Matthew 25:31-46 - The Return

Well, welcome, church. It is great to be with you once again. My name is Mike Slade, and I’m one of the teaching pastors here at The Well, if I haven’t had the chance to meet you yet. Today, we are going to finish up what has been a long and powerful series called The Return of the King.

Theologians call this section in chapters 24 and 25 of the Gospel of Matthew the Olivet Discourse. As Brad has been walking us through this text, you’ll remember this whole conversation started in chapter 24 when the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “How are we going to know about your return? What is this going to look like?” Jesus pulled the Twelve aside for what was essentially an intense small group Bible study about the return of the King.

Throughout this discourse, Jesus has told a series of parables to illustrate His return: bridesmaids, brides, fig trees, talents, and stewards. All of these parables carry the exact same underlying heartbeat: Be ready. I am going to return.

Brad mentioned earlier in this series that some texts in scripture feel like an encouraging, uplifting walk, while others feel like an MMA fight. What we are looking at today is an MMA fight type of text. It is the climax of this entire discourse, where Jesus describes what will happen when He returns. The theme is the same—be ready, because He is coming—but this time, Jesus adds a sobering reality: He is coming to judge, and we need to be prepared for that.

Indiscriminate Mooners and the Knock at the Door

I don’t know about you, but in the days of my prefrontal cortex development—back in early middle school or late elementary school—I made some truly poor decisions. In fact, there are a few I haven’t even confessed to my parents yet. Tonight might actually be the first time they hear this.

I remember one summer in fifth grade with my friend Andy Spencer. It was hot in Texas, and we were bored. We came up with what we thought was a brilliant idea: we were going to walk around the neighborhood and moon everybody we could see. We were indiscriminate mooners. Friends, foes, drivers, walkers—whoever you were, you were getting mooned by Mike and Andy. We thought it was foolproof because we would never get caught. After all, who could possibly recognize our backsides?

So we went around the neighborhood, set up shop behind corners and hedges, put our bottoms on display, and then ran for our lives. We thought we were comedic geniuses. That evening, Andy and I went back to my house thinking we had gotten off scot-free.

I had finished dinner with my parents and my little brother, and we were sitting in the living room watching a movie together. I will never forget that moment, over thirty years ago. In the middle of the show, there came a heavy knock at the front door. My heart immediately sank. I thought, Could that be about what we did earlier today? No, there’s no way anyone figured it out.

My parents got up and walked down the hallway to open the door. When that door swung open, my heart completely stopped. Standing on our front porch were two uniformed police officers—badges on their chests, sidearms on their belts, looking dead serious. In that instant, my fear escalated through the roof because I knew I was caught dead to rights. I was guilty, and I was about to face judgment in a very real way.

In the same way, the passage we are looking at today carries that exact gravity. The King who came the first time to bear a cross is coming the second time with a sword to judge.

The Gathering and the Separation

Let’s pick up in Matthew chapter 25, starting at verse 31.

Matthew 25:31 (NASB)

’But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.

Friends, this is the moment we have been waiting for. Throughout this series, Brad has walked us through the prophetic timeline in detail. Right now, we are living in the church age. We exist as current believers in this era. But Jesus is describing what happens at the culmination of the Tribulation period.

At the beginning of that seven-year Tribulation, the church is raptured to be with the Lord. What follows on earth is a period of unprecedented tribulation. In verse 31, we reach the end of those seven years. The return of the King has arrived, and He is coming to establish His thousand-year millennial reign on earth. At His first coming, Jesus came to betroth His bride; at His second coming, He comes to consummate that relationship and take His throne.

Look at how this judgment begins in verses 32 and 33.

Matthew 25:32-33 (NASB)

’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; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

Notice that verse 32 says “all the nations” will be gathered before Him. This is everyone—Jew and Gentile alike. By this point, according to Matthew 24, the gospel of the kingdom will have been preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Matthew 24:14 (NASB)

’This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Now the culmination has arrived. Jesus uses imagery that would have been immediately familiar to Matthew’s original Jewish audience: sheep and goats. In Jewish parables, there is usually the familiar, the unfamiliar, and the shock factor. Sheep and goats were completely familiar to first-century hearers.

