This is part of a series of meditations on what Scripture teaches about each day of Holy Week, which goes from Palm Sunday until Easter, in which Christians everywhere mark the culmination of Jesus Christ’s ministry, His death on the cross, and His resurrection from the dead.

Previous posts:

• Prelude
• Palm Sunday
• Holy Monday
• Holy Tuesday Part 1

“As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats….And I will judge between sheep and sheep. And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.  And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken.”

-Ezekiel 34:17, 22b-24, ESV

“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book.  And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.  And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

-Daniel 12:1-3, ESV

Continuing the theme of the end of the Jewish position as God’s people, Jesus tells the disciples plainly that the Temple would be destroyed, which instigates the Olivet Discourse describing the signs of the end times and the Second Coming of Christ coming at a time no one expects.  This ends with the parables of the virgins and talents, exhorting the disciples to be ready and work diligently with the gifts that God has given in order to advance His Kingdom and thus be rewarded at the Second Coming.  Jesus then ends the Olivet Discourse with a discussion of the final judgment, describing the Son of Man (His favorite title for Himself) sitting on a throne judging everyone.  He describes this like a shepherd separating sheep from goats, which references the promise of God in Ezekiel 34:17 to “judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats”.  This comes in the context of God’s rebuke of the Jewish leaders as shepherds who did not care for the sheep, instead neglecting those in need and fattening themselves off the healthy ones.  While God is patient, He is also just and will thus not allow His sheep to be neglected and exploited forever, so He declares: “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them” (Ezekiel 34:10), even going on to say that He would be their shepherd, which Jesus repeats by calling Himself the Good Shepherd (John 10:11).  As I have stated in a previous post and in my leadership paper, this is the foundation of true leadership.  Throughout Scripture, leaders are referred to metaphorically as shepherds, thus setting the example of leadership that God expects, so it should be no surprise that Jesus as the perfect leader calls Himself the Good Shepherd. 

Judging Between Sheep and Goats

Jesus leads His people perfectly, which includes judging them (Ezekiel 34:20-21).  Wrapping up the Olivet Discourse, Jesus expands upon by describing the criteria by which He will judge.  The sheep are welcomed into heaven because they cared for God’s people (the sheep who were vulnerable) and thus cared for Jesus.  Conversely, the goats are condemned to hell because they did not care for God’s people and thus did not care for Jesus.  Therefore, the sheep are those who receive everlasting life and the goats are those who receive shame and everlasting contempt in Daniel 12:2.  But Daniel 12:1 describes the criteria being “everyone whose name shall be found written in the book”, which corresponds to the Lamb’s Book of Life in Revelation 20:15.  However, Revelation 20:12-14 describes everyone being judged by what they had done as recorded in various other books.  Eternal salvation is decided simply by whether or not your name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life as one who has received salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone apart from works.  However, James 2:14-26 emphasizes the fact that such faith will naturally result in good works, so the deeds of believers recorded in the other books bear witness to that faith, whereas the deeds of unbelievers recorded in the books corroborate their lack of faith and thus just sentence to hell, since “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin” (Romans 14:23b).  This is evidenced by the fact that both the sheep and goats are surprised by the ruling.  The sheep asked when they had done all those good deeds, signifying that they were unaware of either the significance of their actions or even the fact that they were doing them at all.  Such is the case for good works that flow naturally from the new heart gifted by the Holy Spirit that enables faith in the first place.  Conversely, the goats were also surprised, thinking they had done everything required to earn God’s favor.  But their works apart from faith were worthless.  Therefore, it is imperative to trust in Jesus Christ alone and not in any amount of good works for salvation, even as we diligently seek the fruit of that salvation in the form of good works in our lives (Galatians 5:22-23, Philippians 2:12-13).

The Least of These

Equally important, these good works revolve around caring for the vulnerable sheep, being done “to the least of these my brothers” (Matthew 25:40) who do the Will of God (Matthew 12:50) by believing in Jesus Christ and thus receiving salvation by faith (Romans 8:29, Hebrews 2:11).  This is clearly the church, which should cause us to soberly ask: “Do I love the church?”.  Clearly, saying “I love God but can’t stand His people” isn’t an option, because if we love Jesus we will love what He loves—and He loves the church so much that He died for the church and continues to nurture and cherish her!  Simply put, if we don’t similarly love and care for the church, we are not doing God’s Will and thus might not be Jesus’ siblings represented by the sheep but may in fact be the goats whom He never knew.  As I said in my first ever post, if we love Jesus we will love what Jesus loves—and Jesus loves the Church.  Certainly, even the best churches make mistakes and have practices we may not appreciate or agree with, but if mistakes and minor disagreements are not biblical grounds for divorce there are equally not grounds for deserting the church.  In this way, the American consumer mentality has done great damage by causing people to view the church as a supplier to meet our preferences rather than a family to which we are committed through thick and thin.  Just as Jesus prohibited divorce apart from infidelity, we should not leave the local church unless the church is unfaithful to Scripture.  Of course God does move His people as He wills—which is certainly the case with me—but even those transfers should come with the same sadness as moving away from family.  So if you have not yet trusted in Christ, your works are worthless so believe and become part of His sheep.  If you are one of His sheep through faith, love and care your fellow sheep in His church.