Matthew 25:31-46 - Sheep and goats

25:31-43

It is a fundamental theological fact that Jesus will return in glory and as judge. There will be a day of judgement, and all the nations will be before Him. There is no one who will escape the judgement. We are answerable to Christ. And there will be a separation, we will be split into sheep and goats as a shepherd would separate out a flock. Sheep were considered to be more valuable than goats.

At the judgement the king commends those on His right, the sheep, saying their inheritance is ready for them. We should also note that it was prepared “since the creation of the world”. God’s plan was made long, long ago, and has not changed. What are they commended for? Feeding the hungry, helping the stranger, clothing the naked, tending the sick and visiting those in prison. It might seem that they are earning salvation, but this is not the case. This is what those who are blessed by God do. It is also what we are to do in preparation for the return of the King.

The “righteous”. Jesus is emphasising the characteristics God wants to find in His faithful people. The righteous did not realise what they were doing. They certainly did not see it as a way of earning salvation! They just got on with being what they were meant to be. They were living kingdom life. They did not feed the hungry thinking “this will put me right with God”. Rather they just fed them because they were hungry. The King then tells them that whatever they did for these people, they did for the King.

Those on the left are now given the opposite verdict, and for the opposite reasons. They are to depart from Christ. We should note that it is Christ, the Son of Man, who is sitting in judgement here. It is the Son of Man who condemns them to the “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels”. Severe judgement comes from Jesus.  Why? For they did not not feed or help him.

25:44-46

Like the righteous, they ask when did we not feed you? Whenever they did not help “the least of these”. We were all created by God, we belong to Him. In Christ there is an amazing identification with humanity by God. So when either individually or as a society we do things that harm humanity, we harm God. 

So the goats will go to eternal punishment, the righteous to eternal life. It is perhaps worth noting that there is a correspondence between eternal life and eternal punishment here which perhaps is relevant to the eternal punishment-conditional immortality debate. Now one does have to be careful with taking too much out of a parable. However, one thing that we can definitely say is that if a proponent of conditional immortality/annihilation seeks to lessen the prospect of “hell” then they are being unbiblical and are going against the clear teaching of Jesus.