Jesus says “I am the good shepherd” in John 10, explaining that He will give His life for His sheep. He had just received a man whom religious leaders had cast out, and His words exposed the difference between their treatment of people and His own. As we follow the shepherd passages through Scripture, we can understand both the comfort of His promise and the responsibility of anyone who claims to lead His sheep.
Abel, David, and the Work of a Shepherd
The first shepherd named in Scripture is Abel, one of Adam and Eve’s sons. His brother Cain worked the ground, and both men brought an offering to the LORD from their work.
Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering,
Genesis 4:2-4, NKJV
Abel brought the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions, giving God priority and offering what was valuable. Genesis does not describe Cain’s produce as the first or best of his harvest. God’s response also named Abel before his offering, so we need to consider the worshiper as well as the gift. What he brought could not be separated from how he approached God.
Hebrews tells us why Abel’s offering was accepted.
By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
Hebrews 11:4, NKJV
Abel offered by faith. He trusted God rather than assuming a religious act would oblige God to accept him. Cain became angry when his offering was rejected, and his refusal to receive correction eventually led to his brother’s murder. Bringing a gift had not made his heart right before God.
Some readers understand the absence of blood as the reason Cain’s offering was rejected. The wider biblical teaching on atonement certainly requires us to take blood and sacrifice seriously, but Genesis 4 does not state that this was the sole reason. The Hebrew word minchah, used for both offerings, can describe a gift, tribute, or offering of grain or animals. The word itself does not settle the question. Hebrews identifies Abel’s faith, and Genesis shows Cain resisting God’s correction. We should keep those explanations before us when drawing conclusions about their gifts.
Abel’s work introduces shepherding, but later passages develop it as a picture of leadership. Sheep need someone to find pasture and water, notice when they are injured, and search for them when they stray. A shepherd cannot assume that yesterday’s care will keep the flock safe today. David explained how demanding that responsibility could become when Saul doubted his ability to face Goliath.
But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.”
1 Samuel 17:34-35, NKJV
David had gone after a predator with a lamb in its mouth and faced the animal when it turned on him. He put himself in danger to recover a sheep entrusted to him. His work involved much more than watching a flock graze, and God would use that experience as He prepared David for responsibility over Israel.
Psalm 78:70–72 describes God taking David from the sheepfolds to shepherd His people with integrity of heart and skill. Both were needed. A man may have considerable ability and still use people to advance himself, while good intentions alone will not equip him to care for them wisely. Shepherding requires honest concern for the people as well as the ability to guide and protect them.
The LORD and the Shepherds of His People
David also knew what it meant to need a shepherd himself. In Psalm 23, the man who had defended his father’s flock confessed his own dependence on the LORD.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
Psalm 23:1-2, NKJV
“I shall not want” expresses confidence that the LORD will meet his needs. It does not promise that God will satisfy every desire David might have. The Shepherd provides rest and nourishment, restores His sheep, and leads them in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. His care includes directing them toward what is right, even when they might prefer another path.
The psalm does not end beside still water. David also describes walking through a valley where death threatens, with his confidence resting on the Shepherd’s presence.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4, NKJV
The rod and staff belong to the One who guards and guides the flock. A shepherd could defend a sheep against a predator, turn it away from danger, or help recover it when it strayed. David found comfort in knowing that the LORD was with him and able to care for him. He was not promised a life in which there would never be a threatening valley to cross.
I should not mistake the Shepherd’s correction for rejection. If I am insisting on a path that leads into sin, letting me continue without warning would be neglect. God’s care may require Him to confront what I would rather excuse. His tenderness does not mean He has surrendered the right to direct my life.
Isaiah 40:11 describes that tenderness toward the weak: the LORD feeds His flock, gathers the lambs in His arm, carries them close, and gently leads those with young. He knows when a sheep needs to be carried. The God whose greatness Isaiah declares is also attentive to those who cannot keep up by their own strength.
Ezekiel 34 exposes leaders whose treatment of people was the opposite of that care. They ate the fat and clothed themselves with the wool, but failed to feed the flock. They did not strengthen the weak or bind up the injured, and their harsh rule left sheep scattered and exposed to predators. They were enjoying the benefits of leadership while refusing its responsibilities.
