Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
20. I stand at the door, and knock ] The Lord expresses His affection, from which He has intimated that the Laodiceans are not excluded, by this figure of intense and condescending tenderness. It is intended to remind the readers of Son 5:2: but the figure of the lover’s midnight visit is too delicate to bear being represented, as here, with a mixture of the thing signified with the image, especially since the visit is not to the Church, personified as a single female, but to any individual, and of either sex; so it is toned down into a visit from a familiar friend.
hear My voice ] It is implied that anyone is sure to hear His knock, and be roused to ask who is there: but only those who love Him will know His voice (as Rhoda did St Peter’s, Act 12:14) when He says “It is I.”
will sup ] The blessing promised is a secret one to the individual. There can thus hardly be a reference to the Holy Eucharist, which is shared publicly by the whole Church.
with him, and he with Me ] The sense is, “I will take all he has to give Me, as though I had need of it, and benefited by it (cf. Mat 25:37-40): but at the same time, it will really be I that give the feast, and he that receives it.” There can hardly be a better illustration than a quaint and touching legend, given in a little book called Patranas, or Spanish Stories, with the title “Where one can dine, two can dine.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock – Intimating that, though they had erred, the way of repentance and hope was not closed against them. He was still willing to be gracious, though their conduct had been such as to be loathsome, Rev 3:16. To see the real force of this language, we must remember how disgusting and offensive their conduct had been to him. And yet he was willing, notwithstanding this, to receive them to his favor; nay more, he stood and pled with them that he might be received with the hospitality that would be shown to a friend or stranger. The language here is so plain that it scarcely needs explanation. It is taken from an act when we approach a dwelling, and, by a well-understood sign – knocking – announce our presence, and ask for admission. The act of knocking implies two things:
(a)That we desire admittance; and,
(b)That we recognize the right of him who dwells in the house to open the door to us or not, as he shall please.
We would not obtrude upon him; we would not force his door; and if, after we are sure that we are heard, we are not admitted, we turn quietly away. Both of these things are implied here by the language used by the Saviour when he approaches man as represented under the image of knocking at the door: that he desires to be admitted to our friendship; and that he recognizes our freedom in the matter. He does not obtrude himself upon us, nor does he employ force to find admission to the heart. If admitted, he comes and dwells with us; if rejected, he turns quietly away – perhaps to return and knock again, perhaps never to come back. The language used here, also, may be understood as applicable to all persons, and to all the methods by which the Saviour seeks to come into the heart of a sinner. It would properly refer to anything which would announce his presence: his word; his Spirit; the solemn events of his providence; the invitations of his gospel. In these and in other methods he comes to man; and the manner in which these invitations ought to be estimated would be seen by supposing that he came to us personally and solicited our friendship, and proposed to be our Redeemer. It may be added here, that this expression proves that the attempt at reconciliation begins with the Saviour. It is not that the sinner goes out to meet him, or to seek for him; it is that the Saviour presents himself at the door of the heart, as if he were desirous to enjoy the friendship of man. This is in accordance with the uniform language of the New Testament, that God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son; that Christ came to seek and to save the lost; that the Saviour says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, etc. Salvation, in the Scriptures, is never represented as originated by man.
If any man hear my voice – Perhaps referring to a custom then prevailing, that he who knocked spake, in order to let it be known who it was. This might be demanded in the night Luk 11:5, or when there was apprehension of danger, and it may have been the custom when John wrote. The language here, in accordance with the uniform usage in the Scriptures (compare Isa 55:1; Joh 7:37; Rev 22:17), is universal, and proves that the invitations of the gospel are made, and are to be made, not to a part only, but fully and freely to all people; for, although this originally had reference to the members of the church in Laodicea, yet the language chosen seems to have been of design so universal ( ean tis) as to be applicable to every human being; and anyone, of any age and in any land, would be authorized to apply this to himself, and, under the protection of this invitation, to come to the Saviour, and to plead this promise as one that fairly included himself. It may be observed further, that this also recognizes the freedom of man. It is submitted to him whether he will hear the voice of the Redeemer or not; and whether he will open the door and admit him or not. He speaks loud enough, and distinctly enough, to be heard, but he does not force the door if it is not voluntarily opened.
And open the door – As one would when a stranger or friend stood and knocked. The meaning here is simply, if anyone will admit me; that is, receive me as a friend. The act of receiving him is as voluntary on our part as it is when we rise and open the door to one who knocks. It may be added:
(1)That this is an easy thing. Nothing is more easy than to open the door when one knocks; and so everywhere in the Scriptures it is represented as an easy thing, if the heart is willing, to secure the salvation of the soul.
(2)This is a reasonable thing.
We invite him who knocks at the door to come in. We always assume, unless there is reason to suspect the contrary, that he applies for peaceful and friendly purposes. We deem it the height of rudeness to let one stand and knock long; or to let him go away with no friendly invitation to enter our dwelling. Yet how different does the sinner treat the Saviour! How long does he suffer him to knock at the door of his heart, with no invitation to enter – no act of common civility such as that with which he would greet even a stranger! And with how much coolness and indifference does he see him turn away – perhaps to come back no more, and with no desire that he ever should return!
I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me – This is an image denoting intimacy and friendship. Supper, with the ancients, was the principal social meal; and the idea here is, that between the Saviour and those who would receive him there would be the intimacy which subsists between those who sit down to a friendly meal together. In all countries and times, to eat together, to break bread together, has been the symbol of friendship, and this the Saviour promises here. The truths, then, which are taught in this verse, are:
(1)That the invitation of the gospel is made to all – if any man hear my voice;
(2)That the movement toward reconciliation and friendship is originated by the Saviour – behold, I stand at the door and knock;
(3)That there is a recognition of our own free agency in religion – if any man will hear my voice, and open the door;
(4)The ease of the terms of salvation, represented by hearing his voice, and opening the door; and,
(5)The blessedness of thus admitting him, arising from his friendship – I will sup with him, and he with me. What friend can man have who would confer so many benefits on him as the Lord Jesus Christ? Who is there that he should so gladly welcome to his bosom?
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 3:20
Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
The Guest of the heart
I. The stranger-guest wanting to come in. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.
1. When a stranger comes to your door, it matters a good deal to your feeling as a host whether he be a mean man or a great one. An inhospitable act done to your Queen might never vex you at all if it was only done to an obscure wanderer. Who, then, is this? Is He mean? or is He great? He does not look very great in the starlight. But He is. At home He is worshipped, and wields all command; and beings before whom the mightiest of the earth are as infants, only venture to bow themselves at His feet when their faces are shielded from the lustre of His glory.
2. When a stranger comes to your door, it is a consideration for you whether he has come to a door only, or to your door; whether he has come to your door by chance, or to yourself on purpose. Has this Stranger, then, just happened upon this cottage-door as one that serves His turn as well as any other? or does He mean to seek this very home and this very board, if haply He may be welcomed as a friend? How deeply does He mean it, and how tenderly!
3. When a stranger comes to your door, it is of some moment to you whether he has come but a short distance to see you, or has come from far. This waiting Stranger–whence comes He? From another country? He has come from another world. Through peril, through tribulation, He has come hither.
4. When a stranger comes to your door, it is a thing of influence with you whether your visitor is in earnest to get in, or shows indifference, and soon gives up the endeavour. A caller who knocks and goes off again before you have had reasonable time to answer.
5. When a stranger comes to your door, it is of every consequence to you what may be the character of himself, and the complexion of his errand. Is he good, and likely come for good? or is he evil, and likely come for evil? What far-brought tidings, what peace, what hopes, what aids, what influence, he fetches with him!
II. The stranger-guest getting in. If any man hear My voice, and open the door.
1. The Stranger did not force an entrance. It is from the inside, after all, that a mans heart opens to his Saviour-King.
2. At the same time it is of the utmost importance to note, that the transaction, with this indispensable element of free choice in it, is the veriest simplicity. If any man hear, and open–lo! it is accomplished, and the Son of God is within. Very natural it may be–after you have at last acknowledged the Voice by some beginnings of faith, and have arisen at its call to bustle long about the apartment in a process of rearranging, cleansing, tidying, adorning. Not less natural it may be to sit down, after a desponding glance around you, and endeavour to devise some plan by which you may entertain the Guest more worthily. All the while, and all the same, your Guest is standing without. The one luckless fact is the tardiness of your hospitality. The honour is done Him by nothing but by letting Him in. And more: your heart-home will only be made fit for His presence by His presence.
3. But there may be some one who is saying with a certain sincerity, I have tried to open my heart to Christ, and I could not–cannot! It will baffle your own strength. But what of your Guest Himself, and that power of His–so freely available now?
III. The stranger-guest in. I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. It is a scene with much light in it, and an atmosphere of security and deep peace. (J. A. Kerr Bain, M. A.)
Christs loving earnestness
I. The love of Christ. It is free love. It is large love. It is love irrespective of goodness in us.
II. The patience of Christ. He stands, and He has stood, as the words imply–not afar off, but nigh, at the door. He stands. It is the attitude of waiting, of perseverance in waiting. He does not come and go; He stands. He does not sit down, or occupy Himself with other concerns. He has one object in view.
III. The earnestness of Christ. If the standing marks His patience, the knocking marks His earnestness–His unwearied earnestness.
1. How does He knock?
2. When does He knock?
IV. The appeal of Christ to the Laodiceans. If any man will hear My voice, and open the door. It is–
1. A loving appeal.
2. A personal appeal.
3. An honest appeal.
4. An earnest appeal.
V. The promise of Christ.
1. I will come in to Him. His standing on the outside is of no use to us. A mere outside Christ will profit us nothing. An outside cross will not pacify, nor heal, nor save.
2. I will sup with him. He comes in as a guest, to take a place at our poor table and to partake of our homely meal.
3. He shall sup with Me. Christ has a banquet in preparation. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
The Christ at the door
These wonderful words need no heightening of their impressiveness, and yet there are two considerations which add pathos and beauty to them. The one is that they are all but the last words which the seer in Patmos heard in his vision, from the lips of the exalted Christ. Parting words are ever impressive words; and this is the attitude in which Jesus desired to be thought of by all coming time. Another consideration intensifying the impressive-Hess of the utterance is that it is the speech of that Christ whose exalted glories are so marvellously portrayed in the first chapter of this book. The words are marvellous too, not only for that picture, but for the clear decisiveness with which they recognise the solemn power that men have of giving or refusing an entrance to Him; and still further, for the grandeur of their promises to the yielding heart which welcomes Him.
I. The exalted Christ asking to be let in to a mans heart. The latter words of the verse suggest the image of a banqueting hall. The chamber to which Christ desires entrance is full of feasters. There is room for everybody else there but Him. Now the plain sad truth which that stands for about us, is this: That we are more willing to let anybody and anything come into our thoughts, and find lodgment in our affections, than we are to let Jesus Christ come in. The next thought here is of the reality of this knocking. Every conviction, every impression, every half inclination towards Him that has risen in your hearts, though you fought against it, has been His knocking there. And think of what a revelation of Him that is! We are mostly too proud to sue for love, especially if once the petition has been repulsed; but He asks to be let into your heart because His nature and His name is Love, and being such, He yearns to be loved by you, and tie yearns to bless you.
II. Notice that awful power which is recognised here as residing in us, to let Him in or to keep Him out. It any man will open the door–the door has no handle on the outside. It opens from within. Christ knocks: we open. What we call faith is the opening of the door. And is it not plain that that simple condition is a condition not imposed by any arbitrary action on His part, but a condition indispensable from the very nature of the case?
III. The entrance of the Christ, with His hands full of blessing. It is the central gift and promise of the gospel that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. He Himself is the greatest of His gifts. He never comes empty-handed, but when He enters in He endows the soul with untold riches. We have here also Christs presence as a Guest. I will come in and sup with Him. What great and wonderful things are contained in that assurance! Can we present anything to Him that He can partake of? Yes! We may give Him our service and He will take that; we may give Him our love and He will take that, and regard it as dainty and delightsome food. We have here Christs presence not only as a Guest, but also as Host–I will sup with him and he with Me. As when some great prince offers to honour a poor subject with his presence, and let him provide some insignificant portion of the entertainment, whilst all the substantial and costly parts of it come in the retinue of the monarch, from the palace. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The heavenly Visitor
I. What is implied by the expression, I stand at the door.
1. That Christ is outside mans heart.
2. That He is deliberately excluded.
3. That He is excluded in favour of other guests.
4. That notwithstanding He wishes to enter.
5. That He recognises our liberty to admit Him.
II. By what means He makes His presence known.
III. The blessings to be enjoyed by those who admit Him.
1. Reconciliation.
2. Communion.
3. Refreshment. (Thos. Heath.)
Christ at the door
I. The person. The Greatest at the door of the meanest.
II. The attitude.
1. Service.
2. Waiting expectation.
3. Supplication.
III. The action.
IV. The object. (Homilist.)
The pleading Saviour
I. The Saviours humility and condescension.
1. Patience. Repeated application where rudely repulsed.
2. Desire to enter. Not for His own good or gratification, but for our salvation, because He delights in mercy.
II. The Saviours persistent efforts.
III. The Saviours proffered reward. The presence of Christ is the highest privilege man can desire. It involves–
1. Familiarity.
2. Reciprocity.
3. Unity.
4. Enjoyment. (Homilist.)
Christ at the door
I. The suppliant for admission. A strange reversal of the attitudes of the great and of the lowly, of the giver and of the receiver, of the Divine and of the human! Christ once said, Knock and it shall be opened unto you. But He has taken the suppliants place. So, then, there is here a revelation, not only of a universal truth, but a most tender and pathetic disclosure of Christs yearning love to each of us. What do you call that emotion which more than anything else desires that a heart should open and let it enter? We call it love when we find it in one another. Surely it bears the same name when it is sublimed into all but infinitude, and yet is as individualising and specific as it is great and universal, as it is found in Jesus Christ. And then, still further, in that thought of the suppliant waiting for admission there is the explanation for us all of a great many misunderstood facts in our experience. That sorrow that darkened your days and made your heart bleed, what was it but Christs hand on the door? Those blessings which pour into your life day by day beseech you, by the mercies of God, that ye yield yourselves living sacrifices. That unrest which dogs the steps of every man who has not found rest in Christ, what is it but the application of His hand to the obstinately-closed door? The stings of conscience, the movements of the Spirit, the definite proclamation of His Word, even by such lips as mine, what are they all except His appeals to us? And this is the deepest meaning of joys and sorrows, of gifts and losses, of fulfilled and disappointed hopes. If we understood better that all life was guided by Christ and that Christs guidance of life was guided by His desire that He should find a place in our hearts, we should less frequently wonder at sorrows, and should better understand our blessings.
II. The door opened. Jesus Christ knocks, but Jesus Christ cannot break the door open. The door is closed, and unless there be a definite act on your part it will not be opened, and He will not enter. So we come to this, that to do nothing is to keep your Saviour outside; and that is the way in which most men that miss Him do miss Him. The condition of His entrance is simple trust in Him, as the Saviour of my soul. That is opening the door, and if you will do that, then, just as when you open the shutters, in comes the sunshine; just as when you lift the sluice in flows the crystal stream into the slimy, empty lock; so He will enter in, wherever He is not shut out by unbelief and aversion of will.
III. The entrance and the feast. I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with Me. Well, that speaks to us in lovely, sympathetic language, of a close, familiar, happy communication between Christ and my poor self which shall make all life as a feast in company with Him. John, as he wrote down the words I will sup with him, and he with Me, perhaps remembered that upper room where, amidst all the bitter herbs, there was such strange joy and tranquility. But whether he did or no, may we not take the picture as suggesting to us the possibilities of loving fellowship, of quiet repose, of absolute satisfaction of all desires and needs, which will be ours if we open the door of our hearts by faith, and let Jesus Christ come in? (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Relation to Christ of the human soul
I. His attitude towards the soul. He is constantly in contact with the soul. He does not come occasionally and then depart; He stands.
1. His deep concern. In the eye of Christ the soul is no trifling object: He knows its capabilities, relations, power, influence, interminable history.
2. His infinite condescension.
3. His wonderful patience.
II. His action upon the soul. He does not stand there as a statue doing nothing. He knocks: He knocks at the door of intellect with His philosophic truths; at the door of conscience, with His ethical principles; at the door of love, with His transcendent charms; at the door of hope, with His heavenly glories; at the door of fear, with the terrors of His law.
1. The moral power of the sinner. The soul has the power to shut out Christ. It can bolt itself against its Creator. This it does by directing its thoughts to other subjects, by deadening its convictions, by procrastinations.
2. The consummate folly of the sinner. Who is shut out? Not a foe or thief; but a friend, a physician, a deliverer.
3. The awful guiltiness of the sinner. It shuts out its proprietor, its rightful Lord.
III. His aim in reference to the soul. It is not to destroy it; but to come into it and identify Himself with all its feelings, aspirations, and interests.
1. Inhabitation. I will come unto him. We are perpetually letting people into our hearts. How pleased we are if some illustrious personage will enter our humble homes and sit down with us, etc.
2. Identification. Sup with him and he with Me. I will be at home with him, be one with him. A conventionally great man deems it a condescension to enter the house of an inferior–he never thinks of identifying himself with the humble inmate. Christ does this with the soul that lets Him in. He makes its cares His own. (Homilist.)
The illustrious Visitor
I. The great kindness of the Redeemer to man.
1. Compassion for man.
2. Condescension to man.
3. Communion with man. The Saviour does not come as a stranger, He comes as a friend and a guest.
4. The consummation of man. He takes possession of our spirits to make them perfect and glorious. This will be the perfecting of our humanity, the consummation of all our best and brightest hopes and capacities.
