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, it is possible that 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?