Chapter Five — STN (Sheep To Nations)
Preface
Chapter 1 — 3 Realms of Existence
Chapter 2 — DNA (The Depraved Nature of Adam)
Chapter 3 — BPM (The Broken Planet Model)
Chapter 4 — End Times Made Easy (ETME)
Chapter 5 — Sheep To Nations (STN)
Chapter 6 — The Second Death
We have arrived at the chapter I hinted at twice back in the DNA chapter. I promised you a safety net — something for those who, for whatever reason, never came to the cross. I told you it was not salvation, but better than the alternative. Now I’ll make good on that promise.
But first, a warning. What you are about to read is probably not what you’ve been taught. In fact, I’d be surprised if you’ve ever heard it at all. For two thousand years, people have read the passage at the center of this chapter and forced it into whatever system they already believed. I did the opposite. I let the passage say what it says, followed the timeline God laid out, and accepted where it led — even though it led somewhere strange.
So hold your objections until the end. Let the Bible speak first.
Where This Sits
In the previous chapter, I left you standing at the threshold of the Millennium — the thousand-year reign of Jesus on this earth, ruling from Mount Zion in Jerusalem. I told you there were two kinds of people in it: glorified, immortal saints, and regular, mortal nations. I told you the number of saints is already full by then. And I told you there are two judgments in the Millennium, neither of which is for the saints.
This chapter is where I prove all of that from the Word.
It’s drawn from my full book, Sheep To Nations, which lays out every argument in detail and answers every loose thread. Here, I’m giving you the core — the spine of it — with the verses that carry the weight. If you want the rest, it’s free on my website (GaryTheGospelGuy.com).
The Olivet Discourse
I always anchor end-times study in the same place: the Olivet Discourse. That’s the teaching Jesus gave His four closest friends — Peter, Andrew, James, and John — on the Mount of Olives in the week before His death (Mark 13:3). It runs across Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, and Luke 21, and it is the most complete end-times timeline in the whole Bible.
We’ve already walked the timeline (or ran through it). So I’ll skip straight to the end of it — the part that almost nobody handles correctly. The separation of the sheep and the goats.
Matthew 25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’
“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You…?’ And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’
“Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…’
“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (BSB)
That is not an allegory. It is not a parable. Jesus places it as future fact (narrative) — what He will actually do. Read it that way, because that’s how He gave it.
The Timing Is Everything
Most of the time, timing in the Bible is a side issue. Not here. In this study, timing is the whole ballgame. Get it wrong and you’ll never see what’s sitting in plain sight.
Look at the very first line: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory…”
Take Him at His word. This judgment happens when He returns in glory. It is one of His first official acts as the new King of the Earth — early in the Millennium, not at the end of it. Hold that thought, because it’s the hinge everything turns on.
Now look at what happens just before this judgment: the glorification of the saints. For that, we step over to Paul.
1 Thessalonians 4:16 “For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.” (NLT)
There it is. The resurrection of the dead in Christ and the rapture of the living in Christ — happening together, with no gap between them, while Jesus is still in the air during His return. Together, these two events are what we call the glorification of the saints.
Paul nails down the order in his letter to Corinth:
1 Corinthians 15:22 “Just as everyone dies because we all belong to Adam, everyone who belongs to Christ will be given new life. But there is an order to this resurrection: Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when He comes back.” (NLT)
All who belong to Christ — raised when He comes back. Not before the tribulation. When He returns. And that glorification immediately precedes His taking the throne over the Earth.
What Glorification Actually Is
Before I go on, you need to know what glorification means, because it’s the key that unlocks this whole chapter. Paul spells it out:
1 Corinthians 15:42 “Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies… For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.” (NLT)
Glorification is the enhancement of the physical with the spiritual, the mortal becomes immortal. It makes a person sinless and indestructible — a body that will never die. I call it the upgrade from Humanity 1.0 to Humanity 2.0, an upgrade straight from the Manufacturer. More on that in a bit.
