Sheep or Goats?

"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right (the sheep), '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 food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.'

"Then he will say to those on his left (the goats), 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Matthew 25:31-46

There are clear similarities between sheep and goats. They are both given as ‘clean’ animals by God, for sacrifice and for food. They pasture together and they are both cared for by the same shepherd. The Middle Eastern sheep and goats even look remarkably similar.

Yet there are distinct differences too.

Sheep are compliant and easily handled, they are trusting and easily led. Sheep love to follow the shepherd, and will even follow an irresponsible one. When fed properly in a lush green field, sheep will lie down in an attitude of submission and trust. They have a strong flocking instinct, can seem distant and aloof, yet will recognize a familiar face, both human and sheep. They become agitated if separated from their flock, as they know their only protection from predators is to band closely together. If a predator is threatening the flock, sheep do not act independently!

Sheep are not likely to be where there is agitation and discord; they are skittish in those situations. 

Goats, on the other hand, are by nature pushy, independent, headstrong and self-sufficient. They do not graze, they browse; a little here and a little there, they wander. They are naturally curious. They easily revert back to a wild condition if given a chance. They are naturally quarrelsome and have short tempers. They rear and butt to establish dominance. They would rather lead than follow. 

Most of us probably have some characteristics of both sheep and goats. But at the heart, we are really either one or the other. Do we follow the Shepherd and His way, trusting completely in Him for our physical and spiritual care? Or do we follow only somewhat, preferring to blaze our own ultimately self sufficient trail of re-interpretation and independence?

We know that we cannot please God without faith. Faith is trust in Him that is actively lived out in our daily life: in our thoughts, in our words, in our actions. The faith/trust must come first; our actions are acceptable to Him only when they flow from trust in Him. So it is well worth considering just how much and how far do we trust Him? Are we sheep…or goats?

Eve

We can learn much by taking a closer look at how Eve sinned. How did Eve sin, and how can we learn to be overcomers against sin?

God gave Adam and Eve everything they needed for health and happiness. They were created to know good, to continually be enjoying the presence of God with no cares or sorrows, to know the joy of freedom, and to choose life. He wanted them to love Him willingly, not as robots, so He gave them choice to obey His good Law or not. The choice came in the form of one tree which they were told not to eat from. We are told the tree was called the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Hebrew word here translated ‘knowledge’ describes a personal and profound knowledge of both good AND evil. They were not meant to have the burden of knowing such things.

So if they had everything they could ever hope for, what would make them want to risk that? If we look closely at the words of Satan, the Deceiver, we get some clues. Satan chose to approach Eve. Was that perhaps because women in general are more spiritually sensitive? It was appealing to Eve that she could be more like God if she ate the fruit, that maybe it possessed something special that could make her even better than she was. It is quite possible she saw this as only a good thing. There was something in her that responded to the words of the Deceiver. Maybe she wasn’t good enough? Maybe she could be even better? Eve chose to believe the words of the Deceiver rather than the words of her Creator. He DID make her good enough. When she chose to disbelieve God and the rule of His good law, she chose to believe the Deceiver and accept the rule of sin over her life; she chose to willfully disobey God. What a mistake.

God has given us all the ability to trust in Him alone. He expects us all to do that, and live it out by obeying Him. It isn’t too hard to do that, as Moses says in Deuteronomy 30:11-20. We can each do that directly, we don’t need someone to teach us how to do it. We trust. And trust always obeys. It’s just that simple! And yet it is the hardest thing we are called to do, isn’t it? We will continue to battle against that voice that speaks lies. But battle we must! James says in chapter 4 of his excellent letter that if we resist Satan, he will flee from us. It does get easier.

When we turn against God and believe Satan, we are actually rejecting God and His rule over us. He made us, and of course He has the right to rule over us! He doesn’t rule in harshness, He rules fairly and His ways are for our ultimate good. If we accept them! In right judgment, He will eventually allow those who persist in rejecting His ways and His right to rule over them, to go their own way. The way that they have chosen leads to eternal separation from Him.

Christians generally know the Saviour as ‘Jesus’. That is an English form of a Greek translation of a Hebrew name. The documents we have of the New Testament are written in Greek, and the Hebrew name of the Messiah was changed to Greek (Iesous) and then changed again to English (Jesus). The Hebrew name means ‘salvation’. Doesn’t that fit?

When we trust in God, we receive Yeshua (Jesus) - we receive salvation from our sin. Full and complete! We are delivered from sin. So it is as if once again we are standing in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, looking at those two trees. What will we choose? Will we resist the temptation to choose another rule over us? Or will we stand firm and trust, and in trusting, obey?

In Micah 6:8 the question is asked: What does God want from His people? And the answer is: to love mercy, to love what is right, and to never put ourselves equal to or ahead of God, but to walk with Him humbly! That is what Adam and Eve did every day in the Garden. We have been brought back into that relationship with Him through faith in His salvation (in the person of Yeshua – Jesus).

But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.

For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through Adonai Yeshua Messiah, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep (whether we have died as believers, and will be resurrected, or whether we are still living) we might live with him (for eternity).

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.

(1 Thessalonians 5:8-11)