Then shall he say also to those on the left, Go from me, cursed, into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels
The King's last word to those on His left hand sends them away, into a fire never built with them in mind. Two questions press: who stands there, and why does a place "prepared for the devil and his angels" become the portion of human beings?
This scene is not the judgment of the raised dead. It is a sifting of people alive on earth when the Son of Man takes His throne. William Kelly points to the mixed crowd itself as the proof:
He separates them one from another. At the great white throne, where the dead stand to be judged, there is no need of separating them there. But here there is a mingled company. Such a mixture is never found in heaven or hell, but only on the earth. So every clause gives proof that our Lord speaks of a judgment of the living on the earth.
Their sentence turns on what they left undone toward the King's messengers.
The remarkable thing about the latter is that their judgment, as here set out, rests only on what they had not done. It looks as if they had tried to take a middle course between being "for" and "against." They had not joined the followers of the beast. Those men rose in open rebellion against the King, and the sword killed them (Rev. 19:21). But neither had they identified themselves with His cause and with His servants. They had seen the servants persecuted and killed. They gave them neither help nor sympathy, and so showed the state of their hearts. Is not the lesson here that in divine things there can be no middle ground?
The two sentences in this chapter are not mirror images. To the sheep the King says they are "blessed by my Father." Here He stops short. Kelly makes the omission speak:
Notice, He does not say, Cursed by My Father, matching "Blessed by My Father." God hates putting away. So when the awful moment comes to pronounce the curse on these wicked nations, He says, "Depart from Me, you cursed." I believe this is the deepest sorrow to God. It throws the whole weight of destruction on those whose own sin it was. They rejected His love and holiness and glory when they rejected His Son.
The kingdom was "prepared for you." The fire was not. That difference shows where the responsibility lies.
In a word, then, it is plain that God has "prepared" a kingdom of glory, and "vessels of mercy" to inherit that kingdom. But He has not prepared "everlasting fire" for men. He prepared it for the "devil and his angels." And He has not fitted the "vessels of wrath" — they have fitted themselves.
Kelly adds a note of pity from the same passage:
Hell was not prepared for poor guilty man. He deserves it, but it was prepared for the devil and his angels. There was no hope of deliverance for these fallen angels — no redemption for them. They left God deliberately, and no one tempted them. Man was tempted by an enemy, and God feels for guilty man, drawn away by a rebel mightier than himself, even if not more guilty.
The chapter closes by setting eternal punishment beside eternal life. W. W. Fereday weighs the wording:
The awful future of the ungodly could hardly be stated more clearly than in the Scripture before us: "These will go away into eternal punishment." The same word covers both "punishment" and "life." The length of the one is the length of the other. Yet eternal fire was not prepared for men. It was prepared for the devil and his angels. But those who prefer the voice of the devil to the voice of God while on earth must share his doom for ever.
Later Scripture gives the fire a name and a place. Fereday describes it:
Somewhere in God's universe there will be a restricted area ("a lake"). God will shut evil up there and punish it for ever. No one there will be able to act in sin, though hatred in the heart towards God and His Son must remain. Neither new birth nor repentance is possible there. God will enforce complete subjection (Phil. 2:10-11). Satan and all those he deceived, whether angelic or human, will be found together.
- Prepared — God prepared a kingdom for the blessed. He prepared the fire for the devil and his angels, and He fitted no one for it.
- Chosen — those who take no side have still taken a side. Refusing help to His servants showed hearts already turned away.
- Cursed — He says "you cursed," not "cursed of My Father," and so lays the whole weight of ruin on the sinner's own choice.
- Shared — people who preferred the devil's voice on earth end up sharing the devil's portion for ever.
- Eternal — one word covers both the life and the punishment. Its length is the same on both sides of the throne.
for I hungered, and ye gave me not to eat; I thirsted, and ye gave me not to drink;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in; naked, and ye did not clothe me; ill, and in prison, and ye did not visit me.
