Three Parties in Matt. 25:31-46

There are THREE parties involved in the judgment of Matthew 25:31-46 not two.

1.) The "sheep" who enter into eternal life.

2.) The "goats" who go to the eternal fire of eternal punishment.

3.) "[T]hese, the least of my brothers"

The result of the treatment or the third group, the Lord's brothers even down to the least of them, is a deciding factor on the destinies of the other two groups - the sheep and the goats.

Read it.

To the sheep on Christ's right - "And the King will answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you have done it to one of these, the least of My brothers, you have done it to Me." (v.40)

To the "goats" on His left - "Then He will answer them, saying, Truly I say to you, Inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, neither have you done it to Me." (v.45)

The THIRD group are the brothers of the Lord Jesus down to the least of them. These are neither of the "goats" or of the "sheep." But they are with the Lord.

In this teaching there is the Lord Jesus on the throne of His glory.
And there is the Gentiles on His right called sheep.
And there are the Gentiles on His left called goats.

And there are those to whom the Lord refers to as "these, the least of My brothers"

He means everyone of these from the greatest to the least. These are a third party present if not entirely, then represented by some of them. They are the "these" to whom Jesus refers to as He evaluates the Gentile nations.

Both the sheep and the goats are unaware that the things they DID or neglected TO DO were not merely to "these" at some time, but were directly acts toward the Lord of glory, the Son of God, who became a man.

How could "these, the least of My brothers" not be a THIRD present party besides the sheep] on Christ's left or the goats on His right?

He obviously CARES about the well being of His brothers down to the LEAST of them. It makes little sense then that if "these, the least of My brothers" are of the goats. For they are about to suffer damnation with the devil and his angels.

Would Jesus speak affectionately of them and the bad treatment they received while He is about to condemn them to join His enemy in punishment?

How could they be of the sheep. If they were sick, in prison, destitute, unclothed, WHEN would they have opportunity to themselves be benevolent?

[T]hese, the least of My brothers is a class distinct from either the condemned goats or the benevolent sheep.

We know that Christ comes down WITH a representative group of His people from many passages. So He stands WITH some who have been His brothers.

" . . . those who have fallen asleep through JEsus, God will bring with Him." (1 Thess. 4:14b)

"These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them. for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they who are with Him, the called and chosen and faithful, . . . " (See Rev. 17:14)

"And the armies which are in heaven followed Him on white horses, dressed in fine linen, white and clean" (Rev. 19:14)

"And Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied also of these, saying, Behold, the Lord came with myriads of His saints." (Jude 14)

"Hurry and come, All you surrounding nations, and be gathered. There cause Your mighty ones to descend, O Jehovah! Let the nations rouse themselves and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations," (As in Matt. 25:31-46).

[b]"When He [Christ] comes to be glorified in His saints and to be marveled at in all those who have believed . . . " (2 Thess. 1:10a)

RUBBISH. THE BIBLE SAYS

ALL NATIONS

DIVIDED INTO

SHEEP AND GOATS.

If its all nations there is no 3rd group.

There are always TWO GROUPS
Righteous and righteous
Wheat and tares.
Good and evil
Fruitful and unfruitful
Givers and Takers
NO 3RD GROUP

Lots of names but only two.

The difference between the sheep and the sons of God the brothers of the Lord is their two inheritances.

The Gentile nations which come through the great tribulation spared inherit the blessings of the earth which God had prepared for Adam.

"Then the King will say to those on His right hand, Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." (v.34)

Notice readers Christ does not refer to THEIR Father, but they are blessed of HIS Father. The dispensation admits that some living nations will be spared and transferred into the millennial kingdom age of the restoration of the earth.

This is the restoration of the earth to its foundation time when Adam was created very good and innocent to inherit that blessed earth - "the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

The sons of God, the brothers of Christ, however were predestined to inherit sonship "BEFORE the foundation of the world"

"Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love, predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself., according to the good pleasure of His will . . ." (Eph. 1:4,5)

The spared Gentiles inherit the kingdom FROM the beginning of Genesis.
The sons of God inherit the blessings of sonship ordained BEFORE the creation of the universe.

"FROM the foundation of the world " are the blessings of to very good earth in Genesis which Adam relinquished to the enemy of God when he rebelled.

"BEFORE the foundation of the world" is the sonship of God-men comprising the New Jerusalem - the living tabernacle and temple of God dwelling in His sons.

The latter will reign over the former.
The latter are the sons of God whose Father is the Father of the Lord Jesus the Son
of God.

Many Bible readers have a sense within them that God must spare SOME non-culpable people who may have been ignorant of all aspects of His plan to unite God and man in a Person as the Savior. These sheep and goats did not know about Jesus as the Lord of glory until He came to judge the nations after the great tribulation at the beginning of the millennial kingdom.

Matthew 25:31-46 with Revelation 14:6-7 I believe testify to this aspect of His mercy.

It is not said of the sheep that eternal life enter into them.
But that they enter into eternal life. They enter into a blessed realm of everlasting
life yet not having been born of God as His sons.

As Adam was first created, only his disobedience to eat of the forbidden fruit was his cause of death.

Rajk999 writes:

ALL NATIONS

DIVIDED INTO

SHEEP AND GOATS.

If its all nations there is no 3rd group.

@sonship said

The sea represents the Gentile world.
Brought up on shore represents brought to the holy land in Israel.

After typical name calling Rajk999 raises these objections.
Let's deal with them.

. The net is just for the Gentiles ?

So we only have from Rajk999 name calling - "comedians, fraudsters, crooks."

