The Outer Darkness - Part 2
Dr. Allen M. Barber
February 17, 2009
For those of you who may be reading this article and have not read the three previous articles on the Outer Darkness, then you need to read those before reading this one. The articles are in the Bible Prophecy Topical Articles Section - The First Fruits and the Barley Harvest; The Overcomers and the Outer Darkness and The Outer Darkness - Part 1. Those articles provide the background for this article.
In the previous article, we learned that those who are cast into the Outer Darkness are believers; they are not Jewish unbelievers as some teach. The gospel of Matthew was written by a Christian to Christians not to unbelieving Jews. Because certain passages in Matthew have Jewish terminology, some theologians, particularly the Pretribbers, stress they are "Jewish only passages." One example is the Olivet Discourse - Matthew 24. That is like saying that because Jews who are being saved and added to the Church makes the Church a Jewish body (the first disciples were all Jews, but they came out of the Old Covenant of Judaism and became part of the new Israel of God and the Judah Church).
When the Lord was giving His discourses, He was addressing His disciples who would later become the foundation of the New Covenant Church. Paul said the doctrine of the Church was built upon the foundation of the New Covenant Apostles and Prophets and Jesus Christ, the cornerstone. The New Covenant is a Christian canon, not a Jewish document. To try to make certain prophetic passages a Jewish text is to render harm to the intent of the Holy Spirit who is the inspiration for the New Covenant. Why would the Lord establish the New Covenant in His blood and then have the apostles and prophets write it to unbelieving Israel. Because the Lord addressed the unbelieving Jews and rebuked them for their blindness does not mean those passages should be interpreted to imply they were for Israel and not the Church. This is the real replacement theology - the teaching that is trying to make Christians revert back to the Old Covenant by mixing Judaism with Christianity. Those who do that are blasphemers and in strong disobedience to the will of God. They need to read Paul's letters to the Galatians and to the Hebrews and repent. In fact, Paul said that Christian Jews who were trying to incorporate Jewish rituals and laws such as circumcision, Sabbath keeping, and ceremonial cleansing were falling from grace. He even said he wished those Jews who were trying to make the Gentile Christians observe circumcision, would mutilate themselves. If Paul were alive today, he would rebuke the so-called Messianic Congregations that are trying to make Gentile and Jewish Christians worship the Law. My wife and I attended one such fellowship in Dallas and it was pathetic - the Jews were parading the Law (scrolls) up and down the aisle, kissing and bowing down to them. This was idolatry and I strongly rebuked the Congregational leader for his hypocrisy and apostasy. He politely told me to kiss off and do not come back to his whatever you call it. He didn't have to worry as we had no intention of going back there. Some who attended the meetings also were part of our home Bible study and I discouraged them from attending; however, they did not heed my advice and left the Bible study.
The reason I shared this is to have you understand to whom Jesus was addressing when he warned about the Outer Darkness. It will help your further understanding of why some believers will not be allowed in the Kingdom by looking at a problematic passage in Matthew 7:21-23:
Matthew 7:21-29 NASB
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he 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 cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'
24 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine, and acts upon them, may be compared to a wise man, who built his house upon the rock. 25 "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. 26 "And everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act upon them, will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. 27 "And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and burst against that house; and it fell, and great was its fall."
28 The result was that when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were amazed at His teaching; 29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
At first glance, it appears Jesus is speaking of unbelievers because He tells them that He never knew them. The Greek text helps here as the word for knew is egnoon, which is derived from the root word ginosko. Ginosko has several meanings depending on the immediate context. In the Matthew 7 passage, the word conveys the idea of not understanding or not recognizing rather than not knowing. What is it that Jesus does not understand or recognize? Obviously, it is their works - they claimed to have cast out demons; prophesied (preached) and performed many miracles - ALL IN THE NAME OF JESUS; no doubt they did, but all their works (not their persons), Jesus rejected. I can think of many so-called preachers and prophets today who appear to be doing many mighty works in the name of Jesus, but how much is what they do to bring attention to themselves and to take large sums of money from the saints. Many of these carnal ministers will be told their works were all wood, hay and stubble and thrown into the Outer Darkness - to their shock and surprise I might add!