“For thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.’”
Ezekiel 34:11, NKJV
The LORD promised to search for His sheep Himself. He would bring them back from the places where they had been scattered and give them good pasture. He would seek the lost, bring back those that strayed, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak. Each part of His promise answered a failure of the leaders He had condemned.
Ezekiel also says God would establish “one shepherd” over them, “My servant David.” David had been dead for centuries when Ezekiel spoke, and I understand this as a promise of the coming King from his line. Jesus fulfills the promise as the Davidic King and as the divine Son through whom God Himself cares for His flock. Jeremiah 23 likewise moves from condemning shepherds who scatter the sheep to promising the righteous Branch from David’s line. Israel needed the King God had appointed.
Jesus Is the Good Shepherd
John 10 follows the healing of a man born blind. In John 9, the man’s neighbors and the religious leaders repeatedly questioned what had happened, but they could not erase the fact that Jesus had opened his eyes. Some leaders insisted Jesus was a sinner, and they cast the man out when he would not accept their judgment. Jesus found him afterward, revealed who He was, and received his worship.
Jesus’ teaching about shepherds grows out of that encounter; the chapter break can obscure the connection. He was exposing leaders who claimed to guide God’s people while resisting the One sent to care for them.
Jesus began with a sheepfold, an enclosure where sheep were kept. The shepherd entered through the door, while a thief climbed in another way because he had no right to the sheep. The doorkeeper opened to the shepherd, who called his own sheep and led them out.
To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
John 10:3-4, NKJV
The shepherd knew which sheep were his and called them by name. They recognized him and followed as he went ahead, rather than trusting a stranger. Jesus’ care is personal in that way. He knows those who belong to Him, and His sheep know the One they trust. Their relationship reflects the knowledge between the Father and the Son described in John 10:14–15.
Jesus also called Himself the door. Those who enter through Him are saved and find pasture under His care. He is both the way into salvation and the Shepherd who leads the people He saves. The abundant life He promises in John 10:10 cannot be measured by income or comfortable circumstances. The sheep have life in Him even when following Him involves hardship, just as Psalm 23 places the LORD with His sheep in the valley.
“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.”
John 10:11, NKJV
The Greek word translated “good,” kalos, can describe what is excellent, noble, or beautiful. Here Jesus is the Shepherd who is everything a shepherd ought to be. He cares faithfully for the sheep and obeys His Father perfectly. His character and teaching set the standard for human shepherds, so they cannot redefine care according to what benefits themselves.
The LORD had said He would seek His sheep Himself, and now Jesus identifies Himself as their Shepherd. He is the eternal Son, fully God and fully man, who reveals the Father and fulfills His promise.
Jesus also spoke of bringing other sheep into His flock, extending His care beyond the Jewish people hearing Him.
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.
John 10:16, NKJV
Through the gospel, believing Gentiles would join believing Jews under one Shepherd, fulfilling God’s promise to bless the nations through Abraham’s seed. Their unity depends on belonging to Christ and hearing His word. It does not require reducing the faith to whatever different religions can agree on, or overlooking teaching that contradicts Him.
That one flock also leaves no place for ethnic pride or a leader’s private empire. A pastor may serve a particular congregation, but those people do not become his possession. They belong with other believers under the same Lord. Asking them to disregard Scripture in order to preserve loyalty to a man would divide them from the truth that should unite them.
Jesus contrasted His care with that of a hireling, a worker hired to tend the flock who runs when a wolf comes. This man abandons sheep that are not his own because he does not care what happens to them. Jesus would not leave His sheep to save Himself. He explained that the death He was about to face would be voluntary.
“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
John 10:17-18, NKJV
The word translated “life,” psyche, can refer to life, the self, or the soul, depending on its use. Here Jesus speaks of giving Himself in physical death and taking His life again. His enemies would not force Him into a death He was unwilling to endure. He had authority to lay down His life and to take it again, in obedience to His Father.
