Matt 25:31–46 — The Judgment of the Nations

This is the famous parable of the sheep and the goats, and it is not an easy passage to understand. There are a lot of controversies about it, but I think we can work our way through it.

Let us begin by reviewing the preceding context, which began in Matthew chapter 24. This is the Olivet Discourse, that is, the eschatological discourse of Jesus in which he is speaking about the Church Age, and His Second Coming. The main thing that Jesus says in chapter 24 is that the entire period between the first and second coming of Christ will be characterized by these two things that go together, tribulation and witness. Yes, tribulation, difficulty, even persecution for God’s people, but side by side with that, witness as well. You see that aspect of it in Matthew 24 and verse 14 where he says, this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. Furthermore, Jesus wants his disciples to know that not only will they be enduring tribulation and difficulty all the way until he comes back, and side by side with that, bear witness to his name, he wants them to also be ready.

He says that no one knows the day or the hour, of his return and therefore because we do not know the day or the hour we must be awake and ready and he gives two parables to explain this. The parable of the ten virgins five of whom were wise and brought extra oil for their lamps and five of whom were foolish and did not bring extra oil and when the cry went out behold the bridegroom the five foolish virgins were busy going into town to buy more oil, and so they were not ready when Christ came back. But the five wise virgins were ready, and they entered into the marriage banquet with the Lord. The second parable is the parable of the talents. in which he speaks about the responsibilities that Christ has assigned to all of his servants and we are to be faithful to those responsibilities until the end of the age, until Christ returns. Now in our passage we come to the final concluding section of the Olivet Discourse about the sheep and the goats.

Now this is not focused upon the importance of being awake and ready, but rather this is focused upon the final judgment for all mankind. And we can see that by looking at verses 31 and 32. This is where I got the title of the sermon from, The Judgment of the Nations. In verses 31 and 32, Jesus says, and all the angels with him. Of course that reminds us, does it not, of what Jesus had said back in Matthew 24 and verse 30 when the sign of the Son of Man appears in heaven and he comes with the clouds of heaven and with the angels with him. So now Jesus is going to the very end of the church age. He is going to the very end of this time of tribulation and witness and he is speaking about what will happen when Christ returns. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne and before him will be gathered all the nations. Hence the sermon title, The Judgment of the Nations.

Now, right away we need to clarify something, and that is that the word nations is a little bit misleading in contemporary English. We think of nations as being nation states, whether it is Canada or Mexico or France? We think of nations in that corporate political sense.

But that is not the usage of this term that Jesus has in view here when he says before him will be gathered all the nations. He is not saying I am going to gather Canada and Mexico and France and I am going to examine each nation to see how good they were at providing a social safety net for their citizens and clothing the naked and providing food for the poor.

That is not what Jesus is referring to here. What would that even mean for Christ to judge the nations and then to send them into eternal punishment? Right at the very end of the passage there, verse 46, these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. A nation as a nation cannot enter into eternal punishment. Furthermore, we know that there are going to be sheep and goats from every nation. Canada has some sheep and some goats. Mexico has many sheep, but also many goats. And so there is no sense here of judging the nations as geopolitical nation states.

The word that is translated nations here is actually the same word that is often translated as Gentiles in the New Testament. So we could translate this as, before him will be gathered all the Gentiles. Although even that is a little bit off because we do not want to exclude the Jews?

All people are being brought before God at this final day of judgment. In fact, this phrase, the nations, before he’ll be gathered all the nations, in fact, the addition of that qualifier all, all the nations, is the exact same phrase that is used in the Great Commission. If you go back to the very end of the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 28 and verse 19, Jesus commands the apostles to go and to make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Again, he is not saying baptize nations as nation states, but rather he is saying baptize all the peoples of the earth. in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And so the reason why we do not translate that as Gentiles is because we do not want to exclude the Jews from the Great Commission. The Great Commission is given to all mankind.

So why then use this term, nations, if it is misleading and it brings to our mind nation-states? And if we qualify and think that it refers to the Gentiles, but then even there we have to add another qualifier and say, well, not only the Gentiles, because also the Jews. Why do we use this term, nations? Why do our English translations say, before him will be gathered all the nations? Why in Matthew 28 does it say baptizing or making disciples of all the nations? There are two reasons why we want to use this term nations. Understanding what it does mean and understanding what it does not mean, but we still want to use this word for two reasons.

The Great Commission and the Nations

First, we want to see the connection between this passage and the Great Commission. Because here in this passage, Matthew 25, verse 31 and following, Jesus is looking at the final judgment scene after the great commission has been completed. after the Great Commission has been completed. And we have already seen this idea that this Great Commission is in view back in Matthew 24 verse 14 that I mentioned before.

This gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world during the period between the first and the second coming of Christ. Jesus here is already looking ahead not only to the commission, to sending out the apostles to go, but he is also looking beyond that to the completion of the entire Great Commission and now the final judgment after the Great Commission has been completed. And so he is gathering all the nations before him, and then he is going to separate the sheep from the goats. He is going to separate those from the peoples, from the nations of the earth, from all the people groups of the earth, who are his people, and those that are not. Another reason why we want to use the term nations is because we want to see a very significant connection to the Old Testament in this passage. If you would, please turn with me to the book of Joel. Joel is in the Minor Prophets. And if you recall how the Minor Prophets go, after the book of Daniel, you have Hosea, the first of the Minor Prophets. The second Minor Prophet is Joel.

In Joel chapter 3, Joel is looking ahead to what is called the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is a term that is used throughout the prophets, not just Joel, but all the prophets to refer to the end, to refer to the Day of Judgment. And here in Joel chapter 3 and verses 1 and we have the judgment of the nations.

For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. Now, the Valley of Jehoshaphat is not a literal location that you could look up on a map and say, where is this particular valley? It is a symbolic concept. You can see that by later on in verse 12, I am sorry, verse 14, where it is called the Valley of Decision. The valley of Jehoshaphat, literally in Hebrew, means the valley where God judges.

Jehah, the first few letters there, is Yahweh, and Shaphat is the Hebrew word to judge. So it is the valley of judgment, the valley of decision, as it says in verse 14. Behold, in those days I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of the place where God judges. And I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of my people and my heritage, Israel. So notice two things here.

First, you have this idea that God is going to judge. This is the great day of the Lord. This is the end of history. This is the final solution to everything. This is God coming in glory and power to judge.

And he is not just judging his people, he is judging all the nations. He is judging the entire earth, all mankind. In fact, that language that is used there in Joel 3 verse 2, all the nations, in the Greek Septuagint translation, it is the exact same phrase as Matthew 25 verse 32. Before him will be gathered all the nations. It is the exact same phrase. So I think that Jesus is explicitly alluding to this verse in Joel chapter 3. But the second thing to note is that what is the purpose of this judgment?

Is it simply to condemn the nations who do not believe in God? No, the purpose of it is to vindicate God’s people? Because the Babylonians, the Assyrians, they were the ones that came, of course, part of God’s perfect plan. God raised them up to do this, but they were the ones that came and took the people into captivity and destroyed the temple. But now God is looking ahead to the end of the age, to the final conclusion. He is looking ahead to the day when God reverses that verdict against his people and so he is now going to judge the nations. The Babylonians did not think that they were doing God’s will. They were doing this in pride. They were actually blaspheming God and saying, ah, your God is not a true God. Our God is more powerful than your God.

And so now God is turning the tables, and he is judging the nations who had hurt and persecuted his people. I will enter, go back to Joel 3, verse 2, the second part of the verse. I will enter into judgment with them there, with the people there, on behalf of my people, on behalf of my heritage, Israel. God is condemning the nations for their mistreatment of God’s people. And why is that? Why is that so important? Because how you treat God’s people is an indicator of your fundamental attitude and orientation toward God himself.

When the Babylonians were mistreating God’s people, they were also attacking God. They were also saying, we do not believe in Yahweh. We do not think he is the true God. We think our God, Marduk, and the Babylonian gods are the true gods. How you treat God’s people is an indicator of your fundamental orientation to God himself.

Now all of this in Joel is given within the perspective of the Old Testament way of thinking, thinking about Israel and the nations, Israel and the Babylonians, and so on. But it is the prophets using that language and using that terminology from that time period, and then through that, seeing ahead to the end, to the ultimate eschatological end. which now in Christ as Jesus comes to us in Matthew 25 and verses 31 and following is fulfilled in Christ. Of course we know that throughout the Gospel of Matthew and Many of you have not been following my sermons throughout the whole Gospel of Matthew, but if you go back maybe about a year and a half ago, you recall that Matthew, in his presentation of the Gospel, has made it very clear that Jesus is the new Israel and that his people who are united to him by faith, the disciples, of course, there is 12 disciples parallel with the 12 tribes of Israel. The disciples are the nucleus of the formation of this new people of God, which we now from the perspective of being after the death and resurrection of Christ call the church, but it is the people of Christ who is the new Israel in union with Christ. One little quick reference, if you go back to Matthew Chapter 2, this is especially clear in the first few chapters of the Gospel of Matthew, but one example of this is in Matthew Chapter 2.