We don't have rebuttal that the verse SAYS "all the nations" come before the throne of Christ's glory in Matthew 25:31.

It says nothing about them being resurrected from the dead.
It only says "all the nations will be gathered before Him".

By the time the three and one half year great tribulation ends not all peoples on the earth will have been killed. Some will live through that terrible period of history. And some will be alive to witness Jesus Christ sit on the throne of His glory in the restoration during the millennial kingdom.

None are dead among the sheep and goats. They are living Gentiles coming through the Great Tribulation. And Jesus returns to sit upon His throne on the earth in Jerusalem, the throne of His glory.

"And Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that you who have followed Me, in the restoration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." (Matt. 19:28)

At the commencement of the restoration period of a thousand years Jesus
Jesus reigns on earth from Jerusalem on "the throne of His glory"

It is before this "throne of His glory" the surviving Gentiles as sheep and goats are gathered before Him in the Holy Land to be judged.

"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, at that time He will sit on the throne of His glory." (Matt. 25:31)

Living Gentiles will be gathered to the Holy Land to appear before "the throne of His glory". The last judgment is before a great white throne suspended with no heaven and no earth around in sight.

"And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose face earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them." (Rev. 20:11)

The judged are as suspended in space before the awesome holy face of the Son of God upon the great white throne. Jerusalem as a earthly city is nowhere to be seen nor the Holy Land.

The throne of His glory is the throne of David (Luke 1:32-33) . And this throne is in Jerusalem (Matt. 19:28; Jer. 3:17)

"All the nations" refers to all the Gentiles who remain alive on the planet at Christ's coming back, after He has destroyed those Gentiles who followed Antichrist at Armageddon (Rev. 16:14, 16; 19:11-15, 19-21).

These remaining Gentiles are as fish caught in a dragnet and pulled up out of the sea. They will all be gathered and judged at Christ's throne of glory.

Christ is the judge of the living and the dead. And this judgment of the sheep and the goats is His judgment of the living BEFORE the millennial kingdom (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1).

Therefore it differs from the last judgment after the millennium in Rev. 20:11-15 - a judgment with earth and heaven gone from before the face of God Almighty as Christ on the great white throne to judge all the dead.

@sonship said
After typical name calling Rajk999 raises these objections.
Let's deal with them.

. The net is just for the Gentiles ?

The parable of the dragnet is cast into the sea which represents the Gentile world.

This judgement is not the last judgment of all mankind at the great white throne.
That great white throne judgment is AFTER the millenn ...[text shortened]... l the Gentiles". Rajk999 says I have no shame to interpret "all the Gentiles" there as the meaning.

Now we deal with Rajk999's objection to the parable of the dragnet (Matt. 13:47-50) being the equivalent of the teaching of the judgement of the Gentiles in Matt. 25:31-46.

Some Bible students realize Mathew deals with prophecy. For example Matthew 24 is prophecy of thing pertaining to the end of the age. Matthew 25 continues some of Christ's explanation of the end of the church age.

However Matthew chapter 13 there are three parables dealing with three groups.

1) The parable concerning Israel as the treasure hidden in a field 13:4.

2.) The parable concerning the church as the pearl from out of the sea (13:45,46)

3.) The parable of the Gentile nations alive at the end of the church age as the dragnet (13:47-50)

It will take time to explain why these three parables show these three respective groups of people. Interested readers please stay tuned.

1.) Matthew 13:44 - "The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man fund and hid, and in his joy goes out and sells all that he has, and buys that field."

The field is the world created by God which He created for His kingdom of the heavens. (Gen. 1:26-28), The man is Christ. Christ found the kingdom of the heavens. He found it in Matthew 4:12 - 12:23. He then hid it in 12:24 - 13:43.

In His joy the Christ went to the cross to sell all that He had and to buy the field. That means He gave His all to redeem the whole created and lost earth, for the kingdom.

2.) Matthew 13:45 - "Again the kingdom of the heavens is like a merchant seeking fine pearls; And finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it."

The pearls the man seeks are transformed individual people given to His kingdom of the heavens. The man is again Jesus Christ. The pearl of great value is not one individual but the church. Christ went to the cross again sold all that He had to purchase the church. The church mostly comes out of the Gentile world as the Jews eventually mostly rejected the New Testament gospel that went to the Gentiles. Christ died on the cross and sold all that He had to purchase such a church a pearl of great value.

These two parables respective show Christ's going to Calvary to sell all that He had to redeem the earth for His kingdom and purchasing the church.

3.) Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a net cast into the sea and gathering from every species, Which, when it was filled, they brought into the shore, and sat down and collected the good into vessels; but the foul they cast out. So it will be at the consummation of the age: the angels will go forth and separate the evil from the midst of the righteous. And will cast them into the furnace of fire, In that place there will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth."

Continue below -

The third of the group of three parables is not about Christ as a man going to sell all that He had by His death on the cross.

This third parable is about the result of the Gentiles responding to the eternal gospel preached supernaturally from the air by the angel to warn earth dwellers to worship God the CREATOR rather than Antichrist.

See Revelation 14:6,7.

The sea represents the Gentile world.
"Every species" signifies all the nations, all the Gentiles (Matt. 25:32).
The examiners of the fish are the angels.
The tossing out of the foul fish corresponds to sending them to the lake of fire.
The good fish are the spared Gentile nations who are transferred into the next age
of the millennial kingdom of 1,000 years.

The sheep and goats of Matthew 25:31-46 correspond to the fish out of the sea of every species separated into the preserved who are placed in vessels and the foul who are discarded.