Back in Jesus’ day, Middle Eastern sheep and goats actually looked quite similar—they were not always easy to distinguish at a casual glance like modern, fluffy white sheep and horned goats. But the shepherd always knew the difference. He would separate them, often at night for warmth and management.

What is unfamiliar in the story is who these animals represent. All through the Old and New Testaments, God’s people are represented as sheep, and Jesus is the Shepherd.

John 10:14 (NASB)

’I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me,

In this passage, the sheep represent believers, and the goats represent unbelievers. The sheep are placed on the King’s right hand—the place of honor in ancient culture—and the goats on His left.

Before we look at the judgment itself, it is worth noting that the New Testament speaks of two distinct judgments relative to the kingdom. There is the judgment described here in Matthew 25, which takes place at the return of Christ at the end of the Tribulation and evaluates those alive on the earth before entering the Millennial Kingdom. Then, at the end of the thousand-year reign, there is the Great White Throne Judgment described in Revelation 20, which deals with the resurrected unbelieving dead of all ages. Here in Matthew 25, Jesus is dealing with the separation of the sheep and the goats at the dawn of His millennial reign.

The Litmus Test of True Faith

Now comes the element of shock. We know judgment is coming, and it isn’t shocking that some are admitted into the kingdom while others are turned away. What is deeply shocking is the litmus test Jesus presents for entrance into His kingdom.

Look at verse 34.

Matthew 25:34 (NASB)

’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.

This kingdom, which God prepared from the foundation of the world, is given as an inheritance to His children. Interestingly, this is the only passage in the Gospels where Jesus explicitly refers to Himself as the King. In verse 31, He is the Son of Man; now in verse 34, He is the King on His throne.

Notice that the sheep receive grace. But watch the shocking reason Jesus gives in verses 35 through 39.

Matthew 25:35-39 (NASB)

‘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; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ ’Then the righteous will answer Him, ’Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You [something] to drink? ’And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’

The righteous ask a completely logical question: “Lord, during the Tribulation period, Your saints were raptured and You were in heaven. How could we have fed You, clothed You, or visited You in prison when You weren’t physically here?”

Jesus answers them in verse 40.

Matthew 25:40 (NASB)

’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.’

Jesus explains that whatever they did for His “brothers,” they did directly to Him. Commentators debate who these brothers are, but contextually it points to the messengers of Christ—the Jewish remnants and tribulation saints who proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom at great personal peril during those dark seven years. The way people treated those messengers was a direct reflection of how they treated Jesus Himself.

Now, this raises a critical question: Is Jesus advocating salvation by works rather than salvation by grace through faith alone? Absolutely not. Scripture is abundantly clear that we are saved by grace through faith. What Jesus is saying here is that genuine faith always produces visible life change. True faith will inevitably evidence itself in the deeds of our lives over time.

If I mention the name Lance Armstrong, virtually all of you know who he is. If I mention Greg LeMond, some cycling fans from the nineties will know him. But if I mention the name Gino Bartali, most of you have probably never heard of him—yet you should.

Gino Bartali was an Italian professional cyclist who won the Tour de France just before World War II. When the Nazis occupied Italy, his cycling career was derailed. Bartali watched in horror as his Jewish countrymen were rounded up, persecuted, and sent to concentration camps.

In 1940s Europe, only about six to seven percent of the population actively supported the Nazi regime. But less than one percent actively helped the Jews. That meant roughly ninety percent of the population stood by and did nothing. They felt terrible about what was happening, but they asked themselves, “What will happen to me if I help?” Paralyzed by fear, they did nothing.

Gino Bartali asked a completely different question: “What will happen to them if I don’t?”

