Many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied through *thy* name, and through *thy* name cast out demons, and through *thy* name done many works of power?
Jesus looks ahead to a day when crowds call Him Lord. They list the service they did in His name — prophecy, driving out demons, mighty works. Two questions follow. Which day does He mean? And how can real power work through people He will turn away?
One writer fixes the phrase to a definite event, then turns it on our own time.
When our Lord says "in that day," He means the day when the kingdom of the heavens is come by His return to the earth. Then many will prove to be empty in their profession. Despite their works and their use of His name, they were none of His. From this viewpoint, we may well look at our own times. The name of Christ is on many lips. Many speak in His name and do works of power in His name, yet they are not saved and do not know Him.
The number is the first shock of the verse.
The Lord Jesus warns people who lead religious lives and even do great deeds in His name, and yet are lost for eternity. He does not speak of a few here but of "many." They have done extraordinary things by calling on His name, and yet He must condemn them as wrongdoers.
Scripture gives real cases of gift and light without new birth.
There may be light in a sense without the smallest trace of life, and Balaam is an example. Scripture says the same about those who heard the word on rocky ground. They "immediately received it with joy" and "tasted the goodness of the word of God." Judas, too, could cast out demons as well as the rest.
So the most useful-looking ministry settles nothing about the minister.
No gift of power is a sign of eternal life, not even the edifying gift of prophesying. A man might be an apostle of Christ, but not a child of God. "You must be born again," begotten by the word of truth — which Judas never was. Outwardly near, he was really far off, not only a stranger in heart but an enemy. And so we read here of crowds who, unlike Judas, are deceived as well as deceivers.
That last line matters: these crowds fool themselves as well as others.
Notice what is missing from their plea.
Our souls may well pause over truth like this, and take the warning. "Did we not prophesy in Your name? I never knew you." There was no communion in spirit, though the hand or the tongue may have been used by the Lord.
Look at who the Lord is speaking to here, and what He asks of them.
Entering the kingdom of the heavens here means the kingdom in its glory, and the next verse fixes that by the words "in that day"… Clearly, the whole discourse says not a word about the new birth, and still less about redemption. Here the Lord is not telling sinners how to be saved. He is teaching His disciples how to walk before the Father in heaven… There may be seeming devoutness and great earnestness. But without living faith in Christ, a person neither knows God nor judges himself. The Lord insists on true obedience.
Behind the empty profession, one thing is missing: life.
Many profess His name. They boast of redemption in Him and the forgiveness of offences, but never think of present life in Him. Sadly, they deceive themselves… They say, Lord, Lord; but they are false to His name. Had they believed, they would have had life in His name, and brought forth fruit of righteousness.
The warning lands on the present, not only on a future crowd.
Nothing is more solemn than the words of the Lord Jesus, as His eye travelled over the wide world of profession… Look around you now. What do you see? Men are playing out a great piece of hypocrisy — religion without reality, a noisy and showy profession that deceives souls and drags them down to hell, respectable and religious all the way.
- Day — "That day" is the day the kingdom comes, when the Lord tests every claim made in His name.
- Many — The warning covers a crowd, not a fringe. These people fool themselves, not only others.
- Power — Balaam and Judas show that gift, light and even miracles can run ahead of life. Service in His name settles nothing.
- Knowing — Their plea lists works and never mentions communion with Christ. The Lord may use the hand while the heart stays a stranger.
- Reality — What stands is living faith that obeys the Father's will. Profession without life is only a name, and it falls in that day.
and then will I avow unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, workers of lawlessness.
The Sermon on the Mount ends with a courtroom scene. People who used the name of Jesus in public service hear Him disown them. His words raise the hardest question a religious person can face. Can someone work in Christ's name and never have belonged to Him?
These people did not fall away. They were never His. One commentator weighs the exact words:
Such people may have been very active in what is called Christian work. They have preached. They have cast out demons — that is, their influence was such that men and women found deliverance from satanic power through their ministry in the name of Jesus. They have professed with their lips, and they have done many wonderful works. Yet in that day they are found among the lost. When they plead their great activity and their earnestness in Christian testimony, the Lord says to them, "I never knew you." Notice what He does not say. He does not say, "I used to know you, but you have forfeited My favour and I no longer know you." He says, "I never knew you."
The Lord is not saying He lacked information about them. He means a knowing that runs both ways:
They were servants of His, gifted with power to serve Him. That does not prove they were in a living relationship with Him. These were not, for He says: "I never knew you." That He is omniscient and knows all men is just what the Word says. But here it is knowledge involving intimacy in the divine life and nature. Jesus says, "I know My own and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father." That is the intimacy He shares with all His own.
Gifts of power impress. They prove nothing:
No gift of power is a sign of eternal life, not even the edifying gift of prophesying. A man might be an apostle of Christ, but not a child of God. "You must be born again," born through the word of truth. Judas never was. He was outwardly near, but really far off.
The name He gives them is worth weighing. It covers more than breaking one written law:
Here the Lord calls those who are eternally damned "workers of lawlessness." The Jews listening to Him were ignoring and breaking the law God gave at Sinai. In other places lawlessness means more than that. Take 1 John 3:4, where we read: "Sin is lawlessness." Lawlessness there is rebellion against the will of God, and that will binds every man. Lawlessness therefore is the true character of every sin. So these workers of lawlessness are not the only guilty ones. All who refuse to submit to the will of God are guilty too, even if they have done great things in the name of the Lord during their lives.
If saying "Lord, Lord" cannot save, what does the passage press instead?
To say Lord, Lord, without doing His Father's will, is worthless. Whatever the works of power, their profession was hollow. It only deepened their guilt, and it will add to their endless remorse. They had no life in Christ, and so no obedience — yet every believer is sanctified to obey. Without holiness no one will see the Lord. The point here is that obedience is required of everyone who bears His name.
Behind the busy service there was one omission — they had never come in by the narrow gate themselves:
Many who have professed to be servants of Christ may have done great things in His name. Yet they never knew the value of His sin-atoning work for their own souls. They never entered by the narrow gate for their own salvation. How very awful this is! They may have striven to do "wonderful works" in His name. But they never knew what it was to "strive to enter through the narrow door."
Commentators differ on the moment intended. One places it at the final judgment throne:
This awful moment will take place when these people, who falsely professed His name, appear before the throne of Christ to receive their final sentence of damnation (Rev. 20:11-15).
Another ties it to the Lord's return to earth:
Nor does this word here in Matthew refer us to the great white throne. When our Lord says "in that day," He means the day when the kingdom of the heavens has come by His return to the earth. Then many will turn out to be people who merely professed. Despite their works and their use of His name, they were not His at all.
- Never knew — the verdict is not a cancelled relationship but an absent one; He does not say He knew them once.
- Known, not noted — the knowing in question is intimacy, not information; He knows all men, but He owns His own.
- Power proves nothing — preaching, casting out demons and mighty works can all go with a heart that was never born again, as Judas showed.
- Lawlessness named — the charge is not one crime. It is a settled refusal to submit to God's will, however impressive the service.
- Obedience is the mark — saying "Lord" proves nothing; doing the Father's will does. Behind every empty claim is a soul that never entered by the narrow gate.