But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
In the great day of God after the Master has risen and shut the door, those left outside will knock and seek entrance to the kingdom but their knocking will not open it. They will plead for admission because they ate and drank in His presence and heard Him teach in their streets, and some will claim to have prophesied in His name and cast out devils and done many wonderful works. His answer that He does not know where they are from means they are strangers to Him because in this life they did not enter into fellowship with Him and with the Spirit, so they do not know the language of heaven and are unfit for its companionship. The command for all workers of iniquity to depart is a terrible and irrevocable sentence with no further discussion, for their eternal fate is decided and instead of a home in the everlasting kingdom they face eternal death. They are rejected as workers of iniquity because they disregard the law of God which is heaven's standard for holiness, and no profession of faith or church membership or knowledge of the truth or outward religion can secure approval when self is woven into the life without a purified character.
The Shut Door Sentence
It was first spoken as a warning to the teachers in Israel, the scribes and Pharisees, who refused to hear God, rejected the Holy Spirit, set aside His commandments, and turned the Sabbath from a memorial and rest into bondage by outward and ceremonial standards, and they were amazed at the saying and determined to get rid of Him. It describes what happens in the great day of God and at the final judgment after the Master has risen and shut the door, when those left outside knock and seek entrance but their knocking will not open it. Those who refuse the invitation to the marriage feast will not enter the kingdom, and this is Christ's final rejection of those knocking after the door is shut, as with the foolish virgins who had lamps of profession but no oil because they did not obtain the grace of Christ and did not know genuine conversion, so when the bridegroom came only those ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut against the rest.
Those shut out plead for admission because they ate and drank in His presence and heard Him teach in their streets, yet having been in His presence and heard His teaching does not keep them from being shut out. Some also claim to have prophesied in His name, cast out devils, and done many wonderful works, but church membership, professed faith, prophecy, casting out devils, and other good or wonderful works do not secure admission to the city when names are absent from the book of life and God's law has been trampled on. It is spoken to all who claim to be Christians yet are unready, represented by the five foolish virgins watching in the evening of this earth's history with a call, a name, a lamp, and profession of God's service while apparently waiting for Christ's appearing, who will be found surprised and dismayed outside the banquet hall.
His answer that He does not know where they are from means they are strangers to Him because in this life they have not entered into fellowship with Him and with the Spirit, so they do not know the language of heaven and are strangers to its joy and unfit for its companionship. Outward religion, moral standing, influence, ability, or knowledge of truth cannot secure approval when self and selfishness are woven into the life, and those who pride themselves on morality, influence, ability to stand higher than others, and knowledge of the truth will find these will not win commendation. The command for all workers of iniquity to depart is a terrible and irrevocable sentence with no further discussion because the time for that is past. Their eternal fate is already decided, and instead of a home in the everlasting kingdom they face eternal death, so it is better to endure poverty and loss with a title to the heavenly mansions than to possess great riches and hear this sentence in the last great day.
The verse foretells weeping and gnashing of teeth when those thrust out see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and themselves thrust out, while others come from the east and west and north and south to sit down in the kingdom, for the last shall be first and the first last, though those rejected had great light and were regarded as the first and only pious people, and many will seek to enter through the strait gate and will not be able. The gospel leaves no one neutral, for every hearer will face judgment and stand either among the pure and holy around the throne of God or among those He sends away as not belonging to Him, since people either receive and obey its teachings or stand against them.
Why They Are Rejected
They are shut out as workers of lawlessness because they disregard the law of God, which is heaven's standard for holiness, and no profession of holiness has any standing while His commandments are rejected. Breaking even one of the least commandments or teaching others to do so makes the claim to holiness groundless, and professing to keep the law while not doing it, making it void, trampling upon it, leading others into transgression, and treating its requirements as lax places them on the side of rebellion. Church membership, professed faith, prophecy, casting out devils, and other good or wonderful works cannot secure admission to the city when the names are absent from the book of life and the life has trampled God's law, and the declaration to depart is the loss of eternal life.
