Sheep are the people who belong to God, true believers of Christ, both Jews and Gentiles. The sheep are the righteous, those who are righteous are saved by grace through faith in Christ and not of works, they are saved to do good works. Goats are unbelievers, hypocrites, sinners among every nation. The goats are the unsaved and will experience eternal punishment. Sheep are a symbol of humbleness and obedient submissiveness to the leading of the Shepherd and His guiding.
Goats are a symbol of riotous, unconsciously selfishness, failing to see the needs of others.
Jesus is the Lamb of God offered for the redemption of sin and the Goat offered for atonement of sins , in the Law given to Moses. The separation of the sheep and the goats illustrates a truth. Christ knows who belongs to Him. God's sheepfold can be detected in how they treat the least of His brethren. It is to be noted that the sheep and the goats were not aware of their works or fruit and therefore cannot in anyway boast of their deeds, for only Christ can see all.