Jesus lived without sin and voluntarily gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Wicked people tortured and crucified Him, and He willingly shed His blood and died to redeem us. His saving work through His blood and death was complete before His burial and bodily resurrection. The Father and Son were united in that saving work. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus. The Son offered Himself in obedience, and the Father was pleased with that perfect offering.
Giving His life “for the sheep” does not mean He made salvation available only to them. I reject Calvinistic limited atonement because 1 John 2:2 teaches that His sacrifice is for the whole world. God genuinely offers salvation to every person, and people can resist His grace and reject Him. John 10 assures those who believe that their Shepherd gave His life to save them; it does not cancel the invitation to everyone else. We receive the benefit of His death through faith in Him.
The studies on the gospel and the blood of Christ for salvation explain that saving work more fully. The Shepherd’s promise rests on what He has done for sinners, rather than on our ability to make ourselves worthy of His care.
The Shepherd Seeks, Gathers, and Keeps
Luke 15 describes another occasion when Jesus explained His care for the lost. Tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear Him, while Pharisees and scribes complained that He received them and ate with them. Jesus answered with three parables about what was lost and found, beginning with a shepherd searching for one missing sheep.
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”
Luke 15:4-5, NKJV
The shepherd finds the sheep and carries it home rejoicing. Jesus used that picture to explain heaven’s joy over a sinner who repents. Those complaining about His welcome were objecting to the very rescue that heaven celebrated. The Shepherd’s concern for the lost should make us willing to receive a repentant sinner rather than resent the mercy shown to him.
We cannot rescue ourselves through works or religious rituals. God saves us by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. When a sinner repents and believes, God forgives him and justifies him, declaring him righteous by faith. He is born again, and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within him and seals him as God’s own. Obedience follows as evidence of that new life; it neither earns salvation nor keeps him saved.
Repentance is therefore part of the response Jesus describes. His welcome does not encourage people to remain content in the sin that is destroying them. He seeks the lost so that they may turn to Him and receive life, with their rescue depending on His grace rather than their merit.
In John 10:22–30, Jesus spoke about His sheep’s security during a separate exchange in Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication. His opponents surrounded Him and demanded to know plainly whether He was the Christ. He pointed to the works He had done in His Father’s name as evidence of who He was, but they refused to believe. Then He described those who belonged to Him.
My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
John 10:27-28, NKJV
Jesus promises eternal life and says His sheep will never perish. He adds in the following verse that no one can snatch them from His Father’s hand either. The Father and Son are united in keeping those who belong to Christ. This eternal security rests on Their power and faithfulness, rather than on the believer’s ability to make himself safe.
That assurance is not permission for lawlessness. Jesus describes sheep who hear His voice and follow Him. Merely calling oneself a Christian while refusing His word is not evidence of regeneration, or genuine new birth. At the same time, a believer’s struggle with sin does not prove that God has discarded him. The Shepherd corrects His own and restores them when they wander. His discipline does not undo the new birth.
I can confess sin and receive correction without assuming that Christ is waiting for an excuse to reject me. His promise gives me confidence to come to Him honestly and obey Him. The One who gave His life for His sheep will not fail to keep them.
Hearing His voice must also be understood in light of what He has said. The Holy Spirit applies God’s written Word to believers, bringing correction, comfort, and protection from error. If an impression contradicts Scripture, I cannot claim it is the Shepherd leading me. Following Christ requires us to receive His teaching, rather than use His name to give authority to whatever we feel.
Wolves and the Shepherds of the Church
Because the sheep belong to Christ, anyone who teaches them must be judged by faithfulness to Him. Jesus warned that false prophets could appear trustworthy while harming the flock.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.”
Matthew 7:15, NKJV
A confident speaker may seem compassionate and knowledgeable, yet teach something that draws people away from Christ. Paul warned the Ephesian elders that danger would arise both outside the church and among the leaders themselves.
For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves.
Acts 20:29-30, NKJV
I cannot settle whether a teacher is trustworthy by counting his followers or admiring how confidently he speaks. I need to compare what he says with Scripture. A man who excuses sin, diminishes Christ’s deity, or denies His saving blood and bodily resurrection is not leading people in the Shepherd’s truth. Nor is a teacher faithful if he uses that truth to gather a following devoted to himself. The study on false teachers examines those dangers more fully.
