Distinguishing Between the Sheep and the Goats

Are You Ready? Part 10

We continue our serialisation of the booklet Are You Ready?  In this instalment we turn our attention to the last of the three parables Jesus taught in Matthew 25; that of the sheep and the goats. The context of this parable is a clear reference to Messiah’s Second Coming and the beginning of His millennial reign (see Revelation 20: 1-6).

The Shepherd, Sheep and Goats

There are numerous references throughout scripture that confirm to us that God is the Shepherd here referred to (e.g. Gen 48:15; 49:24; Ps 23:1; 28:8-9; 80:1; Isa 40:11; Jer 31:10; Ezek 34:12; Mic 5:4; 7:14; Zech 9:16; Matt2:6; John 10:11 & 14; Heb 13:20; 1 Pet 5:4; Rev 7:17), and, as Judge of all the earth (Gen 18:25), a time of sifting and separating of the sheep from the goats is coming. It is certain that everyone will be judged and separated off: sheep to the right hand and goats to the left.

I was once told by Israeli farmers that in the common breeds of sheep and goats found there, which often include breeds that have hair rather than wool, it is not always easy to distinguish between the sheep and goats with the untrained natural eye. Having had both sheep and goats as very close neighbours for most of my life, I’m aware there are some big differences between the two:
 

Sheep	Goats
Graze on grass, and ignore trees, shrubs and weeds.	Will eat anything, including leaves, twigs, shrubs and weeds.
Flock together.	Are independent.
Will weather a storm.	Will seek out shelter.
Largely white in appearance.	Can be any mix of colour: black, white, brown.
Coats of wool (apart from the hair breeds mentioned above).	Coats of hair.
Tails go down (which is why they are usually docked)	Tails go upwards.
Horns are either docked or grow to the side of the head.	Horns tend to grow at the back of the head.
Generally, only smell of lanolin, which is not unpleasant.	They have a strong odour, which many people find unpleasant or overwhelming.

 
The goats I have experienced as neighbours have been a nightmare: they would regularly jump over a boundary wall into our garden, smashing the glass in my greenhouse (twice!) - and they even ate my washing straight off the line! In distinction, the sheep tend to just stay put and generally cause little trouble. From the little information we have in verses 31-46, it is clear Jesus is making a point: if they are both of the short-haired variety (as is common in the Middle East), they may look very similar on the outside, but actually they are very different creatures inside; with very different natures, personalities, smells, objectives and instincts.
 

They may look very similar on the outside, but actually they are very different creatures inside ...

In seeking to interpret Jesus’ analogy, He is the Shepherd, while the sheep and the goats exist together in some form of expression of His Body until He returns, at which time the differences in their nature will be revealed. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

The sheep represent those who have been listening for His voice, are part of His ‘flock’ and are seeking to be obedient. The Hebrew word kahal, from which the Greek ekklesia derives, literally means flock, assembly or gathering together. The goats, in distinction, may go to church, and might even lead one(!) but inwardly their hearts are not warm, supple and submissive to the plans and purposes of God. They will live rebelliously – independently - seeking to blaze a trail of their own or to make a name for themselves away from the safety and security of the genuine flock. They may well leave some form of devastation or at least, a bad smell in their wake.

“Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me” (John 14:24).

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt 7:21).

The Righthand and Lefthand

The symbolism of the sheep being separated to the shepherd’s right hand is rich in symbolic meaning, as repeatedly throughout scripture it represents power, authority, strength, skill and acts of righteousness; the blessing and the favour of God.¹ The left hand, conversely, is usually associated with weakness, inferiority, selfish and unwise choices, discipline and judgement.²

The Criteria for Rewards

On first reading, the criteria Jesus states for the sheep receiving their reward in His kingdom seem straightforward enough: feeding the hungry and quenching the thirst of those who are thirsty, providing hospitality to strangers, clothing the poor, visiting the sick and those in prison. Surely everyone who would call themselves a believer in Messiah would do these things, including the ‘goats’? The caveat comes in verse 40:

“The king will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.””
Who are Jesus’ brothers and sisters? I believe they are the Jewish people along with the wider whole House of Israel i.e. the one new man (see Eph 2:14-16) which includes all those who have a living relationship with Jesus, the Bible believing remnant today.
 

How we treat and respond to the needs of His children and bride in these days is of crucial significance for Jesus ...

Let us remember that in the light of His discourse outlined in Matthew 24, this whole chapter sees Jesus imparting wisdom and guidance specifically for the end-times. So, it seems that how we treat and respond to the needs of His children and bride in these days is of crucial significance for Jesus and must therefore also be a matter of fundamental importance for us today. The goats go on to receive a devastating eternal punishment:

“He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” ‘Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life” (Matt 25:45-46).

