Revelation Chapter 3
VERSE 20 continued “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me.”
As taken from (Revelation Notes Southern Wisconsin)
“We find the usage of the term “door” in the scriptures, as seeming to either be representing an opening to an opportunity, or else the close of an opportunity. Being able to see through an open door implies a further insight into God’s plans. That seems to be especially true of the door found in Rev 4:1, where we are showed many future things that are going to happen during God’s plan. (For further insight on this please see Part 50 of our Revelation study the, “Introduction to the Seven Seals”) It’s pointing to the new opportunity, which Christ has opened for us, which is the opportunity to enter into the high calling (Rev 5:5). Jesus tells us that he is the door, in John 10:1-9. In Luke 13:24-28, he also warns us that the door will be shut eventually, so we should diligently strive to enter in.
It should rightfully be understood here that the “door” to which our Lord speaks in Luke 13:25 IS NOT the door or opportunity of salvation, as though the opportunity for salvation was closing, but rather here he speaks of the door or opportunity to enter the heavenly calling. The door to “our common salvation” (Jude 3), that which was secured to us all through the ransom sacrifice of Christ, continues on, and will for the most part be operative in the next age when the sin-offering is applied toward the people (the world of mankind), when all mankind are brought to the knowledge of the truth and are given the opportunity to experience a full and complete resurrection to the original human perfection lost in father Adam, this upon faithful (heartfelt) compliance and obedience to the Kingdom of Christ.
If we use this definition of the door, we can then see what Jesus did for the sixth church, in that he was able through the Reformation truth to re-open to the church the understanding of the high calling, and the opportunity that this new and living way opened up. It had been lost by the nominal system because of their false doctrines of salvation that they were preaching at the time (Salvation by and through means of the church, the clergy and etc. rather than the Lord alone).
This Door is Different
The door that we find in the seventh church is slightly different than the other door in Chapter 4, in that we find this one is shut and we must open it in order to let the Lord in. He is now standing at the door (of our heart), and knocking. The tense here indicates a continual knocking. In other words, he wants us to open the door, and will keep knocking as long as there is any hope that we will open. That he is at the door shows that he is not still coming, but is already present (1874).
In the earlier churches he is always admonishing that he was going to come quickly, etc. but now in this church HE IS HERE. If we hear the Lambs voice and open the door (of our heart), during this time, he will sit down to feast with us (spiritual food).
The fact that the door is closed seems to teach us another lesson, in that the nominal church has been cut off from the exclusive right to the high calling in the seventh church. This is exactly the same thing as what happened to the Jews at the first advent, in that they only had a limited time to accept the Messiah or lose their exclusive favor (36 A.D.). The church, on this end of the age, had from 1878-1917 to accept the Lord's second presence and the new truth about God’s plan due at that time, but if they didn’t, they would be spewed out and replaced by others, an exact parallel to what happened at the first advent.
“Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.” (Rev 3:11)
This Door has to be Opened BY US
That is why the picture of the door changes here, in that it’s shut. The opportunity to run for the high calling had been opened wide to the sixth church, but now in the seventh church it was going to take some effort on our part to open the door and let the Lord in (The professing or nominal church of our day having clouded and lost the way through their false doctrines and teachings, Compare Luke 11:52). We must accept the Lord and open the door of our hearts to him, and let him in. But we have to hear his voice and know that what we are hearing is the truth before we can open to him.
We need to be like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet. When he knocks, we need to open the door for him and he will indeed sit down and wait on us.
"Be dressed in readiness, and {keep} your lamps lit. Be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open {the door} to him when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master will find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself {to serve} and have them recline {at the table} and will come up and wait on them. Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, and finds {them} so, blessed are those {slaves.}” (Luke 12:35-38 NAU)
The word “blessed” tips us off that this church began in 1874, because Daniel defines when the blessed time was to be.
“Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.” (Dan 12:12)
We continue with this in our next post.
