²¹ How, though, will people in those nations fare when the Son of man arrives in his glory? Let us find out from the parable of the sheep and the goats, which begins with the words: “When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him.”​—Matthew 25:31, 32.

22, 23. What points indicate that the parable of the sheep and the goats did not begin its fulfillment in 1914?

²² Does this parable apply when Jesus sat down in kingly power in 1914, as we have long understood? Well, Matthew 25:34 does speak of him as King, so the parable logically finds application since Jesus became King in 1914. But what judging did he do soon thereafter? It was not a judging of “all the nations.” Rather, he turned his attention to those claiming to make up “the house of God.” (1 Peter 4:17) In line with Malachi 3:1-3, Jesus, as Jehovah’s messenger, judicially inspected the anointed Christians remaining on earth. It was also time for judicial sentence on Christendom, who falsely claimed to be “the house of God.”c (Revelation 17:1, 2; 18:4-8) Yet nothing indicates that at that time, or for that matter since, Jesus sat to judge people of all the nations finally as sheep or goats.

²³ If we analyze Jesus’ activity in the parable, we observe him finally judging all the nations. The parable does not show that such judging would continue over an extended period of many years, as if every person dying during these past decades were judged worthy of everlasting death or everlasting life. It seems that the majority who have died in recent decades have gone to mankind’s common grave. (Revelation 6:8; 20:13) The parable, though, depicts the time when Jesus judges the people of “all the nations” who are then alive and facing the execution of his judicial sentence.

“He will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”​—MATTHEW 25:32.

3. Earlier in his discourse, what did Jesus say would develop immediately after the great tribulation begins?

³ Jesus foretold striking developments to come “immediately after” the outbreak of great tribulation, developments we await. He said that then “the sign of the Son of man” would appear. This will profoundly affect “all the tribes of the earth” who will “see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” The Son of man will be accompanied by “his angels.” (Matthew 24:21, 29-31)a What of the parable of the sheep and the goats? Modern Bibles put it in Mt chapter 25, but it is part of Jesus’ reply, giving further details about his coming in glory and focusing on his judging of “all the nations.”​—Matthew 25:32.