Here’s why it matters right now: the saints are already glorified before the sheep-and-goats judgment happens. That’s not my opinion. That’s just the order the Bible gives. Paul puts glorification at Christ’s return; Jesus puts the sheep-and-goats scene right after His return. So by the time the King sits down to separate the sheep from the goats, the saints are complete. Finished. Standing with Him. Which means the people being judged in that scene cannot be the saints.
It is not possible.
Who Are the Sheep?
So if they aren’t saints, who are they? The answer is right there in the passage we opened with.
Matthew 25:32 “All the nations will be gathered before Him…”
This is after Jesus has taken His throne in Jerusalem. The previous seven-and-a-half years have brought the tribulation and then God’s wrath. So the people standing before Him — both the sheep and the goats — are survivors of the apocalyptic events that just ended. A remnant.
Isaiah 24:13 “Throughout the earth the story is the same — only a remnant is left, like the stray olives left on the tree or the few grapes left on the vine after harvest.” (NLT)
These are not glorified people. They are unglorified — mortal humans who lived through the worst time in history. And since glorification comes only through faith, not one of them is a believer. Not the sheep, not the goats. If they had faith, they’d already be standing behind Him as glorified saints, not in front of Him awaiting judgment.
They are called the Nations. The word means exactly what it means today: groups of people with a shared heritage and land. They were in the nations before the judgment, and they’ll go on living as nations after it. The difference is that, from here forward, the ones who remain have been hand-picked by Christ to stay in His Kingdom — ruled by Jesus and His saints (Revelation 20).
This separation of the sheep from the goats is the first judgment of the Millennium.
Judged by Behavior, Not by Faith
Now watch how Jesus decides who stays and who goes. It’s right there in the text — and it’s the part that proves these are not saints.
Whoever was kind to His brothers and sisters gets to stay. Whoever was not gets sent away. “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.” I picture Him on the throne, pointing His thumb back over His shoulder at the saints standing behind Him as He says it. Two groups: “you” and “these”.
Notice: that has nothing to do with faith. It’s all about behavior — works, if you like. And the same measure condemns the goats: their behavior, not their unbelief.
This is the clearest possible sign that the sheep are not saints. Because saints are never saved by behavior. Saints are saved by faith — period.
“For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
And there are plenty more: John 3:18; Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16; John 3:16; Romans 10:9. The whole New Testament hammers it. Salvation is by faith, not deeds.
So when you see people being judged by deeds, you know immediately: these are not the saved. The saved don’t stand in this line at all.
Now, the Hard Part — Doesn’t This Break the DNA Chapter?
I can already hear the objection, because it’s a good one. Back in the DNA chapter, I told you — flatly — that no religion, no good deed, no effort of any kind can make you right with God. Your problem is internal. It’s the Depraved Nature of Adam, and only the cross removes its penalty. Faith alone. I meant every word.
So how, now, can I say a whole class of people are welcomed into Christ’s Kingdom by their behavior, with no faith at all? Isn’t that exactly the works-salvation I spent a whole chapter demolishing?
No. And the distinction is the most important thing in this chapter, so don’t skim it.
Entering the Nations is not salvation. The sheep are not saved. They are not made right with God. They are not glorified. They still carry the Depraved Nature of Adam in their bodies, every one of them. What they receive is not sainthood — it is continued mortal life on the earth, under Christ’s rule, by His grace. That’s all. It is a reprieve, not a redemption. Call it the safety net under the trapeze.
Salvation — being made a saint, being glorified, becoming Humanity 2.0 — is still by faith alone. Nothing I said in the DNA chapter has moved an inch. The cross is still the only thing that makes a soul right with God, and faith is still the only way to receive it.
Then why is the sheep-and-goats judgment based on behavior instead of faith? Because of the timing. Once Jesus is physically, visibly present on the earth, faith has lost its power. Faith is “the conviction of things not seen.” When everyone can see Him on His throne, there is nothing left to believe — He’s right there. So faith is no longer the test, because faith is no longer possible the way it was. For these survivors, the only thing left to measure is how they treated His people during the darkness. That’s the standard for who keeps their earthly life — not for who gets saved. That window closed when He returned.