II. The great unkindness of man to the Redeemer.
1. Ignorance is the cause in some cases why the visit of the Saviour is not welcomed. If the ignorance be involuntary and unavoidable, then it is not culpable; but if it be the result of a voluntary refusal to know who the Saviour is, and what His knocking means, then it shows great unkindness to the Redeemer, and is regarded by Him as a great sin.
2. Another cause is indifference. Some know that it is the Saviour standing at the door of their hearts; but they are so absorbed with other engagements, they are so careless about the unseen and eternal, that they let Him stand outside, and make no effort to let Him in.
3. Another cause is unbelief.
4. Prejudice is another cause of the unkindness of man to the Redeemer. The Cross is an offence to many. Prejudice blinds the eyes and hardens the heart and prevents man seeing Jesus as He really is–the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely.
5. The last cause of unkindness we will mention is ingratitude. (F. W. Brown.)
Christ at the door
I. Friendship with God is proposed as the grand privilege of the race.
1. The friendship which God offers is on entirely a human plane. Christian life is only a transfiguration of every-day life.
2. The friendship which God proposes is permanent in its continuance.
II. An undoubted proof of the Divine sincerity.
1. You see this in the fact that the entire proposal comes from Him. The grace of this transaction is absolutely marvellous.
2. You see this in the successive and persistent endeavours to bring this friendship within reach of the soul.
III. The assurance of the entire fulness of the atonement. There is no restriction in the offers of Divine grace.
1. There is no limit on the human side. If any man will open his heart, the Saviour will come in.
2. There is positively no limit on the Divine side either. The offer is made in terms utterly without restriction.
IV. An explicit recognition of human free agency under the plan of salvation by grace. It is well to inquire why it is He thus pauses on the threshold.
1. It is not because He is unable to force His way in. There is no opposition so violent that He could not crush it beneath His Omnipotent might.
2. The reason for the Divine forbearance is found in the inscrutable counsels of the Divine wisdom. In the beginning, He drew one line around His own action. He determined to create a class of beings who should have minds and hearts of their own. A free chance to choose between serving Him and resisting Him He now gives to every one of us. And when He had thus established men in being, He sovereignly decided never to interfere with the free-will He had bestowed.
V. If any man is finally lost, the responsibility rests upon his own soul. The Saviour has come so far, but it is perfectly clear He is coming no further.
1. Observe how unbeclouded is the final issue. There can be no mystery, there is no mistake about it. The Providence of God always clears the way up to the crisis, removing every side-consideration which can possibly confuse it. Education that fits for usefulness is a demand for usefulness; the love of our children is a hint for us to love God as children; social position, wealth, official station, accomplishments, popular favour; whoever has any of these ought to hear in them the accents of that quiet voice speaking to his heart: Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
2. Observe the ease of the condition required of us. It is only to open the door. Great things under the gospel are always simple.
3. Observe then, finally, what it is that keeps the Saviour out. Nothing but will. This is the inspired declaration: Ye will not come unto Me, that ye might have life. That is, you set a definite purpose against the purpose of grace. Christ came and you resisted Him. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
Christ knocking at the door of the soul
I. That there is in the human soul a door for the entrance of the truth.
1. The intellect. Is not the theology of the Bible in its broad outlines reasonable? Christ, in the evidence, enlightenment, and conviction of the truth, stands knocking at the mind of man, and the greater the knowledge of the truth, the louder is the appeal for entrance.
2. The heart. Man is endowed with the capability of love and sympathy. He has warm affections. He is so constituted as to be attracted by the pathetic and the beautiful. Hence, he looks out upon nature with admiring eye. And it is to this capability in man that the truth appeals. It presents to him an ideal beauty in the life of Christ, as recorded by the gospel narrative, which ought to win his spirit into an imitation of the same.
3. The conscience. Man has the ability to turn his natural judgment to moral and spiritual questions, and this is what we mean by conscience. To this faculty the truth presents its requirements; convinces of failure in the devotion of the inner life to Christ; and spreads out before it the threat of avenging justice.
4. But, strange to say, the door of the soul is closed to the entrance of the truth. The door of the mind is closed by error, by ignorance, and by prejudice. The door of the heart is shut by pride, by unbelief, and by wilful sin. The door of the conscience is barred by a continued habit of evil.
II. That at the door of the human soul truth makes continued appeals for entrance.
1. This appeal of truth is authoritative. Truth comes to men with authority, even with the claim of a sinless life, and with the emphasis of a Divine voice. Its distinguished character should gain for it an immediate and hearty welcome into the soul, as a king should be welcomed into a cottage. But truth comes to men not only with the authority of character, but also with the authority of right. The faculties of the human mind were made to receive it.
2. The appeal of Truth is patient. Other guests have entered–wealth in splendid apparel, ambition with loud clamour, and pride with haughty mien–but Christ with gentle spirit has remained without. His patience has been co-extensive with our neglect of Him. It is Divine.
3. The appeal of truth is benevolent. The truth does not seek to enter the soul of man merely to spy out its moral defilement, to pass woful sentence on its evil-doings, but to cleanse it by the Holy Spirit, to save it by grace, to enlighten it by knowledge, and to cheer it by love.
4. The appeal of truth is heard. And knock. Knocks at the door are generally heard. And certainly this is the case in reference to the advent of Christ to the soul. It is impossible to live in this land of religious light and agency without being conscious of Divine knockings at the portal of the soul.
III. That the human soul has the ability of choice as to whether it will open its door for the entrance of the truth or not.
1. The door of the soul will not be opened by any coercive methods. Does it not seem strange that Christ should have the key of the soul and yet stand without? This is only explained by the free agency of man. But though He enter not to dwell, the soul is visited by spiritual influences which are the universal heritage of man.
2. The door of the soul must be opened by moral methods. Calm reflection, earnest prayer, and a diligent study of the inspired Word, together with the gentle influences of the Divine Spirit, will open the soul to the entrance of Christ (Act 16:14).
IV. That if the human soul will open its door to the reception of the truth, Christ will enter into close communion with it.
1. Then Christ will inhabit the soul. I will come in to him. Thus, if Christ come into the soul He will dwell in its thoughts, in its affections, in its aspirations, in its aims, and in all its activities. He will elevate and consecrate them all. True religion just means this, Christ in the soul, and its language is (Gal 2:20).
2. Then Christ will be in sympathy with the soul. And will sup with him. It is impossible to have a feast in the soul unless Christ spreads the table; then the meal is festive. It removes sorrow; it inspires joy. While we are partaking of it we can relate to Christ all the perplexities of life. The good man carries a feast within him (Joh 4:32).
3. Then Christ will strengthen the soul. He will strengthen the moral nature by the food He will give, by the counsel He will impart, and by the hope He will inspire. The feast, the supply of holy energy will be resident within. (J. S. Exell, M. A.)
The self-invited Guest
I. That, in the dispensation of the Gospel, Christ is the uninvited guest, pleading for admission. Whatever acquaintance any of us may have with Jesus, the acquaintance began on His side: by Him are the first overtures invariably made.
1. The written gospel is a proof of it.
2. The Christian ministry is another proof.
3. The strivings of His Spirit are another instance of this. In the two former cases, His approach can more easily be avoided.
II. That consent alone is required, on our part, to give us a full participation in His friendship.
1. The consent which is required.
2. The friendship which is offered. (J. Jowett, M. A.)
Christ at the door of the heart
Behold! The sight is indeed a most astonishing one, which ought to fill our hearts with surprise and shame. God outside; He who ought to be recognised as Lord and Master of the human being, to whom we owe everything. I question whether there is any revelation made to us in the whole course of Gods Word that more strongly illustrates the persevering love of God. The love of God is not content with redeeming a guilty world, but He brings the redemption to the door of every human being. How, it is natural we should ask, is this extraordinary phenomenon to be explained? If we look at the context, we discover what the explanation is. Thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. Ah! it is in those words that the clue is found to the extraordinary spectacle. I cannot understand a man going on, year after year, realising his own inward want, and yet not accepting the supply which God has given. How is it that Satan prevents this? How is it that he brings us to the position which is indicated to us by this figure? By filling us with all sorts of things which are not God. What are they? Some make their religion a substitute for God. That is one of the very worst substitutes that we can possibly fix upon. Again, how many persons there are who find an excellent substitute for Christ in morality. A man may have kept all the Ten Commandments, and yet, all the while, be shutting the door of his heart against Christ, and if a man does that, he keeps the letter of the Commandments, but not the spirit. Again, how many there are who take worldly pleasures as a substitute for God. Another thing set up in the place of God is the love of wealth. What is there that money cannot do? Another man puts learning in the place of God. What is there that intelligence cannot do? All these attempts to create substitutes, what are they? They are simply so many sins against your own soul. It would not have been at all a thing to be marvelled at, if we had read this passage thus: The Lord once stood outside the door and knocked. Had the Lord Jesus Christ given us one offer of mercy, and given one loud, thundering knock, and, being refused, left us to take the consequence, left us to our own miserable doom, you know we should have deserved it. Oh, deafen not your ears, men and women, against His call: do not be so blind to your own interest as to keep Him standing there: listen to what He says, If any man hear My voice. Notice that. He does not say, If any man makes himself moral; if any man will try and make himself better. That is not it, thank God! If any man will shed oceans of tears. No, that is not it. If any man has deep sorrow. No, that is not it. If any man has powerful faith. No, that is not it, What is it He says? If any man will hear My voice. As the preacher is speaking now, say, God is speaking to my soul; He is speaking in all the infinity of His mercy: I cannot, I wont deafen my ear against Him. Well, as soon as the man hears the voice, he is on the highway to salvation. What more is wanted? Just one thing more. If any man hear My voice, and will open unto Me. It does not sound very much, does it? Ah, but, you say, faith is so difficult. One man says, faith is this, and another says it is another thing. Do you think the Lord Jesus Christ will stand back if you say that? I tell you, you will find those bolts and bars will fly back the moment you tell Him you are willing. Now, what are you going to do? Nay, what will He do? He says, If any man will open to Me, I will come in. Well, what will He do? Young man! you are thinking to yourself, I should like to have Jesus as my Saviour, but if He comes to my heart He will bring a funeral procession with Him; my countenance will fall, my life will be overshadowed, my joy will be gone; my youthful pleasures will disappear, and I shall become mournful and morose. I tell you that is the devils lie, not Gods truth. Wherever Jesus is, He carries a feast along with Him, and so He says to-night, If any man will open unto Me, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. (W. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.)
Christ at the door of the heart
This door, at which the Saviour knocks, is the heart of man. In the gospel there is more than enough to give full exercise to the most powerful intellect: yet the final aim is at the heart. What the heart is, that the man is; he who wins the heart has the whole man. The door is the sinners heart. That door is closed against Christ. He stands, and knocks. First, observe that it is the Lord who comes to us men, not we to Him. He not only comes to that door; He stands there waiting; nor doth He only stand and wait, but meekly standing thus and waiting, He knocks. So deeply does He long for entrance, that it is hard to make Him go. Canst thou not recall an hour, in which thy Saviour came to thee, and asked for entrance into thy thoughts and thy life? Many are called while yet children. The mind and heart of children are readier for the Lord than those of hardened men and women. Christ knocks at the hearts of children; if they do not open unto Him at that time, they may not do so until after many years; they may never do so, not even in the hour of death. If any man hear My voice! Can this be imagined, that any should not hear? or worse, that any would not hear? The voice of the Lord is mighty in operation, saith the psalmist: the voice of the Lord is a glorious voice. That voice may call; something within the heart may deaden the sound or shut it out. How dreadful is the state of such a soul! Marvel not, with this history before you, that the door is shut. The longer the heart is closed against its God, the harder to open it. The processes of nature have their due effect; the elements do their work in silence and surely; a work which every day makes more effectual. The bars, long stationary, rust in the staples; some time since, a child might have slipped them out and laid them aside; now, the strength of a man would essay the task in vain. The rains and snows of many a season have beaten into the lock and choked it up. In former days, a path led to this door; a path by which the good angels could reach it, and all honest Christian friends; a pathway, pleasant to the eye, fresh with flowers, clean of rubbish, and easy to be found. Alas! how great the change I The pathway now is rough with stones, or seems to be, for so rankly is it overgrown with weeds, that its outline is all but lost. Breasthigh on either hand are come up the briar and the thorn; the wall crumbles; it is grey with mould; an aspect of desolation weighs down the spirit as we gaze. Who would walk on yonder pathway? Who would try to approach that door? Yet there is One, who cometh up this way. He looks toward that closed and rusted door; He turns His holy feet to that forsaken path. His face is grave and sad, earnest, and full of love. He hath on Him the vesture of the High Priest who maketh intercession for sin. He is coming up the path. He has reached the gate. Behold, He standeth at the door. Without, around, all is silence. He knocks. Oh soul thus called by Jesus Christ, what answer wilt thou make? Perhaps there shall be no reply. The knock resounds within: the voice is heard outside; but within there is silence: neither knock nor voice can reach the ear of the spiritually dead. The door may shake in its rusty hinges; the bars may creak in the staples; but none comes to open. No wonder. There is nothing inside, save that worse than nothing, a dead soul; dead in sin, and buried in forgetfulness. (Morgan Dix, D. D.)
The Saviour knocking at the door
I. Who knocks? The Son of God, Immanuel, the Mediator betwixt God and man, the Prince of Peace, the Lord of glory, the Redeemer of the lost, Almighty to save, and all-sufficient to satisfy your souls. What hinders that you should not let Him in?
II. Different hearts are bolted with different bars. Some are closed by carelessness, and some by ignorance, and some by indolence, and some by frivolity, and some by prejudice, and some by pride, and some by strong besetting sins.
III. Were you to yield to the striving spirit–were you to withdraw these bolts, and admit into your soul a mighty and merciful Redeemer, what would be the consequence? Pardon of sin would come. Peace of conscience would come. The smile of God would come into your soul. (James Hamilton, D. D.)
Christ standing at the door
I. Who is he?
1. It is clear that He is some one of importance. Behold, He says, I stand at the door; I who could never have been expected to stand there. He speaks, you observe, as though His coming to us would surprise us; just as we might suppose a monarch to speak at a beggars door. And there is a reason for this. It is the glorious Redeemer who is here, the Monarch of earth and heaven. See then how this text sets forth at the very outset of it the Divine mercy. We think it a great thing that God should sit on a throne waiting for sinners to come to Him, but here He describes Himself as coming to sinners.
II. What is the Lord Jesus doing at our door?
1. On our part, it implies this mournful fact, that our hearts are all naturally shut against Christ, yea, fastened, bolted, and barred, against Him.
2. On Christs part, this expression implies a willingness to enter our hearts; and more than a willingness, an earnest desire to enter them.
III. What does this gracious stranger at our door wish us to do?
IV. What will this exalted being at our door do for us, if we let him in?
1. I will come in to him. There His presence is promised, and with it the light and comfort and bliss and glory of it.
2. I will sup with him, and he with Me. This implies a manifestation of Christ in the heart He dwells in, and intercourse and communion with it. (James Hamilton, M. A.)
At the door
I. Who stands? An ancient patriarch, by keeping open heart and open house for strangers, was privileged to entertain angels unawares. This day we may obtain s visit of the Lord of angels, if only we will let Him in.
II. How near he comes. Behold, I stand at the door. We are not much moved by anything that is far distant. Whether the visitant be coming for judgment or mercy, we take the matter lightly, as long as he is far away. A distant enemy does not make us tremble–a distant friend fails to make us glad. When your protector is distant, you tremble at danger; when he is near, you breathe freely again. How near the Son of God has come to us! He is our Brother: He touches us, and we touch Him, at all points.
III. How far off he is kept. At the door. He in great kindness comes to the door; we in great folly keep Him at the door. The sunlight travels far from its source in the deep of heaven–so far, that though it can be expressed in figures, the imagination fails to take in the magnitude of the sum; but when the rays of light have travelled unimpeded so far, and come to the door of my eye, if I shut that door–a thin film of flesh–the light is kept out, and I remain in darkness. Alas l the light that travelled so far, and came so near–the Light that sought entrance into my heart, and that I kept out–was the Light of life! If I keep out that Light, I abide in the darkness of death: there is no salvation in any other.
IV. He knocks for entrance. It is more than the kindness of His coming and the patience of His waiting. Besides coming near, He calls aloud: He does not permit us to forget His presence.
V. Many things hinder the hearing. Other thoughts occupy the mind; other sounds occupy the car. Either joy or grief may become a hindrance. The song of mirth and the wail of sorrow may both, by turns, drown the voice of that blessed Visitant who stands without and pleads for admission.
VI. Hear, and open. Hearing alone is not enough. It is not the wrath of God, but His mercy in Christ, that melts the iron fastenings and lifts up these shut gates, that the King of Glory may come in. The guilty refuse to open for Christ, even when they hear Him knocking. They have hard thoughts of Him. They think He comes to demand a righteousness which they cannot give, and to bind them over to the judgment because they cannot pay. God is love, and Christ is the outcome of His forgiving love to lost men. He comes to redeem you, and save you. It is when you know Him thus that you will open at His call. (W. Arnot, D. D.)
The heavenly Stranger received
I. If any man hear my voice.
1. That the voice of Christ is either external or internal; or, that which is addressed to the senses only, and that which reaches the heart.
2. The internal voice of Christ is various, according to the different circumstances of the persons to whom it is directed. To some it is an awakening voice: it rouses them from their carnal security. To those who are bowed down with a sense of sin, and wounded with the fiery darts of Divine wrath, it is a healing and comforting voice.
