Quote:
Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
Or is it missing out on the ruling and reigning with Him?
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One of the outstanding points related to this subject is
the overwhelming absoluteness indicated by many of the verses and parables. For example, Matthew 7:21-23,
"Not everyone saying to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but the one doing the will of My Father in the heavens. Many will say to Me in that the day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare unto them, ‘I never knew you; depart you from Me,’ those working lawlessness.
"Will not enter" is, well,
not entering, quite absolute. So possibly, the way to understand it is applying the distinction between
Kingdom of the Heavens and
Kingdom of God explained earlier. Those believers that did works that were not approved by the Lord would still be in the KoG, but not permitted to enter the KoH. So they would miss the entire realm of the KoH, not just the ruling and reigning. Yet they are saved and in the KoG. (They are in US, but not in CA
).
(of course, there will always be those that try to use the back door and explain it away saying, "oh, those are not believers").