So hold both truths at once, because both are true:
- Sainthood (salvation, glorification, eternity with God): by faith alone, the cross alone. Always was, always will be.
- The Nations (mortal life in the Millennial Kingdom): by grace, measured by behavior, after faith’s window has closed.
Two different outcomes. Two different doors. No contradiction.
Two Forms of Humanity
So the Millennium opens with the human race split into two groups — and they will live side by side for a thousand years (and beyond into eternity).
The immortals are the saints, glorified before the Millennium began. The mortals are the surviving Nations and the children born to them afterward. Both are descendants of Adam. But from here, their lives could not be more different. Saints are God’s children; Nations are God’s people. Like a king’s family versus his subjects.
The Saints — Humanity 2.0
The saints don’t just live in the Kingdom. They rule it, sharing the throne with Christ Himself.
Revelation 3:21 “Those who are victorious will sit with Me on My throne, just as I was victorious and sat with My Father on His throne.”
This is no child on daddy’s knee. This is shared authority over the whole earth — a real, working government. And it will be the first and only true theocracy the world has ever seen: a government of divine beings, ruling with perfect justice and no corruption, because corruption will be impossible for them.
Psalm 89:14 “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne. Unfailing love and truth walk before You as attendants.”
I call this elevated state Humanity 2.0 — the upgrade from the Manufacturer. Right now we’re all Humanity 1.0: mortal, fallen, corrupt. Glorification fixes the bad code and removes the glitches, yes — but it’s more than a repair. It adds abilities. Jesus modeled them Himself before He left: appearing inside a locked room, knowing men’s thoughts, and more. He promised His followers would do the same works He did, and greater (John 14:12).
So picture it. Judges who don’t have to investigate, because they simply know the truth. Bodies nothing can injure or destroy. The capacity to move from place to place by thought, to know without being told, to do what only Jesus has done. We’ve tasted a few of these in the smallest measure now. In glory, it will be on a new level entirely. I personally can’t wait.
The Nations — Humanity 1.0 Lives On
Not everyone gets the upgrade. The Nations missed it — they never came to the faith that alone unlocks it. But their life is not punishment. It’s something this earth has wanted since Eden.
Isaiah 65:20-23 “No longer will babies die when only a few days old. No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life. No longer will people be considered old at one hundred! Only the cursed will die that young!… In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards… They will not work in vain… For they are people blessed by the Lord.” (NLT)
These people are mortal — just like us now. But death only comes to those who let corruption rule them, and even then, never young. They live long enough to have every chance to repent. They eat from the Tree of Life and drink the Water of Life, which keeps their bodies strong, so that some may live indefinitely.
War is gone. Nation no longer fights nation. Hunger, crime, and disease are finished. Even the animals stop killing each other — “the wolf and the lamb will live together… the lion will eat hay like a cow” (Isaiah 11:6-7). Justice is instant: wrongdoers are found out at once and answer at once, so no one’s life is put on hold in a prison cell. This is what we’ve always meant by “heaven” — and it will be right here, on this earth, for as long as it lasts. And then it will exist on a New Earth in a New Cosmos.
The Final Rebellion — The Clue That Cracked It Open
Here is the detail that, more than any other, convinced me this doctrine is right.
Revelation 20:7-9 “When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be let out of his prison. He will go out to deceive the nations — called Gog and Magog — in every corner of the earth. He will gather them together for battle — a mighty army, as numberless as sand along the seashore. And I saw them as they went up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded God’s people and the beloved city. But fire from heaven came down on the attacking armies and consumed them.” (NLT)
For years I read this while assuming everyone in the Millennium was glorified. And it never sat right. How could a perfect, sinless, glorified saint rebel against the Lord? It made no sense. A saint can’t sin against Jesus — that’s what glorified means (perfection).
The answer is that the rebels are not saints. They’re the Nations — mortals, still carrying the Depraved Nature of Adam, still capable of being deceived. After a thousand years of paradise under Christ’s own hand, Satan is loosed one last time, and a multitude of mortals still follow him. That’s only possible if there are unglorified people there to follow him.
