The Background and Timing of the Judgment of the Sheep and Goats

By Eugene W. Pond

[Eugene W. Pond is Director of Institutional Research and Planning, and Assistant Professor of Bible Exposition, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas.

This is article one in a three-part series, “A Study of the Judgment of the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25.”]

Matthew 25:31–46, which records the judgment of the sheep and goats, presents in a solemn tone the eternal judgment of men and women by the Son of Man. The scene has often been described as “the Last Judgment,” purported to describe the general final judgment of all humankind.[1] According to many writers the basis of the judgment—the extent to which believers helped those in need who are “the least” of Christ’s brothers—summarizes Christian duty or even the gospel itself.[2] Mother Teresa, for example, based her life of dedication to the poorest in India on this passage.[3] Because Jesus identified Himself with “the least,” Green says this passage is the strongest intimation of the doctrine of the body of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels.[4]

Seven facts about this passage indicate its importance. First, the pericope appears nowhere else in the four Gospels. With no parallel passages the interpreter’s data is limited to its context in Matthew and allusions elsewhere in Scripture to the event described.[5] Second, its position in the argument of Matthew is climactic, being the final pericope of Jesus’ Olivet Discourse. Third, the passage presents some features of a parable, but it lacks the elements of a typical parabolic story. Fourth, the passage follows two parables that also culminate in judgment of unfaithful persons. Fifth, this is Jesus’ most thorough description of coming judgment by the Son of Man. Sixth, the identity of those being judged (πάντα τά ἔθνη, v. 32) is debated. Does the phrase refer to all people, all national groups, all existing nations, all living Gentiles, or some other peoples?[6] Seventh, several interpretations have been proposed for the identity of “the least of these brothers of mine” (v. 40, NIV).[7]

The passage begins with the temporal clause, “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory” (v. 31). The topic of His coming is climactic in the context of the Olivet Discouse for two reasons. First, it completes Jesus’ answer to the disciples’ questions, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (24:3). Second, the previous reference to this coming in 24:29–31 links two major subsections of the discourse: a presentation of signs preparatory to Christ’s return (vv. 4–28) and lessons and parables for disciples in light of His delayed return (24:32–25:30).

The question of when He will return, then, is paramount to the purpose of the Olivet Discourse in the argument of Matthew. Jesus’ answer in 25:31 about when He will return has three aspects. The judgment of the sheep and goats will occur when the Son of Man will come, when he comes in His glory and is accompanied by His angels, and when He will sit on His glorious throne.

The Significance Of The Title “Son Of Man”

“Son of Man” is the title Jesus normally used of Himself, and almost all occurrences of it in the New Testament are from the lips of Jesus.[8] An examination of the phrase “son of man” in the Old Testament helps point up its significance in the Book of Matthew.

The “Son Of Man” In The Old Testament

The phrase “son of man” is used in four ways in the Old Testament. First, it is used of man generically, often in a proverbial sense: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Ps. 8:4, NIV). Second, similar to the first, “man” parallels “son of man” in referring to Israel: “Let your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the son of man whom You made strong for yourself” (80:17). Third, it is used by God or an angel to address a prophet: “Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!” (Ezek. 2:1).[9] Fourth, it is used in Daniel 7:13 of the future King, who will rule over all the earth.[10] In Matthew 25:31–46 Jesus applied this title to Himself as the universal King; as the Son of Man He will fulfill God’s purpose for man as described in Psalm 8:5–8.

The Son of Man in Daniel. Daniel 7 records the prophet’s vision of four beasts that arise successively from the sea, the fourth being exceedingly terrifying and having ten horns. Another little horn arises, uprooting three of the horns and bearing the eyes and mouth of a man. Then the vision leads into a heavenly courtroom scene presided over by the Ancient of Days. The scene, clearly a theophany, includes the words, “The court sat, and the books were opened” (v. 10), and the fourth beast is destroyed in burning fire while dominion is taken away from the first three beasts. Then dominion is given to the Son of Man: “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed” (vv. 13–14). Distressed, Daniel asked a heavenly being for the interpretation of the vision. The angel’s answer included these words: “Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him” (v. 27).

The Son of Man, who is different from the Ancient of Days (undoubtedly God the Father), will be given the right to reign over all peoples of the earth for all time. The Son of Man is the divinely designated eternal King.[11]

Correlation with God’s covenants. Having the right to reign, the Son of Man is recognized as the divinely delegated Head of God’s creation. God created man to reign over creation: “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over [all created things].’ God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:26–27). Pondering the greatness of God’s creation, David marveled at man’s apparent insignificance and yet his destined ruling over all things in delegated authority (Ps. 8:4–8). This promise is reaffirmed in Hebrews 2:6–8. As Pentecost writes, “Even though this purpose has not yet been realized, it ultimately will be—through the reign of the Son of Man at His second advent.”[12]

The right to reign is also at the heart of God’s unconditional promises to David in the Davidic Covenant recorded in 2 Samuel 7:8–16. The final verse affirms, “Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever” (italics added). David’s “house” is his dynasty, the continuation of his descendants as the family uniquely authorized by God to provide kings for Israel. David’s “kingdom” is his realm, the people over whom his descendants’ rule would extend. (This promise builds on the Abrahamic Covenant [Gen. 12:2] in guaranteeing the continuance of Israel as a people.) David’s “throne” is his right to rule, the divine authority to execute judgment in God’s stead.

