The Parables of Matthew 25

In this article, I want to deal with a topic that has nipped at my heels for as long as I can remember. Like many believers out there, I have long struggled to properly sort out some of the details of certain aspects of the Olivet Discourse, arguably the premier teaching on the end times that Jesus delivered to four of His disciples during the last week of His earthly ministry.

And in this case, the heel-nipping of which I speak pertains to the three parables that appear at the beginning of Matthew 25:

1. The Parable of the 10 Virgins (Matt. 25:1–13)

2. The Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14–30)

3. The Sheep and Goat Judgment (Matt. 25:31–46)

(I came t-h-i-s close to calling this article "Ladies, Loot, and Livestock," but luckily the Holy Spirit was able to wring that one out of me...although I admit it took a couple of trips to the woodshed.)

I will end up focusing a bit more attention on the Sheep and Goat Judgment than I will on the first two parables because, as we shall see, I believe the Parable of the 10 Virgins and the Parable of the Talents both speak directly to the Sheep and Goat Judgment in ways many people miss.

And I can say that with a clear conscience because I missed this for years.

On a somewhat technical note, be aware that although a lot of people casually refer to all three of these teachings in Matthew 25 as parables for the sake of simplicity (this writer included, most of the time), many Bible commentators do not consider the Sheep and Goat Judgment to be a parable per se—and I must say that I agree. In other words, there is a reason why it is called the Sheep and Goat Judgment (aka the Judgment of the Nations), and not the Parable of the Sheep and Goats. I'm just saying...so when I refer to the "parables" of Matthew 25, as I did in the title, just be aware that I'm tossing in the Sheep and Goat Judgment.

Rather than a parable in the traditional sense (i.e. a succinct, fictional story that serves as a metaphorical analogy that is intended to teach or illustrate one primary, overarching principle without excessive reliance on minor structural details), in reality it reads more like a slightly parabolic description of an actual event. The majority of Bible commentators agree that it refers to a real judgment involving real people that will take place in a real geographic location at a real point in time, and that Jesus is merely injecting a couple of symbolic images into it. In other words:

This is a real judgment, but Jesus isn't judging barnyard animals here.

But whatever you want to call the Sheep and Goat Judgment, as I worked on my last article I began to see a few things that helped clear the fog that had caused me to struggle with some of the interpretive details of these parables in certain ways for a long time. So, in a sense this article finishes something I started in my last one.

First, however, I want to deal with an important topic that will help the rest of what I want to discuss fall into place much more easily...and it concerns what I am convinced is one of the key stumbling blocks that causes good people to go stumbling off in any number of wrong directions in regard to the interpretation of these three parables. Again, I touched on some of this in my last article, but I want to look at it now in a bit more detail.

An end-time Who's Who

I think I've come to understand and appreciate the reason why so many people go off in a variety of wrong directions in their effort to correctly interpret the parables of Matthew 25, and I certainly can't blame them for it. It's a very easy problem to fall victim to, and I'm in a perfect position to say so because I fell victim to it for many years. It takes a wee bit of logic and grunt work, but it's not really a difficult problem to solve once we confront it straight on. It's a simple problem, and it is simply this:

Not every piece of information we need to

correctly interpret the parables in the Olivet

Discourse is found in the Olivet Discourse.

Profound, I know. (And note that this same principle applies to many passages of Scripture, not just these three parables.) In other words, many people tend to look at these parables in a relatively isolated context, and then proceed to rub their chins and muse:

"Gosh, who could these wise virgins, foolish virgins, faithful servants, lazy servants, sheep, and goats possibly be?! Let me put on my thinking cap!"

And it's off to the speculative races without first stopping to give any serious consideration to who they can be, who they can't be, and why. The point is that we have to avail ourselves of pertinent details that are found in other places in Scripture to get some clear ideas about who these characters are (and aren't) before we even try to interpret what the Lord is communicating to us about the end times. So with that thought in mind, it's a-hunting we will go.

First off, timing. I'm sure this is old hat for many of you, but the first step is to ascertain the time these three parables are associated with...and luckily the plain text of Scripture makes this surprisingly easy:

¹Then [Greek: tote (then; at that time)] the Kingdom of Heaven [i.e. the Millennial Kingdom] will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

(Matthew 25:1 / emphasis & [comments] added)

¹⁴For it [the Millennial Kingdom—same thing discussed in the previous parable] is like a man going into another country, who called his own servants and entrusted his goods to them.

(Matthew 25:14 / emphasis & [comments] added)

³¹But when the Son of Man comes in his glory [same deal—when He returns at the Second Coming to establish the Millennial Kingdom], and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

(Matthew 25:31 / emphasis & [comments] added)

Tote—the opening word of chapter 25 tells us everything we need to know about the timing, but each of the other two teachings reinforce the same idea in their very first verse:

At. That. Time.