3. In order to hear His voice aright, our hearts must be renewed. Dead sinners cannot hear the voice of Christ; but His is a life-giving voice, and what it commands it communicates.
II. And open the door.
III. I will come in to him.
1. Nearness.
2. Possession.
3. Inhabitation.
He not only comes near to the soul to converse with it, but into it to dwell there, and becomes the vital principle of all holy obedience.
IV. And I will sup with him, and he with Me. (B. Beddome, M. A.)
The heart a house
Your heart is a house with many rooms; one apartment is decorated for the occupancy of pride; in another one covetousness may keep its iron safe; on the walls of another, perhaps, sensuality has hung some pictures that, if Christ enter, must be pulled down. Unbelief has chilled and darkened the whole house. Satan has a mortgage on the whole of it, and by and by will foreclose it. An enormous amount of sin has accumulated in every room and closet, for you have never had a house-cleaning since you were born. To that dwelling-place of sin, which may yet become a dwelling-place of endless anguish, my loving Saviour has come again. If you will stop the turmoil of business, or the noise of merriment long enough to listen, you will hear a marvellously sweet voice outside, Behold, I stand here and knock; if thou wilt open this door I will come in. Christ without means guilt; Christ within means pardon. Christ without means condemnation; Christ within means salvation. Christ shut out means hell; Christ admitted is the first instalment of heaven. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)
Christ dwelling in the heart
A widow woman lives by herself in a little cottage by the seashore. Of all whom she loved, only one survives–a lad at sea; all the rest have passed from sunshine to the sunless land. She has not set her eyes upon him for years. But her heart is full of him. She thinks of him by day, and dreams of him by night. His name is never missed out from her prayers. The winds speak about him; the stars speak about him; the waves speak about him, both in storm and calm. No one has difficulty in understanding how her boy dwells in her heart. Let that stand as a parable of what may be for every believer in the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (J. Culross, D. D.)
He knocks at our heart
Jesus stands at our gate and knocks, and there are many who never open to Him at all, and many more who open the door but slightly. The latter, while they may receive blessing, yet miss the fulness of Divine revealing which would flood their souls with love; the former miss altogether the sweetest benediction of life. (J. R. Miller, D. D.)
Christ standing
Whilst a man is standing He is going. (J. Trapp.)
Many fastenings to the sinners heart
When we were in Dublin, I went out one morning to an early meeting, and I found the servants had not opened the front door. So I pulled back a bolt, but I could not get the door open. Then I turned s key, but the door would not open. Then I found there was another bolt at the top, then I found there was another bolt at the bottom. Still the door would not open. Then I found there was a bar, and then I found a night-lock. I found there were five or six different fastenings. I am afraid that door represents every sinners heart. The door of his heart is locked, double-bolted, and barred. (D. L. Moody.)
The King slighted
When your King and Lord comes to claim the homage of your hearts, and to pay you a royal visit, you receive His message with coldness and indifference. You treat Him as the people of Alsace and Lorraine treated the Emperor of Germany and the Crown Prince after the Franco-Prussian war, when they pulled down their blinds, and locked and bolted their doors, and sat in gloomy silence as the emperor passed. They had some excuse for refusing to see him, as they were a conquered people, and his presence reminded them of their humiliation and defeat. But there is no excuse for you. (Isaac Marsden.)
God respects mans freedom
It was said by a celebrated orator in the House of Lords a century ago, that an Englishmans house is his castle, that the winds of heaven might enter by every window, that the rains might penetrate through every cranny, but that not even the sovereign of the land dare enter into it, however humble, without its owners permission. God treats you in the same way. He says, Willingly open your heart to Me, and I will give you every blessing; but I must be made welcome. (G. Warner.)
At the door
In Holman Hunts great picture called The Light of the World, we see One with gentle, patient face, standing at a door, which is ivy-covered, as if long closed. He is girt with the priestly breastplate. He bears in His hand the lamp of truth. He stands and knocks. There is no answer, and He still stands and knocks. His eye tells of love; His face beams with yearning. You look closely and you perceive that there is no knob or latch on the outside of the door. It can be opened only from within. Do you not see the meaning? (J. R. Miller, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock] There are many sayings of this kind among the ancient rabbins; thus in Shir Hashirim Rabba, fol. 25, 1: “God said to the Israelites, My children, open to me one door of repentance, even so wide as the eye of a needle, and I will open to you doors through which calves and horned cattle may pass.”
In Sohar Levit, fol. 8, col. 32, it is said: “If a man conceal his sin, and do not open it before the holy King, although he ask mercy, yet the door of repentance shall not be opened to him. But if he open it before the holy blessed God, God spares him, and mercy prevails over wrath; and when he laments, although all the doors were shut, yet they shall be opened to him, and his prayer shall be heard.”
Christ stands – waits long, at the door of the sinner’s heart; he knocks – uses judgments, mercies, reproofs, exhortations, c., to induce sinners to repent and turn to him he lifts up his voice – calls loudly by his word, ministers, and Spirit.
If any man hear] If the sinner will seriously consider his state, and attend to the voice of his Lord.
And open the door] This must be his own act, receiving power for this purpose from his offended Lord, who will not break open the door; he will make no forcible entry.
I will come in to him] I will manifest myself to him, heal all his backslidings, pardon all his iniquities, and love him freely.
Will sup with him] Hold communion with him, feed him with the bread of life.
And he with me.] I will bring him at last to dwell with me in everlasting glory.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
There is a double interpretation of this text, each of them claiming under very valuable interpreters; some making it a declaration of Christs readiness to come in to souls, and to give them a spiritual fellowship and communion with himself; others interpreting it of Christs readiness to come to the last judgment, and to take his saints into an eternal joyful fellowship and communion with himself: hence there is a different interpretation of every sentence in the text.
I stand at the door; either, in my gospel dispensations, I stand at the door of sinners hearts; or, I am ready to come to judge the world.
And knock, by the inward monitions and impressions of my Spirit, or my ministers more externally; or, I am about to knock, that is, I am ready to have the last trump sounded.
If any man hear my voice, and open the door; that is, if any man will hearken to the counsels and exhortations of my ministers, and to the monitions of my Spirit, and not resist my Holy Spirit; or, if any man hath heard my voice, and opened his heart to me.
I will come in to him; I will come in by my Spirit, and all the saving influences of my grace; or, I will come to him as a Judge to acquit him.
And will sup with him, and he with me; and I will have a communion with him in this life, he shall eat my flesh, and drink my blood; or, I will have an eternal fellowship and communion with him in my glory. The phrase seems rather to favour the first sense; the so frequent mention before of Christs coming to judgment, and the reward of another life, as arguments to persuade the angels of the churches to their duty, favours the latter sense.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
20. standwaiting in wonderfulcondescension and long-suffering.
knock (So5:2). This is a further manifestation of His loving desire forthe sinner’s salvation. He who is Himself “the Door,” andwho bids us “knock” that it may be “opened unto”us, is first Himself to knock at the door of our hearts. If He didnot knock first, we should never come to knock at His door. CompareSo 5:4-6, which isplainly alluded to here; the Spirit thus in Revelation sealing thecanonicity of that mystical book. The spiritual state of the bridethere, between waking and sleeping, slow to open thedoor to her divine lover, answers to that of the lukewarmLaodicea here. “Love in regard to men emptied (humbled) God; forHe does not remain in His place and call to Himself the servant whomHe loved, but He comes down Himself to seek him, and He who isall-rich arrives at the lodging of the pauper, and with His own voiceintimates His yearning love, and seeks a similar return, andwithdraws not when disowned, and is not impatient at insult, and whenpersecuted still waits at the doors” [NICOLAUSCABASILAS in TRENCH].
my voiceHe appeals tothe sinner not only with His hand (His providences) knocking,but with His voice (His word read or heard; or rather, HisSpirit inwardly applying to man’s spirit the lessons to be drawn fromHis providence and His word). If we refuse to answer to His knockingat our door now, He will refuse to hear our knocking at His doorhereafter. In respect to His second coming also, He is even now atthe door, and we know not how soon He may knock: thereforewe should always be ready to open to Him immediately.
if any man hearfor manis not compelled by irresistible force: Christ knocks, butdoes not break open the door, though the violent take heaven by theforce of prayer (Mt 11:12):whosoever does hear, does so not of himself, but by the drawingsof God’s grace (Joh 6:44):repentance is Christ’s gift (Ac5:31). He draws, not drags. The Sun of righteousness, likethe natural sun, the moment that the door is opened, pours inHis light, which could not previously find an entrance. CompareHILARY on Psalm 118:19.
I will come in to himasI did to Zaccheus.
sup with him, and he withmeDelightful reciprocity! Compare “dwelleth in me, and Iin Him,” Joh 6:56.Whereas, ordinarily, the admitted guest sups with the admitter, herethe divine guest becomes Himself the host, for He is the bread oflife, and the Giver of the marriage feast. Here again He alludes tothe imagery of So 4:16, wherethe Bride invites Him to eat pleasant fruits, even as He hadfirst prepared a feast for her, “His fruit was sweet to mytaste.” Compare the same interchange, Joh21:9-13, the feast being made up of the viands that Jesusbrought, and those which the disciples brought. The consummation ofthis blessed intercommunion shall be at the Marriage Supper of theLamb, of which the Lord’s Supper is the earnest and foretaste.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold, I stand at the door and knock,…. The phrase of standing at the door may be expressive of the near approach, or sudden coming of Christ to judgment, see Jas 5:9; and his knocking may signify the notice that will be given of it, by some of the immediate forerunners and signs of his coming; which yet will be observed but by a few, such a general sleepiness will have seized all professors of religion; and particularly may intend the midnight cry, which will, in its issue, rouse them all:
if any man hear my voice; in the appearances of things and providences in the world:
and open the door; or show a readiness for the coming of Christ, look and wait for it, and be like such that will receive him with a welcome:
I will come unto him, and sup with him, and he with me; to and among these will Christ appear when he comes in person; and these being like wise virgins, ready, having his grace in their hearts, and his righteousness upon them, he will take them at once into the marriage chamber, and shut the door upon the rest; when they shall enjoy a thousand years communion with him in person here on earth; when the Lamb on the throne will feed them with the fruit of the tree of life, and lead them to fountains of living water, and his tabernacle shall be among them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
I stand at the door ( ). Perfect active of (intransitive). Picture of the Lord’s advent as in Matt 24:33; Jas 5:9, but true also of the individual response to Christ’s call (Lu 12:36) as shown in Holman Hunt’s great picture. Some see a use also of So 5:2.
If any man hear–and open ( ). Condition of third class with and first aorist (ingressive) active subjunctive of and . See John 10:3; John 18:37. See the picture reversed (Swete) in Luke 13:25; Matt 25:10.
I will come in to him (). Future middle of . See Mark 15:43; Acts 11:3 for , to go into a man’s house. Cf. Joh 14:23.
Will sup (). Future active of , old verb, from (supper), as in Lu 17:8. Fellowship in the Messianic kingdom (Luke 22:30; Mark 14:25; Matt 26:29). Purely metaphorical, as is plain from 1Co 6:13.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
I stand at the door and knock. Compare Son 5:2, Krouw I knock was regarded as a less classical word than koptw. Krouw is to knock with the knuckles, to rap; koptw, with a heavy blow; yofein of the knocking of some one within the door, warning one without to withdraw when the door is opened. Compare Jas 5:9. “He at whose door we ought to stand (for He is the Door, who, as such, has bidden us to knock), is content that the whole relation between Him and us should be reversed, and, instead of our standing at His door, condescends Himself to stand at ours” (Trench). The Greeks had a word quraulein for a lover waiting at the door of his beloved. Trench cites a passage from Nicolaus Cabasilas, a Greek divine of the fourteenth century : “Love for men emptied God (Phi 2:7). For He doth not abide in His place and summon to Himself the servant whom He loved; but goes Himself and seeks him; and He who is rich comes to the dwelling of the poor, and discloses His love, and seeks an equal return; nor does He withdraw from him who repels Him, nor is He disgusted at his insolence; but, pursuing him, remains sitting at his doors, and that He may show him the one who loves him, He does all things, and sorrowing, bears and dies.”
My voice. Christ not only knocks but speaks. “The voice very often will interpret and make intelligible the purpose of the knock” (Trench). Hear – open the door. No irresistible grace.
Will sup [] . See on Luk 14:12. For the image, compare Son 5:2 – 6; Son 4:16; Son 2:3. Christ is the Bread of Life, and invites to the great feast. See Mt 8:11; Mt 25:1 sqq. The consummation will be at the marriage – supper of the Lamb (Mr 14:25; Rev 19:7 – 9).
He with me. It is characteristic of John to note the sayings of Christ which express the reciprocal relations of Himself and His followers. See Joh 6:56; Joh 10:38; Joh 14:20; Joh 14:4, 5; Joh 17:21, 26. Compare Joh 14:23.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Behold I stand at the door and knock,” (idou hesteka epi ten thuran kai krouo) “Behold I stand and knock upon the door; The latchstring is on the inside, to be raised voluntarily and responsively by the one inside the church, it is a lover standing wanting to enter, Son 5:2-6; Rom 2:4-9.
2) “If any man hear my voice,” (ean tis akoue tes phones mou) “if (or when) anyone hears, heeds, or obeys my voice; He not only knocks but also speaks; one may hear unless he is wilfully deaf, turns wilfully away, Joh 7:17; Rom 10:17; Eph 5:14.
3) “And open the door,” (kai anoikse ten thuran) “And if (or when) anyone opens the door; welcomes the knocking guest to fellowship, commune, and walk with him, even as an individual, Luk 19:5-6; Joh 10:27.
4) “I will come in to him,” (eiseleusomai pros auton) “I will enter or approach him,” of my own will or accord; this promise is from the condescending Savior, Joh 14;23.
5) “And will sup with him,” (kai deipneso met’ autou) “And I will dine with him,” have Divine company, fellowship with him, in harmony, agreement, Rev 19:7-9; 2Co 11:2; Amo 3:3.
6) “And he with me,” (kai autos met’ emou) “And he will dine with me,” have companionship, company, or fellowship in close association with me. He furnishes the meal, Himself the Bread of heaven and water of life, Joh 6:35; Joh 6:51; Mal 3:16-18.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
20. Behold The apparently broken connexion between this and the former verses of this address will be restored, if we consider the verse as a quotation from Solomon’s Song, Son 5:2-6. The Church of Laodicea is represented by the sleepy bride at whose door the bridegroom knocks, but she is so remiss that she opens the door too late, for he is gone. She says, “It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my love; for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.” The allusion shows to Laodicea the love between the Saviour and the Church, but the fearful danger of a deferred welcome to him.
I stand at the door, and knock There is a wonderful pathos in the picture. It is the supplicator Christ. It is night, and the darkness and damps are falling upon him. He is rejected by the sons of men almost the entire world round, and comes for admission at the door of one who professes to love him.
If any man Of the Laodicean Church immediately, of the whole world inferentially.
Open the door For, though Lord of all power, he will never force the door open. There is a solemn if which every man must decide for himself.
I will God’s will is to knock; and if man’s will is to open, then comes Christ’s will to come in.
Sup The evening dinner, as we may say; the principal meal of the day.
With him As his guest.
He with me As my guest; I being truly his host. And, continuing the reference to Solomon’s Song, this is the supper of Christ and his bride, the Church; the marriage supper of the Lamb, which is symbolically ever repeating itself here, but plenarily consummated at the resurrection of the just. Note 19.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Behold, I am standing at the door and knocking. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him and he with me.’
We must remember that these words are spoken by the Son of Man in ‘the Lord’s Day’ (Rev 1:10). They obtain their meaning from words of Jesus while on earth.
In Luk 12:35-38 Jesus tells His disciples that they must ‘let your loins be girded about (the clothes tucked in to the girdle to make movement easier) and your lamps burning, and you yourselves like men looking for their Lord when he returns from the marriage feast, so that when he comes and knocks they may immediately open to him ’. Then He will sit them down to supper and come and serve them (Luk 12:37).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
is a clear reference to that parable. The Son of Man, Whom John saw standing among the lampstands, is pictured as having arrived and as standing and knocking at the door of this church so that He may come in and sup with them. ‘I am here’, He says, ‘knocking’. But the inference is that they are not ready to hear.
So He next makes His plea to individuals in the church. If any one will hear His voice and open the door He will come in to him and they will eat together. In other words He wishes the church to see Him as on the verge of His coming in glory, and to respond on that basis. At some stage He will come, and no one knows when, so they must be like servants making ready.
But He recognises that they are so complacent that He is doubtful of their response so He then addresses each individual member. If any individual will therefore recognise Him as the coming Lord and welcome Him, even before His coming, He will sup with them, and they with Him. This does not really represent the heart’s door, but it does refer to an individual’s willingness to receive Him and welcome Him, which is much the same thing.
This reminds us that all these letters sent to the churches are sent as from the Lord Who is about to come in His glory. They are to see Him as on the verge of coming. As we learn here, this is in order to awaken them. It is also an encouragement to them to persevere in the face of hardship and tribulation. He is still on the verge of coming today. He delays only because He is longsuffering (2Pe 3:9). But who knows when He will finally arrive?
