Matthew 25:44–45

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

"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.

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?

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.

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."

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.

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.

"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.

"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?"

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?

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.

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?