Christ does appoint shepherds to care for local churches, but their responsibility does not transfer ownership of His people to them. After Peter had denied Him, Jesus restored him and charged him to care for His flock.
He said to him, “Feed My lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?” He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
John 21:15-16, NKJV
The repeated “My” identifies whose sheep Peter was to feed. He was entrusted with people Christ loved and had bought, and he would have to serve them under Christ’s authority. Later, Peter gave instructions to other elders about that same responsibility.
Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;
1 Peter 5:2-3, NKJV
I understand the local church’s offices and authoritative teaching leadership to belong to biblically qualified men. Elders must have godly character as well as the ability to teach, and their office gives no exemption from accountability. A pastor cannot use his position to make himself untouchable or insist that questions about his conduct are disloyalty to Christ. Peter tells elders to lead willingly and by example, without using the flock for dishonest gain or domination.
Hebrews 13:20 calls Jesus the great Shepherd of the sheep, and 1 Peter 2:25 calls Him the Shepherd and Overseer of believers’ souls. Human shepherds never take over His place as the source of their people’s life. Christ calls them to use their authority to feed the church with His word, care for the weak, and bring correction from Scripture when it is needed.
Peter also promises the appearing of the Chief Shepherd and a crown of glory in 1 Peter 5:4. Every leader will answer to Christ for the people entrusted to him. A large congregation or flattering praise cannot excuse neglect or cruelty. Christ knows both what a man taught and how he treated the sheep, including the people whose needs brought him no public recognition.
The congregation needs discernment too. We should read the passages a teacher uses and consider whether his explanation agrees with them. We can ask honest questions without assuming that every mistake reveals a wolf. Neither suspicion toward everyone nor unquestioning loyalty to a favorite preacher will help us follow Christ. A faithful church keeps returning to His word and expects its leaders to live under it as well.
My Final Thoughts
I am grateful that the Good Shepherd knows His sheep personally and keeps those He has saved. His care cost Him His blood and life, and His resurrection gives us confidence in the One we follow. That should make me willing to receive His correction as well as His comfort. It should also govern how we treat one another in the church. People Christ gave His life to save must never become the means of building a leader’s reputation or securing his comfort at their expense.
When Jesus said the temple would be demolished, His disciples wanted to know when it would happen. They also asked about His coming and the end of the age, questions that take the conversation far beyond the buildings they had been admiring. I want to follow His answer carefully, because we can confuse Jerusalem’s destruction with His future return if we assume every part describes the same event.
The Temple and the Mountain
As Jesus left the temple, the disciples drew His attention to its buildings. This was the center of Israel’s worship, where priests offered sacrifices and the people gathered before God. The temple’s imposing construction gave them plenty to admire, but Jesus told them those buildings would be destroyed.
And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
Matthew 24:2
He later sat on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. From that ridge, the disciples could look across the Kidron Valley toward the temple complex. The buildings Jesus had just condemned were still standing when they came to Him privately for an explanation.
Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”
Matthew 24:3
Their question joins the temple’s destruction with Christ’s coming and the end of the age. We should not assume they already understood how those events would relate to one another. Jesus’ answer requires us to distinguish them instead of forcing everything into the same moment.
Roman armies devastated Jerusalem and destroyed the temple in AD 70, fulfilling His warning about the buildings. Yet the rest of this discourse includes unparalleled tribulation and cosmic signs, followed by the Son of Man visibly coming in glory. I understand Jerusalem’s fall as a real historical judgment that also foreshadows the final crisis. It did not exhaust what Jesus was describing.
The Greek word parousia, translated coming in verse 3, can describe a presence or arrival. The context here concerns the Son of Man returning openly as King. Later in the chapter, Jesus will explain why His people must reject reports that He has appeared privately in some secluded place.
He began His answer with this warning: “Take heed that no one deceives you.” People would come in His name and claim to be the Christ. If someone claims Christ’s authority while contradicting His words, I have no reason to trust him, however convincing he may sound.
Wars would also bring fear and speculation. Jesus told His hearers not to mistake reports of conflict for an announcement that the end had arrived.