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rev 3:20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: “Behold, I have stood for a long time, and I still stand at the door, and knock; waiting for admittance into your hearts. If any man hear my voice with a due regard, and open the door; if he welcome me with affection due to such a Friend and such a Saviour, how mean soever his circumstances in life may be, and how faulty soever his character may formerly have been, I will enter into his house, and,like some princely guest, will bring my own rich and delightful entertainment along with me; I will sup with him, and he shallsup with me; I will treat him with the most endearing and familiar friendship, accept the tokens of his affection, and give him the most solid evidences of mine.” See Luk 14:15; Luk 14:35. Joh 10:2; Joh 10:42.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 3:20 . If the epistle to the church at Laodicea be regarded as having a design differing in no essential point from that of the other epistles, neither can Rev 3:20 be regarded the epilogue, [1620] which rather comprises only Rev 3:21-22 , nor can the eschatological sense in Rev 3:20 , which is properly made prominent by Ebrard, be denied, as is usually done. The , . . . , is essentially nothing else than the , or with its paracletic applications. [1621] The door before which the Lord stands, and asks entrance by his knock ( ) and call (cf. . . ), is ordinarily understood as the door of the heart, [1622] and, accordingly, the , as the preaching of the gospel, [1623] the movements occasioned by the Holy Spirit, [1624] while special providential dispensations, are also added. [1625] The , . . . , is not then understood in its full personal sense, [1626] and the limited either entirely to the blessed communion of believers with the Lord in this life, [1627] or, as is entirely out of place, to the communion in the present and the future life. [1628] The latter reference Beng. obtains by understanding the . of the earthly, and the . . of the heavenly life. In their peculiar nature the and the of the Lord, whereby he asks entrance, are not distinct from the and , Rev 3:19 , just as it is from the same love that he does both the former and the latter. His coming is near; he stands already before the door. And he wishes the church at Laodicea also to be prepared to receive him, in order that he may not come in judgment, [1629] but to enter therein, and hold with it the feast of blessed communion. [1630] The sense, especially of the formula . . , expressing the complete communion of the one with the other, is that of Joh 17:24 ; Col 3:4 . [1631]
An immediate connection with Son 5:2 [1632] is not discernible; although it is incorrectly asserted [1633] that in the N. T. in general, and in the Apoc. especially, no trace whatever of the Song of Solomon can be detected. Ebrard, appropriately: “The figure (of the wedding), or this idea together with the general doctrine of the relation of Christ to his Church as bridegroom, depends upon the Song of Solomon.” But in our passage the idea, in general, of Christ as bridegroom is not definitely expressed. [1634] [See Note XLI., p. 184.]
[1620] Vitr.
[1621] Rev 2:5 ; Rev 2:16 , Rev 3:3 ; Rev 3:11 . Cf. also Rev 2:10 ; Rev 2:22 sq.
[1622] N. de Lyra, C. a Lap., Stern, Aret., Grot., Calov., Vitr., Ew., De Wette, Hengstenb.
[1623] Aret, etc.
[1624] De Wette.
[1625] Hengstenb.
[1626] Grot.: “Jesus Christ, where he sends his Spirit.”
[1627] N. de Lyra, C. a Lap., Grot., Hengstenb., etc.
[1628] Vitr., Calov., Stern, etc.
[1629] Cf. Rev 3:3 ; Rev 2:5 .
[1630] Cf. ch. 19; Mat 25:1 sqq.
[1631] Cf., on both passages, in the preceding verses, the corresponding description of the earthly fellowship of faith with the Lord.
[1632] Hengstenb.; several ancient expositors.
[1633] Ew., De Wette.
[1634] Especially against Eichh., Heinr.
NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR
XLI. Rev 3:20 . , . . .
Alford, on the contrary: “The reference to Son 5:2 is too plain to be for a moment doubted; and, if so, the interpretation must be grounded in that conjugal relation between Christ and the Church,
Christ and the soul, of which that mysterious book is expressive. This being granted, we may well say that the vivid depiction of Christ standing at the door is introduced to bring home to the lukewarm and careless church the truth of his constant presence, which she was so deeply forgetting. His knocking was taking place, partly by the utterance of these very rebukes, partly by every interference in justice and mercy.” Trench: “The very language which Christ uses here, the , the summons recurs. Nor is the relation between the one passage and the other merely superficial and verbal. The spiritual condition of the bride there is, in fact, precisely similar to that of the Laodicean angel here. Between sleeping and waking, she has been so slow to open the door, that, when at length she does so, the Bridegroom has withdrawn. This exactly corresponds to the lukewarmness of the angel here. Another proof of the connection between them is, that, although there has been no mention of any thing but a knocking here, Christ goes on to say, ‘If any man hear my voice.’ What can this be but an allusion to the words in the canticle , which have just gone before: ‘It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh’?”
The reference, by Bengel, of the to the communion both in this life and the life to come, may have found, in the distinction between and , more than is intended; nevertheless, we can see, in this passage, only the blessed communion with God begun here on earth, and consummated in heaven, not two communions, but one, at two different stages. Gebhardt (p. 127) finds the thought of the Lord’s Supper suggested. Luthardt’s brief notes refer to Luk 12:36 ; interpreting the knocking as the impending return of the Lord, the opening of the door, by suggesting the familiar hymn of Paul Gerhardt,
“Oh, how shall I receive thee?”
and the supping, by the Lord’s Supper in the kingdom of God (Mat 26:29 ; Luk 22:29-30 ).
In connection with the , Trench’s remarks are important as to the incompatibility of this passage with any doctrine of irresistible grace; as well as his warning against the Pelagian error, “as though men could open the door of their heart when they would, as though repentance was not itself a gift of the exalted Saviour (Act 5:31 ). They can only open when Christ knocks, and they would have no desire at all to open unless he knocked. This is a drawing , not a dragging; a knocking at the door, not a breaking open the heart.” So Gerhard ( L. T. , ii. 275): “When God, by his word, knocks at the door of our heart, especially by the proclamation of his law, the grace of the Holy Spirit is at the same time present, who wishes to work conversion in our heart; and therefore, in his knocking, he not only stands without, but also works within.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2504
EPISTLE TO LAODICEA
Rev 3:20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
OUR blessed Lord, in his sermon on the mount, says, Ask, and ye shall have; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Now this is exactly what we might expect of a gracious God, and more especially of an all-merciful Redeemer. But who would ever imagine that this process should be inverted; and that, instead of a sinner knocking at the door of heaven in fervent supplications, the Son of God himself should come and knock at the door of his heart, soliciting admittance there? Yet this is the representation given us in my text: so infinitely are Gods ways higher than our ways, and his thoughts than our thoughts. Let us contemplate this mystery: let us consider,
I.
The marvellous condescension of the Lord Jesus Christ towards our sinful race
The hearts of men are shut and barred against him
[The strong man armed, even Satan, occupies the souls of men as his palace, and fills them with all manner of evil; and by his great power he keeps them in peace, unconscious of their subjection to him, and altogether satisfied with their bondage [Note: Luk 11:21.]. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes to seek admission there, every possible resistance is made to him. The lusts, which have taken possession of them, bar the door against him. Prejudice and unbelief determine them to obstruct his entrance; whilst the world, and all its lusts, maintain their post, with a steadfastness that bids defiance to every effort, save that which is omnipotent ]
But he stands at the door, and knocks
[He comes to men in his word, and demands that they yield themselves up to him He comes also by the secret energy of his Spirit; and warns men of their danger, if they persist in their rebellion against him He comes also by his providence, to awaken them by terrors, or soften them by afflictions, if by any means he may prevail upon them to open to him Year after year does he stand, waiting to be gracious to them, and importuning them by every kind of argument to admit him. Of Israel it is said, that forty years he suffered their manners in the Wilderness [Note: Act 13:18.]. And many are the years that he has borne with us. The generality he finds so fast asleep, that not all the thunders of his law can waken them. Some are just roused from their slumbers: but, averse to receive him, they begin to put him off with frivolous excuses. Their language is like that of the Church of old; I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my Beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. But I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them [Note: Son 5:2-3.]? Still, however, does he continue knocking with invincible patience: so true is that saying of the prophet, All the day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people [Note: Isa 65:2 and Rom 10:21.].]
What marvellous condescension is this!
[If we were to stand for any length of time imploring mercy from God, and were left without any answer of peace, it were nothing but what our sins have justly merited; nor could we have the smallest reason to complain. But that the Lord Jesus Christ should sue in vain for admission into our hearts, appears incredible; or, at all events, we might expect him, after the first refusal of his overtures, to say, They are joined to idols; let them alone: My Spirit shall strive with them no more; from henceforth I give them over to their own hearts lusts, to follow their own imaginations, till they have filled up the measure of their iniquities, and wrath shall come upon them to the uttermost. But, behold! yes, well may it be said Behold; for His condescension exceeds belief. Do but reflect, who it is that thus waits upon us: it is the Creator, importuning his guilty and rebellious creatures: it is the Judge, following the criminal with entreaties to accept of pardon, and to let his sentence of condemnation be reversed: it is the self-sufficient God, who would be equally happy and glorious if every child of man were left to perish like the fallen angels, that labours thus to ingratiate himself with the vilest of mankind, if by any means he may prevail on some of them to accept at his hands all the blessings both of grace and glory. Say, I pray you, Is not this a condescension, that surpasses all the powers of language to express, or of imagination adequately to conceive?]
But this subject will appear more fully in its true light, if we consider,
II.
The mercies which he desires to impart unto them
These are expressed under a familiar and most significant metaphor
[The metaphor of a guest is not uncommon in the Holy Scriptures. Our Lord said to his Disciples, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him; and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him [Note: Joh 14:23.]. And this shall be realized, in the most endearing manner, to all who open to him: He will come in to them, and sup with them, and they with him. We cannot conceive of any act of friendship that is not comprehended under this term. But how shall I convey any adequate idea of its import? What sweet manifestations of his love will he impart to the soul, and what rich communications of his grace! Who can fully explain that declaration of the Apostle, Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ [Note: 1Jn 1:3.]? We may think of all the familiarities and endearments that ever were enjoyed, even among the most attached friends or relatives, and they will fall infinitely short of that blessedness which he will impart to the believing soul. When he comes in to sup with us, he will, if I may so say, bring his own provision along with him. What exceeding great and precious promises will he set before us, for our support! What tastes of his love will he give us, when he shall shed it abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost? And what foretastes also of his glory will he communicate, when he bids us to drink of the cup of his salvation!]
Nor is there a person under heaven excluded from this benefit
[His own word is, If any man hear. It matters not how unworthy any man may be: if he had all the sins of Manasseh himself upon his soul, the mercy here proffered should be imparted to him. We are told of Manasseh, that he filled Jerusalem itself with the blood of innocents, and made the people worse than the heathen whom the Lord had destroyed before them: yet, when he humbled himself, God heard his supplication, and made himself known to him under the endearing character of Israels God [Note: Jer 19:4. 2Ch 33:9; 2Ch 33:12-13.]. We may be sure, therefore, that no person under heaven shall be excluded from a participation of the grace that is here so freely offered. All that is required of any man is, to hear the Saviours voice, and open to him. O that this were duly considered by us all! Brethren, you are not called upon to merit any thing at the Saviours hands, but only to receive thankfully what he so freely offers. Only be sensible that you have hitherto excluded him from your hearts, whilst you have given a ready reception to the basest lusts; be sensible, I say, of this, and now open your hearts to him, and all the blessings of salvation shall be yours, for your present comfort, and for your everlasting possession.]
Address
1.
Those who are yet strangers to the Saviours love
[The generality of men who call themselves Christians would quite revolt at the expression in my text, and at all the wonders of love contained in it. But, brethren, wherefore is it thus with you? Is it because there is no truth in these representations? or because ye have never yet sought to experience them in your souls Would ye but now open your hearts to him, verily, there is not one amongst you of whom it should not be said, that Christ is gone to be a guest with a man that is a sinner [Note: Luk 19:7.]. But if ye refuse his entreaties now, the time will come, when ye shall cry to him, but not be heard [Note: Pro 1:24-31. Isa 55:6.].]
2.
Those who have had some experience of it in their souls
[Be not satisfied with any measure of intercourse that you have yet enjoyed with your Lord and Saviour. Ye cannot expect, with Paul, to be caught up into the third heavens: but ye may expect from the Saviour such an abundance of grace and mercy and peace as shall be a foretaste of heaven itself. Only cast out, with increasing zeal and diligence, the lusts that have occupied your heart, sweeping from every corner of it the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, and your feasts with the Saviour here shall be only a prelude to that richer feast which you shall enjoy above: for all with whom he has supped on earth shall sit down with him at the marriage-supper of the Lamb in heaven for evermore [Note: Rev 19:9.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Ver. 20. Behold, I stand ] Christ stands, he doth not sit; now while a man is standing he is going. Christ is but a while with men in the opportunities of grace; he will not always wait their leisure. The Church sought him (when once gone) with many a heavy heart, Cant. iii.
And knock ] By the hammer of my word and hand of my Spirit.
And open the door, &c. ] sc. By teachableness and obedience. This is not spoken of the first act of conversion ( quae gratuita est et inopinata ), but of the consequences of it; in which man, who being dead hath been made alive, ought to co-operate with God’s grace.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
20 .] Behold, I stand at the door (the construction with the prep. of motion after , is perhaps owing to the idea of motion conveyed in the verb, “I have placed myself.” See reff., especially ref. Luke) and knock (the reference to Son 5:2 is too plain to be for a moment doubted: and if so, the interpretation must be grounded in that conjugal relation between Christ and the church, Christ and the soul, of which that mysterious book is expressive. This being granted, we may well say, that the vivid depiction of Christ standing at the door is introduced, to bring home to the lukewarm and careless church the truth of His constant presence, which she was so deeply forgetting. His knocking was taking place partly by the utterance of these very rebukes ( ), partly by every interference in judgment and in mercy. Whenever His hand is heard, He is knocking at the door. But it is not His hand only that may be heard: see below): if any man hear my voice (here we have more than the mere sound of his knock: He speaks. See Act 12:13 f. . In that case we must conceive Rhoda to have asked “who is there?” and Peter to have answered. It may not be uninstructive to fill up this connexion in a similar manner. “It is I,” is an answer the soul may often hear, if it will enquire the reason of an unexpected knock at the door of its slumbers; or we may compare Son 5:2 , , ), and open the door ( , , aorists, because prior in time to the futures which follow: “shall have heard,” “shall have opened:” but it would be pedantry thus to render them in our language. On the sense, cf. Son 5:6 .
Our verse is a striking and decisive testimony to the practical freedom of our will to receive or reject the heavenly Guest: without the recognition of which, the love and tenderness of the saying become a hideous mockery.
We then open the door to Christ, when we admit Him, His voice, His commands, His example, to a share in our inner counsels and sources of action. To say that this can be done without His grace, is ignorance: to say it is done only by that grace irresistibly exerted, is far worse it is, to deprive His gracious pleadings of all meaning), [ and ] (this is superfluous in the sense, merely expressing the sequence: and may on that account have been omitted) I will enter in to him, and I will sup with him, and he with me (the imagery is taken from the usages of intimate hospitality. But whereas in these it would be merely the guest who would sup with the host who lets him in, here the guest becomes himself the host, because He is the bread of life, and the Giver of the great feast of fat things and of the great marriage supper (Mat 8:11 ; Mat 25:1 ff.; ch. Rev 19:7 ; Rev 19:9 ).
St. John is especially fond of reporting these sayings of reciprocity which our Lord uttered: cf. Joh 6:56 ( Joh 10:38 ), Joh 14:20 , Joh 15:4-5 , Joh 17:21 ; Joh 17:26 . This blessed admission of Christ into our hearts will lead to His becoming our guest, ever present with us, and sharing in all our blessings and, which is even more, to our being ever in close union with Him, partaking ever of His fulness, until we sit down at His table in his Kingdom).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Rev 3:20 . The language recalls Son 5:2 ( , for contemporary evidence of the allegorical use of Canticles see Gunkel’s note on 4 Esdras. 5:20 f. and Bacher’s Agada d. Tannaiten , i. 109, 285 f. 425, etc.) interpreted in the eschatological sense ( Mar 13:29 = Mat 24:33 ) of the logion in Luk 12:35-38 upon the servants watching for their Lord, (whereupon, as here, he grants them intimate fellowship with himself and takes the lead in the matter). To eat with a person meant, for an Oriental, close confidence and affection. Hence future bliss ( cf. En. lxii. 14) was regularly conceived to be a feast ( cf. Dalman i. 1, [910] . 4 a and Volz 331), or, as in Luk 22:29-30 and here ( cf. Rev 3:21 ), feasting and authority. This tells against the otherwise attractive hypothesis that the words merely refer to a present repentance on the part of the church or of some individuals in it (so e.g. de Wette, Alf., Weiss, Simcox, Scott), as if Christ sought to be no longer an outsider but a welcome inmate of the heart ( cf. Ruskin’s Sesame and Lilies , 95). The context ( cf. 18 and 21), a comparison of Rev 16:15 (which may even have originally lain close to Rev 3:20 ), and the words of Jas 5:9 ( ) corroborate the eschatological interpretation (so e.g. Dsterdieck, Pfleid., Bousset, Forbes, Baljon, Swete, Holtzmann), which makes this the last call of Christ to the church when he arrives on the last day, though here Christ stands at the door not as a judge but as a friend. Hence no reference is made to the fate of those who will not attend to him. In Rev 2:5 ; Rev 2:16 , need not perhaps be eschatological, since the coming is conditional and special, but by itself (Rev 3:11 ) and (Rev 2:25 ) must be, while Rev 3:3 probably is also, in view of the context and the thief-simile. The imminent threat of Rev 3:16 is thus balanced by the urgency of Rev 3:20 . For the eschatological cf. Rev 1:7 , Rev 16:15 , Rev 21:3 , Rev 22:7 ; Rev 22:12 . , implying that the voice is well-known. To pay attention to it, in spite of self-engrossment and distraction, is one proof of the moral alertness ( ) which means repentance. For the metaphorical contrast (reflecting the eternal paradox of grace) between the enthroned Christ of 21 and the appealing Christ of 20, cf. the remarkable passage in Sap. 9:4; 9:6 f., 10 f ., where wisdom shares God’s throne and descends to toil among men; also Seneca’s Epp. lxi. (quemadmodum radii solis contingunt quidem terram, sed ibi sunt unde mittuntur; sic animus magnus et sacer conersatur quidem nobiscum, sed haeret origini suae [Rev 5:6 ]: illinc pendet, illuc spectat ac nititur, nostris tanquam melior interest). By self-restraint, moderation, and patience, with regard to possessions, a man will be some day a worthy partner of the divine feast, says Epictetus ( Enchir. xv.): “but if you touch none of the dishes set before you and actually scorn them, .