Bartali realized he had a unique advantage. As a national cycling champion, he was widely recognized and routinely permitted to ride long training routes across regional borders without suspicion. He began working with the underground resistance. Bartali took forged identification documents and counterfeit ration cards, rolled them up, and hid them inside the seat tube and down tube of his bicycle frame. He would ride hundreds of miles across checkpoints, cheerfully greeting guards who simply waved the famous athlete through.

By leveraging his platform and risking his life, Bartali saved hundreds of Jewish lives. Today, at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, there is a tree and a plaque honoring Gino Bartali because his inward convictions were authenticated by outward action.

This is precisely what Jesus and James are teaching us. Faith without works is dead.

James 2:17 (NASB)

Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, [being] by itself.

How do we know someone truly believes the message of the kingdom? It shows up in how they love and serve those in need. When asked about the greatest commandment, Jesus gave a two-part answer: love God, and love your neighbor. In truth, the evidence that we love God is seen in how we love our neighbor.

This has massive implications for us as the church today. We live in a broken world filled with injustice, oppression, poverty, and human suffering. If we are followers of Jesus, we cannot simply sit back and do nothing. When we see image-bearers of God hurting, those of us with resources, a voice, and a platform must step in and act.

The Indictment of the Goats

If the works of the sheep prove the authenticity of their faith, how do the goats demonstrate their unbelief? By the exact same standard. Look at verses 41 through 46.

Matthew 25:41-46 (NASB)

’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; for I was hungry, and you gave Me [nothing] to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 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.’ ’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?’ ’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.’ ‘These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.’

It is the mirror image of the first verdict. The sheep were invited to come; the goats are commanded to depart. The sheep were called blessed of my Father; the goats are addressed as accursed.

Even though the goats address Him as “Lord,” their lack of compassion revealed that their confession was hollow. Their deeds never backed up their words. And verse 46 concludes with an absolute division: eternal punishment for the goats, and eternal life for the righteous.

What Jesus Teaches About Hell

This brings us to the hardest part of this passage. We cannot look honestly at Matthew 25 without addressing Jesus’ teaching on judgment and eternal punishment. Throughout Matthew, Jesus speaks about hell frequently. Let’s look at a brief systematic theology of what Jesus actually teaches on this subject.

1. Hell is Real

Some people try to dismiss hell by suggesting that the God of the Old Testament was harsh and cranky, but Jesus in the New Testament was gentle and mild, doing away with judgment. The problem with that theory is that Jesus spoke more about hell than anyone else in all of scripture. He spoke more about the reality of judgment than He did about heaven. We cannot let our emotional discomfort dictate what is true.

Some argue that Jesus’ language about hell is purely metaphorical. While Jesus certainly used figurative language—such as telling the Pharisees that if the crowd kept quiet, the stones would cry out—metaphors exist because the reality they describe is far greater than human words can capture. When we say someone is a “diamond in the rough,” we use the symbol because plain words fall short.

When scripture describes heaven with streets of gold, the reality is far more magnificent than gold. By the same token, when Jesus describes hell using imagery of fire and outer darkness, the reality is far more terrifying than the metaphor. When Pastor Tim Keller was once asked by college students if he believed in literal fire in hell, he replied, “No, it’s far worse.”

2. Hell is Eternal

In Jesus’ teaching, hell is not a temporary detention center. There is no purgatory, no work-release program, and no second chance to repent after death. Scripture makes this appointment clear.

Hebrews 9:27 (NASB)

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this [comes] judgment,

Jesus emphasizes the eternal nature of this punishment in Mark 9.

Mark 9:47-48 (NASB)

’If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.

3. Hell is a Place of Punishment

Jesus uses devastating imagery to convey the horror of hell. Six times in the Gospel of Matthew alone, He describes it as a place of “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 22:13 (NASB)

’Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

He uses the same harrowing description in Matthew 13.

