Outline of Matthew 25, Judgment of Gentiles

Matthew 25: 31-46

Matthew 25:31–46 ““But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. “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; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘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.’ “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 did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ Matthew 25:40–46 ““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.’ “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 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.’ “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘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.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.””

Outline and basic statements:

Context: This teaching in Matthew comes immediately after the parable of the talents. That parable ends in a summary statement focused on the lazy slave, and his sentence, as he is thrown in to the outer darkness. This is the passage on that outer darkness, and the weeping and gnashing of teeth. But note where we arrive near the end of the Olivet Discourse. One must read this in full context. The Olivet discourse was delivered after a very specific scene, after a very specific prophecy from Jesus, and after a very specific question from the disciples. Keep in mind that this entire discourse, of perhaps His second greatest and longest set of teachings, is being given as a response to that question. As Weber notes in his commentary of this, “This final section of Jesus’ discourse involves evaluation or judgment. Jesus spoke in the previous two parables about judgment coming on the unprepared. In this last parable he focused on all the nations. When the Son of Man comes in his glory reminds us of Daniel 7:13–14 and of the future reign of Christ (Rev. 5:9; 20:4–6).”

Stuart K. Weber, Matthew, vol. 1, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 423.

So keep in mind what this entire discourse centers on to bring us to its climax in this end of Chapter 25.

Jesus’ teaching: Matthew 25:31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.”

Jesus is already on earth here. Yet He is talking about when (a future time) he will come in his glory. This word glory is a noun, Greek doxa. It’s used repeatedly in all of the gospels to describe Jesus’s before all of time (John 17:5), of His glory in heaven (even as the Zebedee brothers ask to sit on his right and left in heaven in His glory, Mark 10:37), and when He returns to judge the earth (as in when He comes in His glory, like this passage, as also used in Matthew 16:27, Mark 8:38, Luke 9:26 etc.)

It is clearly the future as it used this way in many of the same contexts in the gospels and epistles. He is speaking about when He comes with His angels (which He had not yet, and still has not, done).

This passage also makes clear He will be sitting on a throne. He is the eternal and almighty king. This is , :no earthly king, as no earthly king has ever come from heaven, with angels, to judge all of the world.

Matthew 25:32 ““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;”

He will separate the nations and people at this coming He is speaking of. This should immediately raise some questions, or answer some questions. When He comes will he just take everyone to heaven? Well, as we shall see, no. There would be no need to constantly teach that at this coming there will be a separation of good from bad.

Here Jesus likens this judgement, and separation process, as the “shepherd separates the sheep from goats.”

These are different creatures. As the AI would say, because they have different grazing habits, territorial instincts, and desired products.

Why is he separateing them? What is the purpose? Well, we’ll have to read on, all we should agree upon here is that he states quite clearly that the shepherd does in fact separate two creatures.

Matthew 25:33 “and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”

Again, they will be separated.

He goes on and says it thusly, the sheep go to His right, and the goats go to His left.

Listen again, “In 25:32–33, we come to the sheep and goats, a simile that helps us envision the literal judgment scene. We are to envision people being separated from one another, but it will happen in the same manner as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Sheep and goats were sometimes herded together down a chute that was wide enough for only one animal at a time. A shepherd would sit atop the fence, swinging a gate back and forth to guide each animal through the appropriate opening to join its own kind.

Stuart K. Weber, Matthew, vol. 1, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 424.

Matthew 25:34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

So, we are talking about Jesus. Jesus the King. He will come and say to the sheep on His right: Come, you who are blessed of My Father. The sheep are called somewhere, and are called the blessed of My Father. Yahweh, the Almighty God. You sheep, are blessed of My Father.

And what is to come? To these blessed sheep, inherit the kingdom. They, the sheep, are given a kingdom. What can we know of it? Well, for starters, it was prepared for you (the sheep) from the foundation of the world.”

Matthew 25:35 “‘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;”

Again, pause and remember, “This passage” (and section of chapter 25) “is intended to be part of the series that began in 24:42. It serves the same purpose as the preceding four parables—to motivate us toward obedience, in preparation for the future.

Stuart K. Weber, Matthew, vol. 1, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 423.