“And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Matthew 7:23 ESV). This was not a warning to the world; it was a warning to the religious. More specifically, the religious of Jesus’ day. It was a warning to the Jews.
Jesus “came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11 ESV). His warning was relevant to the Jews because they were God’s people, and He was their God. They should have known Him, but they sought other gods instead.
Today, this warning is relevant to nonbelievers but not to Christians. In Jeremiah 31 we read about the new covenant. Those who don’t understand typology believe this is referring to a future covenant with the Jews. However, it describes Christians: “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33 ESV).
It’s because God’s law is written on our hearts and we have the Holy Spirit living in us, that Jeremiah also wrote this: “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jeremiah 31:34 ESV). Again, Jeremiah links this passage to Christians, in that, it is we whose sins have been forgiven through the blood of Jesus.
As followers of Jesus, we must take His commandments seriously. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19). However, we should not be fearful of rejection for God has accepted us, the Holy Spirit His guarantee:
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13-14)
I am in Christ and God’s Spirit is in me. It is impossible for me not to know Him. My only fear is that I might not give Him all that I have—for that is what I owe.