In this verse the King finishes His charge against those on His left, and every count is something they failed to do. So who is the "Me" they never welcomed or visited, and how can doing nothing end in such a sentence?
Notice the shape of the accusation. Nothing is said about robbery, violence, or open hostility — only about supplies never offered.
"I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink" (Matthew 25:42). Christ does not say you took away My food, but you gave Me none.
One writer connects this silence about active wrongdoing with another story the Lord told, where a man is condemned without a single act of cruelty being named.
He does not point to the evil they did. He points to the way they ignored Him, seen in the way they ignored the needs of His brethren. This is their serious sin of omission. Nothing is said about the active guilt of the rich man in Luke 16, though he lived in ease and luxury. But he ignored the poor man Lazarus, who was laid at his gate wanting only the crumbs from his table.
The King speaks as if He Himself stood at their door. Commentators ask who was turned away, and point to a third group in the scene — neither the sheep nor the goats.
Who are "these My brethren"? We have had the sheep and the goats — the righteous and the unrighteous Gentiles. But who are the King's brethren? They are the men the Lord will send out before He comes in the glory of the kingdom, sent to announce that He is coming in His kingdom... The conclusion is obvious. In that day, He will deal with the nations on this ground — "How did you behave towards My messengers?"
One writer sets the goats' claim of innocence beside the King's question to Saul.
"The goats," on the other hand, claim they never failed the great King. But by the same principle, the indifference they showed towards His messengers counts in the King's heart as indifference towards Him... He always thinks of His own as if they were Himself. "Why," He says to Saul, "do you persecute Me?"
These people seem to have wanted a middle path. That choice was itself an answer.
It seems as if they had tried to take a middle course between the "for" and the "against"... Still, they had not joined themselves to His cause and to His servants either. They had seen those servants persecuted and even killed. They gave them no help and no sympathy, and so showed the state of their hearts. Is not the lesson here that, in divine things, there can be no middle ground?
The deeds on both sides point to something deeper.
In the one group there was faith working by love; in the other, complete unconcern. This laid bare whether they were fit or unfit to inherit the kingdom. In every case of the saints, works are the evidence, faith in the Word is the instrument, Christ's work is the ground, and God's grace is the source.
Many readers take the scene as the final judgment of everyone who has ever lived. One writer answers that the scene holds a third party — "these My brethren."
Almost the whole professing Church believes that "the sheep" stand for all the people of God, from the beginning of time to the end, and that "the goats" stand for all the wicked, from first to last. But if that is so, what do we make of the third party mentioned here, called "these My brethren"?... It would be plainly absurd to say that the sheep were themselves the people He means.
His words to those on the left do not mirror His words to those on the right.
Notice, He does not say, "Cursed by My Father," to match "Blessed by My Father." God hates putting away... Of the kingdom He said it was "prepared for you." He does not speak that way about the curse. Hell was not prepared for poor guilty man. He deserves it, but it was prepared for the devil and his angels.
Placing this scene in a future day does not put us outside its reach.
The theme of each part of Matthew 25 is "omission." The foolish virgins failed to take oil with their lamps. The wicked servant failed to use the talent entrusted to him. Those condemned as "goats" failed to serve the Lord, because they failed to serve His brethren in their need... If people with little light will be treated so severely for neglect, what can we with our much light expect, if we do the same?
- Omission. The charge lists no violence — only a welcome refused, clothing never given, a visit never made. What was never done is enough to condemn.
- Identification. The stranger and the prisoner are His messengers. What you do to them, the King counts as done to Him.
- Neutrality. Trying to stay out of it was not safety. Commentators read the refusal to help as the verdict the heart had already reached.
- Evidence. The deeds do not earn the kingdom; they reveal whether faith was there. Works are the evidence, grace the source.
- Application. Commentators differ on when this scene happens. But if neglect condemns those with little light, it warns those with much.
Then shall *they* also answer saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungering, or thirsting, or a stranger, or naked, or ill, or in prison, and have not ministered to thee?
