The Gospel of Matthew Study Help (Matthew 25:31-46)

Jesus’ Private ministry

Questions to be answered in this study

1. Why did Jeus use parables in chapter 25?
2. What is the difference in the rapture and the second coming of the Lord?
3. Why don’t the unbelievers who stand before Christ when He comes to earth accept Him as their savior and avoid going to hell?
4. Why is it that the unbelievers bow before the Lord and confess He is Lord at the second coming but still are not saved?
5. There will be children born during the 1000-year reign of Christ. What is their spiritual condition and what happens to them?
6. What does it mean to be joint-heirs with Christ?
7. Jesus explains what it means to serve Him and it has to do with others rather than Him directly. What does that mean?
8. Upon what are our rewards are based?
9. The Jews who will meet Jesus when He returns did not know they were serving Him, but they were in what way and why?
10. What did Jesus mean when He said our service to Him was determined by our attitude?

Introduction

Today, we will finish our study of the Olivet Discourse, and we are also finished with the eschatology of the future signs of the second coming. After today, our study focuses on the Last Supper, betrayal, and passion, which are still included in Jesus’ private ministry. First, today we need to finish our study of parables in Chapter 25.

In the previous study, we noted Jesus used the chiasm method of teaching, which He continues to use in today’s study. Jesus begins with the last subject taught in chapter 24 and them moves backward reviewing the previous studies of chapter 24. The previous subject in chapter 24 was concerning the rapture of the church.

As I said earlier, in chapter 25, Jesus uses parables to review those subjects already covered in chapter 24. In our previous study, Chapter 25:1-30, Jesus talked about His return and the believers’ rewards. Today we finish chapter 25, with a parable about the Second Coming of Christ and the judgment for those on earth, which focuses on separating the believers from the unbelievers or the sheep from the goats. 

So, we begin today where we left off with the final parable of chapter 25:

Matthew 25:31-32, “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: 32And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:”

In these verses, Jesus continues the subject of His second coming saying that The Holy Angels of heaven will accompany him for the entire world to see; this is different from the rapture when the world did not see Him. Then He says the nations will be gathered for judgment. The judgment before, at the rapture, was for believers; this judgment will be for unbelievers, which follows the tribulation period. Jesus has set up His kingdom and is now sitting on His throne. According to the book of Revelation, we also need to note that this is not the final judgment for unbelievers at the end of the 1,000-year Millennial reign. So, this judgment is of nations as the kingdom age gets underway.

To get a better understanding of what this judgment is about, we need to review Matthew 24:30-31: “And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

The earth will be darkened when Jesus returns to the earth; His coming will light up the eastern sky. He will be coming to earth with glory and great power. The nations on earth will mourn Christ’s coming, knowing judgment is at hand. The world has defied the Lord by taking the mark of the beast and worshiping him instead. Now they must pay for their defiance. So, Jesus comes in His glory and power to defeat the Antichrist and judge the world’s unbelievers.

Many will be saved from around the world during the Tribulation, and I do not believe this includes those who had many opportunities for salvation and were left behind at the church’s rapture. The elect saved during the Tribulation will be gathered from around the world and brought to Jerusalem; not only will the elect but also unbelievers will be gathered for judgment.

These are not the unbelievers that joined the Antichrist to fight at Armageddon, for they have already been destroyed according to Revelation chapter 19. These unbelievers did not fight at Armageddon but were worshipers of the Antichrist, and they will not be part of the kingdom. So, to explain the fate of these, Jesus gives the parable of the sheep and the goats beginning in verse 32.

It was the custom in Israel to allow the sheep and the goats to graze together during the day, but they were separated at the end of the day. So, at this time, Jesus will separate the true believers from the unbelievers.

Now, we need to read the rest of the parable:

           Matthew 25:33-46, “And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. 34Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?38When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. ₄₁Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: 42For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: 43I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. 44Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? 45Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. 46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”

           Jesus uses the terms sheep and goats. At this time of judgment, the sheep are separated and put on the right hand, and the goats are placed on the left hand. The sheep are believers, those who have their citizenship in heaven, and the goats are the unbelievers assigned their position in hell. According to Psalm 22:27-28, “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: And all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.28For the kingdom is the LORD’s: And he is the governor among the nations.”