Those rejected include those who profess to believe the truth yet retain dishonest habits and practices, for after test and trial and help to reform, if in any temporal or spiritual dealing they are dishonest and not straightforward and give no evidence of being purified, they show they regard God's rich mercies as common and do not see the value of the pearl of great price. They have mingled the sacred with the common and by their actions have chosen the broad road the world travels, and dishonest practices cannot be carried through the strait gate on the narrow road to life. Outward religion cannot secure approval when self and selfishness are woven into the life, so profession of faith, church membership, moral standing, influence, ability, knowledge of the truth, teaching the truth, great light, and an apparently Christian life will not win commendation without a virtuous, purified character. Those who pride themselves on morality, influence, ability to stand higher than others, and knowledge of the truth and plead their closeness and works are still disowned and sent away as unfit for heaven's companionship.
They include those who give God only half-hearted service and let their lives conform to worldly ways by living for worldly treasure, and their rejection as unknown means they will not receive a home in God's everlasting kingdom but face eternal death. It is better to endure poverty and loss while holding title to the heavenly mansions than to possess great riches and hear this irrevocable sentence in the last great day. They include also those who claim fellowship with Him but have neglected to help perishing souls, and that failure to reach out provokes God's righteous anger. They include those whose professedly Christian lives conceal rebellion and wrongdoing, so that their religious profession is a deception and a fraud whose astonishment at rejection will not change the fact, leaving their portion with hypocrites and unbelievers. The same warning falls on those whose lives are deceptive because they resist reproof and secretly lead others astray by sowing doubts and misrepresenting the Testimonies of the Spirit of God.
They include those who refuse to accept the ways of the Lord and resist light sent from heaven and the Holy Spirit, especially men who after serving on Christ's side take a position against Him and lay stumbling blocks bringing uncertainty and confusion. Because their light has been greater, their influence for wrong is that much more dangerous than that of those who never professed to serve Christ. Cherished sins such as lust and every unsympathetic, hard, and stony phase of life that does not represent Christ leave the record stained and put the name in danger of being blotted from the book of life and losing title to the immortal inheritance. The call therefore is to reconversion by the Holy Spirit molding the heart and softening hard, stony, unsympathetic hearts by grace, and to confess and forsake sin now so that sins may be blotted out and names retained. The only hope for those who have resisted is to seek the Lord with humility of heart, see the error, and honestly and frankly confess sin with the sure promise of pardon, making confession as broad as the influence for wrong has been in order to undo the work, for if they refuse to acknowledge the mistake and seek pardon their sin will witness against them in the day of judgment.
In the great day of God after the Master has risen and shut the door, those left outside will knock and seek entrance to the kingdom but their knocking will not open it. They will plead for admission because they ate and drank in His presence and heard Him teach in their streets, and some will claim to have prophesied in His name and cast out devils and done many wonderful works. His answer that He does not know where they are from means they are strangers to Him because in this life they did not enter into fellowship with Him and with the Spirit, so they do not know the language of heaven and are unfit for its companionship. The command for all workers of iniquity to depart is a terrible and irrevocable sentence with no further discussion, for their eternal fate is decided and instead of a home in the everlasting kingdom they face eternal death. They are rejected as workers of iniquity because they disregard the law of God which is heaven's standard for holiness, and no profession of faith or church membership or knowledge of the truth or outward religion can secure approval when self is woven into the life without a purified character.
The Shut Door Sentence
It was first spoken as a warning to the teachers in Israel, the scribes and Pharisees, who refused to hear God, rejected the Holy Spirit, set aside His commandments, and turned the Sabbath from a memorial and rest into bondage by outward and ceremonial standards, and they were amazed at the saying and determined to get rid of Him. It describes what happens in the great day of God and at the final judgment after the Master has risen and shut the door, when those left outside knock and seek entrance but their knocking will not open it. Those who refuse the invitation to the marriage feast will not enter the kingdom, and this is Christ's final rejection of those knocking after the door is shut, as with the foolish virgins who had lamps of profession but no oil because they did not obtain the grace of Christ and did not know genuine conversion, so when the bridegroom came only those ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut against the rest.
Those shut out plead for admission because they ate and drank in His presence and heard Him teach in their streets, yet having been in His presence and heard His teaching does not keep them from being shut out. Some also claim to have prophesied in His name, cast out devils, and done many wonderful works, but church membership, professed faith, prophecy, casting out devils, and other good or wonderful works do not secure admission to the city when names are absent from the book of life and God's law has been trampled on. It is spoken to all who claim to be Christians yet are unready, represented by the five foolish virgins watching in the evening of this earth's history with a call, a name, a lamp, and profession of God's service while apparently waiting for Christ's appearing, who will be found surprised and dismayed outside the banquet hall.
