“Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.” – Matthew 7:21

Jesus says in Matthew 7:21 – 23 that,

[21] Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven.

[22] Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?”

[23] Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evil doers!”

Jesus is preaching in Matthew 7:21 and sharing the difference between true disciples and false disciples. Jesus says just because you say his name does not make you a disciples or a follower. Yet, Jesus says that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord he will save (Romans 10:13; John 6:37). 

Who is Jesus referring to in Matthew 7:21? 

Who are people doing work in his name but as he says in Matthew 7:23, people he does not know and who do not know him?

Jesus shares only one distinguishing factor and that is that a person who knows him and who he knows is doing the will of the father (Matthew 7:21). 

But Jesus says that many people will say isn’t it God’s will to prophesy and share his message? And isn’t it God’s will to remove burdens from people, to drive out demons? And we have proof of the miracles that we have done in the name of Jesus.

How can a person do great things for God but not know God?

How can a person say they know Jesus and are a follower of Jesus and Jesus say to them that he never knew them?

Jesus then is saying that performing miracles and driving out demons and prophesying can be done outside of the will of God. 

This in fact was an argument that people had against Jesus. They said, about Jesus, that he did not know God or come from God, but drives out demons through the power of the prince of demons (Mark 3:22; Matthew 12:24; Luke 11:15; John 9:16), because miracles can be performed in God’s name outside of the will of God (Acts 8:9-11; Numbers 22:4-8). 

However whenever Jesus performed a miracle or spoke a word about fulfillment of prophesy or drove out demons it was so that he could fulfill the will of God (John 9:1-4). Jesus only preached to fulfill God’s will (John 6:38, John 9:4; John 5:19). 

Jesus was preaching that believing in prophesies and the law alone has no power but is a promise, it is to be kept until the fulfillment arrives (Matthew 5:17-20). Jesus says that he is the fulfillment of God’s promise to save. Belief in prophesies and the law is hope and expectation for God to be faithful to his word to provide the salvation that the law and prophesies promised. The law and the words of the prophets are placeholders for faith in the work of Jesus. 

People were holding so strongly to the words of the old covenant law and prophesies that they could not see that Jesus was God’s fulfillment (John 9:28-33). Their faith was in the law and the promise. This is why they said to the woman who had a spirit that kept her bent over for eighteen years, ‘there are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not the Sabbath” (Luke 13:14). Come back on one of the days that the law says we can perform miracles or else we will be in violation of God’s law. This scripture suggests that people were being healed and demons were being cast out and people were prophesying in the name of the Lord while Jesus was on earth. 

But Jesus challenges their thinking by saying that they are withholding the fullness of the promise of God from people. They withhold the greatest miracle, and they keep people bound and in captivity to Satan the one who is against God, when they put their faith in what they prophesy, the promises of the old covenant and perform miracles outside the will of God. 

Jesus says that it is not through prophesy and miracles or doing any works in my name that save you, that bring you back into connection with God or can make you a disciple (John 6:26-40). Jesus says plainly in John 6:40 “my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life and I will raise them up at the last day.” Jesus is saying that God’s will is that all are saved, “whoever comes to (him) (he) will never drive away” (John 6:37). Faith in Jesus to be the fulfillment of God’s promise to save is God’s will. Belief in Jesus is what God desires and evidence of doing the will of the father is belief that Jesus is the only message from God that he is speaking. 

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of Majesty in heaven” (Hebrews 1:1-3). 

The message that Jesus is preaching says that he is the way to life, not actions in his name or doing things for his sake or doing great things for God. Showing your devotion to God through works is not the same as faith in Jesus, which Jesus says is the work that God is asking his disciples to do. God does use people to do great things but the things that people do for God, and in the name of Jesus are not the same as faith in Jesus. 

It is our faith in Jesus that allows the Holy Spirit to work through us, but it is our belief in Jesus alone that saves us and reconnects us back to God, to his mercy, his forgiveness, his grace and his power. 

Jesus is saying if you are truly devoted to God, if you truly know me and understand God’s will you would know that God’s will is salvation of the whole earth and reconciliation back to him. 

Jesus says that for some people unless they see signs and miracles they will not believe (John 4:48; Matthew 12:38-40). Which suggests that one of the reasons Jesus was performing signs and miracles on earth was to fulfill God’s true desire and help people to believe in Jesus as the new covenant fulfillment of his promise to save and give life; something that performing great things alone in the name of Jesus cannot do. Meaning do not think like the self-righteous that following the law, having a great spiritual title and doing great miracles in the name of Jesus is what saves you or makes you righteous. One action alone has done this work for us (Romans 5:12-21), Jesus’ death, his blood sacrifice on behalf of all sinners so that through him we can have all good things that come from God. Salvation is through Jesus, the greatest miracle and all miracles are through Jesus. God’s message about who he (God) is is through Jesus. It is through Jesus that God’s will is revealed. 

Romans 5:6-11 says,

[6] You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 

[7] Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 

[8] But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

[9] Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath (the consequences of sin under the old covenant) through him!

[10] For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

[11] Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

Prayer: Matthew 6:9-13

[9] This, then is how you should pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

[10] your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 

[11] Give us today our daily bread. 

[12] and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 

[13] and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.