“Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’” (Matthew 7:22-23)

In this passage Jesus is talking about a group of people who profess to be his followers, as evidenced by their addressing him as “Lord.”

They were able to do what most onlookers would label as being extraordinary actions.

Yet Jesus deals quite harshly with these superstars who manifest the supernatural in his name.

Why?

Because they were content with WHAT they knew, not WHO they knew.

Look at what happens in Acts 19, where seven sons of Sceva invoked the name of Jesus to drive out evil spirits from a man. Here is Luke’s account:

“One day the evil spirit answered them, ‘Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding.”

Why such horrific results?

They thought that deliverance was about WHAT they knew, but discovered much to their horror that it was really about WHO they knew.

Obviously they did not know Jesus!

The word “know” in the Bible has a broader scope than mere head knowledge. The Hebrew word “yada” as well as the Greek word “ginosko” refer to the kind of knowing that one has by experiencing a relationship with another.

When you read in the King James Bible that “Adam knew Eve and she conceived”, you know that her pregnancy did not come about by the two of them exchanging phone numbers and gaining more information about each other from facebook profiles  🙂

The word “know” refers to an intimate knowledge.

Jesus states that he is more interested in his followers knowing him intimately, and not just being informed about him.

To simply learn how to follow him and adhere to his teachings without growing in an intimate relationship with him is simply not acceptable to Jesus.

After all, is this not how Jesus himself lived in relationship with his Father? He often took time to simply be with Him as he went away by himself into the desert places.

Sure he knew how to prophesy, drive out demons and perform many miracles, but it was all done from a place of intimacy with the Father.

Yes, it is important for us to know (in our heads) what it takes to live our lives as followers of Jesus.

However, as Jesus makes it clear in Matthew 7:22-23, what really matters is for us to know Him (in our hearts) intimately.

How about you? Would you say that your relationship with Jesus is more about WHO you know than WHAT you know?

Do I hear a loud “Amen?”