Jesus concluded the Olivet Discourse with further revelation about the judgment that will take place at the end of the present age when He returns. He had referred to it often in the discourse, but now He made it a special subject of explanation. This judgment will occur when the King returns to earth at the end of the Tribulation to set up His kingdom.
As we have seen, Matthew stressed judgment in his Gospel (3:12; 6:2, 5, 16; 7:24-27; 13:30, 48-49; 18:23-34; 20:1-16; 21:33-41; 22:1-14; 24:45-51; 25:1-12, 14-30). This is not unusual since the Old Testament predicted that judgment would precede the messianic kingdom, and Matthew stressed the kingdom. It is not surprising, therefore, that Jesus concluded this discourse that reveals events leading up to the inauguration of the kingdom by explaining the judgment that will precede it.
The New Testament teaches that there will be two distinct judgments relative to the kingdom.947One will occur just before the messianic kingdom begins and another will follow at its end. The one at the end is the great white throne judgment when God will send all unbelievers to hell (Rev. 20:11-15). Notice some differences between these two judgments that indicate their distinctness. First, the first will not involve a resurrection of unbelievers but will deal with unbelievers alive then on the earth, but the second will involve a resurrection of unbelievers. The word "nations"(i.e., Gentiles, Gr. ethne) never refers to the dead elsewhere in Scripture.948Second, the first judgment will involve three different kinds of people--the sheep, the goats, and Jesus' brethren--whereas the second will involve only the wicked (Rev. 20:13-15). Third, the first will result in some inheriting the kingdom and others getting eternal punishment, but the second will result in everyone judged going into the lake of fire. Fourth, the first happens at the beginning of the messianic (millennial) kingdom, but the second happens at its end.949
This pericope rounds off Jesus' instructions about the future in a way similar to how 10:40-42 completes Jesus' charge concerning His apostles' mission in Israel (10:5-42). It is the parable of the sheep and the goats.950
25:31 This verse fixes the time of the judgment described in the following verses at the beginning of Jesus' messianic reign (cf. Dan. 7:9-14, 22-27). Nowhere in this discourse did Jesus explicitly identify Himself as the Son of Man. However since He used that title in answer to the disciples' questions in verse 3, the inference is inescapable (cf. Zech. 14:5; Joel 3:1-12). Jesus becomes the eschatological Judge that the Old Testament identified as God. Jesus again referred to His coming with heavenly glory (16:27; 24:30; cf. 1 Thess. 4:16; 2 Thess. 1:8). Jesus will sit on His earthly throne as Judge and King (cf. 28:18; 1 Cor. 15:25; Heb. 12:2).
25:32-33 Usually "the nations"(Gr. ta ethne) refers to Gentiles distinguished from Jews (e.g., Luke 21:24; Acts 14:16).951However the phrase "all the nations"is often more inclusive referring to all people including the Jews (cf. Rom. 16:26; Rev. 15:4). Here it probably refers to all people living on earth when Jesus establishes His kingdom (cf. 28:19; Mark 13:10). Everyone will have heard the gospel of the kingdom preached during the Tribulation (24:14). In Jesus' day, shepherds separated the sheep from the goats in their flocks for various reasons at various times. Also, sheep and goats in the Middle East look more alike than they do in some other places.952
25:34 The identification of the King with the Son of Man (v. 31) recalls Daniel 7:13-14 where the Son of Man approaches the Ancient of Days (God the Father) to receive a kingdom. The purpose of Jesus separating humanity into two groups at the beginning of the kingdom is to determine whom He will admit to the kingdom and whom He will exclude (cf. vv. 41, 46). The Father blesses (Gr. eulogemenoi, cf. 21:9; 23:39) some by allowing them to enter the kingdom. They now enter into their inheritance, a term that presupposes relationship with the Father. The inheritance involves the blessings God will give them in the kingdom that will vary depending on their service during the Tribulation (cf. vv. 14-23, 28-29).
