From the time that the master of the house shall have risen up and shall have shut the door, and ye shall begin to stand without and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us; and he answering shall say to you, I know you not whence ye are
Someone asks Jesus whether only a few people will be saved. He answers with a picture instead of a number: a householder gets up and shuts the door, and everything hangs on which side of it you are standing.
The whole scene turns on a change of posture. One writer traces what the door depends on, and who is left outside it.
The Lord solemnly assures us that the moment His position changes, the door is shut. There would be no hope for those outside who had refused to enter by the narrow gate. The position of the door depends entirely on the position of the Master. While He remains seated, the door is open; but when He rises up, the door is shut. Those shut out with no hope were the people who had enjoyed the greatest privileges: eating and drinking in the Lord's presence, and hearing Him teach. They might try to get in at the shut door, but there was no way in for them.
So where is He now? Another writer describes what Christ is doing at this moment, and how that moment ends.
At the present time Christ is seated and expecting. He is now an exalted Prince and Saviour. "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved." Because of Christ's death there is salvation, present and eternal, for all who believe. But — reader, mark this well — as soon as He leaves His present position, when He rises up as it were, the door closes forever.
In the picture the Lord is inside and His hearers are outside. One writer traces that reversal back to how they had already treated Him.
The Lord takes this place outside them because He was rejected. They rejected Him, so for a time He has no choice but to reject them. Any other course would make God share in the dishonour of His own Son.
The title used in the question comes back at the shut door. There it opens nothing.
This person had addressed Him as "Lord" — another detail the Lord took account of and dealt with in His reply. A time would come when some would say, "Lord, open to us." The answer would be, "I do not know where you come from." A profession of the lips without inward reality would bring no benefit at all. It is also striking that the Lord's answer was not meant to show His own knowledge. It was meant to help the man who asked.
Those outside then plead their past privileges. The answer shows what those privileges never gave them.
The Lord Jesus will appear in glory to judge the inhabited earth. In vain will men in that day say, "Lord, open to us." He who now calls in love will sentence the guilty. He will say, "I do not know where you come from." If they had heard the word in faith, they would have received not only pardon and peace, but life in Christ... Pleading past privileges does no good. Neglected opportunities and slighted mercies only add to guilt.
Writers differ on which event closes it. Kelly links the moment to Christ appearing in glory to judge the earth. Others tie it to the removal of Christians to glory and the end of gospel preaching.
The gospel is not always going to be preached. God will not always send out the message of peace. He is the God of judgment as well as the God of peace, and Christ is a Judge as well as a Saviour. He is now seated at the right hand of God, but before long He will rise up and shut the door. The preaching of the cross will then cease; the seeker will not find, the knocker will be disappointed, the asker will be refused. The gospel testimony will close, the church will be taken to glory, and the hypocrite and unbeliever left for judgment.
Because the door will close, the Lord tells people to strive. What does that striving actually involve?
Striving to enter does not mean effort that earns entrance as a reward. It means a man throwing himself on the grace of God in Christ. No one can bring anything of his own through such a gate. Everything of that kind must stay outside forever.
- Seated — Christ sits now as an exalted Prince and Saviour, and while He sits, the door stands open.
- Risen — the door follows the Master. The moment He rises up, it shuts, and there is no way in.
- Rejected — they rejected Him first. So for a time He rejects them, rather than let God share in the dishonour of His Son.
- Unknown — "Lord, open to us" is only words. Meals in His presence and His teaching in the streets never made anyone known to Him.
- Strive — you enter the narrow gate by casting yourself on grace. Leave everything of your own outside, and do it now, not at a shut door.
then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten in thy presence and drunk, and thou hast taught in our streets;
Jesus has just warned that the door will one day be shut. Those outside then plead their history with Him — shared meals, His teaching in their own streets — and the plea is true, yet it fails.
Their claim is true. One writer weighs what such a plea is worth once the door has shut.
From the time the master of the house has risen up and shut the door, it would be quite useless for the Jews to plead their case. They could say that Jesus had come among them, and that the Messiah had been in their streets. They could say that "they had eaten and drunk in His presence," and that He "had taught in their streets." This was what most clearly proved their guilt. He had been there, and they would not have Him. He had taught in their streets, but they had despised and rejected Him even more than the Gentiles did. They demanded His crucifixion when even the hardest-hearted of Gentile governors wanted to acquit Him.
Another writer sets the two days side by side: the day of Christ's humiliation and the day of His glory.
Those who reject Christ in the day of His humiliation will themselves be rejected in the day of His glory. Instead of being His companions in the kingdom, they will be thrust out.
C. E. Stuart ties this verse to what everlasting life depends on.
There were those present who had seen Him, and yet had not believed. But everlasting life, as set out here, is connected with seeing Him and believing on Him. To have seen Him, to have been in His company (Luke 13:26), was not enough. To believe on Him was the important matter.
He then looks at the plea itself, and at the door these people passed by.
"We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets." All true — too true. But what had it profited them? … The privileges once enjoyed, which they list, only condemn them. They saw Him, they heard Him, but did not enter by the door. Do any ask what the door is? We answer in the words of the Master, "I am the door."
One writer describes the crowd left outside when the door shuts.
Then there would be many left outside. Some of them could plead outward acquaintance with Him, but they had no practical inward knowledge of Him. They were still the unsaved doers of unrighteousness.
Why is outward religion not enough, and what does God look for instead?
