A week ago on Wednesday I was blessed to meet my dear friend Neil over lunch and he soon divulged a brief word he’d been given during that night. As we munched, he mulled over the ENORMITY of what the Lord had dropped into his mind. It was, “Not the way I might have worded it!”

Here’s what Neil was led to write:

SHEEP OR GOAT?

INTRODUCTION

This morning (6 Aug 25) at about 2 am, I woke up with a start. The Lord said to me:

“Satan is stealing the chance of eternal salvation and replacing it with the probability of eternal damnation.”

I felt called to write about the “Sheep and the Goats” judgement (Matthew 25:31-46 – The Son of Man Will Judge the Nations). Rather than slavishly going through the scripture line by line, I would ask that you read it carefully via the above link, before continuing with this article. Clearly, the sheep represent the righteous and the goats represent the unrighteous, and it is a prophetic parable.[RB: an End-times one too]

As we move on, I am sure you will see why I realised that what I was writing was a follow on to, and amplification of, my last article: The Bandwagon of Deception.

“THE LEAST OF THESE”

Jesus, speaking to the “sheep”, says: “Truly I tell you whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” To the goats He says: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these you did not do for me” (v:40;45).

The question is: who are: “the least of these brothers and sisters of mine“? In my mind’s eye, I see Jesus gesturing with His hand towards a group “one of the least of these ….”: In other words, Jesus is indicating that there is a third group present, who are “witnesses” to the event (i.e., other than the “sheep” and the “goats”).

I have read some erudite articles, and listened to some eloquent talks, on the sheep and goats’ scripture. The most frequent response to who “the least of these” could be is that they are “Christians”. Another popular view is that the term is referring to “anyone in need”. There is a problem with this latter understanding: If the “sheep” are not Christians, the text would seem to be indicating that performing “good works” is all that is required for entry to eternal life in the Kingdom of God, and that is definitely not what the Bible says.

If they are Christians, and the scripture “No-one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6) makes me think they must be, then I am convinced that when the King (Jesus the Jew) says, “the least of these brothers and sisters of mine” He must be talking about His Jewish “brothers and sisters” (“brethren” in some translations), i.e., all Jewish people.

BROTHERS AND SISTERS (BRETHREN)

There are several scriptures where Jews, including unbelievers, are referred to as brothers and sisters, or brethren. In Acts 2:29 Peter, in his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, calls the assembled crowd brethren (“Fellow Israelites” in some translations). Similarly, both Stephen (Acts 7:20) and Paul (Acts 13:38) call Jews, both believers and nonbelievers, “brothers” or “brethren”, depending on the Bible version.

WHEN?

The “sheep and goats” judgement takes place on the Earth, just before the start of the Millennium. Its purpose is to determine who will enter the Millennium Kingdom, i.e., to ensure that the righteous, rather than the cruel and wicked, will populate the world. It is not to be confused with the White Throne judgement, which takes place at the end of the millennium (Revelation 20:12-15).

RELEVANCE

We are in a time of uproar: multitudes are clamouring for the destruction of Israel. The truth is, God has told us that this would happen. We dangerously underestimate our God, if we believe He has been caught unawares by the world-wide outpouring of aggressive and vitriolic antisemitism.

God is omniscient and has always known that this ploy of Satan’s would have to be addressed. The prophetic scriptures give us a hint of God’s foreknowledge. I believe that this prophetic parable hinges on how people relate to, and behave towards, the Jews.

CONCLUSION

While I recognise that there are good arguments to support the case for the “witnesses” being Christians, I think it is unsafe to ignore the likelihood that they are, in fact, Jewish.

As mentioned above, we are in a time of extreme antisemitism which, as explained in The Bandwagon of Deception, is so deeply entrenched in the church that many “Christians” believe the church has replaced Israel in God’s favour, which is a diabolical lie.

Whether we like it or not, the Jews are God’s chosen people – the Bible, from beginning to end, makes that abundantly clear. Those shouting against Israel are showing a wilful determination to trample God’s chosen people underfoot.

I beg you, don’t believe the lie and let Satan steal your opportunity for eternal salvation.