Jesus' description of the kingdom as what God had prepared from the foundation of the world is significant. The rule of Messiah on the earth over all humankind has been part of God's plan since creation. This shows its central place in God's program for humanity. Its establishment will be the fulfillment of many promises and covenants that God gave to Adam and Eve (Gen. 3:15), to Abraham (Gen. 12; 15; 17; 21), to David (2 Sam. 7:12-16), and to the nation of Israel (Ezek. 34:20-31; Jer. 31:31-40; Zech. 10:5-12).953
25:35-40 Jesus clarified the basis for judgment then. It would be reception or rejection of the King as seen in people's reception or rejection of the King's brothers. The King's brothers are probably His faithful disciple slaves who fulfill His will by preaching the gospel of the kingdom during the Tribulation (cf. 12:48-49; 28:10; Isa. 58:7). Most of these will be Jews, including the 144,000, though some may be Gentile converts as well (cf. Rev. 7:1-8; 14:1-5). They will have become believers following the Rapture since all believers alive on the earth when the Rapture happens will go to be with Jesus then.954Other interpreters have identified these brethren as all the needy of the world,955all Jews,956or Christian apostles and missionaries.957
"Those described here are people who have lived through the great tribulation, a time of unparalleled anti-Semitism, when the majority of Jews in the land will be killed. Under these circumstances, if a Gentile befriends a Jew to the extent of feeding and clothing and visiting him, it could only mean that he is a believer in Jesus Christ and recognizes the Jews as the chosen people."958
25:41-45 Jesus will banish the goats and send them into eternal fire (cf. 13:24-30, 31-43, 47-50; Rev. 14:11; 19:15). Jesus' descriptions of hell were familiar to the Jews of His day (cf. 3:12; 5:22; 18:8; Jude 7; Rev. 20:10-15). Only the righteous will enter the kingdom (v. 34). The fact that the goats will address Jesus as "Lord"(v. 44) does not show they are believers since everyone will acknowledge Him as Lord then (cf. Phil. 2:11).
The sheep and the goats will not express surprise because they anticipated a different fate. They will express surprise because of the evidence by which Jesus will judge their condition, namely their treatment of His brethren. Normally a person's works demonstrate his faith or lack of it.
"The King's messengers, immediately before He appears in glory, will go forth preaching the gospel of the kingdom everywhere; and when the King takes His throne, those that received the gospel of the kingdom among the nations are recognized as sheep,' and the despisers perish as goats.'"959
25:46 The goats (unbelievers) will go into eternal punishment in hell eventually instead of entering the messianic kingdom (cf. 7:21-23; 13:40-43).960Immediately they will enter Hades, the place of departed spirits, until God resurrects them at the end of the millennium and sends them to hell (cf. Rev. 20:11-15). The sheep (believers) will enter the kingdom that will be the first stage of their ceaseless life with God. Whereas eternal life begins when a person trusts Jesus Christ, the first stage of life in the King's presence for these believers will be the messianic kingdom. Elsewhere God revealed that there are degrees of happiness and responsibility in the kingdom (vv. 14-30; cf. 1 Cor. 3:10-15) and degrees of punishment in hell (11:22; Luke 12:47-48).
Jesus described the sheep as "righteous."
"This whole discourse again reflects the Lord's emphasis on righteousness [cf. the Sermon on the Mount]. It is a righteousness founded in faith in God which in turn, by God's grace, empowers the whole man to live a new and righteous life."961
Does this passage (25:31-46) teach us anything about the time of the Rapture?
"Although the question of whether Christ will come for His church before the tribulation (the pretribulational view) or at the time of His second coming to earth (the posttribulational view) is not dealt with in this passage, the implications are clearly in favor of the pretribulational view. If the rapture and translation of the church occur while Christ is coming from heaven to earth in His second coming to set up His kingdom, and the church meets the Lord in the air, it is obvious that this very act would separate all the saved from the unsaved. Under these circumstances, no judgment of the nations would be necessary subsequent to the second coming of Christ, because the sheep and the goats would already be separated."962
Thus ends the Olivet Discourse.
"Taken as a whole, the Olivet discourse is one of the great prophetic utterances of Scripture and provides facts nowhere else given in quite the same way. In it, Christ, the greatest of the prophets and the master Teacher, described the end of the age as the climax of the troubles of earth in a great tribulation. The time of unprecedented trouble will be terminated by the second coming of Christ. The saved and the unsaved will be separated, and only the saved will enter the millennial kingdom. This is the final word, which Matthew brings in answer to the leading question of this first gospel, concerning the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Old Testament of a glorious kingdom on earth. Matthew states clearly that while Christ, in His first coming, suffered and died and was rejected as both King and Saviour by His own people, He will come again and, in triumph, will bring in the prophesied kingdom literally, just as the Old Testament prophecies had anticipated. There is postponement but not annulment of the great prophecies of the kingdom on earth."963
In one sense 25:46 is the climax of Matthew's argument in this Gospel.964
"He has at this point accomplished his main purposes in presenting the credentials of the King and the kingdom program of the Jews. The King has shown Himself by His words and His works to be Israel's Messiah. Because Israel refused to accept Him as their King, the kingdom is taken from them and given to a nation bringing forth fruit worthy of repentance. However, this situation will exist only until the son of Man comes in His glory. At that time, all unrighteousness will be vindicated and Christ shall reign as Israel's King over the nations of the earth."965
