The Hard Questions: Who Will Jesus Tell to Get Lost?
Jesus is the perfect embodiment of morality in this world. So much so that we officially divided history with respect to His birth. Jesus fundamentally changed the world.
He has perfect love for all humanity, yet He is still just in His decisions.
So, why does He tell some believers that they need to depart from Him after the Second Coming?
The answer is something most Christians might miss.
“‘Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and cast out demons in Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:21-23 [ESV]).
What did Jesus just say the will of His Father was earlier in the text?
“‘So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide, and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few’” (Matthew 7:12-13 [ESV]).
I noticed something while reading this today. If we take the text here in context with the surrounding verses, even tying it back to judging others from the beginning of the seventh chapter, it seems to my eyes and understanding that the narrow gate is fulfilling the Law and the Prophets by the golden rule.
Most Christians read this as saying we are told to leave His presence because we weren’t virtuous enough by some made-up standard that churches teach. That isn’t what makes the gate narrow, necessarily.
Reading it closely seems to show something that many miss. The narrow way is the way of love, not adhering to the commandments for the sake of it. Entering the narrow gate is tied to loving your neighbor as yourself.
I would argue that Jesus is calling us to a higher form of love, a love so grand it fulfills the Torah and the Prophets by using it to its full capacity.
This is when we take all the surrounding verses in context.
We are warned of false prophets in this section of the Gospel of Matthew as well.
So, false prophets have no love and do the opposite of what Yeshua requires.
The way to love God and others is to follow the Torah’s commands with the spirit of the Law of God in the forefront of our minds.
This means Christians that Jesus will say He never knew are Christians that don’t obey the Torah in the spirit of the love Jesus taught.
It’s not about some holier-than-thou understanding at all.
It’s not about making up sins that don’t exist and ridiculous Calvinistic stances.
It’s aiming for the target of what perfected Torah love looks like in our lives.
If you don’t keep Torah, Jesus will reject your faith. But there’s a warning I must give so my words aren’t twisted around. The best way to keep Torah is to love the way He does. That means many Christians will make it on that merit.
It means leaving the ultimate judgment up to Him, the Son of Man who is the Judge of all Mankind.
It means not using slurs for people because you think the Bible says something it doesn’t.
It means wanting to do the best for your fellow human, no matter what their life looks like at that point in time.
It means loving God’s commandments, but not making up sins that aren’t there.
This is also the section of Scripture that speaks of logs and specks.
Taking everything into context, it is the Christians who don’t have love in their hearts that are at stake here.
Take the entire chapter as one cohesive unit, and you’ll see the intended meaning of Matthew 7:23.
Hebrew Roots teachers think He only means the Torah is in view, except Jesus’s own words in Matthew 5:17-19 show us that even Christians who don’t keep the Torah are least in the kingdom. I don’t see a way to get around this. They will still make it.
Meaning that can’t be the intended meaning here in Matthew 7.
If we humble ourselves and read the chapter in context, we see it is the unloving and those who don’t bear good fruit that are cast aside. False prophets and those who are inwardly wolves.
The Christians who think, “I’ve got God on my side, so my hatred is justified.”
When we should say, “I get to be on God’s side.”
The teachers who say God’s Law means nothing today, so we have no definition of love anymore. If a teacher or prophet speaks against the Torah, he is false. They rid the faith of those tenets which are truly valuable and end up making up nebulous sins that don’t even exist.
Those types of people.
But that Christian who eats BLT sandwiches and helps those who are different, hurting, or downtrodden, they’ll make it faster than the Torah terrorist who is missing the whole point.
God helps us understand His nature every time the sun rises, every time we take a breath.
These things He offers us in love without asking for obedience. They’re free.
In the same manner, we should treat others with that same grace, despite their disobedience.
If we plant a seed, God will water and increase the plant into something that takes in the sun’s light.
Once the plant matures in the faith, it will also emanate the Son’s light.
So, Jesus isn’t saying those who don’t keep Torah should get lost.
He’s speaking about our conduct. The truth is, there was no Torah understanding for 2,000 years in most Christian denominations and sects.
A much better interpretation is that these believers were false prophets, unloving, and not carrying the weight of the weightier matters.
The basis of God’s commands is love, not rejecting the schema of how that is to be outright, and not assuming Jesus means you won’t be the one rejected because you subscribe to manmade sins that don’t show up in the text while everyone else is a terrible sinner who doesn’t really know Him at all.
Context is king in the Bible. Many passages can be read individually, but it seems the best way to read Matthew 7 is as a whole.
Blessings and shalom to you!