Watchman Nee has excellent commentary on Matthew 7:21 and following:
Verse 21 tells us positively that in calling Jesus Christ Lord we shall enter the kingdom of heaven, though not everyone who so calls will enter in. The emphasis is laid on the words - "not every one" - "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord," says Paul in Romans 10:9, "You will be saved." thus indicating the first condition for entering the kingdom of heaven (on the earth - emphasis mine) is being saved; however, not everyone who is saved enters the kingdom automatically; for not all Christians have part in the kingdom. (I remember the first time I read Watchman Nee's books back in 1977-78, I thought he was off his rocker, but later the Holy Spirit showed that he was correct and I was wrong).
There is a second condition; namely "that he that does the will of My Father who is in heaven shall enter in." Consequently, the general conditions for entering the kingdom of heaven (the kingdom is not going to be in the heaven of the heavens, but on this earth; the term kingdom of heaven simply means that it is not of this earth, but it comes to this earth; that is why Jesus told Pilate that His kingdom was not of this world and it was not and is not; it originates from the throne of God in heaven and came to earth the first time in the body of Jesus; today it is in the body of Christ - the Church, but in the coming kingdom Age it will be literally on this earth for Jesus will be here along with His Bride - the overcomers of His Church - emphasis mine) are (1) being saved and (2) doing the will of God.
7:21 lays down the general conditions for entering the kingdom of heaven. 7:22 illustrates the special exclusion from the kingdom and 7:23 tells of the special consequence thereof for such people.
The word "knew" in Verse 23 is the past tense for the same Greek word translated "know" in Romans 7:15. In the original it means to recognize or to understand. "I never knew you" may therefore be translated as "I never recognized you" - which means "I never recognized what you did as right." (this is supported by both Thayer and Vines Greek Word Studies - emphasis mine).
Now the people in question here are definitely Christians for the following reasons:
(1) The context in which these words of Jesus are found is the so-called Sermon on the Mount (I once preached from that place in Israel - the Mount of Beatitudes; it was a beautiful sight with golden wheat fields in the background; the shepherds tending their sheep and the Sea of Galilee in the foreground; I consider myself extremely fortunate to have stood and preached the Word of God in the same place as the Lord Jesus gave His Sermon on the Mount - emphasis mine), which as we have continually seen, is primarily spoken to believers.
(2) The teaching of the mount from the beginning to end never instructs us as how we can be saved since it is obviously addressed to those who are already saved.
(3) This small section from Verse 21 to Verse 23 does not deal with the question of faith; rather it treats of the matter of conduct. We know we are saved through faith and not by works. Hence what is said here has nothing to do with eternal perdition of the unsaved.
(4) "In that day" (V. 22) - What day is "that day?" These words refer to the day of judgment at the judgment seat of Christ before which the saved alone will appear (we know from I Corinthians 15: 23 there will be more than one appearance before the judgment seat of Christ because not every believer will appear at the same time - emphasis mine). This is not the judgment of the Great White Throne (It is my belief and that of some others, carnal believers who missed the millennial reign will appear at this judgment - I will discuss this in more detail when I address where the Outer Darkness is located - emphasis mine). Technically, the Great White Throne is also a Judgment Seat of Christ because it will be the Lord Jesus who is the JUDGE.
(5) The people in question here have called on the name of the Lord; therefore they are the Lord's (I Corinthians 12:3 - "No one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit" - emphasis mine).
(6) Notice the works they perform: they prophesy by the name of the Lord, and by the same Name they cast out demons and do many mighty works.
"That day" is a specific term in the Bible. As today is the day of man (see I Cor. 4:3: "or of man's judgment," which in the original is "of man's day") when man judges, so "that day" is the day of the judgment-seat of Christ when all the saved -and no one but the saved -shall be judged (see 2 Tim. 1:12, 18; 4:8). Having done an intensive study on the Day of the Lord in which "that day" is a parallel term, the Day of the Lord is both a judgment for believers (actually an examination for rewards) as well as judgment upon Satan, the Antichrist, the False Prophet and all those who took the Mark of the Beast - emphasis mine.