OK, at what time? Now, don't let yourself be lulled to sleep by the fact that these are the opening words of a new chapter...back up. That's right, keep backing up...back into chapter 24. Back...back...back...AH HA! There it is—the previous event that pins down the time being referred to:

²⁹Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: ³⁰And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ³¹And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

(Matthew 24:29–31 AKJV)

The Second Coming of Christ to the earth to establish His kingdom. So that puts a timestamp on these three parables:

All three occur at (or at least shortly after) the time Christ returns to the earth, and is in the initial process of setting up the Millennial Kingdom.

This is a crucial detail, because it gives us the ammunition we need to determine who the players can (and cannot) be in these parables.

Now, let's break this down and carefully consider all the distinct groups of people who could at least theoretically be around at the Second Coming, and what their potential relationship to the Sheep and Goat Judgment and the subsequent decisions concerning entrance into the kingdom might be. And note that I'm focusing attention on the Sheep and Goat Judgment because, as we shall see, the Parable of the 10 Virgins and the Parable of the Talents both speak directly to this judgment.

a. The Church

Nope, sorry. Let's knock this one out right now. The body of Christ is long gone at this point, because we are raptured before the Tribulation even gets started. However, since the Church will be returning with Christ at the Second Coming, technically speaking the Church will be around for the initial proceedings that take place prior to the launching of the kingdom—just in our glorified bodies. But that doesn't count in this discussion—we're only talking about natural-bodied people here.

Minus the Church, which includes both Jewish and Gentile believers, we can separate the remainder of humanity into Jews and Gentiles who were not part of the Church and so entered into Daniel's 70th Week. However, let's first dispense with all those who fall victim to the deception of the Antichrist:

b. Those who took the mark

I mentioned this in my last article but I'm afraid I was a bit sloppy in the way I said what I said. So, I want to clarify this and be a bit more precise:

¹⁹I saw the beast [the Antichrist], the kings of the earth, and their armies [in Greek, a form of strateuma—the exact same word used to describe the "armies" returning with Christ], gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army.

²⁰The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. ²¹The rest [i.e. all their "armies" with them in verse 19, all of whom would have received the mark] were killed with the sword of him who sat on the horse, the sword which came out of his mouth [slaying the "armies" of the Antichrist is part of job one, right along with dispatching the Antichrist and the False Prophet to the lake of fire]. So all the birds were filled with their flesh.

(Revelation 19:19–21 / emphasis & [comments] added)

When I discussed this in my last article, I jumped to the conclusion that verse 21 alone allowed me to conclude that this included all those who took the mark. That was a little bit sloppy on my part, however, because there is a bit more to it than that—I missed a step. "The rest" in verse 21 doesn't grammatically refer to all those who took the mark, it grammatically refers to the armies of the Antichrist (i.e. him and his "kings") in verse 19.

Now, it's pretty safe to assume that everyone in the Antichrist's "armies" would certainly have taken his mark and worship his image. But I am still convinced this represents all the those who took the mark who are alive at the Second Coming, and here's why.

Note with care what verse 14 says about Christ's return to the earth just a few verses earlier:

¹⁴The armies [a form of strateuma, the same word used for the Antichrist's "armies" in verse 19] which are in heaven, clothed in white, pure, fine linen, followed him on white horses.

(Revelation 19:14 / emphasis & [comments] added)

This is the Church—the entire body of Christ returning with the King to rule and reign with Him in His kingdom. And we are referred to using a form of the exact same Greek word strateuma (an expedition, an army, a company of soldiers) that is rendered in many English translations as "armies" in both verses.

So, it easy and quite natural to think of the Antichrist's "armies" in verse 19 in a manner similar to the way we think of the Church: The "armies" of the Antichrist are all those who worship him and choose to follow him during the Tribulation, in much the same way that the "armies" of the Lord who return with Him in verse 14 are all those who worshiped Him and chose to follow Him (and were raptured to be with Him) before the Tribulation.

And since all those who worship the Antichrist and have chosen to follow him comprise all those who have taken his mark and worship his image, there we have it: We can readily conclude that all living markees are killed at the Second Coming in Revelation 19:21 because they can all be thought of collectively as the "armies" of the Antichrist in verse 19, just as the entire Church that returns with Christ at the Second Coming can be thought of collectively as the "armies" of the Lord in verse 14. Thus, those who took the mark of the beast cannot be players in the parables of Matthew 25 because they are all dead. Q.E.D.

This is precisely what I stated in my last article, but I just took a more carefully thought-out route to get there this time.

The argument could also be made that there is no need for those who took the mark to stand at any such judgment anyway, since their judgment is sealed according to the third angel who flies around the earth in Revelation 14 prior to the release of the bowl judgments:

⁹Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a great voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger [i.e. their judgment is sealed]. He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. ¹¹The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."

(Revelation 14:9–11 / emphasis & [comments] added)

The eternal fate of all those who take the mark is pronounced by an angel. Done deal—no exceptions. No need for any further judgment to be made.

Now, as we shall see, Christ is judging people for their faithful Christian witness (or the lack thereof) at the Sheep and Goat Judgment to determine if they warrant admittance to His kingdom. So...I'm sorry, but why in heaven's name would anyone who took the mark of the beast and worshiped the image of the Antichrist and as a result had their judgment and eternal punishment already announced by an angel need to show up at a judgment to determine if their "Christian witness" was sufficiently up to snuff for the Lord to grant them entrance into His Millennial Kingdom?