And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Matthew 24:6
He went on to describe suffering that would reach beyond the battlefield.
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Matthew 24:7-8
The beginning of sorrows carries the image of birth pains, which intensify as birth approaches. Jesus is describing trouble moving toward an end God has determined, but He expressly says that the end has not yet arrived. I cannot turn the latest war or earthquake into proof that I have worked out His timetable.
Nor should we dismiss His warning because wars and disasters have occurred throughout history. People suffering through them need more than our argument about where an event fits on a chart. We can take their affliction seriously while refusing to panic or claim knowledge Jesus has not given us.
For those who belong to Christ, the danger will also include persecution because of His name.
“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.”
Matthew 24:9-10
Jesus goes on to describe false prophets deceiving many and lawlessness causing love to grow cold. He is preparing His people for hostility that can reach into their closest relationships. Belonging to Him will not spare them betrayal or death.
But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Matthew 24:13-14
Here I understand Jesus to be encouraging His people to remain faithful through this terrible period until God brings deliverance. Their endurance reveals faith under pressure; it does not earn or keep eternal life. He has already warned that some will be killed, so I cannot read this promise as a guarantee that every faithful believer will survive.
Even amid that persecution, the gospel of the kingdom will reach the nations. The King we await is Jesus Christ, God’s eternal Son, who became fully man without ceasing to be fully God. He lived without sin, yet wicked men tortured and crucified Him within God’s foreknown saving purpose. He willingly gave Himself to be slain as the perfect sacrifice for our sins. His shed blood and death accomplished our redemption before His burial and bodily resurrection.
The Father and Son were united in this work of salvation. The Father did not punish, curse, abandon, strike, bruise, or pour wrath on Jesus. Christ died for the whole world, and God’s offer of salvation is genuine, although people can resist and reject it. God gives new life to those who repent and believe. The Holy Spirit indwells and seals them, and they are eternally secure in Christ. A shallow claim to believe does not establish that new birth, and eternal security gives no permission for lawlessness. People still need to hear about this Savior as judgment approaches.
The Turning Point Sign
In Matthew 24:15, Jesus gives His hearers a specific sign that calls for immediate action. He directs the reader to Daniel’s prophecy, so we need to understand that passage rather than invent an explanation from current events.
“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.”
Matthew 24:15-16
An abomination is something detestable to God, especially an idolatrous act that desecrates what is holy. Desolation is the ruin that follows. Daniel connects this defilement with the sanctuary and the interruption of sacrifice, and Jesus still speaks of it as future during His earthly ministry.
I understand the final prophetic week in Daniel 9:27 as seven years. A coming ruler confirms a covenant for that period, but halfway through he stops sacrifice and offering. Daniel 12:7 and Revelation 12 describe the final half as a time, times, and half a time. Revelation 12 also gives its length as 1,260 days, while the beast’s forty-two months of authority in Revelation 13:5 correspond to the same three and a half years. These corresponding periods provide the grounds for a literal seven-year Tribulation, with its most severe suffering in the final half.
Paul’s warning about the man of sin helps explain why this defilement is so abhorrent to God.
Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4
The man of sin tries to usurp God’s place by presenting himself as God in the temple. Jesus has told those in Judea how to respond to such a defilement: flee to the mountains without turning back. Someone on a housetop must leave without going down for possessions, and someone working in a field must not return for clothes. The danger is too urgent to allow for gathering belongings. Jesus singles out women who are pregnant or nursing, whose circumstances will make escape especially difficult. He also tells His hearers to pray that they will not have to flee in winter or on a Sabbath.
The references to Judea and the Sabbath place this warning in a Jewish setting, where people will need to escape a real threat to their lives. Jerusalem suffered appallingly in AD 70, but the full sequence Jesus describes reaches beyond that catastrophe to His public return. I therefore understand this final defilement and the crisis that follows as still ahead.
Great Tribulation
Jesus calls the period following the abomination great tribulation. The Greek phrase thlipsis megale means great distress or affliction, and He goes on to describe suffering without precedent.
For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.
