Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:23)
It was not unprecedented for the Lord Jesus to speak in this way. Even from the days of the Old Testament prophets, this had been the focus of the Lord—that there has always been a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him (Malachi 3:17-18). No amount of simply calling Jesus Lord, performing miracles, casting out demons, or prophesying (see verse 22) was to be enough to distinguish the righteous from the wicked. What was needed was, more than words.
Think of Balaam in the book of Numbers (Numbers 22:5-12), who was very much a false prophet, very much someone who wanted to curse God’s people. Yet, he spoke the words of God (Numbers 24:2-3). He saw the vision of the Almighty falling down with his eyes uncovered, but he was not a believer (2 Peter 2:15-16). We also have an example in John’s Gospel of the high priest that year, who ended up prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation, but he was no believer (John 11:49-51).
Paul himself speaks to the church in Corinth, saying:
“If I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:2).
The question for the disciples was: Where were their hearts? The Lord had long told his people that a perverse heart was, in reality, far from him (Isaiah 29:13). And he wants the world to be in no doubt that the Lord will know nothing of evil (Psalm 5:4). There is a fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41), and those who reject Christ will follow them into that fire, prepared for them (Revelation 20:15).
Where is your heart?