V. 22 "Many" shall not enter the Kingdom of heaven. "Lord, Lord..." They call on His name once again.
"Prophesy by Your name and by Your name cast out demons, and by Your name do many mighty works" - All these are considered to be great gifts in the Church: to prophesy is to do the work of a prophet; to cast out demons is to bring in the kingdom of heaven; and to do mighty works is to exercise the power of the age to come. Those who perform such acts specifically cite these things because they think by these things they are most qualified to enter the Kingdom.
V. 23 The word "confess" in Matthew 10:32-33 points to the saved ones. If we do not confess the Lord before men now we will be denied the glory of the Kingdom of heaven. Similarly, the passage here rendered as "then I will profess unto them, I never knew you" is better translated as "I never recognized or approved of you;" and the reason for the disapproval is given in the words "You that work iniquity" - wherein "iniquity in Greek actually means "lawlessness" - not working according to the rules of the kingdom of heaven.
"Depart from Me" simply denotes that they have no part in the glory, a glory which is very different from what is mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 1:9.
Hence the general conditions for entering the Kingdom of Heaven are a being saved plus doing the will of God.
The Holy Spirit who dwells in man is the Person of the Holy Spirit (He is a personal being not an "it" - emphasis mine) and therefore, He is to rule over man. But the Holy Spirit that falls upon man is without personality (He is not seen outwardly - emphasis mine) and therefore HE also obeys man: "The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets" (I Corinthians 14:32). Did you catch that: The Holy Spirit is given to us to indwell and fill us causing us to submit to the higher will of God and not our own will or the will of man, but He also will obey us meaning that if we choose to follow our own will, then the Holy Spirit will not interfere with our decisions. Few in the body of Christ understand this. I once asked the Church I pastored in the Southshore area between Houston and Galveston, Texas, if they could see the body of Christ or did they have a revelation of the body of Christ. They had no clue to what I meant because they had not seen the body of Christ in the Spirit. All they knew was the external body and all their worship was outward in the flesh. That was the time during my first year; afterward a few came to see the body of Christ with their spiritual eyes and it did not come by mealy-mouth preaching of the Word or watered down compromise but by bold strong preaching and teaching (I was not very popular with those people, but then again God did not call me to be popular, but to be His mouthpiece) Emphasis all mine.
It is possible to be lawless even in prophesying, in casting out demons, and in doing mighty works. There is the danger of not doing the will of God in all these things. We need to ask the Lord to deliver us from the iniquity of the sanctuary (see Numbers 18:1). Let us realize that in the last days these same things shall be greatly increased. (Excerpts taken from the King and the Kingdom of Heaven by Watchman Nee, pages 74-76).
The "workers of iniquity" in Matthew 7: 21-23 are believers who will not be allowed into the Kingdom of Heaven and while it does not say so, they will be cast outside the Kingdom into the Outer Darkness. If you will learn to see the Bible as several parts of one whole, that is, a book of books and apply the immediate context to the context of the whole book and the book to the whole Bible, you will learn not to take Scripture out of context; however, in order to do that, you must be acquainted with the whole Bible. Many, perhaps most believers think the study of the Word of God is for the preachers and the theologians, but that is a false assumption. We are all commanded to Study the Word of God as a workman (Yes, studying the Bible is work) not to be ashamed, but rightly dividing the Word of Truth. I had a conversation this week with a man who came to install a breaker for a new heating and AC unit; he is a Christian and we talked at length about the Word of God. It was obvious he had spent many hours studying the Word and could quote it from memory, yet he was an electrician and not a theologian or minister. We have far too many adult babies in the Church who have never growth one inch in their spiritual development - forgive me for saying so but the Baptists and the Charismatics seem to have many such babies. The mainline denominations are worse than baby Christians as many of them are not even saved including the ministers.
The reason these believers are not allowed into the Kingdom of God, which will come to this earth when the Lord returns is because they were lawless meaning they did not allow the Holy Spirit to use the Law of God to crucify the flesh (old man) and to tame the soul (the mind, the emotions and the will); instead of using the spiritual gifts by the power of the Holy Spirit, they used their soul gifts to do the works of God, which He must reject. Anything a believer does that is not of the Holy Spirit is wood, hay, and stubble. Their works shall be burned-up by the fire of God's judgment and their nakedness evident - void of any works of the Spirit; they shall depart from the Lord and be consigned to the Outer Darkness.