NT Text: Matthew 25:31-46
OT Source(s):
Source: Beale & Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Baker, 2007)
Reference Type: Allusion
Connection Method(s): Promise-Fulfillment
Anchor Text: Dan 7:13-14 — The Son of Man Receiving Dominion
Significance: The judgment of the sheep and goats is the most explicitly Danielic of all Jesus' parousia scenes: "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him" (Matt 25:31-32). The title "Son of Man," the enthronement in glory, and above all the gathering of "all the nations" before His throne render Daniel 7:13-14, where the Son of Man receives dominion so that "the people of every nation and language should serve Him." Daniel's heavenly courtroom — thrones set, the court convened, the kingdom awarded (Dan 7:9-14, 22, 26) — becomes here the throne of the Son of Man who separates and judges the nations and welcomes the blessed to "inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (v.34). The connection is promise-fulfillment: the dominion and universal allegiance promised the Son of Man in Daniel are realized as He sits in final judgment over every people. The telos is the King who is also the Shepherd — the Son of Man enthroned in glory who identifies Himself with "the least of these" and grants His own kingdom to those who are His. To behold this Judge is not to shrink in moralistic dread but to find that the King of the universe is the One who was hungry, thirsty, and a stranger, and who counts mercy shown to His people as mercy shown to Himself — a glory that wins the heart to love and serve Him.