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The words from Jesus in Matthew 25 provide a sobering picture of the Final Judgement. Verses 31-33 depict Jesus as standing in judgement- on the throne of His glory, with His mighty angels surrounding Him, and the nations before Him- separating the sheep (believers) from the goats (unbelievers). The sheep he puts to His right (a place of prominence in Scripture, such as Psalm 110:1-2) and the nonbelievers to His left. He begins to speak to the believers first as recorded in verse 34-36 saying,
"Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."
A couple things must be noticed before we look at the rest of the text.
First, notice that the kingdom was not prepared for the sheep as a response to their feeding of the poor and visiting of the prisoner. They were inheriting a kingdom prepared for them "before the foundation of the world" and thus was prepared for them before they had done anything, good or bad. Even the language seems to not picture a slave receiving a reward (that is the point of the previous section, 24:45-51), but of a son receiving a kingdom. This is described as being giving to one who is "Blessed" not one who is rewarded (v. 34).
What follows in verses 35-36 must therefore be a description of the inheritors, not the conditions of inheritance. This is not the rules the sons of the King must do to earn the Kingdom, but the descriptions of what sons do who will inherit the Kingdom. These are describing fruits, not roots. To quote Jesus from His most famous sermon, "By their fruits you will know them" (in this case the inheritors of the kingdom).
What exactly were these fruits? Jesus reveals at the end of the paragraph, in verse 40, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." All of the good works done for his "brothers" were equivalent to doing them for Him. Who are His brothers? Many have argued this passage is about serving everyone who is poor- but, when Jesus (or the Bible) refers to His "brothers" it is a often a reference to believers (Matthew 12:50, 28:10, John 20:17, Romans 8:29-30, Hebrews 2:11). Outside of select cases where his physical descendant are in view; the majority of the time His spiritual descendants (believers) are in view. When the sheep serve the other needy sheep (their brothers), they are serving Christ. Jesus often considers everything done to His bride, as something done to Him (for example, Acts 9 and the persecution from Saul). Kingdom-inheritors serve other needy kingdom-inheritors- feeding them, giving them water, and visiting them in jail. This is evidence of a true believer- to love other believers (John 13:35).
What stands out even more is the response of the sheep, recorded in verse 37, "Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?'" The sheep (the righteous) do not seem to understand what they were doing. These sheep did not understand their works to be done intentionally in order to earn the kingdom, but were the natural overflow of life as kingdom-inheritors. They did not understand their good works to be a condition of their inheritance.
What is sobering about this text is that Jesus then turns to the left, and say to the goats, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." We see the echo back to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount where He tells those who simply professed faith work possessing faith,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’" - Matthew 7:21-23 (emphasis mine)
God casts the goats into the lake of the fire- the same place prepared for the devil and His angels. Who is sent to this frightening fate? Those who instead of serving the "least of these." These are again, not the general poor, but believers specifically. The term "least of these" is used throughout the book of Matthew in reference to Christians only(1), What characterizes those who are sent into the lake of fire- they neglected God's people, and by doing so they neglect Jesus Himself (42-45).
Jesus closes this passage by summing up, "And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46). Those who reject God's people, by it showing their rejection of Jesus, will be sent into eternal punishment. Those who serve God's people, by it showing their acceptance of Jesus, will inherit the Kingdom of God; everlasting life.
This text should not lead us to saying that we need faith, plus work, in order to be saved. This text in fact shows that our works for others should be grounded in our faith- that works are the fruit of our faith, but that in the end our salvation is a work of God alone. He is the one who adopts us as sons (Eph. 1:4-6) and calls us into His kingdom (1 Thess. 2:12). Our salvation is a work of God alone.
This text also teaches us what should mark our lives- service of others. Especially other believers in need. Paul say it this way in Galatians 6:10, "So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."
This text should serve as a warning- your relationship to the people of God is evidence of your relationship with God Himself. In a culture of non-commitment, we as Christians are called to commit to one another, to serve one another, to submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21). Much of our culture has pushed aside God's church, neglecting her, and by doing so showing their rejection of our Savior.
But, we must not fret, we must press in, preaching the gospel of redemption and trusting God, because in the end God will set everything right- whether through judgement of salvation. Will you put your trust in the King today? He emptied Himself by taking on flesh, willingly suffered the neglect of death and the wrath of God as a substitute (Phil. 2:5-11. Rom. 3:25-26). He died, and three days later rose again! He stands as King and calls all to turn from rejecting Him by our sin and to trust in Christ alone for salvation. We are not to trust in our service of the poor, but in God's own service of the poor through the death of His Son. He is coming soon, are you ready? Have you bowed the knee now, which leads to salvation or will you bow it later, which leads to judgement? Lay down your weapons of rebellion, bow the knee. Repent and trust Him today.
(1) Denny Burk has written a helpful piece on the identification of the "least of these" here: http://www.dennyburk.com/the-least-of-these-are-not-the-poor-but-the-christian-baker-photographer-and-florist/
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