The King has just told those on His left why He is sending them away. Now they answer back, asking when they ever saw Him in need at all — the same question the righteous asked a few verses earlier, but from a very different heart.
This is not the judgment of the dead. The Lord's own words fix who is judged, and when.
But even a brief look at the words our blessed Lord used will show that He does not mention the subject of resurrection... The reference is therefore to His appearing and kingdom, and to His judgment of the living, not of the dead. We do not speak of "the nations" in respect of the dead: this term describes the living. And notice, too, that there are three groups here — the sheep, the goats, and the brethren of the King. That fact by itself settles how the whole scene should be read.
The popular reading treats the sheep as all the saved and the goats as all the lost. That reading has nowhere to put the people the King keeps pointing at.
Almost everyone in the professing Church believes that "the sheep" stand for all the people of God, from the beginning to the end of time. And "the goats," on the other hand, stand for all the wicked, from first to last. But if this is so, what are we to make of the third party referred to here, under the title of "these My brethren"? The King addresses both the sheep and the goats about this third class. Indeed the very ground of judgment is the treatment of the King's brethren.
The goats speak as though they never once met Christ in need. They had — in the messengers who carried His testimony.
Such was His affection for His faithful servants, and so much did He value them, that He judged the people He sent the testimony to by the way they received these messengers. Whether they received them well or badly, He treated it as done to Himself. What an encouragement for His witnesses during that time of trouble, when their faith would be tested in service!
So one question decides the case for every nation.
So the conclusion is clear. In that day He will deal with the nations on this ground — "How did you behave to My messengers?" The King's messengers will go out just before He appears in glory, preaching the gospel of the kingdom everywhere. When the King takes His throne, those among the nations who received that message are recognized as "sheep," and those who despised it perish as "goats." Those who honour the message treat the messengers well. They care for them and stand with them. The Lord remembers this, and He counts what they did to His messengers as done to Himself.
Notice what is not charged against them. There is no list of crimes here — only a list of absences.
The remarkable thing about the goats is that their judgment here rests only on what they had not done. It seems as if they had tried to take a middle course between the "for" and the "against."... They had seen the servants persecuted and killed. They offered neither help nor sympathy, and that showed the state of their hearts. Is not the lesson here that, in divine things, there can be no middle ground.
The sentence falls on withholding, not on robbery.
"I was hungry, and you gave Me no food: I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink" (Matt. 25:42). Christ does not say you took away My food, but you gave Me none.
This is not a plea for mercy. It is a defence.
But notice: the display of glory around them does not shame them. Firm in defending themselves, the wicked answer, "Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?" Oh, the daring spirit of self-righteousness! Does not even the solemnity of this awful court strike you with terror and break you down?
Kindness does not buy the kingdom. The deeds show what was already inside.
Thus everything rests on Christ, though His grace makes the most of what to others might seem trivial. One group had faith working by love. The other showed complete unconcern. That laid bare which of them was fit to inherit the kingdom and which was not. In all cases of saints, works are the evidence, faith in the Word the instrument, Christ's work the ground, and God's grace the source.
- Three, not two. The scene holds sheep, goats, and a third group — "these My brethren." Everything turns on how the first two treated the third.
- The messengers are the test. They carry the announcement of the coming King; the welcome given them is the welcome given Him.
- Christ counts it as His own. Help given to the least of them, He receives as given to Himself. Help refused, He takes as refused to Himself.
- The charge is omission. Not what they seized, but what they never gave. In divine things there is no middle ground.
- The reply exposes the heart. They defend themselves before the throne. But works were only ever the evidence — Christ's work the ground, God's grace the source.
Then shall he answer them saying, Verily I say to you, Inasmuch as ye have not done it to one of these least, neither have ye done it to me.
This is the King's verdict on those at His left hand — the mirror of what He had just said to those on His right. Everything turns on one question: who are these "least" ones, and why does their treatment decide the fate of nations?