The word “forever” in 2 Samuel 7:16 points up the contrast with David’s predecessor, Saul, who was told he would lose his house (1 Sam. 28:19), his kingdom (13:14), and his throne (15:26). In the Davidic Covenant God promised that even if David’s son Solomon (and, by extension, later Davidic kings) committed sins, he would be disciplined (even to the extent of no longer ruling), but he would not be removed from God’s grace (2 Sam. 7:14–15). This raises the question of whether the Davidic Covenant was abrogated by disruptions in the reigns of the Davidic kings. If this could happen, the Davidic Covenant would have terminated as early as the interregnum of Athaliah’s assassinations and usurpation in 841-835 B.C. (2 Chron. 22:10–12). The promise to David, however, was not that his throne would be occupied continuously without interruption, but that his lineage, right to rule, and people to rule over would not be lost.[13] The eternality of the Davidic Covenant is built on the foundation of the eternality of the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:1–3).

The ultimate fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant is found in Jesus Christ. His identification with David is emphasized in Matthew’s Gospel.[14] If the Davidic Covenant promised the right to rule Israel, and if the Son of Man has all authority to rule all peoples (Dan. 7:13–14), then the Son of Man fulfills the Davidic Covenant. The return of Jesus Christ prophesied in Matthew 25:31 emphasizes His becoming seated on His glorious throne. This return therefore will be to exercise His right to rule over His divinely pre-served people in the land promised to Abraham’s descendants (according to the Davidic Covenant) and over all other people alive on the earth (according to the Abrahamic Covenant, and as foreseen in Dan. 7). Therefore the one who bears the title Son of Man is divinely authorized to reign over Israel and all the world, fulfilling the Davidic Covenant and God’s charge to man in Genesis 1:26.

The “Son Of Man” In Matthew

The phrase “Son of Man” occurs thirty times in Matthew’s Gospel, and in each case Jesus referred to Himself by this title. This phrase is not merely an “ambiguous circumlocution” for the personal pronouns “I” or “me”; instead it has significant theological meaning.[15]

The argument of Matthew is roughly divided by the events at Caesarea Philippi in Matthew 16:13–20. This is the location, at some distance from Jerusalem, where Peter declared that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16) and Jesus began to prepare His disciples for His passion (vv. 20–21). Before Caesarea Philippi, Matthew recorded ten occurrences of the title “Son of Man”; six of the ten were addressed to persons outside the circle of disciples. After Caesarea Philippi, Matthew recorded twenty occurrences of “Son of Man.” Only the last of these was to those who were not His disciples, when Christ predicted to the Sanhedrin that the Son of Man would come from the Father’s right hand (26:64), a statement by Jesus that motivated the high priest to indict Him for blasphemy.

Odell classifies the thirty occurrences of “Son of Man” in Matthew in relation to three phases of Jesus’ activities: His public ministry (six times); His suffering, death, and resurrection (eleven times); and His future coming (thirteen times).[16] These phases present the Son of Man as the earthly authority, as the one who is the ransom for sin, and as the returning royal Judge.

The Son of Man as an earthly authority. Six times Matthew recorded Jesus referring to Himself as the Son of Man while ministering publicly (9:6; 11:19; 12:8; 12:32; 13:37; 16:13). In each of these cases He made a pronouncement about His person and the significance of what He was doing.

These occurrences reinforce the Old Testament concept of the Messiah’s rightful dominion. Christ’s statement that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” (9:6, italics added) demonstrates His intent to exercise authority on earth. He proceeded to prove He had that authority by healing the paralytic whose sins he had forgiven. Christ’s statement emphasizes His being an authoritative judge over people and their sins.

The Son of Man also said He is Lord of the Sabbath (12:1–8). Even apart from its place in the Law (Exod. 20:8–11; 31:17), the Sabbath was a sign of God’s blessing on His creation (Gen. 2:1–3). With this claim of superiority, Christ indicated that the Son of Man is the one who will bring all things under subjection.

The Son of Man as the ransom for sin. The eleven occurrences of the title Son of Man with regard to Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection are similar in message and purpose.[17] As summarized in 20:28, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

That Messiah would have to suffer and die is evident in Daniel. In the prophecy of the seventy weeks a prophetic benchmark is given: “After the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing” (Dan. 9:26). And the song of the suffering Servant in Isaiah 52:13–53:12 informed Israel that the Messiah would die for humanity’s sins.

The Son of Man’s suffering and dying as a ransom and then being raised from the dead are reminders of His calling to His followers. He was an itinerant (8:20); His disciples should expect no more, and in fact needed to be ready for immediate and decisive commitment to Him (v. 22). This is the thrust of His exhortation to them to deny themselves and take up their cross (16:24). His death for sin also justifies the criterion for judgment: if He died for sin, then judgment is based on what one does with the Son of Man.

The Son of Man as the returning royal Judge. The theme of the returning Son of Man is one of the great topics in Matthew. Six teachings that include the title Son of Man pertain to the judgment of the sheep and goats.

The first teaching about the returning royal Judge is that the Son of Man has left His disciples in the world to witness until His return. Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of Man in His explanation of the parable of the tares (13:36–43). Christ said the good seed that the Son of Man is sowing (v. 37) depicts “the sons of the kingdom” (v. 38). Jesus did not disclose what they will be doing during the growing period (i.e., the present age before His return). Instead He said they will shine forth in the kingdom. Those whom Christ will condemn at the harvest will be “all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness” (v. 41). In other words the deeds of the weeds reveal their identity, which will result in their destruction. It is reasonable to assume, then, that the sons of the kingdom will shine forth through their deeds as well. The story implies that the righteous are to be witnesses for their king while they await the future harvest.

