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:

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: