Matthew 7:22 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 7:22

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‘Not every one that saith unto me’. When is Christ speaking of? Now it becomes clear: it is the Day of Judgment, and on that day it is the Lord Jesus Christ we will stand before. Our eternal destiny is about to be decided; no, it has already been decided, but now the sentence is to be carried out. No wonder there is intense urgency in these words. ‘Lord, Lord …’: they are repeated, again. They may have been used with presumption during life, but now they are used with desperate urgency. The Lord is the only one to be addressed now. Forget about earthly judges or experts or rulers. What can they do to help the soul that is about to be condemned? What power does anyone have except Christ? And he has all power; he is in authority over all, and even the hardest heart will now cry out to him. So what if they know they have blasphemed his name all their lives: they are not going to remain silent in this critical moment, however little prospect there is that they will be heard. The hardest of hearts will melt like butter, and they will plead for their eternal souls as they have never pleaded before. Christ speaks of that day as one who knows exactly what will take place, and to whom that day is already visible. He also speaks as the one who will be the central figure on that day, the Judge, deciding the eternal outcome of each life. The meek and lowly Saviour who allowed himself to be taken and crucified at the hands of sinful men will be the one who with an iron will shall give his unremitting verdict on every life. He does not need to consult the records of each life; he knows the details of each one intimately.In such desperate straits, every soul will bring out their strongest argument. Why reserve it for another day, when this is the day that determines everything? Christ, in reporting these events before the time comes, takes those who have the best defence to make and sees them bringing the very strongest reasons they can think of, but even these fall short of persuading him to change his mind. ‘Have we not prophesied in your name?’ The reason this seems such a strong argument to the speakers is that they cannot imagine clearer evidence that they are on the Lord’s side. During their lives they have publish Christ’s message and spoken on the authority of the Lord. They have not spoken in their own name, which they are aware others have done whom they know will be rejected. They believe they have even prophesied in Christ’s name – the highest possible form of communication which involves inspiration. Let us say for the sake of argument that their prophecies were genuine – that must be the strongest case we can imagine. Could someone have prophesied and yet not belong to God? Well yes; Scripture even furnishes us with the case of Balaam who without doubt prophesied the word of God, using highly exalted words, and yet who was rejected and had no real love for God in his heart. This is mysterious, but anyone who appeals to true prophecies which have come out of their mouths, is assuming that the mystery cannot be understood. Nevertheless, Balaam was a false prophet speaking true prophecies. Paul also says, ‘And though I have the gift of prophecy … and have not charity, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2)’. How could God use them and then cast them aside? Only because they never belonged to him.Furthermore, they have cast out demons and been given power over the enemy of souls. What is taking place here? Does Satan cast out Satan? Can these exorcists really belong to the devil and not to Christ? They evidently think that would be impossible, and yet there is something vital missing in their lives. The door to heaven will be shut to them, and all they will hear from the Lord is the voice of condemnation. In exceptional cases, all these things may be done and yet the person is not truly a child of God, for they fail the ultimate test.

Application

Both in the New Testament and in the Old Testament it is clear that, among worshippers, many will not be converted. The church is not a club. The true church is an invisible entity – is your name on the role? Maybe you have respect for God and for eternal things, yet you have not come to Christ personally, sincerely. The Old Testament is full of warnings to the Jews: they worshipped God and idols also. Do you worship God and life in this world? Do you think most about how you can get on in this life? In the New Testament church were a party of people who claimed conversion but were outside the kingdom of heaven – the Judaisers. They came along behind the apostle Paul following him in his evangelistic campaigns and trying to undo his work. There were many of them. They joined churches and yet to many of them Christ will say, ‘I never knew you.’

In that day. What day? Not the day of your death – unless Christ returns before you die – but the day when all who have ever lived are assembled before the Judge of all the earth. For many, God takes away their lives before that day comes. The light of this world snaps out and the light of the next snaps on. The unbeliever knows that nothing can now change: he is reserved for the final day, but the Christian is taken into Christ’s presence reserved for the visible coming of Christ’s kingdom.

There is a double death for the unbeliever. God will remind you of every occasion he called you. But you haven’t seen the last of it. A general resurrection God will summon back each one, each one must stand before him in the body and then the final condemnation. May there be none content to be nominal believers. The gospel urges you to be serious with him, to ask for pardon.

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Matthew 7:22 Commentary and Bible Study