Be sure and get back to me on that one.

c. The 144,000

As I've discussed on previous occasions, I am convinced that all of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists that are sealed in Revelation 7 and bring in a huge harvest of souls into the kingdom are martyred (by being beheaded, just like their prototype Paul) before the trumpet judgments are complete during the Great Tribulation. In other words, I believe their being sealed simply protects them long enough to complete their mission. But be advised:

That is my scriptural oh-PEEN-yun.

There is no shortage of highly capable commentators whom I greatly respect who disagree, and believe that the seal the 144,000 receive in Revelation 7 guarantees their survival all the way to the Second Coming. It's just that I see this differently. I won't get sidetracked on it here, but I have what I believe are scripturally sound reasons for holding this view.

But whichever way that jodenkoeken crumbles, I look at it this way:

If that's the case, then just consider the 144,000 as an auxiliary group to the Jewish remnant. It won't cause me any heartburn, nor will it cause any damage to any of my other oh-PEEN-yuns. I just happen to disagree.

Oh, and by the way: It goes without saying that there will be positions of honor reserved for every single one of these 144,000 apostle Pauls in the kingdom. Some even speculate they will serve as Christ's royal guard.

d. Unbelieving Jews

I don't want to be dogmatic about it, but I am of the opinion that unbelieving Jews in the Great Tribulation will be induced by the strong delusion of 2 Thessalonians 2:11 into worshiping the Antichrist as their Messiah, and I think it's safe to assume that this will include taking his mark and worshiping his image. But mark or no mark, Scripture makes it clear that the Antichrist will still go after all the Jews with a vengeance. Why?

Because Satan doesn't want their devotion—he wants them dead.

Opinions vary among capable Bible commentators, with some seeing many unbelieving Jews surviving to the end of the Tribulation and others taking a more literal tack on Scripture and seeing them all slain by the forces of the Antichrist prior to the Second Coming. Personally, I go with the latter because it appears to me that's what the plain text of Scripture indicates.

To wit, note one of the verses that speaks to the fate of the Jewish people during the Tribulation found in Zechariah:

⁸And it shall come to pass, that in all the land [i.e. in Israel], said the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein [in the mountainous region of Seir (aka Edom) that lies across Israel's eastern border in Jordan, which includes Petra].

⁹And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.

(Zechariah 13:8–9 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

And for what it's worth, note that the mountains of Seir are in modern-day Jordan and lie along the eastern side of the valley that forms the border between Jordan and southern Israel—but in the eyes of the LORD it's still part of the land of Israel. 'Nuff said.

The one-third that are refined as silver and tried as gold constitute the believing Jewish remnant who call upon the LORD at the climax of the Tribulation to save them from the overwhelming forces of the Antichrist, who is just about to make Satan's dream come true. How? By doing what Satan has dreamed of doing for the last two thousand years: wiping out the Jews so they can't call upon the LORD to save them—which He will and in the process bring Satan's pathetic excuse of a kingdom to an inglorious end.

Note that the unbelieving two-thirds "shall be cut off and die," and most commentators believe that, as I said, they will be slain by the forces of the Antichrist. Satan's man is going to pull out all the stops in going after all the Jews in the Great Tribulation, but God protects the believing remnant in the mountains of Seir, aka Edom (Rev. 12:13–17; Isa. 63:1). But his failure to get the remnant doesn't stop him from going after the others, regardless of whether they worship him or not.

And according to Zechariah, he'll get them.

e. The Jewish remnant

The believing Jewish remnant clearly survives the Tribulation for the very purpose of being ushered alive into the Millennial Kingdom. It is they who will call on the name of the LORD to save them at the climax of Daniel's 70th Week, and save them He will. In other words, it is they who actually trigger the Second Coming to begin with, which is precisely why Satan has worked so hard and for so long to completely annihilate the Jewish people.

Some people want to see the Jewish remnant as the sheep at the Sheep and Goat Judgment, but this makes little sense. Since they are promised point-blank in Scripture to be ushered into the kingdom, it strikes me as odd that they would be required to stand before Christ to be judged in order to be granted admittance to the kingdom. But here's the clincher:

It's an ethnos thing: Matthew 25:32 refers to the sheep and the goats collectively as "the nations," and uses a form of the Greek word ethnos. This virtually proves the sheep and goats are all Gentiles.

So, not only does it not make any sense to see the Jewish remnant standing at the Sheep and Goat Judgment to be judged as to whether or not they qualify to be allowed into the kingdom, but are we told straight out that the sheep and goats are all Gentiles.

Let me be quick to point out, however, that although I am certain the Jewish remnant are not players at the Sheep and Goat Judgment in the sense of being subject to any such judgment in order to gain admittance to the kingdom (as are the sheep and goats), as we shall see in a moment I believe it is clear that they are present at the Sheep and Goat Judgment, since the Lord clearly refers to them as if they were. In other words, it appears they're in the audience.