Matthew 24:21-22
God limits this devastation for the sake of His elect, the people who belong to Him. The Antichrist can persecute them, but he cannot prolong the crisis beyond the end God has appointed.
I believe Christ gathers His church before this worldwide hour of trial, which is what I mean by a pre-Tribulation rapture. Premillennial means that He returns before establishing His literal thousand-year reign. Matthew describes His public appearing after the Tribulation, with Israel and the nations in view. To understand the church’s gathering, we also need Paul’s teaching.
In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Paul describes the dead in Christ rising and living believers being caught up with them to meet the Lord in the air. He then says that God has not appointed us to wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9). Christ’s promise to the church in Philadelphia also speaks of keeping them from the hour of trial coming upon the whole world (Revelation 3:10). Taken together, these promises lead me to expect the church’s gathering before the Tribulation.
We therefore do not have to wait for every sign in Matthew 24 before Christ can gather His church. He can come for us at any time. That gives me reason to pursue holiness and keep sharing the gospel, rather than wait for frightening events to convince me to take Him seriously.
The Public Coming
For those facing the Tribulation, Jesus gives a direct warning about false christs and prophets. They will perform persuasive signs and claim that Christ can be found in a particular place. He tells His people not to believe them.
“Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Matthew 24:26-27
If someone has to escort a select group to an inner room to meet the supposed Christ, that claim contradicts what Jesus said. His coming will be public, like lightning flashing across the sky. An extraordinary sign cannot make a false claim true, so I must measure even the most convincing experience against His words.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven.
Matthew 24:29-30
This appearing is expressly placed after the Tribulation. The Son of Man comes on heaven’s clouds with power and great glory, accompanied by signs in the heavens. He also sends His angels to gather His elect (Matthew 24:31). In this sequence, that gathering belongs with His public return after the crisis. I distinguish it from the church’s pre-Tribulation gathering described in 1 Thessalonians 4.
Jesus then uses the fig tree to explain how those seeing the appointed signs will recognize that His coming is near.
“Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near – at the doors!”
Matthew 24:32-33
Seeing these signs will give people reason to expect Christ’s public return, but Jesus does not tell them to use the fig tree to calculate a date. His warning about the unknown day and hour must be heard alongside this illustration.
He also says, “This generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place.” Some who were alive when Jesus spoke lived to see His temple warning fulfilled in AD 70. Yet the discourse also reaches to His future return, so I understand the generation that witnesses the final signs as seeing those events reach their completion. Jerusalem’s destruction fulfilled His warning about the buildings; it did not turn His public return into a past event.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.
Matthew 24:35
The temple’s buildings could be torn down, and even heaven and earth will pass away, but His words will not fail. I can trust what He has said without pretending that I can explain every development in the day’s news.
That confidence in His words must include accepting the limit He places on our knowledge.
“But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Matthew 24:36-37
In Noah’s day, people carried on eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the flood came. Jesus was not condemning those ordinary activities. They were living as though God’s warning could be disregarded, and judgment overtook them while they continued making their plans.
This comparison also helps us approach the saying about one person being taken and another left. The flood took the unprepared away in judgment, while Noah and his family survived. Many readers therefore understand the people taken in Matthew 24 as taken in judgment. Others understand the language as a gathering. In either reading, the separation is sudden and personal, and working beside someone in a field or at a mill cannot give me his relationship with Christ.
Jesus therefore commands His hearers to watch. The Greek verb gregoreo means to stay awake or remain alert, and the servants He describes next show how that attentiveness should shape our conduct.
In the first example, a master puts a servant in charge of feeding his household. The faithful servant keeps providing food at the proper time while his master is away, because the absence has not ended his responsibility.
Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.
Matthew 24:46
The evil servant treats the delay very differently. He begins beating the other servants and eating and drinking with drunkards. He still occupies a servant’s place, but his conduct shows contempt for the master whose return he has stopped taking seriously.
If I am responsible for people in Christ’s church, I need to care for them instead of using my position to gratify myself. An interest in prophecy will not excuse mistreating someone in my care. The servant Jesus commends is doing the work he was given when the master arrives.
Matthew 25 continues with ten virgins waiting to meet a bridegroom. All have lamps and appear to belong to the same company, but only five have brought the oil they will need.
Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Matthew 25:3-4
All ten grow drowsy and fall asleep during the bridegroom’s delay, so staying physically awake is not what makes the wise ready. At the midnight announcement, all ten rise to prepare their lamps. Only then do the foolish ask the others for oil because their own lamps are going out. The wise answer that dividing their supply would leave too little for everyone, and the foolish go to buy some.
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut.
Matthew 25:10
When the foolish virgins return and ask to be admitted, the bridegroom says he does not know them (Matthew 25:11-12). Jesus does not assign the oil a detailed doctrinal meaning, so I would not make every wedding detail stand for a separate teaching. He uses their failure to prepare as a warning to watch, because His hearers do not know when He will come.
Having Christian relatives or spending years around church does not establish that I have been born again. Each of us needs to trust Christ personally. Watchfulness does not purchase salvation, but genuine faith responds to the Lord instead of relying on the appearance of belonging. The shut door warns us to respond to His invitation while it is before us.
In the next parable, a man entrusts money to his servants before leaving for a far country. He gives five talents to one, two to another, and one to a third, according to their ability. These men are stewards, responsible for property that still belongs to their master. The first two put the money to work and double what they received, while the third buries his in the ground. When the master returns to settle accounts, he first addresses the servant who had received five.
His lord said to him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”
Matthew 25:21
The servant with two talents receives the same commendation as the servant with five. His smaller total brings no rebuke because he has been faithful with what he received. I should be faithful with what the Lord gives me, rather than neglect it while comparing my assignment with someone else’s.
The third servant calls the master hard and claims he was afraid. The master answers him on his own terms: if the servant believed his master demanded a return, he should at least have deposited the money with bankers to earn interest. This was not a man who tried faithfully and failed at business. He refused to act, then made an accusation against his master to defend himself.
And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 25:30
The severity of this judgment does not make productivity the price of eternal life. It exposes a man who is called a servant but refuses the master’s authority. Christ is not rejecting someone for having less ability or producing a smaller return; His genuine servants regard what He entrusts to them as a responsibility before Him.
Those responsibilities include our spiritual gifts as well as our time and material resources. If I have an opportunity to teach a small group, I should study the passage and teach it honestly instead of resenting the size of the audience. Waiting for more influence cannot excuse neglecting what the Lord has already given me to do.
The Sheep and the Goats
Jesus then describes His arrival in glory and His judgment of the nations. He uses a shepherd’s separation of sheep and goats to explain the division, but the scene concerns the King’s actual return and the people who will answer to Him.
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. 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.
Matthew 25:31-32
The sheep inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world. The King recalls how they fed the hungry and gave drink to the thirsty, welcomed strangers, and clothed those who needed clothing. They also cared for the sick and visited people in prison. They ask when they had done these things for Him.
And the King will answer and say to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.”
Matthew 25:40
I understand “these My brethren” to mean those who belong to Christ, especially His persecuted people during the Tribulation Jesus has been describing. In such a time, feeding or sheltering them may bring danger to the person who helps. The nations’ response to those needs reveals whether they honor the King who identifies with His people. Settled indifference or cruelty toward them exposes rebellion against Him.
Charitable work has not replaced faith as the means of receiving salvation. These actions reveal whom the people serve. Christ counts kindness toward His own as kindness toward Himself, and holds people accountable for cruelty toward them. I cannot profess devotion to Jesus while despising His people or using prophecy as a reason to neglect their suffering.
And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.
Matthew 25:46
The righteous enter eternal life, while the wicked face everlasting punishment. I understand Scripture’s wider teaching to mean that lost human beings will finally be destroyed, both body and soul, in the lake of fire. This is the second death, a punishment everlasting in its result with no return from it. No one should assume he can reject Christ now and arrange to put it right after judgment.
My Final Thoughts
I believe Christ will gather His church before the Tribulation and later return openly to judge and reign. In the meantime, I need to be truthful about what He has actually promised and faithful with what He has already entrusted to me. Knowing a prophetic outline will not excuse neglecting people or refusing His correction. We can trust Him with the future while obeying Him in the work before us.