The King's own words point to a group standing apart from both the sheep and the goats.
Almost everyone in the professing Church believes that "the sheep" stand for all the people of God, from the beginning of time to the end, and that "the goats" stand for all the wicked, from first to last. But if that is so, what are we to make of the third party mentioned here, called "these My brethren"? The King speaks to both the sheep and the goats about this third group. In fact, the very ground of judgment is how the King's brethren were treated. It would be plainly absurd to say that the sheep were themselves the people He means. If they were, the wording would be quite different. Instead of saying, "As you did it to one of the least of these My brethren," we would hear the King saying, "As you did it to one another."
Commentators here identify the brethren as messengers who will carry the message of the coming kingdom.
There are three groups of people in this scene: the goats, the sheep, and His brethren. The judgment of the first two depends on how they treat the third. To do these things to one of His brethren is to do them to Himself. Not to do them to one of the least of these is not to do them to Himself. The "brethren," I have no doubt, will be the remnant who will have preached the gospel of the kingdom among the Gentiles. The welcome given to those messengers decides the fate of those who now stand in judgment.
Look again at the list in verses 42–43. Not one item accuses these people of violence.
Notice that the King does not charge the condemned with persecuting and imprisoning His servants, but only with ignoring them — treating them with neglect. It fits in with the great question of Hebrews 2, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?" On that day all will see that if men treat Christ with neglect, by neglecting His servants, they came under eternal condemnation.
The wording itself is precise about this. The accusation is not robbery but withholding.
"I was hungry, and you gave Me no food: I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink" (Matt. 25:42). Christ does not say you took away My food, but you gave Me none.
Listen to how the two groups answer the King in verses 37 and 44.
"The sheep" make no claim to have paid any attention to the King Himself. But He counts as done to Himself everything they had done to His messengers, whom He owned as His brethren. "The goats," on the other hand, claim they never failed the great King. But by the same rule, the indifference they showed toward His messengers counts in the King's heart as indifference toward Him... He thinks always of His own as if they were Himself. "Why," says He to Saul, "are you persecuting Me?"
These people were not open enemies of the King. They simply stayed out of it.
The remarkable thing about the goats is that their judgment here rests only on what they had not done. It would seem as if they had tried to take a middle course between the "for" and the "against"... They had seen the servants persecuted and killed, and gave them neither help nor sympathy. That showed the state of their hearts. Is not the lesson this: in the things of God there can be no middle ground?
The kindness shown or withheld is the visible proof of something underneath it.
So everything rests on Christ, though His grace makes the most of what others might think trivial. Faith working by love in the one group, and complete unconcern in the other, laid bare who was fit and who was unfit to inherit the kingdom. For every believer, works are the evidence, faith in the Word is the instrument, Christ's work is the ground, and God's grace is the source.
Placing the scene in the future does not remove its edge from the present.
The theme of each part of Matthew 25 is plainly what was left undone. The foolish virgins failed to take oil with their lamps. The wicked servant failed to use the talent given to him. Those condemned as "goats" failed to serve the Lord, because they failed to serve His brethren in their need... If the nations with their little light face such severe judgment for neglect, what can we with our much light expect, if we do the same?
- Three, not two. The scene holds sheep, goats, and a third group — "these My brethren." How that third group was treated is the whole ground of the verdict.
- The least. Commentators here take the brethren to be messengers of the kingdom, so how people met those messengers is how they met the King.
- Not done. The charge is never cruelty; it is the food not given, the stranger not welcomed, the prisoner not visited.
- Not to Me. What you withhold from His own, you withhold from Him. It is the word that met Saul: "Why are you persecuting Me?"
- No neutral. Trying to stand between "for" and "against" is itself the verdict. The deeds only expose the faith or the unconcern already there.
And these shall go away into eternal punishment, and the righteous into life eternal.
This verse ends the Lord's long prophetic speech. It gives the verdict on the scene He has just described: the King on His throne, the nations before Him, the sheep divided from the goats. Everything hangs on one word — "eternal" — and on the two destinies it measures.