And last but by no means least:

f. Gentile Tribulation survivors

This final group consists of Gentiles who survive the Tribulation—and as we discussed earlier, since a very strong case can be made that all living markees are slain by Christ at the Second Coming, we can state with a high degree of confidence that none of these Gentiles who survived the Tribulation took the mark of the beast or worshiped his image.

The fact that none of these took the mark is a subtlety that slides by many, and it is here we get a bit of interpretive jerky to gnaw on. Many students of the Bible tend to divide this group into believers and unbelievers—the saved (the sheep) and the unsaved (the goats), in the same way people are separated today during the Church Age. In other words, according to them:

You got yer Gentile believers,

and yer Gentile unbelievers.

Sheep and goats—cut and dried.

They instinctively take the same saved/unsaved Church Age mentality that legitimately applies to people now during the Church Age, and apply it to people who have witnessed that Church Age come to an abrupt, earth-shattering end and God's hand move mightily in judgment. But after the Church Age ends, that same mentality that is based in part on the doctrine of the eternal security of the (Church Age) believer no longer applies—and that poses some legitimate questions that warrant legitimate scriptural answers.

Just to be clear: When we say "eternal security," it doesn't mean the eternal security of all believers in general, for all time. It means the eternal security of Church Age believers...that is, the eternal security of members of the body of Christ. Not exactly the same. When Jesus says in John 20:29 "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed," He is talking about members of His body—His Church. There will be millions of believers in heaven who were never part of the body of Christ—the only group in Scripture promised such an incredible blessing.

As I mentioned in my last article, I believe all these surviving Gentiles at the very least possessed some degree of faith in God and belief in the gospel at some point during the Tribulation. After all, they had it in them to reject the lies of the Antichrist and refuse to worship him as God. They risked their lives by rejecting his mark and refusing to worship his image, which made them fugitives existing on the fringe of society.

Not to mention capital criminals subject to execution if apprehended.

Not to belabor the point, but that's pretty heavy duty, wouldn't you say? That suggests to me that they possessed some understanding of the evil behind what was happening in the world, and enough spiritual horse sense to reject it at all costs. But why...but how could they do that if they rejected Christ and spurned the message of the gospel—the gospel they must surely have been exposed to? What, you mean they just didn't like or trust the Antichrist...sorta like the way most Americans feel about Joe Biden today?

No. Satan is pushing and shoving the world to the point where it will be absolutely black and white—a world where you are either on his side or you will be hunted down and killed. There will be no middle ground whatsoever. Trump-supporting MAGA extremists versus woke left-wing liberals? Oh baby. You ain't seen nothin' yet. People today scarcely know the meaning of the word "divided" compared to the way things are going to be during the Great Tribulation.

Many who see these Tribulation survivors as either saved or unsaved just as people are differentiated today in the Church Age argue that the mark of the beast will basically be a glorified version of the vaccines: Some simply won't take it. They think some people will refuse the mark just as many today refuse vaccine, even at the cost of their jobs. They argue as follows:

If that's the case, then just consider the 144,000 as an auxiliary group to the Jewish remnant. It won't cause me any heartburn, nor will it cause any damage to any of my other oh-PEEN-yuns. I just happen to disagree.

Suck it up: Hey, if people can have the courage to refuse the vaccine, people can have the courage to refuse the mark. A lot of people didn't fall for the lies behind COVID-19 and the phony vaccines, and so a lot of people are just as liable to refuse to fall for the mark of the beast. Just as with the vaccines, plenty of people are liable to just suck it up and just say "no"...ya know? And just as today, many of those people won't be saved—they'll just be people with a healthy dose of gumption and common sense.

(*Sigh*) Sorry, but that dog don't hunt. We can't even begin to imagine what life on this planet is going to be like during the Great Tribulation—not in our most terrifying nightmares. So not to put too fine a point on it, but is this a valid comparison? Not even in the ballpark.

No? Look at how much the world has changed over just the last three years. Our world is almost unrecognizable compared to what it was in the early days of 2020, and I don't even feel the need to spell it out. We are tumbling into the abyss of end-time prophecy at breakneck speed, and the COVID-19/vaccine lies, lunacy, and deception are just part of the process of getting us warmed up for what is coming:

During the Great Tribulation, the world will be a place where everything you do will be monitored and controlled in ways we've only seen in sci-fi movies. The world will be under the dictatorship of a man who appears to have been raised from the dead, claims to be God, and is passing himself off as someone who is in contact with a benevolent alien race who has come to assist our world through the period of violent changes it is experiencing (i.e. the judgments prophesied in the book of Revelation).

Everyone on earth will be required to "ascend spiritually" (with the assistance of demonic beings disguised as members of that benevolent alien race, not to mention the mark itself) in order to help Mother Earth get through these changes, which are necessary because our Earth Mother Gaia simply must cleanse herself of the dark, negative energy that is draining and weakening her and which persists due primarily to those who cling to primitive religious superstitions (i.e. biblical Christianity).

