Matthew 25:41 – 43

The Sheep and the Goats (3)

41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink;

43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

Jesus continues the lesson by informing us the ones on the left also known as the goats in this lesson were being sentenced to eternal death in the everlasting or eternal “lake of fire.”

Jesus wants us to know this eternal “lake of fire” was not developed or designed for man in the beginning but was prepared for the rebellious Satan and the angels who followed him in his rebellion against God. However the humans who chose to follow after Satan and rejected the teaching of Jesus have the same fate awaiting them as is explained in verse 41.

2 Peter 2:4 (For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;)

Jude 6 (And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;)

Verses 42 – 43 list the same good works which the good were rewarded for doing, see the remarks in the first session on this subject for the explanations of the good works.

We can see the condemnation for these individuals is not for wickedness they have committed but for the good works they have not accomplished when they had the opportunities to do so.

They are condemned to Hell for not doing good for their brothers and sisters in Christ.

See the next session for the conclusion of this lesson.