The second teaching about the returning royal Judge is that the mission to the Jews will continue until the Lord returns. Jesus warned His disciples not to remain in cities where they are persecuted, promising them that they “will not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes” (10:23).[18] Most translations understand this as a promise that their dangerous ministry would continue for only a limited time before the Son of Man returns. In light of the fact that the disciples’ mission to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (10:6) would result in their being ejected from synagogues and brought before governors and kings for Christ’s sake (vv. 17–18)—events of which there are no records before Jesus’ passion—it is evident that this mission continued into the apostolic age and extended beyond the area of Israel. If οὐ μὴ τελέσητε (“you will not finish”) refers to the continuation of their mission, then the phrase “to finish [ministering to] the cities” is a promise that the witnesses would not be persecuted to extinction before the Lord’s return.[19] Matthew 10:23 can then be considered Matthew’s “Great Commission” to reach the Jews, assuring the disciples that the commission will not end (they will not “complete the cities,” nor will they suffer elimination by persecution) until the Son of Man returns. One must extend this commission to all the cities in the Jewish diaspora after they were scattered from the area of the Promised Land. The point is that Jesus’ commission to His followers to preach the availability of the kingdom to Jews is ongoing.[20]

The third teaching about the returning royal Judge is that His coming will be unexpected, and so His followers must always be ready for it (24:37, 39, 44).

The fourth fact about the returning royal Judge is that the coming of the Son of Man will impact all living people. After the tribulation, “the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory” (v. 30).[21] The mourning of the earth dwellers in unrepentant fear of judgment is noted in Revelation 6:15–17.

The fifth truth about the returning royal Judge is that everyone will be judged and that the judgment will be based on each person’s works. Matthew 16:27 is a summary of the kind of end-time judgment seen in more detail in the judgment of the sheep and goats. The point of this verse is seen in the preceding three verses: Each disciple must deny himself and take up Christ’s cross and follow Him, for the Son of Man will reward the deeds of each person. Verse 28 seems to predict that the Son of Man would return in the first century, but of course that did not happen. Therefore it is best to understand that the Transfiguration six days later was a cameo of the Son of Man’s coming in His kingdom, featuring the glorified Christ and representatives of saints raised from the dead (Moses) or translated (Elijah).[22] This event was a kind of firstfruits, a guarantee and harbinger of Christ’s return to establish His kingdom. This reinforces the certainty of the Son of Man’s coming to reward and bring retribution to all humankind.

The sixth teaching about the returning royal Judge is that He will delegate to the disciples the authority to judge or rule in the millennium. In “the regeneration [of the world, through the establishment of the millennial kingdom] when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne,” the twelve disciples will “sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (19:28).[23] At the Last Supper Jesus also promised that the disciples will judge Israel’s twelve tribes, linking it with the grant of fellowship with Him in the kingdom (Luke 22:30). In both contexts their dedication to Him will be rewarded by their right to judge. In line with parables that promise rewards for faithful service (e.g., Matt. 25:14–30), this “judging” is an ongoing delegated authority over Israel in the millennium.[24]

The Significance Of What Will Accompany The Son Of Man When He Comes

The judgment of the sheep and goats is the most complete description of the coming of the Son of Man in the Gospels. The accompaniments of His coming, His glory, and His angels reinforce both the authority and the power of that coming as being from God.

His Accompanying Glory

The glory of God the Father is seen in the description of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7. “I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him; thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; the court sat, and the books were opened” (vv. 9–10).

“Dominion, glory and a kingdom” are presented to the Son of Man (v. 14). This aligns with the statement about His coming, recorded in Matthew 16:27: “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels.” The glory of the Father will be transferred to the Son, along with transferred dominion.

At His first coming Jesus emptied Himself of glory (Phil. 2:5–8).[25] Although He had the attributes and rights of deity, He took on Himself the form (Incarnation) and function (His vicarious death) of a servant. And yet the incarnate Son retained elements of His glory, for John wrote that they beheld His glory, which marked Him as uniquely related to God the Father (John 1:14). Jesus was and remains the unique “exegesis” of God the Father to man (v. 18).

Three disciples received a cameo glimpse of His true glory at the Transfiguration, spotlighted by the brilliance of His face and clothes, accompanied by Old Testament saints, surrounded by clouds, and glorified by a voice from heaven (Matt. 17:1–8). God’s glory is often associated with visual brilliance and radiance (e.g., the Lord’s glory shown around the shepherds, Luke 2:9).

Near the end of His first advent Jesus prayed to His Father to glorify Him again with the glory they shared in eternity past (John 17:4–5). This was fulfilled in His resurrection and ascension. The “glories” that follow suffering (1 Pet. 1:11) include the glory with which He has already been bestowed (Heb. 2:7; 1 Pet. 1:21; 5:10; 2 Pet. 3:18; Jude 24) and the glory that will accompany the establishment of His kingdom (Num. 14:21; Isa. 60:1–3; 66:18; Hab. 2:14; Matt. 16:27; 19:28; Rom. 8:18; Col. 3:4; 2 Thess. 1:7–10; 1 Pet. 4:13).[26] The glory mentioned in Matthew 24:30 and 25:31 belongs to this latter category.

When He comes, the Son of Man will be seen by all the tribes of the earth, with visible glory (Matt. 24:30) that will convey His magnificence. Matthew 25:31–46 completes the picture of this glorification promised to Jesus in the latter half of Philippians 2:9–11. The dominion (the bestowing on Him of a name above all others, v. 9) given to Jesus will cause “every knee [to] bow … and every tongue [to] confess” Him as Lord (vv. 10–11).[27]

His Accompanying Angels

When the Son of Man returns, “all the angels” will come with Him (Matt. 25:31; cf. 16:27). In the parables of the wheat and tares (13:34–43) and of the dragnet (13:47–50) the Lord said He will employ angels at the end of the age as reapers to remove the wicked. Angels will also gather the Lord’s people: “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (24:31).

The Significance Of The Enthronement Of The Son Of Man

“When … Then …”

When the Son of Man comes (ὅταν δὲ ἔλθῃ), “then [τότε] He will sit [καθίσει] on His glorious throne” (25:31). Matthew’s use of ὅταν followed by τότε links two events in temporal sequence: after one thing happens, then the second thing happens.[28] The Son of Man will not sit on His glorious throne until He comes in His glory.

