It is a very popular verse to use in evangelistic messages. Many a pastor has quoted it at the end of their sermon to appeal to any unbelievers present in the congregation to receive Christ. Several of us can picture in our minds the painting which has Jesus standing at a door without any handle from the outside and having His fist in the air as if He were patiently knocking on it. The verse is Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” It is clear here that Jesus certainly is knocking on a door. The only problem is that the way it is often used and applied has Him knocking at the wrong door! Hence why I include this verse as one of those “Inigo Montoya passages”: “You keep quoting that verse. I do not think it means what you think it means.”
As always, context is the key. When we look at the verses
surrounding this one, we discover that Jesus is not knocking on the door of an
unbeliever’s heart hoping that he or she just might finally let Him in. No. It
is a door of a church. And not just any church at that but a very lukewarm one
which is described as being neither cold or hot in relation to the Lord leading
God to desire to spit them out of His mouth just like people did of the dirty
water of the city there (vv. 15-16). It was a very prideful worldly church
thinking that they were doing well and had all that they needed only to be
ignorant of their true poor and needy spiritual condition (v. 17). This was the
church of Laodicea. One of seven churches Jesus has John write a letter to at
this time. Jesus even explicitly specifies at the end of the letter that this
message is what “the Spirit says to the churches” (v. 22). So, this is not a
call for unbelievers to be saved but a group of believers to repent and be
renewed again in their zeal for the Lord (v. 19). This church had become so
preoccupied with other things that they had in essence pushed Jesus out of the
congregation with Him now being on the outside so to speak knocking to be let
back in!
Some
believe that Jesus here may be alluding to Song of Solomon 5:2 where the husband
there knocks on the door of the bedroom to encourage his wife to let him in and
continue to express her love for him. If Jesus did indeed intend to direct us
to that picture, He could be showing that the same thing is happening with
them. He is there as their husband knocking for them to open the door and
express their love for Him once again. That love which had become so putridly
lukewarm. It could also be connected to the parable Jesus told of slaves who
were waiting eagerly for the return of their master from a wedding to open the
door to him immediately when he comes back and knocks. The master then will
have them sit at the table with him serving them (Luke 12:36-37). This is very
similar to the image Jesus gives to this lukewarm church of Laodicea. Jesus may
be reminding them that His coming is very near so they better be ready to let
Him in. And the only way to do that would be to answer His call to repent of
their worldly lukewarmness and self-righteous self-sufficiency (Revelation
3:19).
Rather
than this being an evangelistic plea, it serves as a warning to believers in
the church today. For us to guard against becoming lukewarm in our devotion to
the Lord and succumbing to the thinking that we are something spiritually when
we are not. To entertain the thought that we have what we need on our own and
no longer need Christ when the reality is that we are nothing without Him
(Romans 7:18), have nothing without Him (1 Corinthians 4:7), and can do nothing
without Him of any value for His kingdom (John 15:5). The last thing we should
want is for it to appear that Jesus is on the outside needing to be back in to
dine or fellowship with us.
Furthermore,
nowhere in Scripture are we ever told that Jesus is simply standing outside the
door of our hearts patiently knocking hoping we might just let Him in. In fact,
it actually is the opposite. Luke tells us that it was the Lord who opened up
Lydia’s heart to pay attention to the things spoken by Paul (Acts 16:14). He
didn’t wait for her to open up her own. If He doesn’t open our heart, we would
never let Him in. He certainly wasn’t patiently knocking on the door of Paul’s
heart when He confronted the man on the road to Damascus and dramatically
changed and transformed him (Acts 9:3-7). We are never instructed to open our
heart to let Jesus in. But we are continually, over and over again throughout
the pages of Scripture, called to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
for salvation (Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38; 20:21; 26:20). That should be the evangelistic
appeal for us to make. Not one that hadn’t been given to unbelievers in the
first place. I’m not even sure it is helpful to direct unbelievers to ask Jesus
into their heart for that matter. What does that even mean? And can that be
done without repentance and genuine faith in Christ which alone saves? I think
the many who have done so without bearing any fruit of repentance and
persevering living faith which results in works (Matthew 3:8/Luke 3:8; Matthew
13:8, 23; James 2:14-26) provides the evidence that it indeed can be without
such and give a countless number a false assurance of their salvation which
they do not possess. I’m not saying that someone who has prayed to ask Jesus
into their heart isn’t necessarily saved. Just that it wasn’t from them doing
or asking such. It would have been through coming to Him with an attitude of
repentance and placing their trust in Him alone to serve as their Savior and
Lord. I probably prayed a dozen or more times to ask Jesus into my heart in my
youth before I realized what repentance and faith really meant and looked like.
And it was that repentance and faith that actually made the difference.
So,
the questions we should be asking ourselves are as follows: “Have we pushed
Jesus out of our fellowship so to speak where He is left outside knocking to
come back in?” “How may we have become lukewarm or began to be such like the
church Jesus stood knocking at?” And “What can we do to ensure that this
doesn’t happen to our congregation as well as us as individuals?” Remember the
blessed promise of restored fellowship He gives to this church as well as any
others who allow themselves to grow lukewarm in their affection for Him. “If
anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him to and will
dine with him, and he with Me.” As G. Campbell Morgan well said, “The only cure
for lukewarmness is the re-admission of the excluded Christ.”
Love in Christ,
Pastor Lee
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