The verse is not a stray remark about hell. It sums up a whole scene.
In the closing paragraph of Matthew 25 the end has come. The Son of Man is King. The disciples who endured to the end are saved. The nations come under judgment. The good and the evil are now fully separated, and the result of the judgment is eternal. Three times the word eternal occurs. The punishment of the wicked and the fire into which they go are eternal; the life into which the righteous pass is eternal. The opposite of life is not the ending of existence, as it would be if life merely meant existence... it is punishment, because eternal life means the whole realm of blessed and eternal realities in which the righteous will move for ever. The point here is not that the life is in them, but that they pass into it.
This scene is not the same as the later judgment of the dead. The clue is the crowd itself: two kinds of people stand mixed together.
He separates them one from another. At the great white throne, where the dead stand to be judged, there is no need of separating them there. But here there is a mixed company. Such a mixture is never found in heaven or hell, but only on the earth. So every clause proves that our Lord is speaking of a judgment of the living on the earth... Here the judgment is calm but very solemn. Its results last for ever. It follows the distinction the Lord makes between one person and another.
The King gives His reason before He passes this sentence. It rests on what these people did, or failed to do, for those He calls His brothers.
Who are these brothers of the King? They are the men He will send out before He comes in the glory of the kingdom, sent to announce that He is coming. So the conclusion is obvious. In that day, the ground on which He will deal with the nations will be this — "How did you behave toward My messengers?" Just before He appears in glory, the King's messengers will go out preaching the gospel of the kingdom everywhere. When the King takes His throne, those among the nations who received that message are recognised as "sheep," and those who despised it perish as "goats."... The Lord remembers this, and counts what was done to His messengers as done to Himself.
Two words here repay a close look: "eternal" and "punishment." Scripture uses both elsewhere, and those other uses fix what they mean.
Notice one thing. In Matthew 25 our Lord uses the same word for "everlasting life" and for "everlasting punishment." It is the word used for the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God (1 Timothy 1:17). Note also that the word translated "punishment" must be translated "torment" in 1 John 4:18: "fear has torment." Happy are those who agree with childlike simplicity to wholesome words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Older translations render 1 John 4:18 "fear has torment"; the ESV reads "fear has to do with punishment.")
Some argue that the fire means the wicked simply stop existing. What the fire produces points the other way.
The explanation shows that the thought is not extinction. That idea is only a conclusion drawn from what fire does to weeds. The effect of the fire, like that of the outer darkness, is weeping and gnashing of teeth. So the effect is not a ceasing to exist, as they claim. It is suffering — suffering called everlasting (Matthew 25:46), in contrast with everlasting life.
The same word covers both halves of the verse. It cannot mean one thing on one side and something else on the other.
Both the life and the punishment are eternal. No one seems anxious to prove that eternal life is not eternal. Multitudes labour to explain that eternal punishment is not eternal. Why? It is simply a case of the prisoner in the dock revolting against his sentence!... there is no reason to deny to "eternal" in the first half of the sentence what everyone grants it in the second. Scripturally both parts stand or fall together.
The same test runs across the rest of the New Testament, where the word attaches to things no one wants to shorten.
If the destruction in 2 Thessalonians 1:9 is not really "everlasting," then the salvation in Hebrews 5:9 is not either. If the fire in Jude 7 is not "eternal," neither is the glory in 2 Timothy 2:10.
- Scene — The verse closes a judgment of living nations on earth. Sheep and goats stand mixed together, and the King separates them.
- Ground — The dividing line is how people treated the King's messengers. What they did to them, He counts as done to Himself.
- Word — "Punishment" here is the word translated "torment" elsewhere. It means suffering, not the end of existence.
- Measure — One word, "eternal," covers both destinies. Shorten one and you shorten the other.
- Destination — The righteous do not just receive life. They pass into it — into the whole realm of blessing where they will move for ever.