{Matthew 7:22} Many will tell me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?'
{Matthew 7:23} Then I will tell them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who have worked unlawfully.'
Here Jesus speaks of some who in the last day, the day of judgment, in effect, are disgruntled because they thought they should be inheritors of the kingdom with Jesus. Many like to refer to these scriptures so as to make it appear that Jesus was sending them to some eternal doom. Some disregard that Jesus was speaking of the "in that day", in the day of judgment, and claim that Jesus was speaking of many who will not be raised in the last day. Jesus, however, was indeed speaking of the last day of judgment, so he was not saying that they went into the second death in this age.
Evidently, these will be those who thought they were serving Jesus, but who actually had never been regenerated. They apparently will think that they were doing righteous works in Jesus' name, but since Jesus said he never knew them, they probably had not been begotten of the spirit at all.
Nevertheless, the very fact that they are raised "in that day" shows that they were saved from the death in Adam. (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22; 1 Timothy 2:5,6) But instead of being raised in the resurrection of life, as they esteemed themselves to be entitled to, they find themselves in the resurrection of judgment (John 5:28,29), classed with the rest of the world outside the kingdom inheritance in the resurrection of the unjustified. -- Acts 24:15.
These, having been saved from the condemnation in Adam (Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:21,22), and having been brought back to life in the last day for judgment (John 12:47,48), may be shocked to find that they have no inheritance in the kingdom at all. Instead of being honored with rulership in the kingdom, they find themselves being judged with the world. Jesus is pictured as telling them to depart from him, as he never knew them, indicating that they had never been regenerated in this age as new creatures, sons of God.
Was Jesus telling them that they were eternally doomed? No, he was simply showing that they were not inheritors of the kingdom. Therefore, these must not be among any of the three classifications spoken of in Revelation 7. (See our studies related to Revelation 7) They are, in effect, still of the world, although they thought themselves to be serving Jesus. Like the rest of the world, they will still have opportunity to repent and truly serve Jesus in that last day -- the day of the world's judgment. See my study on "Mankind's Course to the Day of Judgment".
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Studies Related to the 12 tribes, the 144,000 and the Great Multitude of Revelation 7:
Mankind's Course to the Day of Judgment
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