Jesus has just said that not everyone who knows He is Lord, and not everyone who calls Him Lord, and not everyone who even insists that He is Lord, will gain entry to the Kingdom of heaven. Now He elaborates on that point, seemingly making it impossible to get to the Kingdom at all; “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”
Surely to prophesy is a good thing. Is it not better then, to prophesy in Jesus’ Name? To drive out demons is a good thing. What then of those who drive them out in Jesus’ Name? To perform a miracle qualifies you for canonization in the Catholic church! To do so in Jesus’ Name, and to do ‘many miracles’ must be a very good thing. Yet in His books, not only is it not good enough to know Jesus’s Name and to call Him Lord, it is not good enough to do good things. Not even very good things, and not even very good things in His Name! In fact, although Jesus’ has already said that entrance to the Kingdom of heaven depends on doing the will of God (v21), His distaste for those who merely do things – even very good things in His own Name – is such that He calls them, “evildoers”.
The people in Christ’s prophetic vision of “that day” are clearly in trouble, and they’ve obviously appealed to Jesus to help them. Yet He says to them, “I never knew you.” “What is meant by ‘I never knew you’?” [Jesus]..uses the language of origin because origin was so important for identity in the ancient world, but fundamentally it is a denial of relationship: no link of any significance exists.” Effectively, Jesus is declaring that although they knew He was Lord, and although they knew to call Him Lord (even to insist on it through repetition), and although they had prophesied in His Name, driven out the demonic in His Name and performed miracles in His Name, they obviously misunderstood Him. They may be aware of who Christ is, and keenly aware of the power of His Name, but there was no true knowledge of the other. They may have even thought they had that, but Jesus certainly had no relationship with them. What a horrible realization to come to on “that day”!
Family members understand each other because they have a kinship relationship with each other. A son of the Father knows the Father, and the Father knows him. A son of the Father must know The Son, for “the Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” Those who are God’s children hear His Voice in the Gospel call to repentance. They become aware of their true identity through the preaching of the Gospel, they grasp that identity through faith in Jesus, and they live out that identity through obedience to the Word of God. In all these ways and more, they demonstrate a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ the Son, because they are related by faith. Therefore, they do not try to accomplish their own admission to the Kingdom of heaven through works. That admission is already (and can only be) accomplished by means of family ties.
If there was ever a condemnation of salvation by works alone, this is it; “Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” Spiritual works done of and by ourselves are dead works; they are seen by the Lord as works of evil, for their motivation is not bringing the Kingdom of Christ to others, but our own selfishness. Moreover, their result is not the glory of God, but our own pride. How could God ever reward that?
Only the work Jesus does through us by His Spirit matters. As the cliche goes, “Know Jesus, know salvation. No Jesus, no salvation!”
I dare not think of standing without Christ for even an instant. I am a poor sinner and nothing at all, but, thanks be unto God, “Jesus Christ is my all and in all.
Hannah Whitall Smith
APPLICATION: Worship
All of salvation and all of the Christ-life God has appointed for us to live after meeting Him are due to the presence and work of God in us. Celebrate that work today by honouring God through worship.