Understand that taking the mark isn't necessarily going to be like "You must take zee mark of zee beast or vee vill kill you...mua ha ha ha ha!" Talk about "safe and effective"...the mark will be billed as a phenomenal, life-changing necessity that will grant you a couple of hundred years of disease-free life as well as save the planet and all of humanity. I believe it will be billed as including a genetic modification that will help us "ascend spiritually," when in reality it will "switch off" the area of the brain that is involved in spiritual experiences, rendering people incapable of responding to the Holy Spirit. But either way, those who refuse and cling to their archaic superstitions will be putting the future of the human race at risk by failing to help Mother Earth get through the convulsions she is experiencing—and as a result those selfish, superstitious cretins must unfortunately be eliminated as expeditiously as possible because the fate of the planet and all of mankind will be at stake.

(Excuse me, I need a moment...my head is spinning.) Refusing the COVID vaccine doesn't quite stack up to what I just described, does it? So pardon me for saying, but taking the way things are now and attempting to extrapolate that to the way things will be during the Great Tribulation is highly questionable at best, and foolish and naive at worst.

Not to mention impossible.

OK, that pretty well covers the bases, and be aware that there is bit of unavoidable overlap between two of these groups (that is, I believe many of the unbelieving Jews take the mark because they have been deluded into believing the Antichrist is their Messiah).

Here's a brief summary of the results:

Group	Players at the Sheep and Goat Judgment?
The Church:	X NO: Raptured—in the kingdom.
Markees:	X NO: Dead—not in the kingdom.
The 144,000:	X NO: Dead (or alive)—in the kingdom.
Unbelieving Jews:	X NO: Dead—not in the kingdom.
The Jewish remnant:	X NO: Present, but not players.
Gentile Trib. survivors:	√ YES: Players—both sheep and goats.

So based on all we've discussed, it appears that the only people who will be taking part in the Sheep and Goat Judgment following the Second Coming will be Gentiles who survived the Tribulation, refused the mark of the beast, and as a result apparently possessed at least some degree of faith in God and belief in  the gospel at some point during the Tribulation. And as I said, I believe the Jewish remnant is present, but they're certainly not players.

The parables

Now that we've got a grip on who can be players at the Sheep and Goat Judgment, we are better prepared to look at the parables of Matthew 25.

1. The Parable of the 10 Virgins

¹Then [after the Second Coming at the establishment of the kingdom] the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ²Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³Those who were foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them [they had some oil in their lamps, but they didn't bring an extra supply with them], ⁴but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps [they had oil in their lamps, but they brought some extra oil with them]. ⁵Now while the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept. ⁶But at midnight there was a cry, "Behold! The bridegroom is coming! Come out to meet him!" ⁷Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. ⁸The foolish said to the wise, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." ⁹But the wise answered, saying, "What if there isn't enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves." ¹⁰While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut [i.e. the wise virgins entered the kingdom]. ¹¹Afterward the other virgins also came, saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us." ¹²But he answered, "Most certainly I tell you, I don't know you." [...and the foolish virgins are denied entrance] ¹³Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

(Matthew 25:1–13 / emphasis & [comments] added)

Meanwhile, the bride (who isn't even mentioned) has gotten carried off by the Bridegroom and married (in heaven) and is now enjoying her wedding feast (on earth) with Him, so can we please dispense with the notion that any of these 10 virgins are in any way connected to the Church? They can't be.

Of course, oil is always the Holy Spirit. After the Rapture (the "midnight cry" in v. 6) and early in the Tribulation, they all had at least some oil in their lamps. They were all exposed to the gospel, no doubt preached by the 144,000. They believed, and had an initial "dose" of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

But the wise were wise enough to go all out and dig deeper and continued to faithfully yield themselves to the Spirit's leading, and put to use what God gave them for the welfare and benefit of other believers in dire need. As a result, the wise virgins were able to maintain a strong Christian witness throughout the Tribulation in the face of intense persecution, and for that they are granted entrance into the kingdom.

The lamps of the foolish virgins, however, were going out. In other words, they had a tiny bit of oil left, but so little that they couldn't get their lamps to stay lit and then POOF...they just went out. They had made no effort to bring an ample supply of oil, they ran out, and as a result they were denied entrance to the kingdom. I'll have more to say about this later.

2. The Parable of the Talents

¹⁴For it is like a man going into another country, who called his own servants and entrusted his goods to them. ¹⁵To one he gave five talents [a "talent" was a considerable amount of money], to another two, to another one, to each according to his own ability [notice they all received some capital from their Master]. Then he went on his journey. ¹⁶Immediately he who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. ¹⁷In the same way, he also who got the two gained another two [the faithful servants got busy and put their Master's money to work]. ¹⁸But he who received the one talent went away and dug in the earth and hid his lord's money [the lazy servant did nothing with what he had been given].

¹⁹Now after a long time the lord of those servants came, and settled accounts with them. ²⁰He who received the five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, "Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Behold, I have gained another five talents in addition to them." ²¹His lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."