(By the way — this “Gog and Magog” is not the same Gog and Magog from Ezekiel’s War. That Gog was a man, killed at Armageddon, and a man only gets one life. John is simply borrowing the old term as a picture of the new rebellion’s size and severity. An analogy, harkening back to Armageddon, nothing more.)
Why does God allow it at all? My best guess: it’s the final weeding out. For all of history, man has had the devil whispering in his ear. This is the one time we get to see how mortals behave with him gone — and then, at the very end, what they do when he’s let back for a moment. It’s the last skimming of the dross off the top of the crucible, so that no one at the final judgment can claim they never had a fair test.
The Second Judgment — The Great White Throne
That rebellion brings us to the end of the Millennium and the second of the two Millennial judgments. The first decided who lives on into the Kingdom. This one decides who lives forever — and where.
Revelation 20:11-15 “And I saw a great white throne and the One sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from His presence… I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done… The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead… Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.” (NLT)
Notice two things. First, this is personal — each person judged one at a time, by name, by what they did. Second, the earth and sky are gone. The Physical Realm and the Spirit Realm both vanish at this point (compare Revelation 21:1). Whatever comes next is a new heaven and a new earth.
And here’s a distinction most believers have never been taught: hell is not the Lake of Fire. They are two different things.
Hell — Sheol in Hebrew, Hades in Greek — is a temporary holding place for the souls of the dead. It is not the final punishment. Revelation 20 says plainly that death and Hades gave up their dead and were then thrown into the Lake of Fire. You can’t throw hell into the Lake of Fire if hell is the Lake of Fire. Hell is emptied, judged, and destroyed.
The Lake of Fire — what Jesus called Gehenna — is the real and final “hell”: eternal, irreversible, the second death, prepared for the devil and his angels and all whose names are not in the Book of Life (Revelation 20:10, 14-15). That, and only that, is forever. And what “forever” actually means there — and does not mean — is the business of the next chapter. Don’t assume you already know.
So everyone who has been held in hell through the whole Millennium is brought out, resurrected, and made to stand before Jesus. They are judged — and sent either to the New Earth or to the Lake of Fire.
Another Hope — A Lesser One
Now I want to share something I hope is true. I am labeling it clearly, up front: this is hope, not dogma. I will not build a doctrine on it, and neither should you. But I think the Scripture leaves the door open, so I’ll tell you what’s behind the door.
The hope: that some at the final judgment may yet repent. Think about it. If the dead in hell are dragged out only to be marched straight into the Lake of Fire, what was the trial for? Why open the books? Why a hearing at all if the verdict is automatic? A judgment that allows no possible outcome but one isn’t really a judgment. So I hope — I don’t claim — that for some standing there, hell will have done its slow work and produced a change of heart. And here’s the thread that ties it to everything above: faith is for saints. But maybe, at that final hour, repentance alone — turning, finally, from the evil that one had clung to — might be enough for entry into the Nations of the New Earth, even where full saving faith never came. I can’t prove it. I hope it. After all, Jesus is fair. And He was pretty forceful about forgiving those who repent. So why wouldn’t He? Think about it.
Lake of Fire
Where is the Lake of Fire? The depth of this point is made more fully in Sheep To Nations, the book, and I am writing another that will cover it more, called Their Worm Does Not Die. For now I’ll just flag it as a possibility I lean toward, not a settled teaching.
Hold it loosely. The dogma is only this: heaven and earth as they are now will be replaced by a new and better heaven and earth, and the Lake of Fire is the eternal end for all whose names are not written in the Book of Life.
I believe that the Bible shows the Lake of Fire being on the New Earth, near where people are coming and going from the New Jerusalem (on the New Earth).
“‘For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will endure before Me,” declares the LORD,
“so your descendants and your name will endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come to worship before Me,” says the LORD.
“As they go forth, they will see the corpses of the men who have rebelled against Me; for their worm will never die, their fire will never be quenched, and they will be a horror to all mankind.’” (Isaiah 66:22-24, BSB)
So — What Did I Just Do?
Stop and think this through with me before you decide what to make of it.
