Living in the Light of the Promise

One of the most unsettling and even terrifying passages in the Bible, at least for me, is found in Matthew 7:21-23, near the conclusion of what is known as The Sermon on the Mount. Here Jesus states, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’  And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ 

In this passage Jesus is revealing the interaction He will have with many men and women in that day, which could be the day of the great white throne judgement at the end of the world (Revelation 20:11-12), or, more likely, the day in which we each will stand before Jesus for judgement at the time of our death (Hebrews 9:27). These are men and women who while in this world acknowledge Jesus as Lord, the covenant God, the sovereign ruler over creation and over their life, an acknowledgement required for a man or women to be saved (Romans 10:9-10). They pridefully rehearse to Him the many good, even wonderous works they have done as His self- confessed disciples (in your name). It would appear that their confession of Him as Lord coupled with these works are what they believed warrants their entrance into Christ’s eternal kingdom, and they are fully expecting that they will hear from Jesus’s lips, in that day, “Come you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34).

Instead, they hear the most dreaded, most horrific words a human being can hear from the lips of Jesus, “depart from me” (Matthew 25:41). This will undoubtably be most horrific for those expecting to hear the joyous words of Matthew 25:34.

Thus, if those of us who identify as Christians, fully expecting to be welcomed into Christ’s eternal Kingdom at our death or His second coming, are to avoid this most horrific moment, it would be wise and prudent to ponder and answer from scripture the question of why? Why are these many who confessed Jesus as Lord and accomplished many wonderous and good works in His name, rejected by Jesus and banished from His glorious presence -forever.

Some commentators in answer to this question point to their expectation that their good and wonderous works would in themselves merit entrance into Heaven.  This of course would be contrary to the truth that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, not of any good or wonderous works we do lest any man/women boast (Ephesians 2:8-10) (Titus 3:4-7).

Others note that their enthusiastic confession of Jesus as Lord (Lord, Lord), though required as a condition of our salvation, matters little unless there has been a true repentance, a true turning from our sin and  self-centered life to a God centered life, in which pleasing, honoring and glorifying God is or is becoming the chief motivation for all that we do in this world (Acts 17:30-31) (Luke 6:46) (Ezekiel 33:31) (Hebrews 11:5-6) (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Jesus however makes it clear to these many (and lovingly warns us), that the preeminent reason for His rejection and condemnation of them was relational – I never knew you. He is not proclaiming here ignorance of their existence as He is perfectly and fully aware of everyone He has created.  He is essentially saying to them (and us), that they never pursued and received God’s offer of eternal life though faith in Jesus and came to love Him above all else (Romans 6:23) (1 Corinthians 8:3).

The Apostle John in 1 John 5:11-13 writes, And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.  He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.  These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

Eternal life is first and foremost relational, wherein through faith in the person and saving work of Jesus, we are brought by God into the glorious relationship with Him for which we were created, wherein knowing, loving and being loved by God will become the all-consuming passion of our life in this world, continuing into the world to come. This is not just a shallow and superficial relationship, but one in which we strive throughout our life, though His word and by the Holy Spirit, to know Him personally, intimately, and experientially and come to love and desire Him preeminently above all else in His creation (John 17:3) (Jeremiah 31:33-34) (Luke 10:25-28). (Ephesians 3:16-19).

Martin Lloyd-Jones, commenting on this passage in Matthew 7:21-23 in his classic book titled Studies in the Sermon on the Mount writes, If we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the only begotten Son of God and that He came into this world and went to the cross at Calvary and died for our sins and rose again in order to justify us and give us life anew and prepare us for heaven – if we really believe that then there is only one inevitable deduction, namely that he is entitled to the whole of our lives – everything – without any limit whatsoever. 

The many noted in this passage are ultimately those who never pursued, never truly entered into the promise of eternal life, as their preoccupation was with this world and the things and cares of this world, and were thus blinded to the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ, glory that makes Him worthy of being known intimately, loved supremely, worshiped exclusively, obeyed perfectly and enjoyed eternally as the object of their/our deepest love and source of their/our greatest joy. (Titus 1:1-2) (Mark 10:17-22) (Mark 4:18-19) (1 John 2:15-17) (2 Corinthians 4:3-4) (1 Peter 1:6-9).

Thus, the one who has eternal life, the one who does not have to fear hearing those dreadful words, depart from me, is the one for whom knowing and being known by God is the all-consuming passion of their life in this world, the one whose affections, desires and longings are centered on Jesus, the one who no longer lives for him or herself, but for Him who loved them and gave Himself for them (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) (Galatians 2:20).

Grace and Peace ×