Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord
That is, in the last day, the day of judgment, the great and
famous day, fixed by God, unknown to angels and men, which will
be terrible to some, and joyful to others; the day in which the
faithful ministers of the Gospel shall be owned by Christ, and
received into the kingdom of heaven: "many", not of the common
people only, but of the preachers of the word, who have filled up
the highest station in the church below; not one, or two, or a
few of them only, but many of them "will say to me"; to Christ,
who will appear then as the judge of quick and dead, to which he
is ordained by his Father,
Lord, Lord;
not "my Lord, my Lord", as the Syriac version reads it; for they
will not be able to claim any interest in him, though they will
be obliged to own his dominion, power, and authority over them.
The word is repeated to show their importunity, sense of danger,
the confusion they will be in, the wretched disappointment they
will have; and therefore speak as persons amazed and confounded,
having expected they would have been the first persons that
should be admitted into heaven. Their pleas follow;
have we not prophesied in thy name?
This may be understood either of foretelling things to come;
which gift wicked men may have, who have never had any experience
of the grace of God, as Balaam, and Caiaphas, and others; or
rather of preaching the word, which is sometimes called
prophesying, ( Romans 12:6 ) (
1
Corinthians 13:9 1
Corinthians 14:1-5 ) and which may be done in the name of
Christ, pretending mission and authority from him, and to be
preachers of him, and yet be no better than "sounding brass", or
"a tinkling cymbal"; yea, nothing at all as to true grace, or
spiritual experience.
And in thy name have cast out devils?
Diabolical possessions were very frequent in the times of Christ;
no doubt but they were suffered, that Jesus might have an
opportunity of showing his power over Satan, by dispossessing him
from the bodies, as well as the souls of men; and of giving proof
of his deity, divine sonship and Messiahship: and this power of
casting out devils was given to others, not only to the twelve
apostles, among whom Judas was, who had the same power with the
rest, and to the seventy disciples; but even to some who did not
follow him, and his disciples, ( Mark 9:38 ) and some did
this in the name of Jesus, who do not appear to have any true
faith in him, and knowledge of him; as the vagabond Jews,
exorcists, and the seven sons of Sceva, ( Acts 19:13 Acts 19:14 ) . An awful
consideration it is, that men should be able to cast out devils,
and at last be cast to the devil.
And in thy name done many wonderful works?
that is, many miracles; not one, or a few only, but many; such as
speaking with tongues, removing mountains, treading on serpents
and scorpions, and drinking any deadly thing without hurt, and
healing all manner of diseases and sicknesses. Judas, for one,
was capable of pleading all these things; he had the gift of
preaching, and a call from Christ to it, and yet a castaway; he
had the power of casting out devils, and yet could not prevent
the devil from entering into him; he could perform miracles, do
wonders in Christ's name, and yet, at last, was the betrayer of
him. These pleas and arguments will be of no use to him, nor of
any avail to any at the great day. It may be observed, that these
men lay the whole stress of their salvation upon what they have
done in Christ's name; and not on Christ himself, in whom there
is salvation, and in no other: they say not a syllable of what
Christ has done and suffered, but only of what they have done.
Indeed, the things they instance in, are the greatest done among
men; the gifts they had were the most excellent, excepting the
grace of God; the works they did were of an extraordinary nature;
whence it follows, that there can be no salvation, nor is it to
be expected from men's works: for if preaching the word, which is
attended with so much study, care, and labour, will not be a
prevailing argument to admit men into the kingdom of heaven; how
can it be thought that ever reading, or hearing, or any other
external performance of religion, should bring persons thither?
