The Sheep and the Goats

This is a book first posted on Grace Connection, the Magazine. There is no printed edition. All 30 chapters will appear on the Wheel in the following weeks.

CHAPTER 25

Matthew 25:31-46

The parable of The Sheep and the Goats is only one of the parables included in Matthew’s Gospel that deal with judgment.1 In this parable, Jesus himself is the judge of all the nations 2. But how can this be done if other nations have not yet heard the gospel? Answer: They are judged on the basis of their treatment of those Jesus represents—the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the sick, and the prisoner.

In this parable Jesus separates people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

Such mixed flocks were common enough, both because it was economical to work with one herd, but also, apparently, because the more restless goats tended to keep the herd on the move and so to produce more effective grazing in the sparsely vegetated areas. But at night the herdsman would divide up his herd so that the hardier sheep could be left outside and the goats be brought in overnight.

Read more at Adventist Perspective.