           So, at this point, there will be only believers entering the kingdom, but what about the unbelievers? They know that Jesus is the Lord and the Messiah, so why don’t they accept Him as their Lord and savior instead of being put to death and assigned their part in hell for all eternity? They do recognize who Jesus is, for the Scripture is clear on this: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father,” Philippians 2:10–11. They all bow to Jesus, but Paul does not say in this reference that all are saved. The best answer to this is, we are saved by grace through faith, and there can be no faith in that which is already seen. Therefore, it would be impossible for these unbelievers to have faith. Once again, Paul makes this clear using the term hope instead of faith: “For we are saved by hope: [faith] but hope [faith] that is seen is not hope [faith]: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it seen,” Romans 8:24-25. In other words. Paul says that we cannot have faith in what we have already seen because when something becomes evident, it is no longer believed by faith. 

They can confess the Lord because it is now evident that Jesus is Lord, but they can no longer place saving faith in that already seen. There is also another factor; salvation is only by invitation, and these have already rejected that invitation like those in the parable Jesus gave in Matthew 22:1-10: “And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, 2The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his Son, 3And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. 4Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. 5But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 6And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 7But when the King heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. 8Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. 9Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. 10So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.”

Those believers coming out of the Tribulation are still in their earthly bodies; children will be born, and they also will need to accept Jesus as their savior. What is amazing to me is that not all will be saved even when Jesus is King over the Kingdom; this we know because at the end of the kingdom age, Satan will be released from his bottomless pit for a season and will deceive many again. There will be an uprising against Christ which He will quickly put down.

Many will receive Jesus as Lord and Savior as we see in James 2:5, “Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom he hath promised to them that love him?” It is interesting to note that these believers are new in Christ, and they all placed their faith in Jesus during the seven-year Tribulation; therefore, they were not among those in the Rapture of the Church.

As we go back to verse 34, we see Jesus explaining the judgment that each group receives, beginning with the sheep on the right hand; the sheep are those blessed by God and inherit the kingdom. They inherit, meaning that they are part of God’s family. We understand that inheritance is something received when the head of the family dies. We are born into the family of God through faith in Jesus; therefore, we are heirs to the kingdom of God by position only and not because of anything we have done. However, the portion you receive can be according to how well you pleased the Father during your life. If we don’t satisfy the Father, we still are heirs by birth and therefore are part of the kingdom because we are fellow heirs with Christ: “For ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God: 17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified together.” Romans 8:15-17. It is by our faith that we are part of the family of God. We are joint-heirs with Christ as Paul points out in Hebrews 1:2: “Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.” We see in this verse that it was Jesus who created all things; therefore, He owns all things, and we are His joint-heirs. That is the good news Jesus is sharing with the sheep. That is the position we received in eternity past: “Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,” Ephesians 1:5.

           Our purpose on earth is to please the Father who is in heaven. In verses 35-36, Jesus outlines the things His followers have done to serve Him. Six items are listed: They gave Him food, water, shelter, clothing, medical treatment, and visited Him in prison. In v.37, Jesus calls the sheep righteous, saved by their faith in Him as Lord and savior. Those listening, verses 37-38, wonder when it was, they did these things since they had not seen Him before. Jesus replies that as much as they had done it to others, they had done it to Him. Jesus is saying that our attitude toward others represents our attitude towards Himself. Our service to others is evidence of our faith in Christ, and we receive eternal rewards for our service.

               God gives different people different gifts to serve Him. As long as we are available to serve, that counts and not how much ability we have or how successful we are in what we do. We learn more about how to serve as we serve, and our ability increases. God opens the opportunities if we are willing to follow His lead. Sometimes it requires a change of priorities to show up for the Lord, our service to the Lord is light compared to the world’s hardness, for Jesus said, “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light,” Matthew 11:30. Jesus enables us to serve Him when we set aside the world’s priorities and focus our lives on Him instead. These Jews did not realize they were serving Jesus, and they were acting because of the newness of the life they had in Jesus. When we are genuinely in tune with our Lord, service to Him is easy and natural. Serving Jesus is not meant to be stressful and challenging, for Jesus said, “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” 

           Now, in verse 41, Jesus turns His attention to the “goats” to His left and says, “depart from me.” They are the cursed ones who are cast into hell for all eternity, a place that was initially prepared for the devil and his angels; this is a place described as a lake of fire. What a tragedy it is the go through life on earth and never accept Jesus and go to a place called the lake of fire for all eternity.

           If you happen to be an unbeliever and reading this today, why not take this opportunity to trust in Jesus and secure your place in heaven while you have the chance and before it is too late. If you are ready, click here.  That will take you to step-by-step instructions on having an eternal relationship with God.