THE JUDGMENT OF THE NATIONS

Following the Lord's Second Coming, there is going to be a judgment of the nations.  Many confuse this judgment with the Great White Throne Judgment that takes place following the Millennium (Rev. 20:1-15).  The Judgment of the Nations will take place prior to the Millennium, and will determine who will be permitted to enter into Christ's earthly Kingdom.  Matthew's Gospel presents a clear picture of this particular judgment. 

"When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory:  and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth [his] sheep from the goats:  and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.  Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. . . . Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Mt. 25:31-34, 41).

Note that Matthew used a simile to describe how Jesus will divide the sheep.  Jesus does not call the sheep "My sheep," for His sheep (the Church) were removed from this planet seven years earlier (Jn. 14:1-3; 1 Cor. 15:50-53; 1 Thes. 4:16-17; etc.).

The two groups of people who will stand before Jesus in this judgment, will have lived during the seven-year Tribulation (Dan. 9:27):  the Gentiles who helped the Jews during the final three and a half years of  Daniel's Seventieth Week, when the Jews were on the run (Mt. 25:35-41), and Gentiles who would not respond to the needs of the Jews during that period (Mt. 25:42-45).

There is clearly another difference between the two groups, and that difference tells us why each group acted as they did during the Great Tribulation.  Those who helped them are described as "righteous," and the others must therefore be "unrighteous," because their sentenced to everlasting punishment (Mt. 25:46).  In other words, those who helped the Jews were saved; they had been declared to be righteous, and righteousness is a gift that is the result of faith in the Lord (Rom. 4:3; 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:6; Jam. 2:23; etc.)!

Righteous people are those who have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Righteous people do all they can to help God's people:  Israel!