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Sheep & Goats "All the nations will be
gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a
shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on
His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to
those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the
kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" Matt
25:32-34
Did you know that when speaking of who will become saved and who will be
damned, those that the Bible refers to as goats do not become sheep? LOST
sheep become FOUND sheep. That is, God's people (His Elect) become
saved. They are still sheep before they are saved. They are not
goats. GOATS are those whom God has not elected to salvation.
And only God knows who they are. Also, a LOST sheep may not become FOUND
until just before death.
Was the kingdom of God and of Heaven prepared for the goats? Not according to
scripture.
Matthew 10:5 - "These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded
them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the
Samaritans enter ye not: 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel."
Note that lost sheep become found sheep but goats do
not become sheep. Also, lost sheep do not find themselves nor is there ever
any mention of them seeking the shepherd, but there is mention of them going
astray and going their own way:
Isaiah 53:6 - "All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all."
Notice that the words "us all" refer back to the sheep, God's
elect, as confirmed just two verses later in the same chapter of Isaiah, by the
use of the term "my people":
Isaiah 53:8 - "He was taken from prison and from judgment: and
who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the
living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken."
Note also how it is the shepherd who seeks the sheep and not the other way
around:
Matthew 18:12 - "How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep,
and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine,
and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone
astray?"
Here are some Bible verses that show, from God's perspective, that there is a
difference to Him, as to who are His people or who will be His people (i.e. the
sheep) and who are not and will never be (i.e. the goats).
|
GOATS |
|
SHEEP |
| Hardened |
Rom 9:18 |
shown
mercy |
Rom 9:18 |
| objects
of his wrath-- prepared for destruction |
Rom
9:21-22 |
objects
of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory |
Rom 9:23 |
| marked
out for this condemnation |
Jude 1:4 |
appointed
to eternal life |
Acts
13:48 |
| reserved
under punishment |
2 Pet 2:9 |
delivered
out of temptations |
2 Pet 2:9 |
| destined
to stumble and fall |
1 Pet 2:8 |
granted
repentance unto life |
Acts
11:18 |
| appointed
to suffer wrath |
1 Thes
5:9 |
appointed
to receive salvation |
1 Thes
5:9 |
| could
not believe |
John
12:39 |
granted
to believe |
Phil 1:29 |
| hated |
Rom 9:13 |
loved |
Rom 9:13;
II Thes 2:13 |
| rejected |
Jer 6:30 |
chosen |
Eph 1:4;
II Thes 2:13 |
| not
my sheep |
John
10:26 |
my
sheep |
John
10:14 |
| eyes
that could not see and ears that could not hear |
Rom 11:8 |
the
elect |
Rom 11:7 |
| made
for the day of evil |
Prov 16:4 |
chosen
out of the world |
John
15:19 |
| born
only to be destroyed |
2 Pet
2:12 |
given
to Christ |
John 6:37 |
| names
have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world |
Rev 17:8 |
names
written in heaven |
Luke
10:20 |
| though
seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand |
Luke 8:10 |
knowledge
of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given |
Luke 8:10 |
| hidden
from the wise and learned |
Matt
11:25 |
revealed
to little children |
Matt
11:25 |
Are YOU a sheep or a goat?
How do you know?
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