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)
A Feast of New Truths
If we allow the Lord to come in to sit down with us, he is able to feed us with both the old established truth of the early church, as well as the new harvest truths, which were then due.
“But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets”. (Rev 10:7 NAU)
If we close our hearts to him, we will be left outside with the others that are to be spewed out.
Understand this “closing of our hearts” IS NOT our refusing to accept him as our Lord and Savior, but refusing or closing our hearts to the truth, of his presence.
A major part of the test was and is, are we able to accept the new understanding that was due at that time, or will we reject it for various reasons, and thus be rejected ourselves, just as what happened to the Jews.
“And Jesus said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old." (Matt 13:52 NAU)
Don’t be afraid of the “new” it is the nominal church who has instilled this fear, insisting that anything new is just a deception and lie of the Adversary meant to lead away. The problem is that the nominal or professing church has long since departed from the truth and has not only lost the ability to accept the truths now due or coming to light (“things new”), but likewise the ability to accept those things (“old”) which have been lost (distorted and confused) over time through the great falling away.
A Voice like a Trumpet
In a sense, the voice here can be thought of as a trumpet. In Rev 10:7, we find that the Seventh Messenger was to have a voice and a trumpet that he was to sound.
“But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” (Rev 10:7 KJV)
We can see from all this, that the voice of the Lord, which was relayed through the seventh message, was a very important message to the seventh church, and we are to pay particular attention to it.
The word “voice” is Strong's # 5456, which is similar to Strong’s # 5316 through the idea of disclosure, a tone, by implication an address, saying or language. In other words, this voice was going to disclose truth to us. This is the same word “voice” found in most other places in Revelation, and is the same word in Rev 10:7.
In John 10:16, Jesus tells us that only his sheep shall hear his voice, and we again see this as A TEST in that the church must follow the Lord and his voice no matter where he goes (Rev 14:4).
That Jesus is able to come in the door to eat with us is only true IF we accept the truth of his presence, and allow him into our hearts. As in the parable of the wedding feast, if anyone rejected his presence and refused to enter into the feast he would be replaced by others who were willing to do what was needed, Math 22:2-14, Luke 14:16-24.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding; and they were not willing to come… But they made light of it and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his business.” (Matt 22:2, 3, 5)
And of such it is written:
“Knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” (2 Pet 3: 2, 3)
“For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also (in a similar fashion) will the coming (Parousia: presence) of the Son of Man be (unbeknownst to them, because they were too busy with their worldly affairs and refused to listen).” Matt 24:38, 39
Keep On the Wedding Garment
We must be careful not to do anything to offend him, such as take off the wedding garment, since as we remember that one was cast out. The one that took off the wedding garment was implying that he didn't need the robe that the master of the feast provided. Remember that we cannot claim any righteousness of our own, but we need the covering of our Lord. Just because we know and understand many great truths, that can't justify us, only the robe of righteousness given by our Lord can do that. This is the same parable mentioned above in respect to the guests not coming when invited, and having to be replaced from the highways and byways. This is the wedding garment without which we will lose out (on the heavenly calling).”
We will take a look at this verse from The Keys of Revelation in our next post.
