By: Gen. Jim — 2/25/24
We’ve all seen the picture of Jesus standing outside a door knocking, which illustrated He was knocking on the door of one’s heart: “Behold, I stand at the door & knock. If anyone hears my voice & opens the door, I will come in to him & dine with him, & he with me.” -Rev. 3:20, NKJV.
In Song of Solomon, we find this: “I sleep, but my heart is awake; It is the voice of my beloved! He knocks, saying, ‘Open for Me, my sister, my love (lit., “my companion, friend”), my dove…” Song of Solomon 5:2.
Knocking on one’s door can mean: God/Jesus wants to dine with His people; God/Jesus wants to come into the sinner’s heart & dine.
In the case of Revelations 3:20 the Lord was dealing with the Laodiceans, who had become “lukewarm” (3:16) in their walk with God, therefore, He once again knocks at the door of their hearts. They should repent immediately. The tableau (i.e. dramatic scene) is largely, if not entirely, eschatological: the time for the consummation of this age is at hand, Christ in His second advent is about to make His appearance, hence, He is already knocking at the door. At least this is the way many Bible scholars interpret it. (see Mk. 13:29). If one counts the church at Laodicea as the last church, Ephesus being the first, we can see the eschatological point of view rather than a present/personal invination to salvation – which certainly can be viewed here.
In the “Eschatological” view, the anticipation of a banquet which the Messiah & the faithful will enjoy together is frequently found in both messianic/apocalyptic expectations. (see Isa. 65:13; Shabbath 153a; see also II Baruch 29:1-8 & 1 Enoch 62:14).
Other interpreters often find a non-eschatological & mystical significance in Rev. 3:20 – “if any man hear My voice, and open the door (heart),” they say involves initiative as well as receptiveness on the part of individual believers here & now.
It should be noted that there are many saying among the ancient rabbins like Rev. 3:20: Shis 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, & I will open to you doors through which calves & horned cattle may pass.”
In Sohar Levil, fol.8, col.32, it is said: “If a man conceal his sin, & 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, & mercy prevails over wrath; & when he laments, although all the doors were shut, yet they shall be opened to him, & his prayer shall be heard.”
So, my dear Christians, Christ stands at the door – waits long for His people to repent of their sins, their lukewarm (i.e. pukewarm) condition. He waits at the unsaved hearts to open. God uses whatever means possible to get the sinners to REPENT. God is waiting to heal hearts, backslidings, cold heartedness.
GATES
I want to take us to Ps. 24:7-10 now: “Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the king of glory may come in. who is the King of glory? The LORD, strong & mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! Lift up your heads, O gates! and be lifted up, O ancient doors! that the Kind of glory may come in! Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory.” -RSV.
Hebrew scholars tell us that a procession moves on & halts at the gates of the temple (“O ye gates”)” the song alternates antiphonally between the gates personified & the throng before them. Voices behind the gates make, the responses for them. “Be lifted up!”: They are too low to receive the “high & exalted One” who is about to pass through them. It should be noted that among the Romans the greater the “victor”, the higher was the TRIUMPHAL arch. “That the King of glory may come in”: It is also to be noted that the Lord is here described as a King – a glorious King… strong & mighty!… mighty in battle! Because His Kingship is based on His work in creation, which in turn began by His VICTORY over the dragons of chaos: see Ps. 74:12-17 in which the NKJV has “sea serpents,” aka “sea monsters” (v.13); v.14 mentions “Leviathan”.
“O ancient doors”: such an epithet implies that the Jewish temple & its gates have stood unharmed for a LONG period of time. “The LORD of hosts” (i.e. armies) is the magic word, the “open sesame” at which the gates swing open… open for the ark or some other sacred object as well as the King Himself.
In ancient times fortified towns/cities had walls with strong doors/gates. We can look at this in the fig./lit/sense: doors/gates keeps both evil in & outside. The gates of entrenched evil in society, the gates of pain & death & secrets; but above all, scholars tell us, the gates of the human heart BARRED against God.
Gates/doors keep enemies out & also evil in. The gospel uses the figure of speech in both fig./lit/ sense In Rev. 3:20 the Lord of Glory, King of Glory stands without, knocking, waiting for a response. Do we keep our evil/sin in… behind the door or do we open up & let Him come into our hearts? Paul writes about the “inner man”, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted & grounded in love…” –Eph. 3:16,17, NKJV.
Both Psalm 24:7-10 & Rev. 3:20 holds in Christian devotion, & the lofty spiritual significance which its images have come to bear.