[910] Codex Ephraemi (sc. v.), the Paris palimpsest, edited by Tischendorf in 1843.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Revelation
CHRIST AT THE DOOR
Rev 3:20 .
Many of us are familiar, I dare say, with the devoutly imaginative rendering of the first part of these wonderful words, which we owe to the genius of a living painter. In it we see the fast shut door, with rusted hinges, all overgrown with rank, poisonous weeds, which tell how long it has been closed. There stands, amid the night dews and the darkness, the patient Son of man, one hand laid on the door, the other bearing a light, which may perchance flash through some of its chinks. In His face are love repelled, and pity all but wasted; in the touch of His hand are gentleness and authority.
But the picture pauses, of course, at the beginning of my text, and its sequel is quite as wonderful as its first part. ‘I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with Me.’ What can surpass such words as these? I venture to take this great text, and ask you to look with me at the three things that lie in it; the suppliant for admission; the door opened; the entrance, and the feast.
I. Think, then, first of all, of that suppliant for admission.
I suppose that the briefest explanation of my text is sufficient. Who knocks? The exalted Christ. What is the door? This closed heart of man. What does He desire? Entrance. What are His knockings and His voice? All providences; all monitions of His Spirit in man’s spirit and conscience; the direct invitations of His written or spoken word; in brief, whatsoever sways our hearts to yield to Him and enthrone Him. This is the meaning, in the fewest possible words, of the great utterance of my text.
Here is a revelation of a universal truth, applying to every man and woman on the face of the earth; but more especially and manifestly to those of us who live within the sound of Christ’s gospel and of the written revelations of His grace. True, my text was originally spoken in reference to the unworthy members of a little church of early believers in Asia Minor, but it passes far beyond the limits of the lukewarm Laodiceans to whom it was addressed. And the ‘any man’ which follows is wide enough to warrant us in stretching out the representation as far as the bounds of humanity extend, and in believing that wherever there is a closed heart there is a knocking Christ, and that all men are lightened by that Light which came into the world.
Upon that I do not need to dwell, but I desire to enforce the individual bearing of the general truth upon our own consciences, and to come to each with this message: The saying is true about thee, and at the door of thy heart Jesus Christ stands, and there His gentle, mighty hand is laid, and on it the flashes of His light shine, and through the chinks of the unopened door of thy heart comes the beseeching voice, Open! Open unto Me.’ A strange reversal of the attitudes of the great and of the lowly, of the giver and of the receiver, of the Divine and of the human! Christ once said, Knock and it shall be opened unto you.’ But He has taken the suppliant’s place, and, standing by the side of each of us. He beseeches us that we let Him bless us, and enter in for our rest.
So, then, there is here a revelation, not only of a universal truth, but a most tender and pathetic disclosure of Christ’s yearning love to each of us. What do you call that emotion which more than anything else desires that a heart should open and let it enter? We call it love when we find it in one another. Surely it bears the same name when it is sublimed into all but infinitude, and yet it is as individualizing and specific as it is great and universal, as it is found in Jesus Christ. If it be true that He wants me, if it be true that in that great heart of His there are a thought and a wish about His relation to me, and mine to Him, then, then, each of us is grasped by a love that is like our human love, only perfected and purified from all its weaknesses.
Now we sometimes feel, I am afraid, as if all that talk about the love which Jesus Christ has to each of us was scarcely a prose fact. There is a woeful lack of belief among us in the things that we profess to believe most. You are all ready to admit, when I preach it, that it is true that Jesus Christ loves us. Have you ever tried to realize it, and lay it upon your hearts, that the sweetness and astoundingness of it may soak into you, and change your whole being? Oh! listen, not to my poor, rough notes, but to His infinitely sweet and tender melody of voice, when He says to you, as if your eyes needed to be opened to perceive it, ‘Behold! I stand at the door and knock.’
There is a revelation in the words, dear friends, of an infinite long-suffering and patience. The door has long been fastened; you and I have, like some lazy servant, thought that if we did not answer the knock, the Knocker would go away when He was weary. But we have miscalculated the elasticity and the unfailingness of that patient Christ’s lore. Rejected, He abides; spurned, He returns. There are men and women who all their lives long have known that Jesus Christ coveted their love, and yearned for a place in their hearts, and have steeled themselves against the knowledge, or frittered it away by worldliness, or darkened it by sensuality and sin. And they are once more brought into the presence of that rejected, patient, wooing Lord, who courts them for their souls, as if they were, which indeed they are, too precious to be lost, as long as there is a ghost of a chance that they may still listen to His voice. The patient Christ’s wonderfulness of long-suffering may well bow us all in thankfulness and in penitence. How often has He tapped or thundered at the door of your heart, dear friends, and how often have you neglected to open? Is it not of the Lord’s mercies that the rejected or neglected love is offered you once more? and the voice, so long deadened and deafened to your ears by the rush of passion, and the hurry of business, and the whispers of self, yet again appeals to you, as it does even through my poor translation of it.
And then, still further, in that thought of the suppliant waiting for admission there is the explanation for us all of a great many misunderstood facts in our experience. That sorrow that darkened your days and made your heart bleed, what was it but Christ’s hand on the door? Those blessings which pour into your life day by day ‘beseech you, by the mercies of God, that ye yield yourselves living sacrifices.’ That unrest which dogs the steps of every man who has not found rest in Christ, what is it but the application of His hand to the obstinately closed door? The stings of conscience, the movements of the Spirit, the definite proclamation of His Word, even by such lips as mine, what are they all except His appeals to us? And this is the deepest meaning of joys and sorrows, of gifts and losses, of fulfilled and disappointed hopes. This is the meaning of the yearning of Christless hearts, of the stings of conscience which come to us all. ‘Behold! I stand at the door and knock.’ If we understood better that all life was guided by Christ, and that Christ’s guidance of life was guided by His desire that He should find a place in our hearts, we should less frequently wonder at sorrows, and should better understand our blessings. /^ The boy Samuel, lying sleeping before the light in the inner sanctuary, heard the voice of God, and thought it was only the grey-bearded priest that spoke. We often make the same mistake, and confound the utterances of Christ Himself with the speech of men. Recognize who it is that pleads with you; and do not fancy that when Christ speaks it is Eli that is calling; but say, ‘Speak, Lord! for Thy servant heareth.’ ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in.’
II. And that leads me, secondly, to ask you to look at the door opened.
I am not going to plunge into theological puzzles, but I appeal to consciousness. You know as well as I do – better a great deal, for it is yourself that is in question – that at each time when your heart and conscience have been brought in contact with the offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, if you had liked you could have opened the door, and welcomed His entrance. And you know that nobody and nothing kept it fast except only yourselves. ‘Ye will not come to Me,’ said Christ, ‘that ye might have life.’ Men^ indeed, do pile up such mountains of rubbish against the door that it cannot be opened, but it was they that put them there; and they are responsible if the hinges are so rusty that they will not move, or the doorway is so clogged that there is no room for it to open. Jesus Christ knocks, but Jesus Christ cannot break the door open. It lies in your hands to decide whether you will take or whether you will reject that which He brings.
The door is closed, and unless there be a definite act on your parts it will not be opened, and He will not enter. So we come to this, that to do nothing is to keep your Saviour outside; and that is the way in which most men that miss Him do miss Him.
I suppose there are very few of us who have ever been conscious of a definite act by which, if I might adhere to the metaphor, we have laid hold of the door on the Inside, and held it tight lest it should be opened. But, I fear me, there are many who have sat in the inner chamber, and heard the gracious hand on the outer panel, and have kept their hands folded and their feet still, and done nothing. Ah! brethren, to do nothing is to do the most dreadful of things, for it is to keep the shut door shut in the face of Christ. No passionate antagonism is needed, no vehement rejection, no intellectual denial of His truth and His promises. If you want to ruin yourselves, you have simply to do nothing! All the dismal consequences will necessarily follow.
‘Well,’ you say, ‘but you are talking metaphors; let us come to plain facts. What do you want me to do? ‘I want you to listen to the message of an infinitely loving Christ who died on the Cross to bear the sins of the whole world, including you and me; and who now lives, pleading with each of us from heaven that we will take by simple faith, and keep by holy obedience, the gift of eternal life which He offers, and He alone can give. The condition of His entrance is simple \ trust in Him, as the Saviour of my soul. That is opening the door, and if you will do that, then, just as when you open the shutters, in comes the sunshine; just as when you lift the sluice in flows the crystal stream into the slimy, empty lock, so – I was going to say by gravitation, rather by the diffusive impulse that belongs to light, which is Christ – He will enter in, wherever He is not shut out by unbelief and aversion of will.
III. And so that brings me to my last point, viz., the entrance and the feast.
My text is a metaphor, but the declaration that ‘if any man open the door’ Jesus Christ ‘will come in to him,’ is not a metaphor, but is the very heart and centre of the Gospel, ‘I will come in to him,’ dwell in him, be really incorporated in his being, or inspirited, if I may so say, in his spirit. Now you may think that that is far too recondite and lofty a thought to be easily grasped by ordinary people, but its very loftiness should recommend it to us. I, for my part, believe that there is no more prose fact in the whole world than the actual dwelling of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who is in heaven, in the spirits of the people that love Him and trust Him. And this is one great part of the Gospel that I have to preach to you, that into our emptiness He will come with His fullness; that into our sinfulness He will come with His righteousness; that into our death He will come with His triumphant and immortal life; and He being in us and we in Him, we shall be full and pure and live for ever, and be blessed with the blessedness of Jesus. So remember that embedded in the midst of the wonderful metaphor of my text lies the fact, which is the very centre of the Gospel hope, the dwelling of Jesus Christ in the hearts even of poor sinful creatures like you and me.
But it comes into view here only as the basis of the subsequent promises, and on these I can only touch very briefly, ‘I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with Me.’ Well, that speaks to us in lovely, sympathetic language of a close, familiar, happy communication between Christ and my poor self, which shall make all life as a feast in company with Him. We remember who is the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ here. It is the disciple who knew most of what quietness of blessedness and serenity of adoring communion there were in leaning on Christ’s breast at supper, casting back his head on that loving bosom; looking into those deep sad eyes, and asking questions which were sure of answer. And John, as he wrote down the words ‘I will sup with him, and he with Me,’ perhaps remembered that upper room where, amidst all the bitter herbs, there was such strange joy and tranquility. But whether he did or no, may we not take the picture as suggesting to us the possibilities of loving fellowship, of quiet repose, of absolute satisfaction of all desires and needs, which will be ours if we open the door of our hearts by faith and let Jesus Christ come in?
But, note, when He does come He comes as guest. ‘I will sup with him.’ ‘He shall have the honour of providing that of which I partake.’ Just as upon earth He said to the Samaritan woman, ‘Give Me to drink,’ or sat at the table, at the modest village feast in Bethany, in honour of the miracle of a man raised from the dead, and smiled approval of Martha serving, as of Lazarus sitting at table, and of Mary anointing Him, so the humble viands, the poor man’s fare that our resources enable us to lay upon His table, are never so small or poor for Him to delight in. This King feasts in the neatherd’s cottage, and He will even condescend to turn the cakes. ‘I will sup with Him.’ We cannot bring anything so coarse, so poor, so unworthy, if a drop or two of love has been sprinkled over it, but that it will be well-pleasing in His sight, and He Himself will partake thereof. ‘He has gone to be a guest with a man that is a sinner.’
But more than that, where He is welcomed as guest. He assumes the place of host. ‘I will sup with him, and he with Me.’ You remember how, after the Resurrection, when the two disciples, moved to hospitality, implored the unknown Stranger to come in and partake of their humble fare, He yielded to their importunity, and when they were in the guest chamber, took His place at the head of the table, and blessed the bread and gave it to them. You remember how, in the beginning of His miracles, He manifested forth His glory in this, that, invited as a common guest to the rustic wedding, He provided the failing wine. And so, wherever a poor man opens his heart and says, ‘Come in,’ and I will give Thee my ‘best,’ Jesus Christ comes in, and gives the man His best, that the man may render it back to Him. He owes nothing to any man. He accepts the poorest from each, and He gives the richest to each. He is Guest and Host, and what He accepts from us is what He has first given to us.
The promise of my text is fulfilled immediately when the door of the heart is opened, but it shadows and prophesies a nobler fulfilment in the heavens. Here and now Christ and we may sit together, but the feast will be like the Passover, eaten with loins girt and staves in hand, and the Red Sea and wilderness waiting to be trodden. But there comes a more perfect form of the communion, which finds its parallel in that wonderful scene when the weary fishers, all of whose success had depended on their obedience to the Master’s direction, discerned at last, through the grey of the morning, who it was that stood upon the shore, and, struggling to His side, saw there a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, and bread, to which they were bidden to add their modest contribution in the fish that they had caught; and the meal being thus prepared partly by His hand and partly by theirs, ennobled and filled by Him, His voice says, ‘Come and dine.’ So, brethren, Christ at the last will bring His servants to His table in His kingdom, and there their works shall follow them; and He and they shall sit together for ever, and for ever ‘rejoice in the fatness of Thy house, even of Thy holy temple.’
I beseech you, listen not to my poor voice, but to His that speaks through it, and when He knocks do you open, and Christ Himself shall come in. ‘If any man love Me he will keep My commandments, and My Father will love him, and We will come and make Our abode with him.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
stand. Literally have taken my station.
knock. The call to the wedding feast (Rev 19:9), to which the parables pointed, e.g. Luk 12:35-38 “when He cometh and knocketh”. The popular belief that the Lord is ever knocking at the hearts of sinners is a distortion of Scripture akin to blasphemy.
any man. App-123.
sup, &c. A gracious promise to His servants (See Rev 1:1). See Luk 12:37.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
20.] Behold, I stand at the door (the construction with the prep. of motion after , is perhaps owing to the idea of motion conveyed in the verb,-I have placed myself. See reff., especially ref. Luke) and knock (the reference to Son 5:2 is too plain to be for a moment doubted: and if so, the interpretation must be grounded in that conjugal relation between Christ and the church,-Christ and the soul,-of which that mysterious book is expressive. This being granted, we may well say, that the vivid depiction of Christ standing at the door is introduced, to bring home to the lukewarm and careless church the truth of His constant presence, which she was so deeply forgetting. His knocking was taking place partly by the utterance of these very rebukes (), partly by every interference in judgment and in mercy. Whenever His hand is heard, He is knocking at the door. But it is not His hand only that may be heard: see below): if any man hear my voice (here we have more than the mere sound of his knock: He speaks. See Act 12:13 f. . In that case we must conceive Rhoda to have asked who is there? and Peter to have answered. It may not be uninstructive to fill up this connexion in a similar manner. It is I, is an answer the soul may often hear, if it will enquire the reason of an unexpected knock at the door of its slumbers; or we may compare Son 5:2, , ), and open the door (, , aorists, because prior in time to the futures which follow: shall have heard, shall have opened: but it would be pedantry thus to render them in our language. On the sense, cf. Son 5:6.
Our verse is a striking and decisive testimony to the practical freedom of our will to receive or reject the heavenly Guest: without the recognition of which, the love and tenderness of the saying become a hideous mockery.
We then open the door to Christ, when we admit Him, His voice, His commands, His example, to a share in our inner counsels and sources of action. To say that this can be done without His grace, is ignorance: to say it is done only by that grace irresistibly exerted, is far worse-it is, to deprive His gracious pleadings of all meaning), [and] (this is superfluous in the sense, merely expressing the sequence: and may on that account have been omitted) I will enter in to him, and I will sup with him, and he with me (the imagery is taken from the usages of intimate hospitality. But whereas in these it would be merely the guest who would sup with the host who lets him in, here the guest becomes himself the host, because He is the bread of life, and the Giver of the great feast of fat things and of the great marriage supper (Mat 8:11; Mat 25:1 ff.; ch. Rev 19:7; Rev 19:9).
St. John is especially fond of reporting these sayings of reciprocity which our Lord uttered: cf. Joh 6:56 (Joh 10:38), Joh 14:20, Joh 15:4-5, Joh 17:21; Joh 17:26. This blessed admission of Christ into our hearts will lead to His becoming our guest, ever present with us, and sharing in all our blessings-and, which is even more, to our being ever in close union with Him, partaking ever of His fulness, until we sit down at His table in his Kingdom).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rev 3:20. -, behold-) The observation respecting retrograde order depends almost entirely upon this very increase of close approach, respecting which see Erkl. Off.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
The Waiting Guest
Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.Rev 3:20.