²²He also who got the two talents came and said, "Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Behold, I have gained another two talents in addition to them." ²³His lord said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord."

²⁴He also who had received the one talent came and said, "Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you didn't sow, and gathering where you didn't scatter. ²⁵I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the earth. Behold, you have what is yours."

²⁶But his lord answered him, "You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn’t sow, and gather where I didn't scatter. ²⁷You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest [in other words, you could have at least deposited it in the bank so I'd get a little bit of interest, but you couldn't even be bothered to do that]. ²⁸Take away therefore the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.

²⁹For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who doesn't have, even that which he has will be taken away. ³⁰Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

(Matthew 25:14–30 / emphasis & [comments] added)

According to most sources, a denarius was equivalent to one day's wages, and a talent was equivalent to 6,000 denarii (over 16 years' worth of wages). So, anyway you slice it, even one talent was an awful lot of money. So all three of the servants received a sizable amount of capital from their Master.

When the Master returned from his absence (i.e. when Christ returns to establish His kingdom), the two faithful servants have dutifully put what they received from the Master to work, have produced worthy results, and are rewarded by being invited to enter into the joy of the Lord's kingdom.

On the other hand, the lazy servant has done absolutely nothing except bury his Master's money in the ground, and is sent off to punishment—and again, I'll have a bit more to say about this shortly.

And that brings us to the main event: the judgment itself.

3. The Sheep and Goat Judgment

As I said, most agree this is an actual judgment, and according to the prophet Joel it takes place in the Valley of Jehoshaphat ("the LORD judges"), more commonly known as the Kidron Valley, which runs along the eastern side of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and separates it from the Mount of Olives.

²I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations [notice the motivating factor of the judgment]. They have divided my land,

(Joel 3:2 / emphasis & [comments] added)

Before we continue, here is the full text of the Sheep and Goat Judgment:

³¹But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. ³²Before him all the nations [almost always a reference to Gentiles] will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

³⁴Then the King will tell those on his right hand, "Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. ³⁶I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me." ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? ³⁸When did we see you as a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?" ⁴⁰The King will answer them, "Most certainly I tell you, because you did it to one of the least of these my brothers [a reference to a third group], you did it to me."

⁴¹Then he will say also to those on the left hand, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; ⁴²for I was hungry, and you didn't give me food to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink; ⁴³I was a stranger, and you didn't take me in; naked, and you didn't clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn't visit me." ⁴⁴Then they will also answer, saying, "Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn't help you?" [they actually seem surprised] ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, saying, "Most certainly I tell you, because you didn't do it to one of the least of these [Jesus refers to the same third group], you didn't do it to me." ⁴⁶These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

(Matthew 25:31–46 / emphasis & [comments] added)

Notice that Joel says the Lord will judge the nations of the world "for my people, and for my heritage Israel." Most people believe (and I agree) that this means Jesus is rewarding the sheep for the aid and assistance they gave to members of the Jewish remnant during the Tribulation (His "brothers") and condemning the goats for the lack thereof.

Note also that the way Jesus refers to "these my brothers" when He addresses both the sheep and the goats makes it a virtual grammatical necessity that He is referring to a third group that is present (but apparently not being judged).

Many argue that these "brothers" are the Jewish remnant simply because Jesus uses the word "brothers," which they insist is being used in an ethnic manner—to which I politely reply "poppycock." The word "brothers" used here could legitimately refer to either Jews or Gentile believers (Heb. 2:11; Rom. 8:29).

The problem with seeing the "brothers" as Gentile believers, however, is that the only available Gentile believers Jesus could be talking about would have to be among the sheep and goats! So...the sheep helped themselves?? Now things are getting silly...not to mention illogical since Jesus is clearly referring to a third group that is separate from both the sheep and the goats, whether that group is present at the judgment or not—although it sounds as if they are.

Hang on...incoming:

"Yo, Bible Dude, I thought you said the Jewish remnant was off hiding in the wilderness across the border in Jordan during the Great Tribulation, being protected by God. Well, if that's true, then how can all these sheep (who are Gentiles living all over the world) be busy doing stuff like giving members of the Jewish remnant food and drink, clothing them, visiting them when they're sick or in prison, and so on. Excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but that doesn't make a lick of sense. So...I guess that blows your little theory out of the water, huh?"

Yo, Captain Obvious, who said the sheep helped the Jews during the Great Tribulation? It's a valid point, but during the first half of the Tribulation, many Jewish people will still be living in other nations around the world, just as they do today. As legions of these Jews begin to respond to the gospel preached by the 144,000 and come to faith in their true Messiah, you can bet anti-Semitism will skyrocket far beyond what we are already seeing. This is where the sheep come in, who are Gentiles who have come to faith in Christ during the Tribulation and who have gone out and put it all on the line in aiding and assisting believing Jews all over the world at great risk to themselves in the midst of the persecution of all believers that will be growing by leaps and bounds during the first half of the Tribulation.