God could not have mere forms: there must be what suits His nature. This is always proved true when the light of God shines. … Conversion essentially consists in distrust of self and turning to God. This the Jews had not, and, despite all their high claims to religion, they were only workers of evil.
Earlier the Lord tells His hearers to strive; here the same people only seek. Is that just a difference of degree?
Are the striving and seeking in verse 24 merely different measures of the same thing? No. They are not different measures of intensity, but different actions. The man who seeks does so after the master of the house has risen up — at the last moment. But see that you begin beforehand. Do not let that moment find you in the position of a seeker. … Then the Lord goes on to show the plea the seeker may put in. But "depart from Me." It will not do. He pleads his privileges and intimacy.
What should they have done instead? One writer weighs the word "Strive" in verse 24 against the plea here.
The word "Strive," in verse 24, does not mean work of any kind. It means earnestness so intense that it is almost agony. It is as though He said, "Agonize to enter in at the narrow gate while the opportunity lasts." Many seek a wider entrance through ceremonial things, as verse 26 shows. But only what is personal and spiritual will do. There is no real entrance except through the narrow way of repentance.
One writer presses the warning as far as the Lord's Supper.
So it is even possible to share in the Lord's Supper for years — to have "eaten and drunk in Your presence" — and still spend eternity at the table of demons!
- Near, not in. They ate with Him and heard Him teach; nearness to Christ is not entrance through Christ.
- Privilege, not protection. Having Him in their streets is the very thing that proves their guilt — He was there, and they would not have Him.
- Acquaintance, not knowledge. Many could plead outward acquaintance with Him, but they had no inward knowledge of Him.
- Striving, not seeking. Striving happens now, while the door is open. Seeking comes after it shuts. Begin beforehand.
- Ceremony, not repentance. Many look for a wider entrance through ceremonial things. The only way in is the narrow way of repentance.
and he shall say, I tell you, I do not know you whence ye are; depart from me, all [ye] workers of iniquity.
The scene is a shut door, with people outside knocking and listing what they once enjoyed. The Lord repeats His refusal. He does not know where they come from, and He names what they are.
Those shut out are not strangers to religion. They had contact with Christ, and they treat that contact as a claim. The writers quoted here use older translations, which read "I do not know you, where you are from" and "workers of iniquity."
The people will protest that He ought to know them. They have eaten and drunk in His presence — though they cannot say they had fellowship with Him — and He has taught in their streets. Because of these outward contacts they demand some recognition. This is the very character of the hypocrite. He touches the fringes of Christianity by his formal observances, but in heart he does not know the Lord. Therefore the Lord repeated, "I tell you I do not know you, where you are from." He then adds the solemn words, "Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity." Their power to deceive will no longer make a way for them. He will expose their falsehood.
The plea itself is true. That is what makes it useless — and worse than useless.
Missed opportunities and mercies ignored only add to guilt… There is no peace for the wicked, whether Gentile, Jew, or of Christendom. Least of all is there peace for those who have heard most.
The label seems harsh for people who attended, listened and ate in His company. William Kelly ties it to what they never received, and to who is speaking.
He who now calls in love will sentence the guilty… If they had heard the word in faith, they would have received not only pardon and peace, but life in Christ. And His life is the only source, and a sure one, of the fruit of righteousness that comes through Him to God's glory and praise. If men do not receive Christ for eternal life, they are only "workers of iniquity" — the baptised no less than the circumcised.
God's own nature settles the case, not the amount of religious activity.
God could not accept mere forms. There must be what suits His nature. This is always proved true when the light of God shines. The gospel does not mean that God now approves what is contrary to Himself.
The refusal is not a mood that may pass. C E Stuart names the door, and shows how settled the answer is.
"I know you not where you are from: depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity," shows that His will does not change. He will never open that door… They saw Him and heard Him, but they did not enter by the door. Does anyone ask what the door is? We answer in the words of the Master: "I am the door" (John 10:9). Christ is the door. We can understand, then, why it is a narrow one.
Since the door is Christ, the earlier command to strive is not about effort in general.
The striving to enter in at the narrow gate means, to my mind, a man brought to a true sense of sin. He casts himself on God's grace in Christ — repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ Himself is the narrow gate — at least, Christ Himself received in this way, by faith and repentance.
In a related warning the Lord says, "I never knew you." Henry Allan Ironside weighs what those words do not say.
Notice, He does not say to them, "I used to know you, but you have forfeited My favour and I do not know you any longer." He says, "I never knew you."
The shut-out group then watches others take the seats they assumed were theirs.
Those who reject Christ in the day of His humiliation will themselves be rejected in the day of His glory. Instead of being His companions in the kingdom, they will be thrust out. The unbelieving Jews will see the Gentiles come into the glory of the kingdom. They themselves, staying in unbelief, will be cast out.
- Contact — Eating in His presence and hearing Him teach is outward contact, not fellowship. The hypocrite touches the fringes, and his heart stays a stranger.
- Claim — Past privilege is what they plead. But those who never received Christ for eternal life are only workers of evil, "the baptised no less than the circumcised."
- Guilt — Missed opportunities and ignored mercies only add to guilt. Least peace of all belongs to those who have heard most.
- Door — They saw and heard Him, but they never went in. The door is Christ Himself, entered by repentance and faith.
- Verdict — "I never knew you" is not a friendship lost. His will does not change, and He will never open that door, while others come into the glory of the kingdom.