The Church of Laodicea, to which these words were originally addressed, had grievously declined, so that it scarce retained any sign of spiritual life. Words cannot be found to express more strongly a decayed and almost desperate moral condition than those which Christ addresses to this once flourishing community. Spiritual pride, strange to say, is the most common attendant and fatal sign of spiritual degeneracy, as though, the worse men grew, the better they fancied themselves. But when Christ solemnly rebuked the Church of Laodicea, depicting its condition in terms which lead us to expect nothing else than its final condemnation, then it is that, in place of assuming the office of Judge and thundering forth the vengeance of heaven, Christ still presents Himself as a pleader with the obdurate, and makes one more effort to prevail on them to be saved. This is one of those exquisite transitions which give the Bible such power of persuasiveness.
The text was originally spoken in reference to the unworthy members of a little Church of early believers in Asia Minor, but it passes far beyond the limits of the lukewarm Laodiceans to whom it was addressed. And the any man is wide enough to warrant us in stretching out the representation as far as the bounds of humanity extend, and in believing that wherever there is a closed heart there is a knocking Christ.
Of all the pictures which flashed before the mind of the prisoner-seer of Patmos, the most wonderful is that which shows Jesus standing as a suppliant at a door, and that the door of a church (Rev 3:20). It was only the other day that I discovered for myself the reason why this is the most wonderful picture in the Apocalypse. Others may have found it out before, but it was only then that I saw that the words in Rev 3:14 should be read as an inscription over the doorThe Church of the Laodiceans. I had not thought of that before; the door had been any door to me. And while it was wonderful that Jesus should stand there and knock, His action has all the effect of a surprise when it is seen that He is standing and knocking at the door of the Church of the Laodiceans, of which He had said, Because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. What was the matter with this Church? It was not a society of unbelievers or hypocrites. It was not accused of unfaithfulness or of heresy, or of any gross or open sin. It was not even a cold Church. Evidently it was not without some faith or love or obedience. Jesus said it was lukewarm obedience. What was the cause of this lukewarmness? Our answer is found in the position of Jesus. He is standing at the dooroutside. The Church bore His name, and called Him Lord and worshipped Him, but He was not in the midst of it. That is enough to account for its spiritual condition. Intensity of devotion is impossible while He remains at the door.1 [Note: J. Reid, in The Churchman, Feb. 1910, p. 133.]
We have represented in the text
I.The Waiting Christ.
II.The Closed Door.
III.The Door Opened.
IV.The Entrance and the Feast.
I
The Waiting Christ
Who knocks? The exalted Christ. What is the door? The closed heart of man. What does He desire? Entrance. What are His knockings and His voice? All providences, all monitions of His Spirit in mans spirit and conscience, the direct invitations of His written or spoken wordin brief, whatsoever sways our hearts to yield to Him and enthrone Him. This is the meaning, in the fewest possible words, of this great text.
1. This wonderful picture of Christ standing at the door like a weary traveller asking to be let in just reverses the common view which one is apt to take of the religious life. We commonly think of truth as hiding itself within its closed door and of ourselves as trying to get into it. We speak of finding Christ, or proving God, or getting religion, as if all these things were mysteries to be explored, hidden behind doors which must be unlocked; as if, in the relation between man and God, man did all the searching, and God was a hidden God. But the fundamental fact of the religious life is thisthat the power and love of God are seeking man; that before we love Him, He loves us; that before we know Him, He knows us; that antecedent to our recognition of Him must be our receptivity of Him. Coleridge said that he believed in the Bible because it found him. It is for the same reason that man believes in God. God finds him.
It is coming more and more to be seen that such religious progress as man has made is not so much his endeavour to find God, as Gods endeavour to find him; that it is more satisfactory to represent mans religious history as a continuous knocking on the part of God at the door of mans heart than as a continuous spontaneous search on mans part after God. To Christians, indeed, no other view is at all possible; for of course to represent the relation between man and God as search on mans part instead of revelation on Gods part would be to empty the idea of God of all meaning.
The sunlight travels far from its source in the deep of heavenso far that, though it can be expressed in figures, the imagination fails to take in the magnitude of the sum; but when the rays of light have travelled unimpeded so far, and come to the door of my eye, if I shut that doora thin film of fleshthe light is kept out, and I remain in darkness. Alas! the Light that travelled so far, and came so nearthe Light that sought entrance into my heart, and that I kept outwas the Light of life!1 [Note: W. Arnot, The Anchor of the Soul, 278.]
Behold, I knock! Methinks if on My face
Thou wouldst but rest thine eyes,
Wouldst mark the crown of thorns, the sharp nails trace,
Thou couldst not Me despise!
Thee have I yearned for with a love so strong,
Thee have I sought so earnestly and long;
My road led from a cross unto this place;
Behold, I knock!
2. But we have in the text a hint of the Divine long-suffering, which does not merely knock, and then, if it be not opened to it at once, go away and leave us to ourselves, to our own impenitence and hardness of heart. Christ rather, as one who knows that He has a message which it supremely concerns men that they should receive, and who will therefore take no denial, knocks, and, not being admitted, knocks again, with all the importunity of love. Behold! I stand at the door and knock. There is in the words a revelation of an infinite long-suffering and patience. The door has long been fastened; we have, like some lazy servant, thought that if we did not answer the knock, the Knocker would go away when He was weary. But we have miscalculated the elasticity and the unfailingness of that patient Christs love. Rejected, He abides; spurned, He returns.
There is a familiar picture by Holman Hunt that paints the idea of our text. There is shown a cottage neglected, falling into ruin. In front of the window tall thistles spring up, and long grass waves on the pathway, leading to the door overgrown with moss and rank poisonous weeds. In front of the fast-closed door with rusted hinges a tall and stately figure stands amid the night dews and the darkness with a face that tells of toil and long, weary waiting, and one hand uplifted to knock and another bearing a light that may perhaps flash through some of the chinks of the door. It is Christ, the Son of God, seeking to get into our sinful hearts.1 [Note: W.G. Elmslie, Memoir and Sermons, 86.]
3. Christ does not only knock; He also speaks; He makes His voice to be hearda more precious benefit still! It is true, indeed, that we cannot in our interpretation draw any strict line of distinction between Christ knocking and Christ speaking. Both represent His dealings of infinite love with souls for winning them to receive Him; yet at the same time, considering that in this natural world a knock may be anyones, and on any errand, while the voice accompanying that knock would at once designate who it was that stood without, and with what intention, we have a right, so far as we may venture to distinguish between the two, to see in the voice the more inward appeal, the closer dealing of Christ with the soul, speaking directly by His Spirit to the spirit of the man; in the knocking those more outward gracious dealings, of sorrow and joy, of sickness and health, and the like, which He sends and, sending, uses for the bringing of His elect, in one way or another, by smooth paths or by rough, to Himself. The voice very often will interpret and make intelligible the purpose of the knock.
Will anyone venture to say, This mysterious voice has never uttered itself to spiritual ear of mine? Is it indeed so? Have we then never had our times of gracious visitation? Assuredly we all have had them, and not seldom. We may indeed have missed them and their meaning altogether; but the times themselves not the less have been ourstimes of a great joy, and times of a great sorrow; times when our God has given to us so much, and times when He has taken away so much; times of weary sickness, and times of unlooked-for recovery; times with no ominous hour for long years knocking at our door with its tidings of mishap; or times when we have had sorrow upon sorrow; times when we have been made to enter on the miserable possession of our past sins; times when we have walked in the glorious liberty of the children of God; times when the world was sweet unto us, and when the world was bitter; times when we walked compassed with troops of friends, and times when lonely paths were appointed for our treading. Has not our God been speaking to us in all this joy and in all this sorrow? He can gently speak as well as loudly knock; and happy is the man who has ears to hear. In every gracious thought that visits us, in every yearning after better things, in every solemn resolution for the days to come, in every tender memory of days gone by, Christ is standing before our door, saying, It is I.
The boy Samuel, lying sleeping before the light in the inner sanctuary, heard the voice of God, and thought it was only the grey-bearded priest that spoke. We often make the same mistake, and confound the utterances of Christ Himself with the speech of men. Recognize who it is that pleads with you; and do not fancy that when Christ speaks it is Eli that is calling; but say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.
It will be as well, I think, to explain these locutions of God, and to describe what the soul feels when it receives them, in order that you may understand the matter; for ever since that time of which I am speaking, when our Lord granted me that grace, it has been an ordinary occurrence until now, as will appear by what I have yet to say.
The words are very distinctly formed; but by the bodily ear they are not heard. They are, however, much more clearly understood than they would be if they were heard by the ear. It is impossible not to understand them, whatever resistance we may offer. When we wish not to hear anything in this world, we can stop our ears, or give attention to something else: so that, even if we do hear, at least we can refuse to understand. In this locution of God addressed to the soul there is no escape, for in spite of ourselves we must listen; and the understanding must apply itself so thoroughly to the comprehension of that which God wills we should hear that it is nothing to the purpose whether we will it or not; for it is His will, who can do all things. We should understand that His will must be done; and He reveals Himself as our true Lord, having dominion over us. I know this by much experience.1 [Note: The Life of St. Teresa of Jesus (ed. 1911), 213.]
II
The Closed Door
1. The knock and the voice may alike remain unheard and unheeded. It is in the power of every man to close his ear to them; therefore the hypothetical form which this gracious promise takes: If any man hear my voice, and open the door. There is no irresistible grace here. It is the man himself who must open the door. Christ indeed knocks, claims admittance as to His own; so lifts up His voice that it may be heard, in one sense must be heard, by him; but He does not break open the door, or force an entrance by violence. There is a sense in which every man is lord of the house of his own heart; it is his fortress; he must open the gates of it; unless he does so, Christ cannot enter. And, as a necessary complement of this power to open, there belongs also to man the mournful prerogative and privilege of refusing to open; he may keep the door shut, even to the end. He may thus continue to the last blindly at strife with his own blessedness, a miserable conqueror who conquers to his own ever-lasting loss and defeat. There are times in our lives when we are not at home to the serious thoughts that come to visit us, to the higher life embodied in Christ that would enter in, when we dare to exercise towards God that tremendous power which all of us have, the power not to open the door even to Him, to disregard even His knocking.
I remember hearing some years ago of an incident which occurred near Inverness. A beautiful yacht had been sailing in the Moray Firth. The owners of ittwo young menlanded at Inverness, purposing to take a walking tour through the Highlands. But they lost their way, and darkness found them wandering aimlessly about in a very desolate spot. At last, about midnight, they fortunately came upon a little cottage, at the door of which they knocked long and loudly for admittance. But the inmates were all in bed, and curtly the young men were told to go elsewhere, and make no more disturbance there. Luckily, they found shelter in another house some distance away. But next morning the inhospitable people heard a rumour that filled them with chagrin, and gave them a lesson they would not be likely soon to forget. What do you think it was? Just this: that the two young men who knocked in vain at their door the previous night were Prince George (now our King) and his brother the late Duke of Clarencethe most illustrious visitors in the kingdom. You can fancy the shame the people must have felt thus unconsciously to have shown themselves so inhospitable to the noblest persons in all the land. But are we any better? Are we not, indeed, much worse, if we shut Jesus Christ, the greatest of all Kings, out of our hearts?1 [Note: W. Hay, Gods Looking-Glass, 91.]
The late Dr. William Arnot of Edinburgh relates a story that beautifully illustrates this text: I was visiting, said he, among my people of Edinburgh. I looked up at the high houses to see whether Betty Gordon, an aged saint of God, was at home. I knew she was in, for when she went away she always carefully pulled down the blind, and this day the blind was not drawn. I knew that she was poor, but she trusted God, and I was glad that somebody had given me some money that morning to give to the poor. I put aside Bettys rent for a month in my pocket and climbed up the winding stone stairs to her door. I knocked softly, but there was no answer. Then I knocked louder, but there was still no answer. At last I said, Betty forgot to pull down the blind, and she has gone out. What a pity! Then I went down the stairs. The next morning I went back and knocked at the door. After a little waiting, Betty came and opened it. Oh, she said, is it you, Mr. Arnot? I am so glad to see you! Come in! There were tears in her eyes and a look of care. I said, Betty, what are you crying for? Oh, she said, Mr. Arnot, I am so afraid of the landlord. He came yesterday, and I hadna the rent, and I didna open the door, and now I am afraid of him coming; for he is a hard man. Betty, I asked, what time did he come yesterday? He came between eleven and twelve oclock, she said. It was twenty-five minutes to twelve. Well, I said, it was not the landlord; it was I, and I brought to you this money to pay your rent. She looked at me, and said, Oh, was it you? Did you bring me that money to pay my rent, and I kept the door shut againt you, and I would-na let you in? And I heard you knocking, and I heard you ringing, and I said, That is the landlord; I wish he would go away. And it was my ain meenister. It was my ain Lord who had sent ye as His messenger, and I wouldna let ye in. 1 [Note: J.L. Brandt, Soul Saving, 185.]
2. Although it must be for Christ a sad thinga thing which cuts Him to the heartthat we should trust Him so little as not to care to admit Him, yet it is less for His own sake than for ours that He is vexed. Ours is the loss. He comes with blessings in both hands. This Prince of Love has help and healing for every part of us. It is our unwillingness to open up to Him, and nothing else, that checks the current of His benefactions, and reduces Him to stand, with hands still laden and half His kindly purpose unfulfilled, a suppliant Saviour. Yet He will do no more than knock and call. Though the urgency is on His side, He will not open. Though as crowned King He stands, with title to command and power to compel, yet He will not open. God will do no violence to mans reluctance; nor does it beseem One who draws near in grace ungraciously to force a passage. Nor in truth can the door to our hearts affections be broken through from without, only opened consentingly from within. Permission He must crave; He cannot, and He will not, enter undesired. A man is the only being that can open the door of his own heart for Christ to come in. The whole responsibility of accepting or rejecting Gods gracious Word, which comes to him all in good faith, lies with the man himself. He knows that at each time when his heart and conscience have been brought in contact with the offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, if he had liked he could have opened the door and welcomed the entrance of the Saviour. And he knows that nobody and nothing kept it fast except only himself. Ye will not come to me, said Christ, that ye might have life. Men, indeed, do pile up such mountains of rubbish against the door that it cannot be opened, but it was they that put the rubbish there; and they are responsible if the hinges are so rusty that they will not move, or the doorway is clogged that there is no room for it to open.
When Holman Hunt painted that wonderful picture of the thorn-crowned King outside the door knocking, he showed his picture to his dearest friend, in the studio before it was publicly exhibited. His friend looked at it, at the kingly figure of Christ, at the rough and rugged door, and at the clinging tendrils which had spread themselves over the door. Suddenly he said: Hunt, you have made a terrible mistake here. What mistake have I made? said the artist. Why, you have painted a door without a handle. That is not a mistake, replied Hunt. That door has no handle on the outside. It is inside.1 [Note: G. Campbell Morgan.]
But all night long that voice spake urgently,
Open to Me.
Still harping in mine ears:
Rise, let Me in.
Pleading with tears:
Open to Me, that I may come to thee.
While the dew dropped, while the dark hours were cold:
My Feet bleed, see My Face,
See My Hands bleed that bring thee grace,
My Heart doth bleed for thee,
Open to Me.
So till the break of day:
Then died away
That voice, in silence as of sorrow;
Then footsteps echoing like a sigh
Passed me by,
Lingering footsteps slow to pass.
On the morrow
I saw upon the grass
Each footprint marked in blood, and on my door
The mark of blood for evermore.2 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti, Poetical Works, 241.]
3. It is one of the commonplaces of our experience that we do not like people to force themselves on our acquaintance, to force their friendship on us; and any attempt to do that generally results in creating dislike to those who try to come into our hearts without knocking, who do not respect the privacy of our choice of friends, but walk straight in without announcing themselves or waiting till they are asked to come in. Now it makes the great truth of Gods search for us, Gods wonderful insistence in meeting us at every point of life, all the more solemn that it is part of the Divine humility, part of Gods respect for our freedom, a proof that He wants love and trust that are freely given, that He does not force Himself on our acquaintance, as it were. So we come to this, that to do nothing is to keep our Saviour outside; and that is the way in which most men that miss Him do miss Him. There are many who have sat in the inner chamber, and heard the gracious hand on the outer panel, and have kept their hands folded and their feet still, and done nothing. To do nothing is to do the most dreadful of things, for it is to keep the door shut in the face of Christ. No passionate antagonism is needed, no vehement rejection, no intellectual denial of His truth and His promises. If we want to ruin ourselves, we have simply to do nothing!
Why does Christ not come in? Is not this Divine Spirit omnipotent? Has He not power to enter where He will, to breathe where He chooses, to blow where He listeth? Why, then, does He stand without, knocking at the door of a frail human heart? Could He not break down that door in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and annihilate that opposing barrier which disputes His claim to universal empire? Yes, but in so doing He would annihilate also the man. What makes me a man is just my power to open the door. If I had no power to open or to forbear opening, I would not be responsible. He meant me to respond to Himself, to open on His knocking at the door. He could have no joy in breaking down the door, in taking the kingdom of my heart by violence; there would be no response in that, no answer of a heart, no acceptance of a will by His will. Therefore, He prefers to stand without till I open, to knock till I hear, to speak till I respond.1 [Note: G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, 144.]
My friend Mr. Collier, of Manchester, told me of an incident that occurred during one of his mission services at the Central Hall. Holman Hunts picture was on the screen. In front sat a working man and his little boy. A great hush was over the audience. Presently the little boy nudged the man and said, Dad, why dont they let Him in? The man was a little nonplussed, then after a moments silence said, I dont know, Jimmy. I expect they dont want Him to come in. Again a moments silence, and Jimmy said, Its not that. Everybody wants Him. After a pause he continued, I know why they dont let Him in. They live at the back of the house. The man who refuses to admit Jesus has some motive, something kept behind and out of sight. He is living at the back.1 [Note: G. Campbell Morgan.]