Not only that, but after God's thundering, miraculous intervention on their behalf in the battle of Gog Magog, Israel will (temporarily!) be thrust into a place of relative dominance over their Muslim enemies, who have just gotten their tails royally kicked by the God of the Jews. And as they watch their new temple being built, large numbers of Jews will be motivated to make aliyah and relocate to Israel.  As we get closer to the midpoint of the Tribulation, I believe it will reach the point where the great majority of Jews (believing and otherwise) will have relocated to the Jewish nation.

In fact, it wouldn't shock me if the rising leader who will become the Antichrist actually encourages Jews to relocate to Israel. Why? Simple:

Satan knows it will be a whole lot easier to

annihilate them if they are all in one place.

A couple of takeaways

There are any number of ideas we can take away from the three parables of Matthew 25, but there are two primary ideas that I want to leave you with before I wrap this up.

1. The relationship among these three parables

One thing I want you to see clearly is that all three of these parables in Matthew 25 focus on the time when Christ is preparing to establish His kingdom, and all three speak to the same event: the judgment that determines who among Gentile Tribulation survivors shall be granted or denied entrance to the kingdom (aside from those who are already guaranteed entrance, that is). And as we have seen, the only group of people available to be judged as to their worthiness to enter the kingdom are Gentile survivors of the Tribulation who refused the mark. That means all the players mentioned in all three of these parables—the five wise virgins, the five foolish virgins, the two faithful servants, the lazy servant, the sheep, and the goats are all collectively this group: this group of Gentile Tribulation survivors.

Then, when the judgment commences, this group is divided into two subgroups: one of which is welcomed into the kingdom (the sheep) and one that is sent off to eternal punishment (the goats).

So, the Parable of the 10 Virgins and the Parable of the Talents are speaking of the same thing: a judgment where people are either granted or denied entrance into the Millennial Kingdom. Then, the actual judgment itself is described in the third teaching in the Sheep and Goat Judgment.

But note with care what these first two parables do for us. The Parable of the 10 Virgins speaks of oil, which is the Holy Spirit, and so describes the virgins preparedness in terms of how much of the Holy Spirit the virgins possessed. Or, to be more accurate, how much of the virgins the Holy Spirit possessed. This parable characterizes the judgment in spiritual terms—in terms of how much these people sought and submitted themselves to the leading of the Spirit. And in the parable, all 10 of the virgins had the Holy Spirit within them to some extent, at least at some point during the Tribulation.

But the wise virgins went all in, and submitted themselves to the leading of the Holy Spirit to a far greater degree and as a result were deemed worthy of entering the kingdom. The foolish virgins let the light of the Holy Spirit go out in their lives, perhaps due to being overcome by the cares of the world—which is understandable from a human perspective since they will be forced to endure incredible hardships. And as a result they were denied entrance.

On the other hand, the Parable of the Talents speaks of this judgment in terms of what the servants did with what their Master entrusted them with. It characterizes the  judgment in terms of faithful service and stewardship of what God gave them. And all three servants were given an amount of capital they could use in their Master's service, and for which they would be held accountable upon His return.

Since all 10 virgins did in fact have some oil, and all three servants were in fact given some capital, I think we have to treat this as part of the primary principle that both parables are designed to communicate. When you see the same element repeated in two consecutive parables, that clearly suggests to me that it's not a trivial mechanical detail that can be dismissed as insignificant, which I have seen people try to do. We can't do that here.

It would have been just as easy for the Holy Spirit to have the five foolish virgins have no oil whatsoever. It would have been just as easy for the Holy Spirit to have the lazy servant be given nothing, and present these two parables in a corresponding manner. But He didn't.

And this leads quite naturally to the second takeaway:

2. Salvation during the Tribulation

I have long believed that Gentile believers during the Tribulation will have to find it within themselves to maintain a faithful witness in order to be judged worthy of entering the kingdom (and some will and some won't), and that's because they will not enjoy the blessing of being sealed and indwelt by the presence of the Holy Spirit as does the Church. I believe Revelation 16:15 and Matthew 24:13 suggest as much, but a closer look at these three parables goes a long way in providing further scriptural confirmation of this in my opinion.

Houston, we have a problem: While we are on earth, the Church is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16) because He is sealed in us and dwells within us. That began on the day of Pentecost two thousand years ago and ends at the Rapture, and only the Church is promised such a blessing (John 20:29). At the Rapture, the Church is translated to heaven and the Holy Spirit will stand down from this ministry and will no longer have His temple on earth. Incidentally, this also represents the end of His ministry of restraining evil (2 Thess. 2:6–7), and during the Tribulation evil will rapidly engulf the world in ways we cannot even imagine. But consider: If the Holy Spirit were to begin to seal and indwell believers during the Tribulation in the same manner as He did for the Church during the Age of Grace, it would mean that He did an about-face after the Rapture and returned to begin establishing another temple on earth. Of course, the Holy Spirit will still be active and operative on earth among Tribulation believers just as He was in the Old Testament, but that's not the same thing. Houston, we have a problem.