Matthew 13:40-42 (NASB)

’So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. ’The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

4. Hell is a Place of Banishment

In Matthew 7, Jesus says that He will declare to the unrepentant, “I never knew you; depart from Me.” One of the most horrifying aspects of hell is that God finally gives people what they have insisted on their entire lives: existence apart from Him.

Matthew 7:23 (NASB)

’And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

In his book The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis wrote that in the end, there are only two kinds of people: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God ultimately says, “Thy will be done.” Hell is the tragic destination of those who demand total autonomy from God.

Why is hell necessary? It comes down to two foundational realities: God’s holiness and the depth of our sin.

God’s holiness is like the sun at the center of our solar system. The sun provides life, heat, and light to everything on earth. But it is also a blazing, ninety-three-million-mile-away furnace. If we were to approach the sun directly, we would be consumed in an instant. When the prophet Isaiah caught a glimpse of the holiness of God, he did not rejoice; he fell on his face in terror.

Isaiah 6:5 (NASB)

Then I said, ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.’

In Exodus 34, God declares His character to Moses: He is compassionate and gracious, yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.

Exodus 34:6-7 (NASB)

Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave [the guilty] unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.’

You cannot have true goodness and love without justice. Because God is completely holy, He must deal with sin. And sin is not merely breaking rules; it is spiritual slavery and idolatry. It is taking lesser things and putting them in the place of God. The only way God could rescue us from our sin without compromising His justice was to bear the penalty Himself on the cross.

Three Responses for the Church

As heavy as this passage is, what should our response be as the church? I want to give you three takeaways.

First, this truth should produce overwhelming gratitude in the heart of every believer. If you have placed your faith in Jesus Christ, you will never face this judgment. Jesus took the full cup of God’s wrath on the cross for your past, present, and future sins. As believers, we will stand before the Bema—the judgment seat of Christ—not to determine our salvation, but to receive rewards for our faithfulness and stewardship in this life. Your sin has been dealt with once and for all.

Second, this truth assures us of ultimate justice. Many of you have experienced deep wounds, injustice, abuse, or betrayal in this life. It is easy to look around our world and wonder if evil will ever be brought to account. Scripture promises that God will not ignore the atrocities committed against His creation. You do not have to carry the burden of vengeance.

Romans 12:19 (NASB)

Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath [of God], for it is written, ‘VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,’ says the Lord.

Third, this truth should stoke our evangelistic urgency. What we are doing here is not a game. The message of the gospel carries eternal weight. If we know the remedy to human brokenness and eternal condemnation—the Lord Jesus Christ—how can we remain silent?

Earlier in our study of Matthew, we shared the story of the famous tightrope walker who pushed a wheelbarrow across a cable strung over Niagara Falls. He pushed the wheelbarrow across, turned around, loaded a sack of potatoes in it, and pushed it back across while the crowd cheered wildly. He looked at the crowd and asked, “Do you believe I could do this with a human being in the wheelbarrow?” The crowd yelled, “Yes! We believe!”

Then he asked, “Who wants to get in the wheelbarrow?”

Total silence.

Belief is not just intellectual agreement from the sidelines. True faith is getting into the wheelbarrow. It is transferring the full weight of your trust to Jesus Christ and resting your eternal soul in His hands.

If you have never climbed into the wheelbarrow—if you have never placed your full trust in Jesus—I plead with you to do so today. We do not preach on judgment to frighten you; we preach on judgment because it is real, and because we want to magnify the staggering grace of a Savior who gave His life so you would never have to face it.

The King is returning. The only question that remains is: Are you ready?

Let’s pray.

Father, as sobering as these words are, we thank You that Jesus did not hide the truth from us. We thank You that in Your great love, You made a way for us to be rescued from our sin through the sacrifice of Your Son on the cross.

Lord, for those who know You, fill our hearts with deep gratitude and stoke within us a fierce passion to share this good news with our neighbors. And for anyone hearing this message who has not yet trusted in Jesus, give them the courage today to step into the wheelbarrow and surrender their lives to You. We love You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.