The greatest challenges of righteous judgment are the challenge of seeing sin as God sees it and the challenge of detecting and properly addressing sin in my own life.
Because of the work of false prophets at life’s narrow gate and along the difficult way, Jesus predicts there will be many surprised people on the day in which God pronounces His righteous judgment on their lives. The way that Matthew 7:22 is worded in the original indicates that those asking were expecting an affirmative answer to their question of “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?”
Pictured here is a multitude of people eagerly expecting to enter and enjoy eternal bliss with God who find out they never had an accurate knowledge of Him. He never knew them.
Clearly, they believed themselves to have entered the narrow gate of justification, but in actuality they had not. Instead of obeying Christ and His plan of salvation as given in Scripture, they had believed a lie told by a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Because of this, they are going to be eternally separated from Christ; they are lawless rebels in God’s eyes.
Clearly, they believed themselves to have walked the difficult way of sanctification (i.e. holy living), but in actuality they had not. Instead of obeying Christ and living His plan of abstaining from fleshly lusts (1 Peter 2:12) and living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age (Titus 2:12) as given in Scripture, they had believed a lie told by a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Because of this, they are going to be eternally separated from Christ; they are lawless rebels in God’s eyes.
“I never knew you” will be the righteous judgment God eternally pronounces on the lives of many surprised people.
Don’t be one of them.