That Jesus’ sitting on His throne is subsequent to and contingent on His second coming is not often noted by commentators. Almost all agree that the coming of the Son of Man is the second advent and has not yet occurred.[29] Hendriksen, typical of amillennial writers, identifies Jesus’ throne-sitting as confined to His act of judging just before the eternal state.[30] This view fails to recognize the earth-centered[31] climax of the Second Coming in the context of the Olivet Discourse: the increase in tribulation for God’s elect (24:15–22), the earthwide witness of the endtime events (v. 27), the coming of the Son as viewed from the earth with celestial phenomena (vv. 29–30), and the regathering of God’s elect from around the earth (v. 31). The coming of the Son of Man to judge the sheep and goats demonstrates that Jesus’ reign on His throne is yet future; the present age is not the age of the messianic kingdom.[32]

“He Will Sit”

To “sit” on a throne means exercising the right to rule or to have royal authority. This ruling throne is Davidic. As stated earlier, two of the promises God made to David were that his throne would be established forever (2 Sam. 7:13, 16) and that his descendants (his “house”), starting with Solomon, would retain that throne (vv. 12, 16). Gabriel told Mary that God would invest her Son with the throne of His father David (Luke 1:32). In his Pentecost sermon Peter declared that David knew that “God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne” (Acts 2:30) and that David prophesied of the resurrection of his descendant Jesus Christ.[33]

The throne of the Son of Man will be on the earth. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus differentiated God’s heavenly throne from His earthly footstool and Jerusalem, “the city of the great King” (Matt. 5:35). And in His pronouncements against the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees He differentiated God’s heavenly throne from the sacrificial altar and the temple where God dwells (23:20–21).

The Time Of The Judgment Of The Sheep And Goats

The Son of Man will occupy His glorious throne after His second coming. Angels will gather people, both “sheep” and “goats,” from all over the earth. The judgment will then determine the eternal destinies of those gathered.

This is in line with the premillennial interpretation of Revelation 19–20, which recognizes a sequence of events: the return of Christ, followed by the confining of Satan and the one-thousand-year kingdom, and succeeded by the release of Satan and the final rebellion of mankind, ending with the judgment of all the unsaved at the great white throne.[34] The Son of Man sitting on His glorious throne is the beginning of the ultimate fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant and many Old Testament prophecies.[35]

The question then arises, What is the relationship of the judgment of the sheep and goats to Jesus’ second coming? Bible students have proposed three different times when this judgment will take place: at the same time as the judgment of all people from all ages (i.e., the “great assize”), which will occur after the millennium (20:11–15), or sometime soon after the millennium begins, or just before the millennium begins. Most dispensational writers believe that that judgment will occur at His premillennial return, a thousand years before the great white throne judgment, which will precede the eternal state (Rev. 20:11–15; cf. vv. 1–6).[36]

A Judgment At The End Of The Millennium

Robert Gundry believes that the judgment depicted in Matthew 25:31–46 will occur after the millennium, and he seeks to identify this with the great white throne judgment (Rev. 20:11–15). He gives four arguments to support his view, which is in contrast to the standard dispensational understanding that distinguishes these as two separate judgments. First, he seeks to refute Walvoord’s observation that the word “nations” (ἔθνη) is never used of “the dead,” the subjects of the great white throne judgment (vv. 5, 12–13),[37] Gundry argues that the nations will have just experienced resurrection and therefore can accurately be referred to as living ἔθνη rather than only as “the dead.”[38] Second, Gundry maintains that the term ἔθνη includes Jews, especially when it is combined with πάντα as in Matthew 28:19. Third, Gundry proposes that the themes of rewards and punishments, and especially eternal life and everlasting punishment, will precede the eternal state rather than the millennial kingdom. He says the formal judgment of the believer’s works will take place after the millennium (and be included in the sheep and goats judgment), not at the Second Coming.[39] Fourth, as the two advents of the Messiah are seen together in several passages (Isa. 9:6; Zech. 9:9–10; Luke 4:16–21 compared with Isa. 61:2) and as the resurrection of believers and unbelievers are at times telescoped (Dan. 12:2; John 5:28–29), Gundry says it is reasonable to accept a similar blending of the Second Coming and the formal judgment of the believer’s works, though they will be separated by a thousand years.

Significant weaknesses are evident in Gundry’s four arguments for a general final judgment. The premise of his first argument is correct: There is latitude in the names that Matthew and John use to refer to the subjects of these two judgments. Revelation mentions some ἔθνη both at the beginning of the millennium (Rev. 20:3) as well as at its end (v. 8). However, the conclusion of Gundry’s first argument does not follow from its premise; being raised from the dead does not qualify the subjects of the great white throne judgment to be referred to as ἔθνη. That term in both Matthew and Revelation consistently refers only to living people, before having physically died. “The dead” who will be judged at the great white throne are not referred to as ἔθνη nor do they share the attributes of ἔθνη.[40] The differentiation between τά ἔθνη and οἵ νέκροι can be seen in the proclamation of the twenty-four elders after the sounding of the seventh trumpet: “We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. And the nations [τά ἔθνη] were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead [τῶν νεκρῶν] to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth” (11:17–18). A member of τά ἔθνη is alive on the earth; a member of τῶν νεκρῶν awaits God’s judgment. This differentiation is one reason the judgment of the sheep and goats is so remarkable, because living ἔθνη will be brought to God for eternal judgment.

