Will Jesus acknowledge me

 Matthew 7:22-23

On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’  23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’

Many of us struggle to understand these verses. It is difficult to comprehend that a person can prophesy, cast out demons and perform many miracles “in the name of Jesus”, and then hear Jesus say, “I never knew you”. It seems that it could be possible for someone to think that their actions are in service to God, when in reality they are not - evidenced by the fact that here they are shown to be standing before Jesus on judgement day, calling Him Lord, and claiming to have been in His service. They must have believed this to be true.

This is not something that outright atheists or Satan worshippers or simply non-believers would do. Even those from the dark side who were sent into churches to destroy them, and who would be doing these miracles by the power of Satan in order to deceive many, would not call Jesus ‘Lord’ on judgement day, they served another.

Is it even possible for unbelievers to cast out demons? This was something that I immediately considered upon thinking about the above verses. In Matthew 12:27 Jesus speaks about the sons of the Pharisees driving out demons; Acts 19:13 also refers to Jewish exorcists, and these were not believers in Christ. Were they successful? It would seem so, even if only to a certain degree. I believe that there are two possibilities here: either God allowed them for His own purposes to have authority over demons in some cases, or it is through demonic power.  This is indeed possible - the Bible shows that angels can perform miracles (Gen 19:11), therefore we know that Satan and his followers can also do the same. In the future, Antichrist and the False Prophet will perform many lying signs and wonders through the power of Satan (2 Thes 2:9). He will certainly orchestrate the casting out of his own demons to mislead people into believing that it is a believer performing an act of God operating here, when in actual fact it is not, and bystanders will then easily be led astray.

Jesus’ words “I never knew you” implies that the people referred to in our quoted verse were not Christians to begin with, and therefore did not operate from God’s power. They might have grown up in a Christian environment but never personally chosen Jesus as Lord; or seen first-hand that ministering in a church could bring fame and power; or relied on their works to gain them entrance to heaven - and never come to realise that all Jesus really wants is for us to have an intimate personal relationship with Him. To “know” Him in other words. How? Just love Him - 1 Cor 8:3 “But the one who loves God is known by God.”

Points to ponder: How deeply do I love God? Are the following signs of loving worship for my heavenly Father; and for my Beloved Jesus; and for my Companion Holy Spirit present in my life: do I obey His word; do I do everything for Him and offer everything He has given me back to Him to be used for His purposes; do I connect with Him through prayer; do I obey His commands?

I will love the Lord