The severity of this judgement emphasises how very important it is to be obedient to God; to seek His heart and to know His ways - so that we might genuinely let His love flow out through us to feed the poor, clothe the needy, heal the sick – to let His Kingdom come and His will be done – in the communities in which He’s placed us in this season.

The Reality of End-Time Persecution

“Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other…” (Matt 24:9-10).

None of us likes to consider that we might be the generation who are called to lay their lives down for being a follower of Jesus, for the extension of His kingdom or for standing with the Jewish people and the nation and land of Israel. But, in speaking of the end-time spiritual battle, Revelation 12 is very clear as to how the Church will overcome:

“They triumphed over him [i.e. Satan, his demons and schemes against God’s end-time purposes] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (v.11)

I am sure that you, like me, have heard many sermons on these verses. Generally, the challenge of the final sentence is left out because either the preacher does not believe that a time is coming when our comfortable Western Church might be threatened by persecution, or it is simply too uncomfortable a challenge for us to want to unpack it.
 

Persecution is clearly also starting to break forth here: across America, mainland Europe and although we do not like to admit it readily, across the British Isles too.

It was early in 2008 that my husband and I found ourselves tagging along on a tour of sites in Cambridge where Protestants had been burnt at the stake during the reign of ‘Bloody Mary’. It was there and then that the Lord first really challenged us both over the matter of possible martyrdom in the days ahead. This was a seed of thought that grew, as just a few weeks later an acclaimed metal detectorist found a coin from Mary Tudor’s reign along with five small balls of lead shot in our field. As he and my husband were in the field, I had been in the prayer house and, completely independently of them and ignorant of what they had found, the Lord spoke these words from Psalm 116:15 to me:

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”

I knew instinctively that for the second time in just a few weeks, He was challenging me over this. Will I really be willing and able to stand strong and not betray Him when the knife is at my throat or the gun at the back of my head? This serious challenge is something for all of us to consider and one that I return to often.

We need to wake up to the understanding that this end-time persecution is not something just applicable to a vague group of ‘others’ who live somewhere else in the world (many of whom have already experienced persecution for decades). But it is clearly also starting to break forth here: across America, mainland Europe and although we do not like to admit it readily, across the British Isles too. Having begun in fairly mild forms of discrimination, these have been gradually increasing and becoming more threatening over several decades.

On my first visit to Yad Vashem (the Holocaust museum and memorial in Jerusalem), I remember being faced with the stark reality that during the 1930s the doctrine of the Nazi’s ‘final solution’ was propagated by the media, the universities and the educational establishments, and was critically endorsed by the Church. I heard the voice of the Lord speak clearly to me in that place “See how easily the world system is already set in place for this to happen again. Next time it will not be confined to one relatively small section of Europe, it will be worldwide.”
 

The persecution of the Jews in Britain is not only alive and well, but gaining momentum daily.

At that time everything within me cried out “Nooooo!” But I knew it was true and would come to pass. Now, many years later, in the wake of the events in Israel on 7th October 2023, we have already seen mass antisemitic rallies on the streets of our capital, endorsed by our police forces and church leaders. Israeli flags have openly been burnt and Jewish people arrested for trying to stand up to the mob. Recent events in Manchester and Golders Green, London, show only too readily that persecution of the Jews in Britain is not only alive and well, but gaining momentum daily. Rev.12:17 shows clearly that it will not remain limited to the Jews only.

“And the dragon … went to make war with … [those] who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Freedom of Speech

Recently, in a church small group, on being asked what I do, I mentioned being a part of Issachar People and that ministry’s wholehearted support for the Jewish people and Israel. Immediately I was strongly verbally slapped down and silenced. To be robbed of my freedom of speech within such a church environment is evidence of the reality of discrimination / persecution today. It can come from within the Body of Christ; from an uninformed and prejudiced minority whose voice is louder and more demanding of attention and one who claims ‘offence’ as their justification. This is the living evidence in our midst of the reality of the sheep and the goats.

Persecution is not something that happens to people elsewhere; it is already on the rise here. Our civil liberties to freely speak and live out our faith are already undermined in the laws of our land, and this will intensify as the day of Jesus’ return draws closer.

Think: What is your reaction to what has been said? Does it have a ring of truth to your spirit? Is this something that has ever crossed your thought processes before? Have you ever considered the challenge of martyrdom and what that could mean for you personally?
 
Endnotes
1 https://biblehub.com/topical/s/symbolism_of_the_right_hand.ht
2 https://biblehub.com/topical/t/the_symbolism_of_the_right_and_left_hands.htm

(top image by Kanenori from Pixabay)