Gundry’s second argument, that Jews are included in πάντα τά ἔθνη, is addressed in the second article of this series. It will be argued that πάντα τά ἔθνη refers to all living non-Jews. However, even if the point is granted that Jews could be included in this group, their inclusion would only admit the possibility that Matthew 25:31–46 refers to a general, final judgment. It would not prove it to be the case.

Gundry’s third argument, that the results of the judgment of the sheep and goats fit better with entering the eternal state rather than the millennial kingdom is inconclusive for two reasons. The first is that the Old Testament sometimes describes the future kingdom age with terminology that reflects eternal blessings.[41] This same blending of the millennium with the eternal state can be seen in Matthew 25:31–46. The second reason is that the death and resurrection of the subjects of the great white throne judgment—critical to the finality of that judgment—are missing from Matthew 25:31–46. While the eventual end results are the same (eternal life for the righteous and eternal death for the unrighteous), Matthew’s omission of death and resurrection suggests that further temporal events may await both the sheep and the goats.

Gundry cites Matthew 25:31 in the final sentence of one of his books to defend a posttribulational advent.[42] Ironically this verse highlights the weakness in his fourth argument for understanding the judgment of the sheep and goats as a final postmillennial general judgment. First, as previously shown, it is when the Son of Man comes that He will then sit on His glorious throne. According to Matthew 19:28 to sit on a throne means ruling and judging. There is no room in 25:31–32 for a millennial gap between Christ’s being enthroned on earth and His judgment of πάντα τά ἔθνη, for the existence of a gap would deny a chief attribute of the Lord, namely, that of exercising His rule and executing judgment during the millennial reign. Second, to say the test of the sheep and goats will be delayed until the end of the millennium implies that the millennial reign of Christ is not a part of that kingdom. A postmillennial judgment of sheep and goats fails to account for the fact that it will occur at the time of Christ’s return (v. 31).

A Judgment After The Millennium Begins

William McBirnie postulates that Christ will not judge the nations until some years into the millennium.[43] This accounts for the disobedience of some nations during the millennium, when they will refuse to worship at Jerusalem and will be cursed with no rain (Zech. 14:16–17). Then within the millennium at the time of the judgment, all the nations will be translated to stand before the Son of Man and will be divided according to the way in which they treated the 144,000 Israelite witnesses during the tribulation.[44]

Along this line Gundry argues that there seem to be unbelievers in the millennial kingdom; he says Zechariah 14:16–19 teaches that some of the wicked will survive the tribulation and be included in the millennial kingdom.

That those who enter the millennium will include wicked survivors of the tribulation derives from the phraseology—”everyone [כל] who is left of all the nations” [Zech. 14:16]. It also derives from the inclusion of those who attacked Jerusalem—i.e., the armies of the wicked who will converge on Palestine at the close of the tribulation—and from the implication that some of those who will enter the millennium may refuse to go to Jerusalem for the worship of the Lord, a refusal hardly characteristic of the righteous. This passage, therefore, goes against any interpretation which would prohibit the wicked from entering the millennium.[45]

However, Zechariah 14:12–15 details the physical judgment of the campaign of Armageddon and God’s punishment of those who will attack Jerusalem; these rebels are not included in those who are left in all the nations. Of those who survive Armageddon, those who will enter the millennium at its beginning are not necessarily included among those who fail to go to Jerusalem “to worship the King” (v. 16). The dishonorable Gentiles certainly include the physical descendants of the kingdom entrants, all of whom need to believe and obey the King on their own but some of whom will refuse to do so.

A Judgment Before The Millennium Begins

The interpretation that is most consistent with Matthew 25:31 is that the judgment of the sheep and goats is premillennial.

Relationship to the great white throne judgment. The judgment of the sheep and goats differs from the judgment at the great white throne in several ways. First, Matthew 25:32 speaks of “all the nations,” whereas the people at the great white throne will have been resurrected. Second, in Matthew 25 the criterion of judgment is whether a person has done acts of mercy toward those with whom the Son of Man has identified, whereas in Revelation 20:12–13, 15 the basis of judgment will be a person’s works (with the fact that those whose names are not written in the book of life will be condemned). Third, in Matthew 25 the Son of Man will assign the sheep to inherit the kingdom and the goats to depart to eternal fire, whereas in Revelation 20 two sets of books will be examined and an investigative judgment will ensue, with only the fate of the condemned being mentioned.

Relationship to eternal condemnation. Ladd believes the dispensational view of Matthew 25:31–46 is untenable and self-defeating because the text states not that the righteous will enter the millennial kingdom but rather that they will go directly into eternal life (Matt. 25:34).[46] The judgments predicted in Matthew 25 and Revelation 20 will both result in eternal punishment for the wicked (Matt. 25:44; Rev. 20:14–15). However, the eternal punishment predicted in Matthew 25 can be inevitable without it being immediate. This is illustrated by the standing of the Christian. From the moment a person trusts Christ for salvation, the believer has a fixed eternal destiny (John 5:24); yet he or she may live for many years before entering heaven. Believers who are still living have not yet entered the eternal state. As a summarizing statement, Matthew 25:46 specifies the ultimate and immutable destinations of the sheep and goats but not their immediate, “one-second-later” consigment to heaven or hell.

The phrase “inherit the kingdom” (v. 34) renders this position the more probable interpretation. This kingdom occurs in two phases, the millennial reign of Christ and the eternal state. The sheep are invited to inherit God’s (earthly) kingdom in the millennium, when the Lord will subdue all His enemies (1 Cor. 15:24–28). Therefore this judgment admits at least the righteous to a temporary state before the final eternal one. It is not unreasonable to understand the fate of the goats in a similar sequence of phases. First, following the judgment in Matthew 25, they will physically die and go to hades for temporary torment (similar to that of the rich man in Luke 16:19–31).[47] Second, at the great white throne judgment their eternal death is completed with their being consigned to the lake of fire.

