Gospel of Matthew Chapter 25 Vs. 32

 The Final Judgment

Matthew 25:32 “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 before him... At his coming to judgment the world will be burned up (2Pet. 3:10, 3:12; Rev. 20:11). The dead in Christ that is, all true Christians, will be raised up from their graves (1Thes. 4:16). The living will be changed – i.e., will be made like the glorified bodies of those that are raised from the dead (1Cor. 15:52-54; 1Thes. 4:17). All the wicked will rise and come forth to judgment (John 5:28-29; Dan. 12:2; Mat. 13:41-42; Rev. 20:13). Then shall the world be judged, the righteous saved, and the wicked punished.

gathered all nations... Not every person in all nations for many will not know Christ has even landed on the planet earth until later (Isa. 2:1-22; 66:19-21; Zec. 8:23). It will be an individual judgment of all involved with Israel when Christ comes to set up His kingdom, not a judgment of the wicked dead.

All the nations (πάντα τὰ ἔθνη)

The whole human race: though the word is generally employed in the New Testament to denote Gentiles as distinguished from Jews.

Contrasts between the Two Judgments:

Judgment of the nations (Mat. 25:31-46)	Judgment of the wicked (Rev. 20:11-15)
1. Living nations	the wicked dead
2. Before Millennium	after Millennium
3. Christ the Judge	God the Judge
4. On earth	in heaven
5. Two classes	one class
6. Some saved	none saved.
7. Some destroyed	all destroyed.
8. No resurrections	a resurrection
9. No books opened	books opened.
10. Basis: persecution of Jews	all sins of all men
11. One generation	many generations
12. Gentiles only	Jews and Gentiles
13. Angel's help	none mentioned.
14. Some go to hell	all go to hell.
15. Some enter kingdom	none enter it.
16. Separation of good from bad	no good at all
17. To determine who continues to live on earth.	none here will live on earth again.
18. Some enter eternal life	none enter it.

and he shall... Shall determine respecting their character and shall appoint them their doom accordingly.

Separate them (αὐτοὺς)

Masculine, while the word nations is neuter. Nations are regarded as gathered collectively; but in contemplating the act of separation the Lord regards the individuals.

sheep from the goats... Sheep and goats were allowed to feed together by day but were separated at night (cp. Mat. 13:39-50).

The sheep from the goats (or kids, so Rev. in margin)

The bald division of men into sheep and goats is, in one sense, so easy as not to be worth performing; and in another sense it is so hard as only to be possible for something with supernatural insight (John Morley, Voltaire). Goats are an appropriate figure, because the goat was regarded as a comparatively worthless animal. Hence the point of the elder son's complaint in the parable of the Prodigal: Not so much as a kid (Luke 15:29). The diminutive (ἐρίφια) expresses contempt.

It seems quite certain, then, that whatever subsequent unfolding there may be in the later books of the New Testament as to the order in which judgment shall proceed, there is no intention here of anticipating them. It is true that the preceding parables have each given a partial view of the judgment, -the first as affecting those in office in the Church, the second and third as applied to the members of the Church; but just as those specially contemplated in the first parable are included in the wider scope of the second and third, so these contemplated in the second and third are included in the universal scope of the great judgment scene with which the whole discourse is fitly and grandly concluded.

In this great picture of the final judgment the prominent thought is separation:

The judgment of the Gentiles will occur 1,000 years earlier in order to determine who will and will not enter the kingdom.

The words the nations (ta ethnē) should be translated the Gentiles. These are all people, other than Jews, who have lived through the Tribulation period (cf. Joel 3:2, 3:12). They will be judged individually, not as national groups.