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JF Thrive Connection Group
The Road to Rewards
(Part 5)
The Judgement of the Gentiles
(Part 1)
1. Introduction
In our last Bible study, we studied the judgement of the living Jews who will survive the great Tribulation. At this judgement, the living Jews will be transported to a location outside of Israel called the wilderness. Here, the LORD will separate those who trusted Jesus as the Messiah during the Tribulation, those who trusted in Jesus at the Second Coming, and those who refused to trust in Jesus as the Messiah during the Great Tribulation or at the Second Coming. The believing Jews will be allowed to enter the Messianic Kingdom while the unbelieving Jews will not be allowed to enter the Messianic Kingdom. The will at death be cast into Sheol and then eventually be judged at the Great White Throne Judgement and cast into the Lake of Fire.
Today we are going to discuss another group who survive the Great Tribulation - the Gentiles. In discussing the fate Gentiles who survive the Tribulation, Jesus in Matthew 25:31-46 also uses animals, sheep and goats, to describe the judgement of the Gentiles.
2. Events at End of the Tribulation Period and the Second coming of the Messiah
A. Seventy-Five Day Interval
B. The Judgement of living Jews
C. The Judgement of living Gentiles
Let’s begin with Matthew 25: 31-33.
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. 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; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
The setting of this segment of Scripture dealing with the judgement of the Gentiles occurs shortly after the Second Coming, during the 75-day interval between the Second Coming and the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom.
Jesus describes His Second Coming as Himself being the Son of Man who returns to the earth in great glory. The angles will accompany Him. Someone else will return with Him that is not mentioned in this verse. Who might that be? It’s the church, the Body of Christ. Why did He not mention the church coming with Him? The reason is that the church was not known until the Holy Spirit revealed it to Paul. In any case, Jesus will return with the angels and the church at the Second Coming.
After the judgement of the Jews who survive the Great Tribulation, Jesus will sit on His throne of honor as the Messiah to judge the Gentiles who survived the Tribulation. Again, it is during the 75-day interval that this judgement occurs. All the nations refer to all individual Gentiles, non-Jews, from all nations who survived the Great Tribulation. Jesus will have them to stand before Him in Judgment to determine which Gentiles who could enter the Messianic Kingdom
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.”
Jesus begins his judgement of the sheep, the righteous ones. He exhorts them to inherit the kingdom. What exactly does this mean? The word inherited has two meanings that are both important but different from one another. In the first meaning of the concept of inheritance we usually think of revolves around someone dying and leaving some or all of their material possessions to a relative(s) or to a friend(s) through a will. Under this concept of the word inheritance, they did not earn the inheritance but received it because they were some way related to the one leaving the inheritance to them.
In the Old Testament God gave to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants land from border of Egypt, to the Mediterranean Sea, to Mount Hor in Lebanon, to the Euphrates River. They inherited the land as a free gift from God. They did nothing to earn it.
Using the first meaning for inheritance, we as believers also inherit eternal life. In this case eternal life is received by the believer by faith. The Gentiles who responded to the gospel of the 144,000 Jewish believers, did not earn the eternal life given to them but it was given to them because they trusted in the Messiah who died for them.
The second concept of inheritance revolves around obedience and good works. Obedience and good works allowed Israel to inherit the land which included occupying the land with all the privileges joys that went with it. There is a difference between Israel owning the land and being able to occupy it, possess it, and rule over the land. Because Israel was disobedient to the Torah, God ripped them out of the land twice - 586 BC with the Babylonians and AD 70 with the Romans. Israel never has occupied or possessed very much of land God gave them.
In the New Testament the two concepts of inheritance can be applied to members of the body of Christ, the church. The inheritance concept that spiritual salvation cannot be earned or worked for is seen in Ephesians 1:13-14.
13 In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,
14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.
The second concept of inheritance revolves around works which is seen in Colossians 3:18-25.
18 Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them.
20 Children, be obedient to your parents in all things, for this is well-pleasing to the Lord.
21 Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so that they will not lose heart.
22 Slaves, in all things obey those who are your masters on earth, not with external service, as those who merely please men, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
25 For he who does wrong will receive the consequences of the wrong which he has done, and that without partiality.
Now, let’s return to Matthew 25:34.
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.
Verse 34 is referring to I the inheriting of the Kingdom because of good works and obedience. Their great effort during times of danger to exhibit acts of mercy and compassion toward the Jews and ultimately toward Jesus are indicative of their belief. Because of their belief in the Messiah, they will enter the Kingdom and will inherit the kingdom by being able to rule and have authority in it. Notice He says the righteous sheep that they should inherit the kingdom prepared for them. They themselves will become subordinate leaders to Jesus sharing in the kingly authority with Him. They themselves will become servant kings, sharing in the kingly authority of their Lord. This is verified in verses 35-36.