Summary

Jesus identified Himself as the Son of Man in order to link His ministry and His message of the kingdom to the prophecy in Daniel 7:13–14. He is the rightful heir to dominion over all nations, the heir to the Davidic right to reign, and the fulfillment and model of man’s rule over nature. Bearing the title of Son of Man, Jesus Christ is the ruler to whom God the Father has given sovereignty over all the peoples of the earth and whose dominion will not end. His enthronement is validated by the now-unveiled glory shared with God the Father and acclaimed by all creation. All the angels will accompany Christ, giving further evidence of the beginning of His kingdom reign on earth. The throne on which He will sit in Jerusalem represents His right to rule as promised to His ancestor David.

The judgment of the sheep and goats will occur when Jesus Christ returns to earth, at the beginning of His millennial reign. In the next article in this series the identity of the subjects of the judgment, πάντα τά ἔθνη (“all the nations” or “all the Gentiles”), will be explored.

Notes

1. Sherman W. Gray compiled a comprehensive history of the interpretation of Matthew 25:31–46 in The Least of My Brothers: Matthew 25:31–46: A History of Interpretation, ed. Charles Talbert (Atlanta: Scholars, 1989). Nearly two-thirds of 602 twentieth-century commentators investigated by Gray explicitly understand this passage as a judgment of all humanity, a view that began to be widely held only as late as the eighteenth century (ibid., 257, 262, 347).
2. André Feuillet, “Le caractre universel du jugement et la charité sans frontires en Mt 25, 31–46, ” La nouvelle revue théologique 102 (1980): 179.
3. Heading a chapter entitled “My Spiritual Principles” are these words: “The meaning of my life is the love of God. It is Christ in his distressing disguise whom I love and serve. Jesus has said, ‘I was hungry and you gave me to eat’ “ (Mother Teresa of Calcutta, My Life for the Poor, ed. José Luis González-Balado and Janet N. Playfoot [San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985], 95). The Matthew 25 passage also has a prominent place in her acceptance address for the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize (Christian Feldman, Mother Teresa: Love Stays, trans. Peter Heinegg [New York: Crossroad, 1998], 136).
4. H. Benedict Green, The Gospel according to Matthew, New Clarendon Bible (London: Oxford University Press, 1975), 206.
5. The subject of future judgment is not an uncommon theme in the Bible. For example Romans 2:5–10 discusses a judgment according to deeds, which parallels some of the ideas in the judgment of the sheep and goats. Allusions to the Matthew 25 judgment describing the future event itself, however, are few. The question of its distinction from the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20:11–15 is discussed later in this article.
6. This will be discussed in the second article in this series.
7. This will be discussed in the third article in this series.
8. The only exceptions in the Gospels are Luke 24:7, which records two angels at the empty tomb who recalled Jesus’ words, and John 12:34, which records the people’s question about Jesus’ use of the phrase. Stephen spoke of “the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56; cf. v. 55). The writer to the Hebrews quoted a portion of Psalm 8:4–6 and applied the man/son of man parallelism to Jesus and His passion (Heb. 2:5–8). In Revelation 1:13 and 14:14 the phrase is used as a title for Jesus Christ.
9. Ninety-three times God addressed the prophet Ezekiel as son of man, probably emphasizing the prophet’s identification with the fallen and temporal human race in contrast with God’s glory, omniscience, and sovereign reign. Gabriel addressed Daniel by this same title in Daniel 8:17.
10. Thomas R. Slater says the phrase “one like a Son of Man” in Daniel 7:13 refers to an angelic being because (a) the term is descriptive rather than titular (thus excluding a messianic meaning), (b) in other references in Daniel to angels they have the appearance of men (Gabriel in 8:15; 10:16), and (c) it parallels references to Ezekiel (“One Like a Son of Man in First-Century CE Judaism,” New Testament Studies 41 [April 1995]: 190-92). However, Slater fails to note the context of the vision in Daniel 7, particularly the awarding of the eternal kingdom, which is foreign to angelic beings. That Daniel 7 is a description of the being who is “like a Son of Man” is not surprising since Daniel was recording a vision and was the first to recognize this person. Its development into a title occurred in later literature that may refer back to Daniel 7.
11. As Jesus Christ is the Heir of the Davidic promises, Daniel 7 confirms 2 Samuel 7:7–16 and predicts its completion (J. Dwight Pentecost, Thy Kingdom Come [Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1990], 142). As the Son of Man, the Messiah’s humanity is affirmed (ibid., 185).
12. Ibid., 32.
13. Ibid., 146-47.
14. Four evidences of this are (a) the opening verse of the book which calls Jesus the Messiah “the son of David” (Matt. 1:1), (b) the genealogy of Christ’s Davidic ancestry through His legal father Joseph (who is himself called a “son of David,” 1:20; the genealogy is in 1:2–17), (c) the repeated accolades of the needy to Jesus as “son of David” (e.g., 9:27; 15:22; 20:30–31), and (d) the Triumphal Entry, when the people shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David” (21:9) and which Jesus Himself affirmed (v. 16).
15. David K. Lowery, “A Theology of Matthew,” in Biblical Theology of the New Testament, ed. Roy B. Zuck (Chicago: Moody, 1994), 27–28.
16. Gary W. Odell, “The Son of Man Motif in Matthew’s Gospel” (Th.M. thesis, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1980), 45–48, 62.
17. The only two of the eleven references in this category that are directed at public audiences refer to Christ’s physical suffering—His not having a place to lay His head (8:20) and His predicting the sign of Jonah (12:40)—while omitting any mention of the resurrection. Of the nine usages of “Son of Man” in Jesus’ teaching to His disciples, one is the summary statement in 20:28. This summary separates the remaining eight occurrences into two groups of four: before the summary Christ prepared the disciples for the death of the Son of Man (17:9, 12, 22; 20:18); and after the summary Christ warned of the betrayal of the Son of Man (26:2, 24 [twice], 45).