III
The Door Opened
1. Notice the simple conditions of the textIf any man will hear my voice and open the door. Christ does not say: If any man make himself moral; if any man will try and make himself better; if any man has deep sorrow; if any man has powerful faith. No, that is not it. This is what He says: If any man will hear my voice, and open the door. The condition of His entrance is simple trust in Him as the Saviour of the soul. That is opening the door, and if we do that, then, just as when we open the shutters, in comes the sunshine; just as when we lift the sluice in flows the crystal stream into the slimy, empty lock, so Christ will enter in.
2. The text is a metaphor, but the declaration, that if any man open the door Jesus Christ will come in to him, is not a metaphor; it is the very heart and centre of the gospel: I will come in to him, dwell in him, be really incorporated in his being. There is no more certain fact in the whole world than the actual dwelling of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who is in heaven, in the spirits of the people that love Him and trust Him. Into our emptiness He will come with His fulness; into our sinfulness He will come with His righteousness; into our death He will come with His triumphant and immortal life; and He being in us, we shall be full and pure and live for ever, and be blessed with the blessedness of Jesus.
The manner and the way, whereby Christs righteousness and obedience, death and sufferings without, become profitable unto us, and are made ours, is by receiving Him, and becoming one with Him in our hearts, embracing and entertaining that Holy Seed which, as it is embraced and entertained, becometh a Holy Birth in us, which in Scripture is called: Christ formed within; Christ within, the hope of glory (Gal 4:19; Col 1:27), by which the body of sin and death is done away, and we cleansed and washed and purged from our sins, not imaginarily but really; and we really and truly made righteous and holy and pure in the sight of God: and it is through the union betwixt Him and us (His righteous life and nature brought forth in us, and we made one with it, as the branches are with the vine), that we have a true title and right to what He hath done and suffered for us.
It is not the works of Christ wrought in us, nor the works which we work in His spirit and power, that we rest and rely upon as the ground and foundation of our justification; but it is Christ Himself, the Worker revealed in us, indwelling in us; His life and spirit covering us, that is the ground of our justification.1 [Note: Robert Barclay, Truth Cleared of Calumnies (Works, i. 164).]
IV
The Entrance and the Feast
1. I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. These words speak to us in lovely, sympathetic language of a close, familiar, happy communion between Christ and our poor selves, which shall make all life as a feast in company with Him. We remember who is the mouthpiece of Jesus Christ here. It is the disciple who knew most of what quietness of blessedness and serenity of adoring communion there were in leaning on Christs breast at supper, casting back his head on that loving bosom; looking into those deep, sad eyes, and asking questions which were sure of answer. And St. John, as he wrote down the words, I will sup with him, and he with me, perhaps remembered that Upper Room where, amidst all the bitter herbs, there was such strange joy and tranquillity. But whether he did or not, may we not take the picture as suggesting to us the possibilities of loving fellowship, of quiet repose, of absolute satisfaction of all desires and needs, which will be ours if we open the door of our hearts by faith and let Jesus Christ come in?
Let Thy Holy Spirit be pleased, not only to stand before the door and knock, but also to come in. If I do not open the door, it were too unreasonable to request such a miracle to come in when the doors were shut, as Thou didst to the apostles. Yet let me humbly beg of Thee, that Thou wouldst make the iron gate of my heart open of its own accord. Then let Thy Spirit be pleased to sup in my heart; I have given it an invitation, and I hope I shall give it room. But, O Thou that sendest the guest, send the meat also; and if I be so unmannerly as not to make the Holy Spirit welcome, O let Thy effectual grace make me to make it welcome.1 [Note: Thomas Fuller, Good Thoughts in Bad Times.]
Speechless Sorrow sat with me;
I was sighing wearily,
Lamp and fire were out: the rain
Wildly beat the window-pane.
In the dark we heard a knock,
And a hand was on the lock;
One in waiting spake to me,
Saying sweetly,
I am come to sup with thee!
All my room was dark and damp;
Sorrow, said I, trim the lamp;
Light the fire, and cheer thy face;
Set the guest-chair in its place.
And again I heard the knock;
In the dark I found the lock:
Enter! I have turned the key!
Enter, Stranger!
Who art come to sup with me.
Opening wide the door He came,
But I could not speak His name;
In the guest-chair took His place;
But I could not see His face!
When my cheerful fire was beaming,
When my little lamp was gleaming,
And the feast was spread for three,
Lo! my Master
Was the Guest that supped with me!2 [Note: Harriet M. Kimball.]
2. I will come in to him, and will sup with him suggests that our Lord not only confers a blessing but receives one; that He not only gives us satisfaction in His presence, but gets satisfaction out of our presence. It is one of the most beautiful thoughts presented to us in the Bible, that the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy. We often think of what God can do for us. Do we ever think of what we can do for God? We often talk about our trusting God. Have we a holy ambition to be such that it shall be possible for God to trust us? We think of our loving God. Do we ever think of His loving us? We think of Gods giving us pleasure. Do we ever think of our giving Him pleasure? And yet our blessed Lord indicates that if the door is opened to Him, and He comes in to a soul that has hitherto excluded Him, He is going to bring a blessing and to get a blessing; He is going to confer good and to receive it; He is going to impart joy, and His own Divine heart is going to get a thrill of joy from the obedience, and the confidence, and the communion of the willing soul.
Oh that we could take that simple view of things, as to feel that the one thing which lies before us is to please God! What gain is it to please the world, to please the great, nay, even to please those whom we love, compared with this? What gain is it to be applauded, admired, courted, followed, compared with this one aim of not being disobedient to a heavenly vision? What can this world offer comparable with that insight into spiritual things, that keen faith, that heavenly peace, that high sanctity, that everlasting righteousness, that hope of glory, which they have who in sincerity love and follow our Lord Jesus Christ?1 [Note: J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, viii. 32.]
3. Where Christ is welcomed as guest, He assumes the place of host. I will sup with him, and he with me. After the Resurrection, when the two disciples, moved to hospitality, implored the unknown Stranger to come in and partake of their humble fare, He yielded to their importunity and, when they were in the guest-chamber, took His place at the head of the table, and blessed the bread and gave it to them. In the beginning of His miracles, He manifested forth His glory in this, that, invited as a common guest to the rustic wedding, He provided the failing wine. And so, wherever a poor man opens his heart and says, Come in, and I will give Thee my best, Jesus Christ comes in, and gives the man His best, that the man may render it back to Him. He accepts the poorest from each, and He gives the richest to each.
With One so condescending and communicative, the blessed soul in whom Jesus dwells ventures to be open too. With happy boldness we begin to tell Him everything. We consult Him even in trifles. We lay great and little cares on Him. We ask His aid in every affair. Thus He shares in all of ours as we in His, and communion attains completion. When such an exchange of sweet and secret actings on one another becomes the habit of the inner life, then these two grow togetherthe soul and its Saviourinweaved into each other, till neither can be at any moment satisfied without the others presence, or is to be thought of as sundered or alone. This action and reaction, this varied play of friendship, this sense of common possession, this familiar commerce of giving and receivingwhat else is this but the joy of supping with Him and He with us?
All life to the positive mystic is full of God here and now. Dante found that In His will is our peace. His dying to self was not a blind negation: it was a living unto God, in whom the personality is strengthened, purified, consecrated and made conjunct with a life larger than, yet kindred to, its own. The I and the Thou are only lost as they are in love: lost to be enriched, surrendered to be ennobled: the soul comes back, laden with precious fruits, with new activities, with intellect, conscience, willnay, the whole being sanctified and enlarged.
The mystical books tell of the saint who knocked at the door of Paradise. Who is there? asked the Lord. It is I, answered the saint, but the gate did not open. Again the saint tremblingly drew near and knocked. Who is there? said the voice from within. It is Thou, replied the saint, grown wiser, and immediately the door opened. He had found the Paradise of the soul. And it is in the apprehension of the Not I that the I passes into a higher state of activity, where it is at once in tune with the infinite, and passes into a new power of life and service. We know that we have passed from death into life. Because He wills, and we will with Him in conscious choice, is the secret of positive mysticism.1 [Note: D. Butler, George Fox in Scotland, 108.]
4.The promise of the text is fulfilled immediately when the door of the heart is opened, but it shadows and prophesies a nobler fulfilment in the heavens. Here and now Christ and we may sit together, but the feast will be like the Passover, eaten with loins girt and staff in hand, the Red Sea and the wilderness waiting to be trodden. But there comes a more perfect form of the communion, when Christ at the last will bring His servants to His table in His Kingdom, and there their works shall follow them; and He and they shall sit together for ever, and for ever rejoice in the fatness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.
Come in, Thou Saviour-King, who art knocking at our very souls this day for leave to show us all Thy love, come in and traverse these unclean chambers of our being! Purge them by Thy blood. Enlighten their darkness. Fill their empty spaces with Thy riches. Make what is ours, Thine. See, we give it unto Theeinfirmity, error, sorrow: bear it with us! Make what is Thine, ours. See, we open ourselves wide for itpardon, strength, gladness: share Thy blessings with us! So shall we sup with Thee and Thou with us; till in this communion our spirits echo after their poor measure that ever-sounding song which circles round Thy heavenly banquet-hallWorthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing!1 [Note: J. O. Dykes.]
I love Thee, Lord, for Thou didst first love me,
And didst a home in this poor mansion seek.
I heard Thy knock, and straight unbarred my heart,
And listened wondering to Thine accents meek.
I long had lived unknowing of Thy love,
And selfishness directed all my will;
The name of God was but a name to me,
And earthly thoughts and aims enthralled me still.
Briers and thorns obstructed all approach,
And tangled weeds lay rotting at the door;
But Thou didst come, with bleeding hands and feet,
And ask admittance to my sin-stained floor.
I saw Thy love, I heard Thy pleading voice;
Thy words of grace enkindled high desire;
And, led by Thee, my Father I adored,
And on me fell the Holy Spirits fire.
I love Thee, Lord, but oh! how cold my love:
Abide Thou still within my trembling heart;
Lay Thou on me the purifying cross,
And let Thy life within my life have part.1 [Note: J. Drummond, Johannine Thoughts, 30.]
The Waiting Guest
Literature
Aitken (W. H. M. H.), Mission Sermons, iii. 68.
Arnot (W.), The Anchor of the Soul, 275.
Bain (J. A. K.), For Heart and Life, 41.
Bonar (H.), Light and Truth: The Revelation, 152.
Champness (T.), Plain Preaching for Plain People, 159.
Clark (H. W.), Meanings and Methods of the Spiritual Life, 94.
Dix (M.), Christ at the Door of the Heart, 1.
Dykes (J. O.), Plain Words on Great Themes, 101.
Elmslie (W. G.), Memoir and Sermons, 81.
Gregg (J.), Sermons Preached in Trinity Church, Dublin, ii. 106.
Hutchison (G.), Sermons, 222.
Hyde (T. D.), Sermon Pictures for Busy Preachers, ii. 320.
Ingram (A. F. W.), The Gospel in Action, 37.
Kelly (W.), Sermons, 75.
McFadyen (J. E.), Thoughts for Silent Hours, 201.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Epistles of John to Revelation, 302.
Maclean (J. K.), Dr. Pierson and his Message, 193.
Matheson (G.), Moments on the Mount, 144.
Monod (H.), in Foreign Protestant Pulpit, ii. 446.
Moore (E. W.), The Christ-Controlled Life, 174.
Mursell (W. A.), Sermons on Special Occasions, 253.
Peabody (F. G.), Mornings in the College Chapel, i. 107.
Ryle (J. C.), The Christian Race, 281.
Speirs (E. B.), A Present Advent, 113.
Trench (R. C.), Brief Thoughts and Expositions, 91.
Trench (R. C.), Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in Asia, 216.
Christian World Pulpit, x. 166 (J. S. Exell); xxxiv. 215 (G. MacDonald); lxiv. 420 (L. A. Johnson); lxvi. 371 (E. Rees); lxix. 387 (G. C. Morgan); lxx. 173 (S. M. Crothers); lxxvi. 365 (N. G. Phelps); lxxxi. 131 (A. H. McElwee); lxxxiv. 216 (C. Brown).
Churchman, New Ser., xxiv. 133 (J. Reid).
Free Church Year Book, 1908, p. 39 (P. T. Forsyth).
Preachers Magazine, xxi. 494 (J. Edwards); xxiv. 269 (G. W. Polkinghorne).
Twentieth Century Pastor, xxxiv. (1914) 19 (C. F. Aked).
Weekly Pulpit, ii. 3 (T. Phillips).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
I stand: Son 5:2-4, Luk 12:36
I will: Joh 14:21-23
will sup: Rev 19:9, Luk 12:37, Luk 17:8
Reciprocal: Gen 18:8 – stood Exo 25:29 – to cover Lev 3:11 – the food 2Sa 9:7 – eat bread 1Ki 2:7 – eat 1Ki 22:52 – in the way 2Ch 9:4 – the sitting Psa 95:7 – if ye Psa 101:6 – that they Son 1:12 – sitteth Son 2:4 – brought Son 2:8 – voice Son 5:5 – rose Eze 41:22 – This is Eze 44:3 – to eat Mat 8:11 – shall sit Mat 25:7 – General Mar 14:14 – where I Mar 16:19 – and sat Luk 14:16 – bade Luk 19:5 – for Luk 22:11 – Where is Joh 1:39 – abode Joh 2:2 – both Joh 4:40 – he abode Joh 6:21 – they willingly Joh 6:56 – dwelleth Joh 10:3 – the porter Joh 10:16 – they shall Joh 10:27 – sheep Joh 12:2 – they made Joh 14:23 – make Act 16:14 – whose Rom 2:4 – goodness Gal 2:20 – but Eph 2:6 – sit Eph 3:17 – Christ Col 1:27 – Christ Heb 3:7 – hear Jam 5:9 – the Judge Rev 13:8 – whose
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
FULL SURRENDER
Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me.
Rev 3:20
These are the words of the Risen Christ, the Resurrection Lord, Who still stands in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
Let us look at the passage as affording a striking picture of the characteristics, cause, and cure of an unsatisfactory Christian experience.
I. The Characteristics.
(a) Self-satisfaction.
(b) Self-deception.
(c) Lukewarmness.
II. The cause of this lamentable condition. It is not always noticed that it is found in the position Christ occupies with reference to the Church. He is external to it. Behold, I stand at the door and knock (Rev 3:20). But how, you ask, can Christ be external to a true Church? Surely a Church is not a Church at all if Christ be still waiting for admittance. We have only to turn to the Son 5:2 to see that a Church may be a true Church, and yet through drowsiness and slothfulness of spirit may keep her Master waiting at the door. For be it remembered the heart is a house of many chambers. There is the sunny chamber of the affections, and the throne chamber of the will. Are we quite sure that Christ has full possession of them all?
III. The Cure. How can Laodicea be changed? The answer is found in the next verse. Admit Christ, and He will do the rest. See, He stands and knocks. He is the Heavenly Merchantman crying His wares, Buy, buy, wholl buy? He has gold tried in the fire to make you richgold that will never tarnish, the very currency of heaven. He has white raiment that you may be clothedsnow-white vestures in which to array your soul; those defiled and filthy garments, He can make them pass away. He can cleanse the very thoughts of your heart and habits of your soul by the inspiration of His Holy Spirit. He has eye-salve, sacred, costly ointmentholy ointmentHoly Ghost ointment, wherewith to anoint your eyes that you may see. Will you not admit Him? He brings these treasures with Him. Will you buy?
Rev. E. W. Moore.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Rev 3:20. The specific subject matter for the various churches seems to have been completed. This verse represents the general attitude of the Lord toward all human beings. The door is that of the heart into which Jesus will enter if given a welcome. He will not force an entrance into a man’s life, for the only kind of service that will be pleasing to Him is a willing service. Hence the human heart must respond to the call of the Lord. Sup with him, and he with me. In old times it was one of the surest indications of hospitality for a man to eat with another. It also was a token of recognition and endorsement. (See Mar 2:16; 1Co 5:11.) This mutual supping between Christ and his host is a figure of speech to indicate the great intimacy that He offers to share with a human being if permitted to do so.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 20.
4. “Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me”–Rev 3:20.
Here is the note of deep affection in the metaphor of the common meal, which the ancients regarded as a manifestation of fraternal confidence. The old term sup here signifies spiritual communion, which the Lord offered to restore with the Laodiceans. In common parlance today the word fellowship is in vogue.
The remedial import of this high light in the Lord’s persuasions to Laodicea, is that reconciliation begins with Jesus Christ. He reverses here the order of Mat 7:7 — “Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Here the Lord himself knocks, asking that they open unto him. The people of old accompanied their knocking with addressing those inside, in order that they might know who was knocking, and thus whether to open. Jesus here announces himself as the One seeking admission; but he does not force entrance. Here the truth of free moral agency incidentally appears–man can receive or reject divine overtures.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 3:20. Behold, I stand at the door. The figure is not intended to convey to the church the thought of the Lords constant presence, but rather the assurance that He has taken up a new position, that He is at hand for judgment, and that He will immediately admit His people to the full enjoyment of His promised blessedness.
And knock. These words bring more forcibly home to us the Lords standing at the door and the nearness of His presence. No knocking in various ways, by providence, by conscience, by the ordinances of the Church, by the work of the Spirit, is referred to. The words simply show how near Jesus is, and how ready to bless (comp. Jas 5:9).
