When is the Separation of the Sheep from the Goats?

"Isn’t the Separation of the Sheep from the Goats at the start of the Millennium?"

Don't Be Confused About Bible Prophecy Another Minute

Here's the Bible Prophecy breakthrough you've been waiting for—from two overlooked keys in the hard sayings of Jesus now made plain in the most accurate prophecy research available, because it departs from traditional "anything goes" allegorical interpretations which disregard Jesus' only statement on how to interpret Scripture correctly. (Learn these keys of Jesus in this free article...)

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I received this email on my article Why The Beast and False Prophet Enter The Lake of Fire First:

However, what about the goats that are sent away into the lake of fire in Matthew 25:31-46 when Jesus comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, he sits upon his throne of his glory and separates the sheep from the goats. Doesn't this scenario also take place before the Millenium begins and not at the great white throne judgement when unbelievers raised from the dead are thrown into the lake of fire if there name is not written in the book of life? The goats in Matthew 25: 31-46 are told by Jesus "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." I always thought this scenario took place at the beginning of the Lord Jesus' reign on earth.

God bless,

Donna Danna

Good question. Let's read that passage and see what it says exactly:

Mt 25:31-33,44-46 - 31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

First, we need to be clear that this story is not the same as the story of the Tares being judged before the Millennium. Notice when you read this story, it's talking about people who thought they were doing alright but who just never really got out of their selfish ways so they could have the basic outgoing concern that God shows for us and hopes we all will value and adopt ourselves. These are not the nephilim, these are people. Wicked people, as already covered in the article, are all judged after the Millennium, whereas Nephilim are judged before the Millennium.

As far as the story telling us these humans get judged at the start of the Millennium, notice that verse 32 does not tell us exactly when he will gather all nations to judge them. It certainly does not say "immediately after" he sits on his throne will he gather all nations. We know "immediately" is a word in Jesus' vocabulary because, for example, he used it earlier in the Olivet Discourse explaining when the rapture is: "immmediately after the tribulation of those days" (Mt 24:29).

So if it does not say here clearly how soon the judgement happens after he sits on his throne, then it would dangerous to assume it's immediately after. And if these are humans as they clearly are, then the Book of Revelation should be relied on to fill in the specifics of the exact timing of this judgement (post-millennial), which is unimportant to the message of the parable and was left unspecified.

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