Known by God

Matthew 7 — 21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I NEVER KNEW YOU; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Matthew 25 — 1“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, 4but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. 5As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. 6But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’7Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 11Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ 12But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I DO NOT KNOW YOU.’

Have you ever wondered if God knew you? Specifically? Uniquely? I feel like we often pray prayers like, “God, I want to know you more,” or “help me to know your ways.” And these are good prayers. These are things we should certainly ask God for. But have you ever asked God to know you back? I find this thought intriguing. Primarily, because I have to admit, this isn’t an angle that I have paid much attention to in my life. However, these two passages of Scripture make it abundantly clear that when this life is through, it is imperative that God knows us, and not just that we know God. To further understand this concept, let’s dive a little deeper into each of these Scriptures.

Matthew 7 makes it clear that people can bring spiritual insight, cast out devils, and perform miracles and mighty works in the name of Jesus and still be unknown by God. You might think, “how is this possible?” First, you have to understand that the gifts and callings of God are irrevocable (Romans 11:29). Irrevocable means, “not to be repented of.” In other words, God will never change His mind in giving good gifts to mankind and calling all men unto Himself. So what this means is if God has given you the gift of healing through His name, He will not ever take that back, simply because God has established that He won’t change His mind regarding this subject. But just because God has given you a gift, it doesn’t mean that the manifestation of that gift is an indicator of an ongoing, intimate relationship with God. The name of Jesus carries a power of its own. And calling on that name at any time is powerful and makes darkness bow. But make no mistake, the name of Jesus is the power at work and not the person calling on it. Too often, many people mistake showy gifts and manifestations as fruit of a powerfully intimate relationship with Jesus. And this Scripture proves that this is not always so.

When looking at Matthew 25, we see 5 foolish virgins and 5 wise virgins. The Scripture says that they are on their way to meet the bridegroom. Of course, we understand that the bridegroom is Jesus and that these virgins represent those of us who make up the bride of Christ. It says that their lamps were lit as they were on their way, but the bridegroom was delayed so they fell asleep. This speaks of believers waiting for Jesus to come back for His bride. Falling asleep is synonymous with death. From this point on in the parable, the story gets interesting. The bridegroom came in the middle of the night, and all 10 of the virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. So, they all maintained their lamps but only 5 of the virgins came prepared with extra oil to keep their lamps from going out. We know that Scripture often uses oil as imagery for the Holy Spirit. I would argue that at salvation, Jesus lights your lamp for you, but it is up to you to keep that lamp burning until the marriage supper of the lamb where we are to celebrate the covenant that we, the Bride, have entered into with Jesus, the Bridegroom.

When looked at closely we see many similarities in the 10: they are all virgins pledged to be married to the Bridegroom, they all have lamps, they all fell asleep, they all rose, and they all trimmed their lamps. The major difference between the 2 groups is that one group of 5 is labeled “foolish” while the other group of 5 is called “wise.” And what separates them into two groups is the presence of oil. The word foolish means, “dull in understanding, imprudent, without forethought.” The word wise means, “to be practically wise, sensible, prudent — to have a personal perspective that regulates outward behavior.” According to dictionary.com, to be prudent means, “to be careful to provide for the future.” The foolish group runs out of oil and the wise group comes prepared with extra oil. So, clearly, Jesus is warning us to not only keep our lights from burning out, but to always come prepared with extra oil.

So how do we do that? We understand our deep need for the Holy Spirit to live this life now, to keep us in death, to raise us from the dead, and then for entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven. We can even go as far to say that what Jesus recognizes on that day is the Spirit of God living in us. So, if your light goes out and there is no oil to keep it shining, we can see why Jesus wouldn’t recognize darkness within us. Light can only be one with light. When the Spirit of God is invited to search us and know us intimately, He cleanses us, purges us of sin, purifies us, strengthens us, and empowers our spirits. As we continually invite the Holy Spirit to do this over our lifetime, He becomes more and more at home in our hearts, and we become One with God like Jesus so often prayed that we would. The ‘spirit realm’ is where we connect with God — (God’s) Spirit to (man’s) spirit. This is so important for us to consider as the Church today because we often want to downplay the role of the Holy Spirit in our churches and in our lives. We do this because we feel out of control when He leads. But this is a very dangerous teaching considering this Scripture and the fact that Jesus is no longer physically present on the earth. After He ascended, He sent the Holy Spirit to us as our teacher, our guide, our comforter, and as the avenue to connect with Him continually and hear His voice. What God is looking for is communion with us — spirit to Spirit — or in other words, ongoing, continual relationship. Not a simple, “yes, I believe, Lord,” and then going back to us leading our lives. He wants to lead, guide, teach, and transform us into the image of His Son. And He does that by His Spirit. Therefore, when we are continually interacting with the Holy Spirit of God, we can be sure He will recognize us on the day He comes back for us and will allow us to enter into His Kingdom forever. Praise Jesus!

So what do we do with this understanding? Well, I would encourage us all to invite the Spirit of God to know us! To symbolically fill our flasks with oil and to never forget our ongoing dependence on the Holy Spirit from this day forward. Do yourself a favor and don’t try to put the Holy Spirit in a box. If you have believed the lie that the Holy Spirit ceases to move in the ways He did in Scripture just because you haven’t personally experienced it, then you have reduced the Spirit to your limited understanding, and by default, you probably won’t experience many miracles in your life because of your unbelief. But if I am going to expect the Holy Spirit of God (which is the power source of the Trinity) to raise me from the dead one day, then I can certainly believe that He can do signs and wonders in my lifetime. And Scripture will always be the standard that I look to. So, if He did miracles in Scripture, then He can certainly do them today. If He empowered people to cast out demons and heal the sick in Scripture, then He can certainly do that in 2022. Malachi 3:6 says, “I am the Lord, and I do not change.” The beautiful thing about this knowledge is that I can depend on the nature of God to be consistent. The Holy Spirit is God’s nature. Therefore, healing, deliverance, miracles, gifts — these all make up His unchanging nature. And if I’m not experiencing this today, I can be sure that the adjustment needs to occur on my end of the relationship. God does not change, but my perspective certainly needs to. And a new perspective leads to a new heart cry for greater encounters with the Lord. Start there, friend. And let’s see where the Lord takes us …

Pray this Scripture with me … and fully expect God to call you to change. Keep in step with the Spirit of God. Let’s not limit Him and miss out on His mighty Presence.

Psalm 139:23 - “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

—- (Know = to acknowledge or recognize one — Heart = the inner man, the soul, comprehending mind, affections and will — Thoughts = disquieting thoughts, opinions, secrets — Grievous = pain, hurtful — Everlasting = eternal, old, future time forevermore - time out of mind (past and future) - eternal.)

**All definitions are found in the Lexicon on www.biblehub.com unless otherwise noted.