Matthew 7:21

Sunday, 16 February 2025

 

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Matthew 7:21

 

“Not all, the ‘saying to Me, “Lord, Lord,”’ he will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of My Father the ‘in heavens’” (CG).

 

In the previous verse, Jesus, having used the metaphor of trees concerning the character of people, said that people will be known by their fruits. He now continues His words to the people, saying, “Not all, the ‘saying to Me, “Lord, Lord.”’”

 

This is the first time that the word kurios, meaning, sir, master, or the Lord God is used in Matthew when not specifically referring to the Lord, Yehovah, the God of Israel. However, chronologically, the first instance was when Elizabeth spoke to Mary –

 

“Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.’” Luke 1:39-45

 

In her words, Elizabeth notes “the mother of my Lord,” but it is certain she was stating this as an honorific title and not referring to Jesus as Yehovah. In her second use of the word, she was referring to the Lord, Yehovah.

 

Jesus’ use of kurios, Lord, here is equivalent to adon in Hebrew. Each is a title that is given to indicate master, lord, sir, etc. In hearing His words, the people would not assume that He was referring to Himself as Yehovah incarnate any more than one would assume today that somebody saying “Sir, sir” about himself was making such a claim.

 

This doesn’t mean Jesus isn’t fully God. He is, but at this point, the people did not know this. He was merely tying His position of authority to that of the Messiah, thus making a claim to that position. That is seen in the next words. Not all who call Him Lord, Lord, “he will enter into the kingdom of the heavens.”

 

The meaning of “kingdom of the heavens” here is not the same thought as what believers in the church think of today, meaning the heavenly hope of eternal glorified bodies. Rather, it is the messianic hope found in the Old Testament where the shamayim, heavens, is spoken of in relation to a future rule of righteousness. For example –

 

“He shall call to the heavens from above,
And to the earth, that He may judge His people:
5 ‘Gather My saints together to Me,
Those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.’
6 Let the heavens declare His righteousness,
For God Himself is Judge. Selah” Psalm 50:4-6

 

Such writings indicated to the nation of Israel, to whom Jesus is currently speaking, that there would be a time when there would be a heavenly rule even while they lived on earth. This was their expectation and anticipation, and it is what they believed the Messiah would come to provide.

Jesus is telling them that not all who claimed Him as the kurios, the Lord, of this rule would enter into that kingdom. Rather, He says, “but the one doing the will of My Father the ‘in heavens.’”

 

Of this, Bengel incorrectly states, “The meaning is, ‘unto Me and My Father;’ and again, ‘My Father’s Will and Mine.’—Κύριε, Lord) Jesus acknowledged that this Divine appellation was due to Him.”

 

The problem with this is that outside of Mary and anyone she talked to, nobody at this time knew of Jesus’ true nature. Even Mary probably didn’t grasp this. The expectation was that God would send a Messiah, but none knew that the Messiah would be God incarnate.

 

Bengel and others take their current understanding of theology, and shove it into these events of the past, where it does not yet belong in the minds of the people hearing Jesus’ words.

 

Jesus does not say “Me and My Father,” nor does He say, “My Father’s Will and Mine.” That thought may be implied in His coming words, but it is no proof to the people of divinity. Rather, David could have said the same thing, “I am the king, and I am doing the will of my heavenly Father in destroying the enemies of the people of God.”

 

The idea of God’s Father relationship to Israel was known as far back as Moses, such as in Deuteronomy 32:7. It is repeated all the way through Scripture to Malachi 2:10. Though Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, this is not the context of His words in the minds of the people.

 

As for what the Father’s will is, that is ultimately summed up in John 6 –

 

“Then they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?’
29 Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.’” John 6:29

 

To do the will of the Father is to do the works of God. It is to have faith in Jesus, believing in His nature, His completion of the work set before Him, and His all-sufficiency in that work for our lives.

 

Life application: Today, properly trained students of the Bible believe that Jesus is fully God and fully Man because this is what the Bible teaches. However, we cannot take our understanding of such doctrines, only understood later after Jesus completed His earthly ministry, and apply them to the minds of the people of Israel without doing harm to the narrative.

 

An example of this is when people take precepts of the Law of Moses and refer to them in the times before the law was introduced, such as in the life of Abraham or Jacob. No dietary restrictions were levied upon them, and yet commentaries will speak of their lives and conduct as if they were obedient to the law.

 

And example of such thinking is found in the account of Noah –

 

“You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; 3 also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth.” Genesis 7:2, 3

 

Jews and others claim that the words about “clean” animals implies that they had the precepts of the law already given to them. This is incorrect. The idea of a clean animal at the time of Noah had nothing to do with the Law of Moses.

 

Rather, the animals that were considered clean were those that did not eat dead things. Instead of feeding off of death, like a cat might, they fed off of that which is provided from the ground, like sheep. Shoving the law into prelaw times negates the purpose of the giving of the law!

 

Keep things in their intended context. In doing so, you will avoid many errors in your thinking and doctrine.

 

Glorious God, when we come to difficult issues in our time reading the Bible, give us the wisdom to stop and think about why things are detailed as they are. Help us to have clarity of thought in how we approach this precious word so that we do not fall into error. Amen.