Did I invent a new theology? Redefine words? Twist a passage to say what it doesn’t?
No. I took Matthew 25 exactly as it was given — as future fact, not parable. I followed the timeline from Jesus to Paul to the prophets to Revelation, and I let the Bible interpret itself. And the moment you do that honestly, one thing becomes unavoidable: by the time Jesus separates the sheep from the goats, the saints are already glorified. That’s not speculation. It’s just the order the text gives. So the people in that scene can’t be the saints. They are mortal survivors — the Nations — judged for their treatment of Christ’s people, granted earthly life by grace.
That’s not theological gymnastics. It’s plain, immovable logic. I didn’t argue with the text. I let the text have the last word.
The honest shock isn’t that this view is radical. It’s that so few have ever taught it. For two thousand years people forced these words into their systems. I let the systems fall away and followed the Scripture instead.
So if it feels new, ask yourself: is it really new — or have we just been missing what’s been sitting in plain sight?
And here, at last, is the hope I promised you back in the DNA chapter. The cross is still the only door to salvation, and faith is still the only key. But for those who never walked through it, the God who made them has not run out of mercy. There is a Kingdom coming, and a grace in it wide enough to surprise us. That’s The Hope That Is In Me.
“The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation.” (Psalm 145:8-9, NLT)
“Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, your judgments are true and just.” (Revelation 16:7, NLT)
A Word About Worship
Here is a secret to the meaning of life and how to have a wonderful existence: Worship God.
Worship Him with others. Worship Him alone. Worship Him when you’re happy. Worship Him when you are miserable. Nothing can keep you from doing this.
There is no height, no depth, no wall, no amount of space, no power in heaven or on earth that can keep you from worshipping your God.
When we worship God, He shows up. He enters our world and blesses us in ways we may not even think of. He gives us good health. He shows us the truth. He showers us with love, peace, and joy that transcends anything that we could encounter or imagine.
Don’t focus on the problems before you. Focus on the goodness of God. Tell Him that He is wonderful—because He is. Tell Him that He is magnificent—because He is. Tell Him that you are thankful—because you are. Tell Him that you love Him more than even yourself—because you do.
When you do this and it’s real, you have entered into the most beautiful life possible—a loving relationship with the Creator of all life (even yours).
Worship God every day, as if your life depends on it. Because it does. Not your existence (you’re already alive), but the quality of it (being really alive).
And in case you missed it, there can be nothing and no one that you hold higher than Him. Not people, not nature, not religion, not yourself. Do this, and hope will live in you in a most powerful way. Do not do this, and you will miss out on being a true child of God. Obedience is great. But worship is greater.
So when I say, “give yourself to Jesus”, I mean in total surrender and complete worship of Him above all things. For this is the secret to life, liberty, and true joy that cannot be diminished. Serving Him and others is good, but worship is what matters most.
Personally, it is the foundation of The Hope That Is In Me. Upon worship all other things can stand and last. And do not worship a concept of God, worship Him—Father, Son, and Spirit. It’s personal. It’s intimate. It’s the very essence of love. So express it right now—and every chance you get, not just every day.
Group Discussion and/or Personal Reflection
Questions
- Who is a saint, and how does a person become one?
- Who are the “sheep,” and what do they receive?
- Who are the “goats,” and where do they go?
- How can the sheep be admitted by behavior when salvation is by faith alone?
- What are the two judgments of the Millennium, and what does each decide?
Answers
- Someone saved by faith in what Jesus did on the cross — a believer. Salvation is by faith alone, never by works.
- Mortal survivors of the tribulation who were kind to Christ’s brethren. They receive continued life in the Kingdom — not salvation.
- Mortal survivors who were not kind to the saints. They are sent to the Lake of Fire.
- Because admission to the Nations is not salvation. It’s earthly life by grace, measured by behavior after faith’s window closed at Christ’s visible return. Sainthood is still faith alone.
- First: the sheep-and-goats separation at the start, deciding who lives on into the Millennium. Second: the Great White Throne at the end, deciding the New Earth or the second death.
