that those who enter the Kingdom of God are described as heirs. They inherit the Kingdom. And furthermore, Jesus says that the Kingdom was prepared for them from the foundation of the world. This just sounds like normal salvation, and that’s what it is. Those who inherit the Kingdom are children of God, or if you would, heirs of God, because only heirs inherit from their Father. Now here's a theological question for us: Who are the children of God? The Bible has a very straightforward answer to this. Children of God are those who believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They believe in Jesus for who He is. We get that in John 1:12, “But as many as received Him (Jesus), to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” Now, of course, faith and repentance are just the flip side of the same coin, and so all those who believe and trust in the Lord, those who follow Him and commit their lives to live in obedience to the Lord, they are children of God. So then, the nations are gathered before the Lord, and He will make a distinction between those who are heirs of the Kingdom, that is, the children of God, and those that are not. That is to say, the Lord will separate believers in Christ from unbelievers. Now, this reveals to us something very interesting about the tribulation period. As you’d recall, the Church has already been raptured into heaven at the outset of the tribulation. What we see here is that even though the church is absent from earth, the greatest vehicle of the Spirit's work on earth, there still are some Gentiles who repent and come to faith in Christ. And so even during the tribulation period, God shows mercy for those who call upon the Lord. So, these are Gentile believers who are converted during the Tribulation period. These are the heirs of the kingdom to whom Jesus grants entrance. Now, as we often find in Scripture, the evidence of faith and salvation is seen in our actions; and in this case, Jesus highlights the action of love. And so, Jesus’ evaluation is based on their love for His people during the Tribulation. And you’ll notice, Jesus’ elaboration is quite interesting in verse 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; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.” Now on the surface, this sounds like Jesus is saying that He really was hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, imprisoned, etc. But of course, Jesus had been in heaven, and He had just arrived on earth. So what does the Lord mean here? Well, if you read further, you get the sense of what Jesus means. Verse 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? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked and clothe You? When do we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’” You see, even the believers in the Lord, they're puzzled by the Lord’s statement. Jesus, then, gives the explanation in verse 40: “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.’” What is Jesus saying? Jesus is saying that He so identifies Himself with His people, that how people have treated them will be how they treated Him. This is to say that all those who treated Jesus' disciples in that age, if you would, believers in the Tribulation period, will treat Jesus’ disciples with love and care. It is these who have the mark of being true believers, the mark of being an heir of God. Now, you'll notice all the different types of circumstances in which they show mercy. The circumstances are rather devastating: hunger, thirst, nakedness, sickness, and imprisonment. There is one group who will undergo all of these during the tribulation: the Jewish remnant. They are targeted by the Antichrist, and so they will flee to the mountains (24:16), running away from their persecutors. And as a result, they will lack provisions. They will suffer hunger, thirst, nakedness, sickness, and in the thick of persecution, they will face imprisonment. And Jesus is saying that Gentile believers, who showed mercy to these Jewish remnants who believe in Him during the Tribulation period, will bear the mark of true disciples of Christ. All true believers will have the insignia of being born again: love for the people of God. We've heard this repeatedly from First John. It's resounds throughout the New Testament. Jesus Himself ignited this idea where He said, “love one another, even as I have loved you … By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). Thus, this is what Jesus looks for among Gentiles who have professed faith in Him. He wants to see whether they were willing to risk something, their own safety, to show mercy and care for the Jewish remnant, whom the Antichrist antagonized. Those who did love His people are His sheep who are welcomed into His kingdom.
Well, what about those on his left, the goats? Verse 41 shows us the devastating end that false believers and unbelievers will face, those who did not take care of God's people during that time. Verse 41, “Then He will also say to those on His left (these are the goats), ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.’” The eternal fire here, of course, refers to hell, and just as Jesus describes it here, hell was not originally designed for humans. It was designed for the Devil and his demons. This is confirmed to us in Revelation 20, where Satan himself and his demons are cast into the lake of fire. But you'll notice in this context, Jesus is talking about the unbelievers among the Gentiles; these are unbelievers, non-heirs of God's Kingdom. And even as Jesus evaluated the sheep based on their love as the mark of true faith, so Jesus evaluates the rest by the same standard. The goats do not care for the persecuted, the Jewish remnant, during the Tribulation. They are unbelievers who fundamentally did not care for God’s people. You hear this indictment starting from verse 42, where Jesus says, “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.’” And then the goats, the unbelievers, will ask the same question that the sheep asked, “When did we ever see You in these kinds of desperate conditions?” Then Jesus responds in verse 45, “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.” Then comes the final recompense, verse 46, “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” You see this calamitous end of the goats in Revelation 19, where we read that the Lord will slay the unrepentant with the sword of His mouth. Jesus will indeed destroy all those who did not believe in Him, who did not bow their knees to Him, who did not seek to live according to His will, who failed to love and care for the persecuted of His people.
For those who are true believers, we have nothing to worry about, because first of all, the Lord will rapture us from the earth. As for those who come to faith during the Tribulation, that's going to be real for them, but they will exercise genuine faith during that time, and they will love and care for the remnant of the Jews who were suffering persecution, and they will do it at a great cost to themselves.
So what can we pray about in light of all this? First, we should thank God for the inheritance of salvation. Just as Jesus describes it in this passage, the Kingdom of God is an inheritance. That is a real remarkable blessing for sinners like us. God in His grace treats us like He treats His only begotten Son, who alone is the natural heir of His Kingdom. We, through faith in Christ, have become one with Christ and we become co-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), fellow heirs with Christ. This means that just as Jesus was glorified, so we too will be glorified to reign together with Him in God's Kingdom. And of course, the mark of that identity as an heir of God is that we love and care for God's people, and this brings us to the second matter about which we can pray. Clearly we are not in the Tribulation period, and we are not being called here to love the Jewish remnant, as if we can even know who they might be. We can’t. But what this shows us is the wider will of God for us, that we love His people. Scripture is replete with these commands, and I've already alluded to a few earlier, but let me fill this out a little more. The apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 1:22, “Since you have in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart.” This is what we are to expend our lives for in this life. Since we have come to obedience to the truth, we are to fervently love one another from the heart. John also says this in 1 John 3:15-18, “We know love by this, that He (Jesus) laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Then he gets very practical. He says, “But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?” Now John is saying to put your money where your mouth is. If you really love someone, then love them tangibly. He adds, “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” So these are two very important matters to pray about. Give God thanks for the inheritance of the Kingdom, and confess your commitment to fervently love God’s people from the heart.
With that, let's pray together and we'll wrap it up.
Lord, thank You so much for Your holy word and for Jesus, who speaks Your absolute truth. We know the day is coming when He will plant His two feet on the Mount of Olives, and from Jerusalem, He will rule. And as the very first matter of business, He will make a distinction between believers who are co-heirs of the kingdom with Him and unbelievers. That is the truth, and we believe it. We don't need to be confused about what is the truth and what will come in the future. Thank you that in that future, You have a plan to bless Your people, all who trust in You and follow in Your footsteps of love, to give us the inheritance of Your Kingdom. Thank You that this is what awaits us. And Your calling on our lives is that we love Your people. Help us, Father, by Your Spirit, to be daily strengthened to be servants, to be lovers, to be those who are an expression of Jesus’ kindness, His patience, His self-sacrifice, that we may in every way exhibit Jesus’ wonderful character in this life. That is Your calling for us, which the Holy Spirit impresses upon our hearts. And we know it well. Thank You for teaching us this morning. We bless You and give You thanks. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Alright. Thanks everyone. We're done for this morning.