There is No Parable of the Sheep and the Goats—It’s a Prophecy!

Yes, we know it’s Tuesday, but we had a few things going on yesterday, so we are sending out Messianic Monday on Tuesday. 😀

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The clearest prophetic view into Yeshua’s future activities in the days following His hostile takeover of Planet Earth can be found in Matthew 25; what some people erroneously call “The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats.” It is not a parable at all— but a prophecy.

• When does it take place? When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him.

• Where does it happen? He will sit on His glorious throne, which will be in Jerusalem, as that is where he returns. (Zechariah 14:3)

• Who’s invited? The survivors from the nations. (Zech. 14:16)

When the Hebrew Bible uses the word “nations” (ethnos in Greek, and goyim in Hebrew), it excludes Israel. So, when God refers to the “nations,” it means all the nations besides His nation, Israel. Take Psalm 2: “Why do the nations rage?” They rage over Israel as is seen in v. 6: “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” So clearly, Israel is not one of the nations that are raging. Why is this important? You will see in a minute.

Remember, Yeshua has come back in answer to the cries of His people (just like when God sent Moses to Egypt—Ex. 3:7). Israel has been attacked by the nations: “I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it.” (Zechariah 14:2)

The nations that are gathered as sheep and goats do not include Israel. Why? Israel has just experienced national salvation and conversion to life in Yeshua, as it says in Romans 11:26: “all Israel shall be saved.” This was after they were attacked by “all the nations.” (She is not attacking herself!)

Yeshua to the Rescue!

Yeshua has just returned in answer to the cries of Israelis to defend her against the nations that followed the antichrist. “Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights on a day of battle” (Zech. 14:3). He wins, obviously. Then in Zechariah 14:16, the prophet speaks of the “survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem.” They must come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles (v. 16). So, the survivors who attack the Jewish nation, who now come to Jerusalem, would be from the other nations. It would seem that this is the same gathering of which Yeshua speaks in Matthew 25.

• Jerusalem is attacked. (Zechariah 14:1-2, Revelation 16:16)

• The Jews cry out (Zechariah 12:10, Matthew 23:39)

• Yeshua responds and comes to battle (Zechariah 14:3-4, Revelation 19:11ff)

He is Shepherd, King, and Judge

He takes over as King of Jerusalem, the new world capital (Zechariah 14:9), vanquishing the false messiah that God calls the beast (Revelation 19:20). Scholar Ben Worthington notes that Yeshua is presented as both Shepherd and King—roles that referred to God in the Hebrew Bible, not to mention the role of Judge at the end of the age.

The Jewish survivors, who have now confessed Yeshua as Messiah (Romans 11:26, Zechariah 12:10, 13:1), are present, and so are the nations.

We Love the Poor—But This Is Not That

Next, the nations are judged. Now, this is where most people get this wrong. They have turned this prophecy about Israel and the nations into a sweet story about helping the unfortunate among us. Please don’t get me wrong; a large part of what we do in our ministry is help the poor and hurting. There is a biblical mandate for believers to stand with widows and orphans (James 1:27). However, that is not the meaning of this passage.

He separates the people like sheep and goats. I have heard many teachers speak of sheep nations and goat nations. But that is not what Yeshua said. Yes, He does gather the ethnos, nations, but then it says He separates the people, individually, not the nations. In the Greek, it simply says “them”—he will separate them—but 23 English translations translate “them” as people—believing that Yeshua is separating individual people, one from another. Scholar Craig Keener says, “The nations or 'Gentiles’ in Jewish literature would be judged according to how they treated Israel.”¹

Confirmed by Ancient Shepherds

Interestingly, sheep and goats in Israel would often graze together during the day, but at night the shepherd (Yeshua) would separate them because the goats required a warmer place of shelter. I won’t go so far with the analogy between warmer dwellings and eternal punishment, but I have to wonder if the fact that they are separated at nighttime speaks to the end of the age.

The Shepherd separates individuals from the nations to the right and to the left. The right hand is always considered to be the place of greater honor than the left. This is why Joseph was confused when his father, Jacob, put his right hand on the secondborn, Ephraim, and not the firstborn, Manasseh. Jacob explains that Ephraim would be greater. Moses placed blood on the right ears, thumbs, and toes of the priests.

Next, Yeshua tells the righteous that they are blessed because of the good works they did to the least of Yeshua’s brothers. The two most common interpretations throughout history have been that it refers to the poor among us or to disciples in general. But let me remind you of the context:

• They are in Jerusalem.

• The nations have attacked Israel.

• Yeshua fights against them, and now He is judging them based on how they treated the least of His brothers.

• Everyone standing before Yeshua is an unbeliever. The believers have already received their glorified bodies and will rule and reign with Him.

Any God-fearing Christian who believed that God still had a plan for the Jewish people would have believed that he was referring to the Jewish people if he was reading this just after the Holocaust, when the Jews of Europe were cold, naked, and hungry. Some had been hidden in attics and underground from the Nazis. And throughout history, the Jewish people have been scapegoats for everything from the Black Plague to the crucifixion of Jesus.

[See Ron’s article here on who killed Jesus: drron.org/whokilledjesus]

But look at the times in which we are living. People on both the far left and the far right are demonizing Israel and the Jewish people.

I recently heard one activist say in an X space call with other activists, “Can we fit all [the Jews] in an ashtray when we’re done? Six million of ya? [or] Do you think it will take two ashtrays?” https://drron.org/hate01

It is a common theme now to call for the annihilation of the State of Israel and the genocide of the Jewish people. Where will you stand?

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[1] Craig S. Keener, Matthew, vol. 1, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997), Mt 25:31–46.