If any one hear my voice, etc. The picture is one of the heavenly reward, and both statements, I will sup with him, and he with me, are to be taken together. The first is not confined to the blessedness of earth, the second to the blessedness of heaven; but the two combined express the glory and joy of the future world, where the believer shall be for ever with his Lord.Different opinions have been entertained as to the foundation of the figure, a very common supposition being that it rests upon St. Johns own personal intercourse with Jesus related at Joh 1:39, and upon his Masters visits to him at the close of many a days labour during His earthly ministry. Such a reference is far-fetched; and it is much more natural to think of the words of the Song of Solomon in chap. Rev 5:2, and to behold here the festivity and joy of the time of the Lords marriage to His Church. Rev 19:9, where we read of the marriage supper of the Lamb, appears to confirm this. May we not also connect with the supper of this verse the thought of the last supper in the upper chamber at Jerusalem? We are dealing with the last of the Epistles, and the imagery may well be drawn from one of the closing acts of the Saviours life on earth. That Supper is not a mere memorial of death: it is a spiritual feast in which the life of the believer is most intimately bound up with that of his Lord, in which the union between them is the closest of all unions, that between the Bridegroom and the bride.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
These words are very expressive of the tender love and gracious condescension of Christ towards poor sinners; full of heavenly rhetoric, to win and gain their hearts unto himself.
Here observe, That man’s heart is Christ’s door, that this door of the heart is naturally shut, yea, locked and barred against Christ by ignorance and infidelity; that, notwithstanding this, Christ knocks graciously at the door of men’s hearts by his word, by his rod, by his Spirit: knocking is a vehement motion, a reiterated motion, we knock again and again; a gradual motion, first more gently, then loudly; and it is a finite motion, men will not always continue knocking, but if none answer, they turn their backs and go their way. All the knocks 0f Christ will cease and end, his Spirit will not always strive.
Farther observe, Christ doth not only knock, but stands knocking; it denotes the assiduity of Christ in waiting upon sinners, and his patience in knocking; standing is a waiting posture, it denotes an earnest desire and patient expectation.
Observe, Though Christ knocks at the door of man’s heart, he doth not break it open, he doth not offer violence to men’s wills, and save them against their wills; but the Holy Spirit inclines them to hear Christ’s voice, and enables them to open the door to him, causing them to approve of and consent to the offer and call of Christ.
Observe, That the door is no sooner open, but Christ comes in, and sups with the sinner: his coming in denotes our union to him; his supping, our communion with him, imperfect on earth, complete in heaven; there is a mutual, sweet, and intimate communion between Christ and believers here on earth; there will be a perfect, complete, and uninterrupted communion with him in heaven, when they shall ever be with the Lord.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Rev 3:20-21. Behold, I stand Or, I have stood, as literally signifies, namely, for a long time and I still stand, even at this instant; at the door Of mens hearts; and knock Waiting for admittance: if any man hear my voice With a due regard, namely, the voice of my providence, word, and Spirit; and open the door Willingly receive me, or welcome me with the affection due to such a friend and Saviour; I will come in to him And dwell in his heart by faith, (Eph 3:17,) how mean soever his circumstances in life may be, and how faulty soever his character may have been formerly; and will sup with him Refreshing him with the gifts and graces of my Spirit, and delighting myself in what I have given; and he with me As I will sup with him here, he shall sup with me in life everlasting hereafter. For to him that overcometh The various temptations with which he is assaulted, and patiently bears the trials which he is called to pass through; will I grant to sit down with me on my throne In unspeakable happiness and glory in the heavenly and eternal world; even as I also overcame The enemies which violently assaulted me in the days of my flesh; and am set down with my Father in his throne For all things that the Father hath are mine.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: {14} if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
(14) This must be taken after the manner of an allegory; Joh 14:23 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
4. Promise 3:20-22
In the context we note that God addressed well-known Rev 3:20 to Christians.
"The first thing which a person must get fixed in his mind when studying the message to the Church in Laodicea is the fact that the Spirit of God is addressing Christians. . . .
"Too many people deal with certain acute problems which arise in the Christian life in a rather loose manner. When, for example, sin manifests itself in the life of an individual claiming to be a Christian, one of the most common ways to deal with the matter is to begin questioning the person’s salvation. The thought usually centers around the premise that if a person is saved he will follow a certain course of action; and if he doesn’t follow this course of action, his conduct reveals that he was never really saved in the first place. Such a thought, however, is completely contrary to any Scriptural teaching on salvation by grace through faith. It is a corruption of the pure gospel of the grace of God, for works have been introduced into a realm where works cannot exist (Cf. Eph 2:8-9; Rom 11:6)." [Note: Chitwood, p. 105.]
It is the indifferent Christian that the Lord urged to open his heart’s door and to invite Jesus Christ in for intimate fellowship. [Note: Mounce, p. 129.] Another view is that Jesus was knocking on the eschatological door through which He will enter at His second coming. [Note: Thomas, Revelation 1-7, pp. 321-23.] When He enters, He takes whatever the individual may offer to Him, and He gives to that person out of His vast riches. The fellowship in view may anticipate participation in the marriage supper of the Lamb that will take place at the beginning of the Millennium (cf. Mat 26:29; Mar 14:25; Luk 22:30).
This verse expresses a truth taught elsewhere in Scripture, namely, that Jesus Christ desires intimate fellowship with all people (cf. Mar 10:45; Luk 19:10; Joh 10:10; 1Ti 4:10). Consequently I believe it is appropriate to use it in evangelism. [Note: See Tim Wiarda, "Revelation 3:20: Imagery and Literary Context," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 38:2 (June 1995):203-12.] It expresses God’s universal desire very graphically, by way of application, not interpretation.
The privilege of reigning with Christ will be the portion of the overcomer (cf. Mat 19:28; Luk 22:29-30; 1Co 6:2-3; 2Ti 2:12).
Scholars have explained the relationship between Christ’s throne and the Father’s throne in two ways. Many interpreters (covenant theologians and progressive dispensationalists) believe they are the same throne (cf. Rev 22:1). [Note: See Mounce, p. 130.] However this verse clearly distinguishes two thrones. [Note: E.g., Walvoord, The Revelation . . ., p. 99; Thomas, Revelation 1-7, pp. 325-26; The New Scofield Reference Bible, pp. 1355-56; et al.] The Scriptures consistently present the Father’s throne as in heaven and Christ’s Davidic throne as on earth and His eternal throne as in heaven. Here Christ’s Davidic (messianic, millennial) throne on earth and the Father’s eternal throne in heaven seem to be in view.
This promise is the climax of all those held out to overcomers in chapters 2 and 3. We can choose not to live like princes now because we can live like kings one day. Again the Lord invited all to listen and respond (Rev 3:22).
Many students of Revelation have compared the Laodicean church to the church as it exists in the world today, especially in the West. Christendom (all professing Christians) appears wealthy and powerful, but it lacks life and love for Jesus Christ. Sadly this is also true to a lesser degree in the body of Christ.
"There is an interesting, often overlooked parallel between the five warnings in the Book of Hebrews and the seven overcomers’ promises in the Book of Revelation. The warnings and the overcomers’ promises both have the same end in view. The last warning has to do with the birthright (Heb 12:14-17), and the last overcomers’ promise has to do with the throne (Rev 3:21). The successive thought in the warnings in the Book of Hebrews is that of Christians ultimately realizing their birthright-sons exercising the rights of primogeniture. The great burden of Hebrews is ’bringing many sons into glory’ (Heb 2:10). And the successive thought in the overcomers’ promises in the Book of Revelation is that of Christians ultimately ascending the throne-co-heirs, companions, exercising power with Christ. The great burden of Revelation, chapters two and three is that of placing equipped Christians upon the throne with Christ." [Note: Chitwood, pp. 138-39.]
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Synopsis of Revelation 2, 3 |
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Church and Passage |
Description of Jesus Christ |
Commendation |
Criticism |
Exhortation |
Promise to the Overcomers |
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Ephesus |
One who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands |
Their deeds, toil, perseverance (twice), intolerance of wicked men, testing of professing apostles, endurance, and hatred of the deeds of the Nicolaitans |
Left their first love |
Remember your former position, repent, and repeat your first deeds. |
Will receive permission to eat of the tree of life in God’s paradise |
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Smyrna |
The first and the last, who was dead and has come to life |
Endured tribulation, poverty, and blasphemy by professing Jews |
Do not fear temporary suffering and tribulation, but remain faithful. |
Will enjoy freedom from hurt by the second death |
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Pergamum |
One who has the sharp two-edged sword |
Held fast Christ’s name, and did not deny His faith |
Some held the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans. |
Repent or expect an attack from the sword of His mouth. |
Would receive hidden manna, a white stone, and a new secret name on the stone |
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Synopsis of Revelation 2, 3 (cont.) |
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Church and Passage |
Description of Jesus Christ |
Commendation |
Criticism |
Exhortation |
Promise to the Overcomers |
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Thyatira |
The Son of God who has flaming eyes and burnished bronze feet |
Their deeds, love, faith, service, perseverance and recent improvement in deeds |
Their toleration of seductive, immoral, idolatrous, and impenitent Jezebel |
The faithful should hold fast. |
Gets authority to rule over the nations with Christ, and the morning star |
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Sardis |
He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars |
Some had not soiled their garments. |
They were dead, had incomplete deeds, and were asleep. |
Wake up, strengthen what remains, remember what you heard and obey it, and repent. |
Clothed in white garments, name retained in the book of life, and name confessed before the Father and His angels |
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Philadelphia |
He who is holy, true, has David’s key, and permanently opens and shuts |
Their deeds, a little power, had kept His word, had not denied His name, and had persevered |
Hold fast what you have. |
Made a pillar in God’s temple that he will not leave; have the names of God, His city (the New Jerusalem), and Christ’s name written on him |
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Laodicea |
The Amen, the faithful and true witness, and the source of God’s creation |
Lukewarm, self-sufficient, wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked |
Buy from Christ refined gold, white garments, and eye salve. Repent. Open the door to Him. |
Will sit down on Christ’s throne with Him |
Each of the seven letters in chapters 2 and 3 is applicable, as are all the other New Testament epistles. They apply to the local congregation that originally received each one and to all local congregations and all individual Christians since then. [Note: Especially good books on chapters 2 and 3 are by Tatford; Hemer; William Landels, The Victor’s Sevenfold Reward: Being Discourses on the Promises of Our Lord to the Seven Churches; Marcus Leone, They Overcame: An Exposition of Revelation 1-3; G. Campbell Morgan, The Letters of Our Lord or First Century Messages to Twentieth Century Believers; Ramsay; Richard C. Trench, Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches; and Edwin M. Yamauchi, The Archaeology of the New Testament Cities in Western Asia Minor.]
"Collectively, the seven messages form an indispensable part of the Apocalypse. In them are the practical lessons to be applied in the light of coming events in God’s prophetic program. . . .
"These seven messages cannot be read apart from the rest of the Apocalypse, nor does the rest of the book mean anything without these seven. Chapters 2-3 explain why the rest of the book was written. The overall purpose is distinctly practical (cf. Rev 1:3)." [Note: Thomas, Revelation 1-7, p. 327.]
However these letters have also proved prophetic of the history of Christianity following their writing. Most Christians in the first century may not have seen this, but one can hardly deny it now. It has become increasingly obvious as church history has unfolded. Chapters 2 and 3 are therefore prophetic as are the rest of the chapters of Revelation. [Note: See M. J. Brunk, "The Seven Churches of Revelation Two and Three," Bibliotheca Sacra 126:503 (July-September 1969):240-46.] In saying this I am expressing the "historico-prophetical" interpretation of chapters 2 and 3. [Note: Smith, A Revelation . . ., pp. 61-62; Lange, p. 139; and many others held this view.] Different views are that these chapters are only prophetical of conditions in the future day of the Lord, or they are only historical and deal with first century situations exclusively. Further explanation of these views follows.
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Three Views of the Interpretation of Revelation 2-3 [Note: Adapted from Robert L. Thomas, "The Chronological Interpretation of Revelation 2-3," Bibliotheca Sacra 124:496 (October-December 1967):321-31.] |
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The Prophetical View |
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Statement: The seven churches addressed were not in existence in the first century but will come into being in the day of the Lord. [Note: Bullinger, pp. 66-70; and Charles H. Welch, This Prophecy, pp. 59-61.] |
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Arguments pro |
Responses |
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Rev 1:19 stresses the unity of the book. The whole book is a revelation of things yet future. |
This verse may indicate a two or three-fold division of the contents only some of which may be prophetical. Or chapters 2 and 3 are prophetic of the church age. |
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The connection of angels with these churches indicates that what is in view is Israel in the day of the Lord rather than the church. Elsewhere in Scripture, God associated angels with Israel (e.g., Dan 10:21). |
God also associated angels with churches in the New Testament (e.g., 1Co 11:10). Or these angels may be human messengers. |
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God did not call church leaders angels in the New Testament. |
John used this title in Revelation to emphasize the divine origin of these seven letters. |
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Tertullian (A.D. 145-220) and Epiphanius (ca. A.D. 367) wrote that churches did not exist in all the seven towns addressed when John wrote Revelation. |
These writers were combating unorthodox views of the Apocalypse in their writings. They were not denying the existence of churches in these towns then. |
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The Historical View |
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Statement: The seven churches addressed existed in the first century, and what characterized each of them has marked other local churches in various locations throughout church history. [Note: F. Godet, Studies in the New Testament, pp. 303-4; Trench, pp. 307-8; Robert L. Thomas, "The Chronological . . .," pp. 327-31; idem, Revelation 1-7, pp. 505-15; and Leon Morris, p. 57; et al.] |
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Arguments pro |
Responses |
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This is the way we interpret the other New Testament epistles. |
God did not identify the other New Testament epistles as prophetic as He did these (Rev 1:19). |
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The Book of Revelation does not specifically identify the messages to the seven churches as prophetic. |
That they are prophetic is clear from Rev 1:19 and the contents of chapters 2 and 3. Moreover history has shown they were prophetic. |
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The Historico-Prophetical View |
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Statement: The seven churches addressed were in existence in the first century, and what characterized each of them has marked other local churches in various locations throughout church history. However they also reveal the history of the church from the time John wrote to the Rapture in seven successive periods. [Note: Lange, p. 139; Arno C. Gaebelein, The Revelation, p. 33; Smith, A Revelation . . ., pp. 61-62; William Kelly, Lectures on the Revelation, p. 24; J. N. Darby, Notes on the Apocalypse, p. 11; Tatford, p. 106; F. W. Grant, The Prophetic History of the Church; Joseph A. Seiss, The Apocalypse, p. 64; C. I. Scofield, ed., Scofield Reference Bible (1917 ed.), pp.1331-32; H. A. Ironside, Lectures on the Revelation, pp. 35-36; Walvoord, The Revelation . . ., p. 52; and McGee, 5:900-26.] |
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Arguments pro |
Responses |
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There is a correspondence between seven successive periods of church history and these seven letters. |
The correspondence is arbitrary and contrived as is clear from the differences in the limits of each period as expounded by various advocates of this view. |
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God said the whole of Revelation is prophetic (Rev 1:19), and to exclude chapters 2 and 3 seems unwarranted. |
Rev 1:19 means that the things "hereafter" are prophetic, and those things begin in Rev 4:1. |
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The Rapture could not be imminent if chapters 2 and 3 reveal the history of the church from the first century to the twenty-first or beyond. |
Chapters 2 and 3 do not predict that the church would pass through these stages before the Rapture. It is only by looking back that we can see they were prophetic. |
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This pattern of church history rests on a selective reading of history. |
The correspondence is legitimate because there is adequate historical evidence to support this view. |
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These prophetic parallels hold true only for western Christianity. |
Western Christianity has been the major leading branch of the church throughout history. |
A general scheme of the periods of western civilization that correspond to the conditions described in each of the letters to the seven churches is as follows.
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The Prophetic History of the Church in Revelation 2, 3 |
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Rev 2:1-7 |
Ephesus |
Apostolic Era |
ca. A.D. 33-64 |
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Rev 2:8-11 |
Smyrna |
Period of Persecution |
ca. A.D. 64-313 |
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Rev 2:12-17 |
Pergamum |
Era of Official Patronage |
ca. A.D. 313-606 |
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Rev 2:18-29 |
Thyatira |
Middle Ages |
ca. A.D. 606-1520 |
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Rev 3:1-6 |
Sardis |
Protestant Reformation |
ca. A.D. 1520-1750 |
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Rev 3:7-13 |
Philadelphia |
Missionary Era |
ca. A.D. 1750-1900 |
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Rev 3:14-22 |
Laodicea |
Modern Period |
ca. A.D. 1900-???? |
"It is said that the seven churches of Revelation 1-3 picture the course of the age, and therefore early Christians could not have held to the doctrine under consideration [i.e., the doctrine of Christ’s imminent return]. While it is true that these churches bear a marked resemblance to the various periods of church history, and while granting that this is a legitimate application, it must not be forgotten that John was writing to seven existing, although representative, congregations. All these varying shades of Christian testimony, or of departure from, were present in John’s day throughout the early church. John saw no need for projecting the second coming into the far distant future, for he saw himself one of the chief witnesses to the soon coming of Christ, the closing words penned in the book of Revelation being ’Surely I come quickly [tachy, soon]. Even so, come, Lord Jesus’ (Rev 22:20)." [Note: Stanton, p. 116.]