18. Hagner reviews three major views on this coming of the Son of Man: the beginning of the eschaton; the destruction of Jerusalem; or some striking event of the power of the new age such as Christ’s death or resurrection, Pentecost, or the success of the Gentile mission (Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 1–13, Word Biblical Commentary [Dallas: Word, 1993], 278–80). Hagner states that the second half of 10:23 “constitutes one of the most difficult challenges to the interpreter of Matthew.”
19. J. M. McDermott thinks τελέω may have been chosen to echo τέλος in 10:22 (“the one who has endured to the end will be saved”), and the phrase was intentionally worded elliptically to allow for multiple referents: you will not finish the preaching (cf. v. 14) nor finish the fleeing (v. 23) (“Mt 10:23 in Context,” Biblische Zeitschrift 28 [1984]: 239). He suggests that this statement is a “positive exhortation to continue the Jewish mission in the face of rejection and/or encouragement to overlook that frustration and see beyond the more verdant harvest field of the gentile mission” (ibid., 235).
20. This interpretation strengthens the argument for understanding πάντα τά ἔθνη in Matthew 28:19 as referring exclusively to Gentiles. The disciples already had received Christ’s commission to preach the gospel continually to Israel and assumed it would be ongoing; Christ’s words in 28:19 were intended to broaden their ministry to include Gentiles as well. This will be discussed in the second article in this series.
21. Ki Kon Kim found no single parallel in biblical or extrabiblical literature for this sign of the Son of Man in heaven (Matt. 24:30), calling it “one of the most enigmatic features of [Matthew’s] version of the eschatological discourse” (“The Signs of the Parousia: A Diachronic and Comparative Study of the Apocalyptic Vocabulary of Matthew 24:27–31” [Ph.D. diss., Andrews University, 1994], 196). He lists six options: (1) The phrase “in heaven” goes with “Son of Man” only, so the sign can be earthly and is the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. (2) The sign will be the cross, taken up to heaven after the resurrection. (3) It will be the Shekinah glory of the Son’s coming. (4) It will be an “ensign” or “standard” to rally Yahweh’s dispersed people. (5) It is the Son of Man Himself, similar to the “sign” of Jonah (Matt. 12:39; Luke 11:29–30). (6) It is the clouds that will signal and accompany the Son’s coming, as in theophanic clouds. Kim considers the last proposal to be the correct view (ibid., 191-208).
22. Hagner says that an event only six days away “is hardly compatible with the strange statement that some would live to see it” (Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 14–28, Word Biblical Commentary [Dallas: Word, 1995], 486). However, (a) this “strange statement” is followed immediately by the Transfiguration in all three Synoptic Gospels, (b) the Marcan parallel, with its more acceptable promise that the disciples will see “the kingdom of God” coming (Mark 9:1) follows the mention of the coming of the Son of Man in Mark 8:38, (c) the link of the Son of Man with His kingdom can be understood as a Semitic figure of speech, and (d) its fulfillment in the Transfiguration is the view held by the early church fathers.
23. Without specifying a millennial kingdom, Davies and Allison conclude that παλιγγενεσία means “new age” (similar to the “coming age” of Mark 10:30). The twelve disciples will become rulers, and Israel has a future. “In any case one must reject the interpretation, occasionally met with in Christian tradition, that 19.28 refers to the apostles reigning in the church” (William David Davies and Dale C. Allison Jr., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to St. Matthew, International Critical Commentary [Edinburgh: Clark, 1997] 3:56).
24. The verb κρίνω, occurring in the present participle in the Synoptics only in these two verses can be understood as “ruling” as well as “judging” (Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 2d ed., rev. F. Wilbur Gingrich and Frederick W. Danker [Chicago: University of Chicago, 1979], 452).
25. Of what Christ emptied Himself (ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν, Phil. 2:7) contrasts with what He took on in His first advent: humanity, servanthood, and humility to the extreme of crucifixion (vv. 7b–8). That this is an emptying of glory is argued from the contextual title of the kenosis passage: “empty glory” (κενοδοξία, v. 3). Ironically the remedy for the empty glory of divisive selfishness is to follow Christ’s example of emptying deserved glory before death so that He would be exalted after death (vv. 1–11).
26. Stanley D. Toussaint, Behold the King (Portland, OR: Multnomah, 1980), 64.
27. David J. MacLeod, “The Exaltation of Christ: An Exposition of Philippians 2:9–11, ” Bibliotheca Sacra 158 (October-December 2001): 437-50.
28. Three other verses in Matthew indicate that ὅταν could reasonably be translated “after” or “as soon as”: After the bridegroom goes away, then the disciples can fast (9:15); after the unclean spirit leaves and searches in vain, then it returns (12:43–44); as soon as they see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, then those in Judea should flee (24:15–16). This is also seen in the Synoptic parallels and in a statement unique to Luke: “When [ ̔́Οταν] you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is near” (Luke 21:20).
29. A few commentators in the last two centuries argue from Matthew 16:28 and 24:34 that since Jesus’ generation would witness this coming, it was fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. This view was characteristic of universalists such as American Unitarians who tried to refute the doctrine of eternal damnation of the unsaved. See for example Sylvanus Cobb, The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ with Explanatory Notes and Practical Observations (Boston: S. Cobb, 1864), 79. William F. Albright and C. S. McMann consider the passage as a parable of Christ’s coming death on the cross and the separation, particularly of the Jews, that would take place because of it (Matthew, Anchor Bible [Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971], 306–10).
