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. He will place the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
This compares to Matthew 24:31 that reads,
“And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
First, we need to realize that the word “angel,” which simply means “messenger,” may refer to human messengers. It is so used of John the Baptist in Matthew 11:10, the messengers of John the Baptist (Luke 7:24), the apostles of Christ (Luke 9:52), and the Jewish spies (James 2:25).
Second, the significance of “trumpets” is that they were always instruments of warning or deliverance. Thus, Jesus may well have spoken of the declaration of the gospel by his apostles. The apostles warned this perverse generation of Jews of the judgment to come upon them because of their rejection of the Messiah. This is exactly the thought of verse Mt. 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.”
Third, we understand the significance of “the four winds of heaven” when we consider Luke 13:29, where Jesus said of his kingdom: “And they shall come from the east and west, and from the north and south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.” This gathering of the elect was foretold in Isaiah 11:12, 27:12-13, 43:5-7, and 56:6-8 as well as other Old Testament prophets.
When we read of “nations,” realize that the land of Israel comprised of many nations. Josephus, a Jewish historian, writes of the nation of the Samaritans, Galileans, Idumea, Peream Trachonitis, Iturea, and Abilene. The Greek term “ethnarch” (lit. “ruler of a nation”) described the ruler of these nations recognized by Rome. In Matthew 24:7, Jesus speaks of “nation rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” In Luke 21:25-32, Luke quoted Jesus saying,
And there shall be signs in sun and moon and stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows…This generation shall not pass away, till all things are accomplished.
This verse ends with a description that many assume can only take place at the end of time. Nothing is said about the end of time and this description of setting the “sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left” are in agreement with Mt. 16:27-28, which says he would “render to every man according to his deeds…some of them that stand here, who will in no wise taste of death.”