One telling point about the goats is something I brought up in my last article, and that's the simple fact that it is clear from the nature of the goats' response to the Lord's accusations that they are genuinely surprised that they are being denied entrance to the kingdom. They act as if they actually expected to be admitted, and seem innocently perplexed at the fact that they are being turned away and shut out.

Consider: Everyone standing before Christ at the Sheep and Goat Judgment is a Gentile who survived the Tribulation and refused to give in to incredible pressure to receive the mark of the beast. And under the circumstances, that means something...more than many realize.

It strikes me that the only thing that could realistically motivate any person to reject the mark of the beast and risk being beheaded for doing so would be the fact that they have gotten a taste of God's grace and mercy. They must be people who have at the very least been introduced to the gospel of His salvation, and made a profession of faith. The Holy Spirit made some initial inroads with them. There really isn't much else you can attribute this to—rejecting the mark is going to be beyond the pale to a degree we cannot even imagine today.

Again, this is going to be nothing like refusing to take a COVID vaccine—that's child's play compared to this. The pressure to take the mark will be orders of magnitude greater than anything we've seen for the vaccines, and you will be promptly hunted down and killed for rejecting it. And untold legions will be.

But the goats gave in to the raw fear and the instinct for self-preservation that will permeate the world at that time. They looked out for number one, and failed to seek and submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit and tap into His power to any perceptible degree and as a result He ultimately left them high and dry. After all, He will not be sealed in them and indwell them as is true for members of the body of Christ, who were His temple on earth prior to being removed in the Rapture.

The point is that God is going to require more from those who foolishly trampled His grace and mercy underfoot during the Church Age, but who have now witnessed the revelation of His miraculous removal of hundreds of millions of believers at the Rapture, as well as the revelation of His mighty hand moving in judgment on the entire world (Rev. 6:16–17). As I discussed in a previous article entitled "Dropping the Hammer":

With God's revelation comes responsibility—

with the rejection thereof comes judgment.

People in the Tribulation will be people who foolishly spurned the gospel during the Church Age, but who will witness the revelation of the things I just described. And God will require more from them: He will require them to maintain a faithful witness until His Son returns at the Second Coming. And demonstrating that witness will involve aiding and assisting Jewish believers who will desperately need their help to survive. So make no mistake:

Believers during the Tribulation are

going to have to hang on to the

Holy Spirit like there's no tomorrow.

Because for many, there won't be. That's what it will take for them to be considered one of the wise virgins, one of the faithful servants, and one of the sheep. That's what it will take for them to be set on Christ's right hand and hear Him say:

"Well done, good and faithful servant.

Enter into the joy of your Lord."

So if you don't take anything else away from this article, take this:

The Church has been blessed with the

sweetheart deal of all eternity, because

we have seen nothing and yet believed.

We never saw Jesus walk on water. We never saw Him raise the dead. We never saw Him heal crippling diseases with a single word or a simple touch. We never saw Him cast out demons with a terse command. We never saw Him alive after His brutal crucifixion.

We never saw the scars.

Yet we believe—we have placed our trust in His work of atonement for our salvation in simple, childlike faith. And according to Christ's own words, the Church is blessed on account of this:

²⁹Jesus said to him, Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed [and that blessing is being sealed with the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit].

(John 20:29 AKJV / emphasis & [comments] added)

And the parables in Matthew 25 clearly involve those not so blessed.

John 20:29 is a verse I'd like to rub in the face of half the people in the body of Christ today (actually I'd settle for half the preachers), because many in the Church do not grasp this because they have sat under preaching that is more concerned with life applications than the life-changing truth of God's Word.

So if nothing else, let me leave you with a sense of the incredible riches and blessings we have in Christ now during the Age of Grace, and in being sealed with and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who faithfully convicts us of sin and gradually conforms us to the image of our Lord and Savior.

Class dismissed

I'm certain this doesn't apply to any of you dear readers out there, but when I was just a young lad in my early teens, I had a bad habit of daydreaming in church. In one such daydream, I would be in heaven, standing before the Lord in front of a large crowd of admiring believers, and the Lord would say that line to me: "Well done, good and faithful servant—enter into the joy of your Lord." And I would be blushing and aw-shuxing, like an actor who just received his first Academy Award...and breathing a sigh of relief that God apparently hadn't gotten the memo from the CIA (Celestial Intelligence Agency) regarding that magazine under my mattress.

But that's not our line. We will never hear the Lord offer us an invitation to enter His kingdom, and the reason is simple: He won't have to. We were guaranteed a place in His kingdom the moment we humbled our hearts before God, and believed in faith that Christ died and rose again to atone for our sins. From that moment on, it was a done deal. We were in there. We were sealed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and He never left us for one single moment for the rest of our earthly lives—in spite of our occasional but ultimately futile efforts to shut Him up and tune Him out.

These days, however, I have a very different daydream. In this one, I am in the middle of teaching one of my adult English classes, and I am interrupted by what sounds a lot like a trumpet. Then I hear a very different line:

"Come up here!"

"Uhh...class dismissed!"

From Greg Lauer @ A Little Strength—APR '23: "The Parables of Matthew 25"

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