And verse 6, remember the Bethlehem prophecy? When it says that Jesus was going to be born in Bethlehem of Judea. And Matthew says that this was to fulfill what was written by the prophet, quoting here from the prophet Micah. And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah. For from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.

So Jesus here, one of his messianic titles, one of the ways of thinking about what it means for Jesus to be the Messiah is that he is the shepherd. He is the shepherd of the flock, and the flock is all of those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as symbolized by the disciples, but they are simply the beginning of this nucleus of the family of Christ who are his sheep.

The Sheep and the Goats

And so now it becomes obvious then why it is so important to maintain this seemingly confusing and ambiguous term of the nations. The judgment of the nations is significant because here we are seeing the climax of the whole point of the Gospel of Matthew. which is that Christ is the Messiah, he is the Shepherd King, and he is gathering his people, which is the new Israel, in union with him, and which is also called his sheep. Hence, we have this distinction then, this separation between the sheep and the goats. between those that belong to Christ, that are identified with him by faith in him, and those that are not, those that are outsiders, those that are not part of the people of God, the new covenant people of God formed around Christ. And so now then we can see why this passage is so easy to misunderstand and to misapply.

If we do not see this Old Testament context of the church as the new Israel, then it is very easy to misapply this and to think that what Jesus is talking about here is the importance of doing works of charity to all people. And so there is a tendency among many liberal commentators and liberal pastors and teachers who want to interpret this passage as a call to see Christ in the poor and the downtrodden.

So when it says there, you know, Jesus says to the sheep, I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. And the righteous say, Lord, I do not remember doing this. When did we see you hungry? When did we feed you? And Jesus says, Verse 40, truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.

And so the liberal universalist interpretation of this passage is that All mankind are included here. And so we are to see Christ in the face of the poor and the downtrodden. We are to promote things like welcoming migrants into our country in order to see Christ in their face. And if we care for them and welcome them, then we are treating them as Christ himself. And we are doing good deeds of mercy to Christ through them. So all the poor, all the needy of this earth then, become in effect the brothers of Jesus according to this passage.

And that is clearly not correct. Because then who are the goats who are not Christ’s people? Who are those that are being sent into eternal punishment? So clearly that is not what Jesus is talking about here. Clearly Jesus is referring to Christians. He is referring to doing works of charity and caring for Christ’s own brothers. That is explicit there in verse 40.

Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. And all you have to do is remember earlier in the gospel of Matthew, where Jesus asked the very question, who are my brothers? Remember in Matthew 12, he is sitting around with his disciples and his relatives are outside saying they wanted to speak with him.

And Jesus said, who is my mother and who are my brothers? And stretching out his hand, Toward his disciples, he said, here are my mother and my brothers. He stretched out his hand toward his disciples, not towards the whole world, not towards anyone and everyone, even those that are outside of the church, even those that do not believe in him. No, he welcomed his disciples as his brothers.

And furthermore, in Matthew 18, three times Jesus refers to the disciples of Christ as the little ones who believe in him. And so that is brought up again, both of these ideas, both the brothers of Christ and the little ones who believe in Christ are combined together into one phrase here in verse 40, the least of these, my brothers. So Jesus here is talking about the need and the call to do works of service, to meet the bodily needs of God’s people, of fellow disciples of Christ, of fellow Christians in this present age of tribulation prior to the end. Remember, Jesus has made it very clear that this entire period of time between the two comings of Christ is a period that is characterized by tribulation, by wars and rumors of wars, by difficulties, both difficulties for the world at large but also specifically for Christians and for God’s people suffering persecution.

And so it is not surprising then that there would be this need for fellow Christians to care for the bodily needs of one another in the church. Now from our point of view as relatively well-off people living in a country that is not experiencing tremendous tribulation and difficulty. It is hard to grasp this. But all we need to do is look around to the world beyond us and think about Christians in China or Christians in Nigeria who are suffering, who are in bodily need, and therefore we need to care for them. And this expresses our solidarity with them as fellow believers in Christ. We belong to Christ. We are the body of Christ.

And so even though we look at each other according to the flesh very often, and we just see one another according to the earthly estimate that we have of one another, and we see each other’s foibles and personality problems that rub us the wrong way, we need to look beyond that, look beyond those superficial things, and see one another as fellow believers in Christ, as the body of Christ. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12, if one member suffers, all suffer.

This is the root motive behind diaconal ministry. That is, the word diaconal just comes from the word to minister. In fact, it is the same word that is used in verse 44. When the wicked say, when the goats say, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you, did not serve you with these ministerial ways of caring for your bodily needs.

