Smoodock's Blog

At this point in my study of the Gospel of Matthew, I’ve come to the place where many folks will believe Jesus is speaking of the end of the world, some will even think of it as “the end of time.” However, I’ve completed and posted many studies on this website, that prove the Bible **never** speaks of “the end of time.” Moreover, although Jesus is speaking of the last or latter days (Deuteronomy 31:29), he isn’t speaking of “the end of the world” as many would define that phrase today.

Context is everything, when one is seeking to know what scripture is telling us. Jesus began his discourse by telling his disciples about what life is like in the Presence of God, and he is still speaking of God’s Presence here. Jesus’ words: “…depart from me you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23) reminds me of Genesis 3:22-24. There, mankind was driven from the Presence of God (cast out of the Garden), because he chose to know good and evil apart from any input from the Lord. I believe it is this that Jesus is referring to, here, except it is worded the other way around. Here, he is telling us who will be brought back into God’s Presence, and who will remain outside. He is not speaking of eternal judgment that will occur in the future, because Jesus later tells us that mankind, as he is without God, is already judged (John 3:18; Genesis 3:22-24).

Notice that Jesus is speaking of entering the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 7:21). This isn’t some future place we enter after death. The Kingdom of Heaven is the Presence of God, into which we come, when we are given his Holy Spirit. Later, Paul will write to Roman believers that they are not of the flesh, vis-à-vis not of Adam, if the Spirit of God dwelt in them. However, any man, who doesn’t have the Spirit of God, is not his, vis-à-vis he is not “of Christ” but “of Adam.” In my previous study, we saw that the false prophet is someone who bears bad fruit. He cannot bear good fruit, because of who he is. Jesus is repeating his teaching about unbelievers here, but using different terms. There, he spoke of the false prophet’s fruit, what his life was able to produce. Here, Jesus is speaking of why this is so. An evil man cannot bear good fruit, because he doesn’t have the Spirit of God dwelling in him. This doesn’t mean he cannot be a moral person; it simply means he cannot bear fruit to honor God. A moral person bears fruit that honors himself. **He** is a good man, while the believer points to God, saying: God is **good** in all he does.

Therefore, no man can enter the Kingdom or the Presence of God simply by calling him ‘Lord,’ because it is what a man does that proves he is in the Presence of God. He who does the will of God is in God’s Presence! However, we might ask: “What is the will of God?” Well, Jesus answers that question later: “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one, whom he sent” (John 6:29). In other words, believing God cancels our rebellion, vis-à-vis our determination to know what is good and evil without God’s input (Genesis 2:17; 3:1-6). If we’ve ceased our rebellion (cp. Hebrews 4:10), God accepts us back into his Presence.

Often, a small thing like a preposition will control how a whole phrase or even the whole sentence is understood. For example, the text says: “On that day…” What day is that? Is Jesus pointing to a specific 24-hour day in the future, when all things will be judged with eternal finality? The same Greek word (en – G1722) can also be translated: “In that day…” How would this change the meaning of the phrase, and the rest of the sentence? First of all, the word day can represent a period of time, an age, or the whole of a man’s life. So, if the text reads: “Many will say to me in that day ‘Lord, Lord…’” (Matthew 7:22), Jesus could be speaking of an elongated period of time, vis-à-vis a man’s life, or an age, and not a single day.

Consider what the scriptures say about that day. It is a time when no one, not even angels, know when it will arrive (Matthe 24:36). It will be a time, when the Lord will be exalted (Isaiah 2:11). It will be a time, when those who serve the Lord will be spared, and when they will discern between the righteous and the unrighteous, vis-à-vis they’ll know them by their fruits (Malachi 3:17-18; cp. Matthew 7:20), vis-à-vis they’ll cease accepting a man’s words, simply because he is a man of authority. Moreover, it is a day that will come as a thief for those, who dwell in darkness (1Thessalonians 5:4; cp. John 3:19). That day will be the time, when Jesus will come to be glorified in his saints, admired in those who believe in him (2Thessalonians 1:10). Finally, it will be a time when the saints are rewarded (2Timothy 4:8). Nevertheless, according to Jesus that day would occur during the first century AD (Matthew 16:27-28; cp. 23:34-36).

This is not what we are told by many spiritual leaders today. Nevertheless, it is what the Lord clearly says in the text. One must jump through a lot of hoops in order to make Jesus’ words mean something different. That day, according to the New Covenant text, refers to the end of the Old Covenant and the establishment of the New Covenant, when Jesus returned in AD 70 in the person of the Roman general, Titus, and destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple (Daniel 9:26-27). After AD 70, the world was affected by God through the Church and not through a nation. The judgment has occurred and the saints have been rewarded with the task of representing God to the nations.

Jesus’ point is that man cannot serve God by doing what man wants to do. Such a thing honors and glorifies the man. It is all about what they have done for God! Nevertheless, from the beginning it was told man that he was not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:17). God, not man, gets to define what good is and what evil is. Therefore, Jesus tells these folks: “I never knew you.” That is, **they** did the works by themselves. Jesus was never consulted, and they never knew him in a relationship. Therefore, Jesus says, he never knew them, saying they weren’t welcome in his Presence. In other words, they are judged already, and must remain outside the Garden (Matthew 7:23; cp. Genesis 3:22-24).