His answer that He does not know where they are from means they are strangers to Him because in this life they have not entered into fellowship with Him and with the Spirit, so they do not know the language of heaven and are strangers to its joy and unfit for its companionship. Outward religion, moral standing, influence, ability, or knowledge of truth cannot secure approval when self and selfishness are woven into the life, and those who pride themselves on morality, influence, ability to stand higher than others, and knowledge of the truth will find these will not win commendation. The command for all workers of iniquity to depart is a terrible and irrevocable sentence with no further discussion because the time for that is past. Their eternal fate is already decided, and instead of a home in the everlasting kingdom they face eternal death, so it is better to endure poverty and loss with a title to the heavenly mansions than to possess great riches and hear this sentence in the last great day.
The verse foretells weeping and gnashing of teeth when those thrust out see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and themselves thrust out, while others come from the east and west and north and south to sit down in the kingdom, for the last shall be first and the first last, though those rejected had great light and were regarded as the first and only pious people, and many will seek to enter through the strait gate and will not be able. The gospel leaves no one neutral, for every hearer will face judgment and stand either among the pure and holy around the throne of God or among those He sends away as not belonging to Him, since people either receive and obey its teachings or stand against them.
Why They Are Rejected
They are shut out as workers of lawlessness because they disregard the law of God, which is heaven's standard for holiness, and no profession of holiness has any standing while His commandments are rejected. Breaking even one of the least commandments or teaching others to do so makes the claim to holiness groundless, and professing to keep the law while not doing it, making it void, trampling upon it, leading others into transgression, and treating its requirements as lax places them on the side of rebellion. Church membership, professed faith, prophecy, casting out devils, and other good or wonderful works cannot secure admission to the city when the names are absent from the book of life and the life has trampled God's law, and the declaration to depart is the loss of eternal life.
Those rejected include those who profess to believe the truth yet retain dishonest habits and practices, for after test and trial and help to reform, if in any temporal or spiritual dealing they are dishonest and not straightforward and give no evidence of being purified, they show they regard God's rich mercies as common and do not see the value of the pearl of great price. They have mingled the sacred with the common and by their actions have chosen the broad road the world travels, and dishonest practices cannot be carried through the strait gate on the narrow road to life. Outward religion cannot secure approval when self and selfishness are woven into the life, so profession of faith, church membership, moral standing, influence, ability, knowledge of the truth, teaching the truth, great light, and an apparently Christian life will not win commendation without a virtuous, purified character. Those who pride themselves on morality, influence, ability to stand higher than others, and knowledge of the truth and plead their closeness and works are still disowned and sent away as unfit for heaven's companionship.
They include those who give God only half-hearted service and let their lives conform to worldly ways by living for worldly treasure, and their rejection as unknown means they will not receive a home in God's everlasting kingdom but face eternal death. It is better to endure poverty and loss while holding title to the heavenly mansions than to possess great riches and hear this irrevocable sentence in the last great day. They include also those who claim fellowship with Him but have neglected to help perishing souls, and that failure to reach out provokes God's righteous anger. They include those whose professedly Christian lives conceal rebellion and wrongdoing, so that their religious profession is a deception and a fraud whose astonishment at rejection will not change the fact, leaving their portion with hypocrites and unbelievers. The same warning falls on those whose lives are deceptive because they resist reproof and secretly lead others astray by sowing doubts and misrepresenting the Testimonies of the Spirit of God.
They include those who refuse to accept the ways of the Lord and resist light sent from heaven and the Holy Spirit, especially men who after serving on Christ's side take a position against Him and lay stumbling blocks bringing uncertainty and confusion. Because their light has been greater, their influence for wrong is that much more dangerous than that of those who never professed to serve Christ. Cherished sins such as lust and every unsympathetic, hard, and stony phase of life that does not represent Christ leave the record stained and put the name in danger of being blotted from the book of life and losing title to the immortal inheritance. The call therefore is to reconversion by the Holy Spirit molding the heart and softening hard, stony, unsympathetic hearts by grace, and to confess and forsake sin now so that sins may be blotted out and names retained. The only hope for those who have resisted is to seek the Lord with humility of heart, see the error, and honestly and frankly confess sin with the sure promise of pardon, making confession as broad as the influence for wrong has been in order to undo the work, for if they refuse to acknowledge the mistake and seek pardon their sin will witness against them in the day of judgment.