30. William Hendriksen, Exposition of the Gospel according to Matthew, New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1975), 885–86. He says the throne will be in the air because there would not be room on earth for Jesus to judge all people from all generations. “This still would not prevent the Son of man from ‘standing on the earth’ after the judgment” (ibid., 885, italics his). Hendricksen says the twelve tribes of Israel in Matthew 19:28 are the restored new Israel, which is either all the Jewish elect throughout history or “all the chosen ones of both the Jews and the Gentiles (cf. Gal. 6:16)” (ibid., 730, italics his). Here again he equates the regeneration with the reborn universe of the eternal state. He says that the twelve disciples judging the twelve tribes of Israel means that “they will be pre-eminent in reflecting the glory of their Lord and Savior” (ibid.), an interpretation that ignores the meaning of “judging” in Matthew 19:28.
31. “Earth” is used rather than “world” to emphasize the literal physical nature of these prophecies.
32. Mark L. Bailey provides a helpful summary of major dispensationalist views, pointing out that all maintain a future visible kingdom on earth when Old Testament promises to Israel will be fulfilled (“Dispensational Definitions of the Kingdom,” in Integrity of Heart, Skillfulness of Hands: Biblical and Leadership Studies in Honor of Donald K. Campbell, ed. Charles H. Dyer and Roy B. Zuck [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994], 201–37).
33. Darrell L. Bock correctly notes that κάθισει (“to seat”) in Acts 2:30 suggests enthronement. Noting the allusion to Psalm 132:11, he argues that Christ’s resurrection and ascension to God’s right hand inaugurated the royal enthronement. This is the initial (but hardly final) fulfillment phase of Christ’s rule, seen in the salvation benefits to believers and in particular the giving of the Holy Spirit (“The Reign of the Lord Christ,” in Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church: The Search for Definition, ed. Craig A. Blaising and Darrell L. Bock [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992], 53). However, the force of the allusion in Acts 2:30 is not lost by understanding that Jesus’ resurrection, ascension, and session at God’s right hand are prerequisites to Christ’s eventual, still future enthronement. This is supported by the temporal marker “until” in the quotation of Psalm 110:1 in Acts 2:34–35, and it also acknowledges the time sequence in Matthew 25:31 (“When He comes. .. then He will sit”). In the interim He retains “all authority” to continue His evangelistic plan to πάντα τά ἔθνη while also being with His people (through the Holy Spirit).
34. Dave Mathewson criticizes as a glib assumption that the “visions [sic] in 19:11–20:15” are presented in sequence (“A Re-examination of the Millennium in Rev 20:1–6: Consummation and Recapitulation,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 44 [June 2001]: 239). Mathewson does not explore the possibility that the segments beginning with “and I saw” are sequential elements of a single vision commencing with the structural marker in the broader context, “After these things” (Rev. 19:1). His symbolic interpretation of the passage fails to account for the clear sequence of the imprisoning of Satan during the thousand-year reign of Christ and his subsequent release (20:1–3, 7–10), a chronology mandated by the proper interpretation of the passage.
35. For example Psalms 24:7–10; 72; 93; 97; 99; Isaiah 4:2; 63:1–6; Jeremiah 23:5–8; Ezekiel 34:11–31; Daniel 7:14.
36. The establishment of the eternal state shares many of the characteristics of this judgment: the enthroned Son of Man in glorious universal dominion over all creation, His being attended by angels, and His committing the human race to eternal destinies based on the works of those judged.
37. John F. Walvoord, The Millennial Kingdom (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1959), 287, citing with approval George N. H. Peters, The Theocratic Kingdom of our Lord Jesus, the Christ, as Covenanted in the Old Testament, and Presented in the New Testament (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1884), 2:372–84.
38. Robert H. Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1973), 168. In his more recent, popular-level book, he revises some of his views that call into question whether he should be classified as a dispensationalist (Bob Gundry, First the Antichrist: A Book for Lay Christians Approaching the Third Millennium and Inquiring Whether Jesus Will Come to Take the Church Out of the World before the Tribulation [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997]). In the preface of First the Antichrist Gundry admits that he has “some new arguments and a different interpretation here and there, but no fundamental change” from The Church and the Tribulation. However, he no longer believes the 144,000 in Revelation 7 are Jews. Rather he now sees them as the church’s last generation, in which believers are portrayed as the new Israel (First the Antichrist, 88–92). Gundry’s arguments about the judgment of the sheep and goats are essentially unchanged.
39. Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation, 169.
40. These attributes depend on the context of the usage and the specificity of ἔθνη. They include belonging to and acting within national units, often (in Revelation) in opposition to God and the Lamb, and being distinguished as non-Jews.
41. For example Isaiah 65:17 speaks of a new heavens and a new earth in the context of the physical longevity and fertility of the kingdom (vv. 18–23). The kingdom that is given to the Son of Man is eternal (Dan. 7:14; cf. 2:44), and yet other kingdoms will serve Him (7:27).
42. Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation, 203.
43. William Stuart McBirnie, Fifty Progressive Messages from Armageddon to New Earth (Norfolk, VA: McBirnie, 1944), 2:216–17.
44. Ibid., 2:252-55.
45. Gundry, The Church and the Tribulation, 167 (italics his).
46. “I must say here that this parable and its exegesis was one of the factors that shook my faith in the dispensational system” (George E. Ladd, “The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Recent Interpretation,” in New Dimensions in New Testament Study, ed. Richard N. Longenecker and Merrill C. Tenney [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1974], 196). Ladd believes that dispensationalists contradict their literal hermeneutic by seeing a one-thousand-year gap between the judgment of the sheep and goats and the eternal state.
47. The language of physical destruction is employed at the conclusion of the parable of the minas, where the issue is faithful acceptance of the king or refusal to be ruled by him: “But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence” (Luke 19:27).