Diaconal ministry is serving one another, serving one another’s bodily needs in the body of Christ. Because we belong to Christ, because we are part of one another through Christ, because of our joint confession of faith in Christ, we must love one another and care for one another. Right now we are in the process of seeking to have our own office bearers in this church and hopefully God will raise up men who could serve as deacons. And their job is not simply to do this diaconal ministry for us, their job is to lead the congregation, to lead the church in works of service to our fellow believers.

Of course, the focus should be on our fellow believers within this particular congregation, but we can also look beyond that to broader concentric circles of other nearby congregations and even beyond our borders to other Christians who are suffering as well.

Does this mean we should never give charity to unbelievers? No. The Apostle Paul says this, he says in Galatians 6 verse 10, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone. But, he says, the focus, the priority is to those who are of the household of faith. If you have an opportunity to care for an unbeliever in some physical way, and God just puts that person right at your doorstep, and it just seems like it is a providential thing, then go ahead and do that.

The Doctrine of Final Judgment

But the priority, the thing that the Lord is calling us to in this passage, is to serve and care for the bodily and physical needs of believers, especially those who are suffering, especially those who are being persecuted. This is what the Lord is calling us to do as the body of Christ. Now this passage is one of the clearest passages in all of the scriptures and in all of the teaching of Jesus on the doctrine of final judgment. And so we just need to quickly think about what this passage teaches us about it. First of all, everyone without exception will be judged. That is the importance of calling all the nations before the throne. Secondly, all humanity will be separated into two groups.

Those who belong to Christ, the sheep, and those who do not, the goats. Thirdly, these two groups, according to Jesus, both have eternal destinies. They are both eternal, but one is an eternal life of bliss with the Lord. The other is eternal punishment, verse 46. These, the goats, will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. And that word eternal is used in both. The punishment is eternal, just as the life of God’s people is eternal. Fourth, what is the key, I will use the word criterion, that is the thing that God is looking for, what is the key test at the Day of Judgment?

The answer is, it is your attitude toward Christ, as expressed in your attitude towards Christ’s people. Good works, including good works of mercy and caring for the bodily needs of other believers, are the necessary fruit of saving faith. If we truly believe in Christ, then we will also love Christ’s fellow followers. We will love those who also belong to Christ.

Doing good to the least of these, brothers in Christ, is doing good to Christ. The amazing thing though is that the believers, the sheep, they are completely unaware that they are doing it. It is not like they were going around doing all these good works of clothing the naked believers and feeding the hungry believers and going and visiting Christians who were in prison in order to be saved, in order to obtain eternal life. No, it was just the natural unthinking attitude of their heart.

If they love the Lord, then of course they are going to love the Lord’s people. The surprise that the sheep have in verse 37 and 38, Lord, when did we see you hungry? And when did we see you sick? And so on. The surprise of the sheep proves that they were not earning entrance into the eternal kingdom by their works of charity. It is simply the natural outflow and fruit of genuine faith in Christ.

And the fifth thing we learn from this text is probably the most precious thing about this passage. And that is the identity of the judge. From an Old Testament point of view, Joel chapter 3, we just think of God. We think of Yahweh being the judge. But when we come to the fullness of progressive revelation in the New Testament, we see, we find out that the judge is actually a shepherd. The judge is Christ. clothed in our nature. John chapter 5 verse 22 says that the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, to the incarnate Son. Notice how the judge here is pictured as a shepherd, but as a shepherd who has a two-fold orientation.

Towards his own, towards his sheep, he cares for them. He is their advocate. He even calls them his brothers. As you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. This is the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. But toward the goats whom he rejects, he is their accuser.

I cannot help but think of that wonderful catechism question, question 52. How does Christ return to judge the living and the dead comfort you? Answer, in all distress and persecution, with uplifted head, I confidently await the very judge. Sounds scary at first, but listen to what it says. I await the very judge who has already offered himself to the judgment of God in my place. and has removed the whole curse from me. And that idea of the blessing and the curse, the dual outcomes, is right here in our text?

What is there for the sheep? There is no curse for them. It is simply the welcoming words of the shepherd king to his people, saying in verse 34, come, you who are blessed. by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. It is only to the goats, to those that rejected the king and expressed their rejection of him by rejecting his people, it is only the goats who hear the words In verse, let us see if I can find it, verse 41, depart from me you cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. The judge is a shepherd. And yes, the shepherd has to do some discrimination and find out who the true sheep and who the goats are.

But to the sheep, he is a loving shepherd who defends them, who loves them, and who welcomes them into his heavenly kingdom. Because, as we are going to see the very next chapter, chapters 26 and 27, he is going to go to the cross for them to bear the judgment in their place.