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;
36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’
The first word in verse 35 is “for” which means inherit the kingdom means by ruling and reigning with the Messiah because of the good works mentioned by Jesus in verses 35-40. No where in Scripture is salvation or entering the Kingdom based on good works. To enter the kingdom, one will have to have faith in Jesus Christ. The concept of inheriting the kingdom by ruling with the Messiah is based on faith in the Messiah that is evidenced by good works for the Jews. These good works are:
1. Giving food to the hungry
2. Giving drink to the thirsty.
3. Giving shelter to the homeless
4. Giving clothing to the naked.
5. Visiting the sick
6. Visiting those in prison
First, the brothers Jesus is referring to here are His brothers in the flesh, Jewish people.
Remember that Jeremiah calls the Great Tribulation “the times of Jacob’s distress.” In view of the distress in the Tribulation period, any believing Jew will have a difficult time surviving (cf. 24:15–21). the anti-christ will require a mark of some kind that will allow people to buy and sell. The remnant will not take the mark of the beast so they will not be able to buy food or anything else nor will they be able to sell anything.
The world dictator, the anti-christ, and his forces will be doing everything possible to exterminate all Jews (cf. Rev. 12:17). A Gentile going out of his way to assist a Jew in the Tribulation will mean that a Gentile has become a believer in Jesus Christ during the Tribulation. Also keep in mind that many of these Jewish people will be saved by the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists who will be preaching the gospel of the kingdom. Is the gospel of the kingdom what we reach today? No. His works will not save him; but his works will reveal that he is redeemed.
After Jesus listed the things that the righteous Gentiles had done for his brothers in the flesh,
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?
38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
40 “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.’
The righteous Gentiles who ministered to the Jews in need during the Great Tribulation by putting themselves in danger, showed they were pro-semitic. They understood the importance of the Jews in God’s plan for the ages and the need to help them. Because of that, the righteous Gentiles along with the righteous Jews who enter the Kingdom will rule and reign with the Messiah. What a glorious time that will be!
After blessing the righteous Gentiles by allowing them to enter the Messianic Kingdom and giving them rewards, Jesus turned to the goats, the lost and unrighteous Gentiles from all nations. He meted out His judgement on them which is found in verse 41.
“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;
They were first separated from the sheep and now they will be separated from the Messiah. The judgement these Gentile men and women will receive from Jesus is to be cursed eternally. Their final and eternal destination will be the lake of fire. Note that the lake of fire was not first prepared for man but for the devil and his angels after they rebelled against God. This preparation for the Lake of fire was before man was created and rebelled against God. But after man creation and rebellion, God decided to assign lost and rebellious man to the lake of fire as well. These lost men and women who will spend an eternity in the lake of fire with Satan and his angels must first spend 1000 years in Sheol/Hades. Then, they will stand before Jesus at the Great White Throne and cast into the Lake of fire for an eternity.
In verses 42-43 Jesus reiterates the list the list of works that the righteous Gentiles did for the Jews in the Great Tribulation except He emphasized that they did none of these good works to help the Jews in need.
42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;
43 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.’
The unrighteous Gentiles will ask the same question as the righteous Gentiles - when did we see you in need?
44 “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?’
But Jesus answer will be much different to them than the righteous Gentles.
45 “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.’
What the unrighteous Gentiles did not do that demonstrates they are unbelievers and antisemites.
1.Gave not food to the hungry
2.Gave no water to the thirsty
3.Gave no shelter to the homeless
4.Gave no clothing to the naked
5.Did not visit the sick
6.Did not visit those in prison
Verse 46 sums up the entire passage.
“These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Application
This lesson should emphasize to each of us that genuine faith is demonstrated through practical acts of love and kindness, and tangible acts of love and service rather than just belief or profession of faith. We must combine our faith with good works ministering to others.
When we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick, and visit those in prison, we are essentially doing these things for Jesus himself. This lesson should challenge us to examine our own lives and see how we are responding to the needs of those around us. Are we truly living out the love of Christ in our daily interactions, or are we neglecting the opportunities to show compassion? Are we missing opportunities to share the life changing eternal gospel to Jews and Gentiles alike. he "least of these" are not just individuals in need, but also opportunities for us to demonstrate our love for God and grow closer to him. Remember, we will be rewarded or not rewarded at the Judgement Seat of Christ for doing these good works with the right motive.
SELAH
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