The King Knocks

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me." Revelation 3:20

Have you ever had a door slammed in your face? Often it happens when two people are having an argument and one person no longer wants to listens to the other person's opinion. Sometimes the phrase, "he had the door slammed in his face" is used metaphorically to speak of a person in need of support getting rudely and abruptly turned down. Whether physically or metaphorically, getting a door slammed in your face doesn't feel good. In Revelation 3:20, King Jesus portrays Himself as standing before and knocking on the door of our hearts. Often this passage is used to speak to unbelievers as an invitation to receive Christ as Lord and Savior. However, in context, Jesus is speaking to a church made up of believers (Rev. 3:22). And what Jesus is offering from behind a shut door is the all satisfying joy and peace of close communion with Him.

The question is, what is Jesus doing standing outside the door of a Christian's heart? Shouldn't close communion and fellowship already be the experience of every believer? It should be, but the reality is that for many it's not. Jesus has been shut out of their lives. We may not have rudely and abruptly slammed the door in His face, but our actions and priorities may be saying, “I don't have time to listen to you. I have more important things in my life to attend to.” Consequently, many professing Christians today have a superficial faith that is making very little difference in their lives and in the lives of the lost world around them.

Where is Jesus in your life? Is the door of your heart open to Him or is He shut out of your life? Are your taking time to commune with Him with an open Bible, to listen to His voice and to respond to Him in worship, prayer and obedience? Jesus knocks not because He needs us, but because we need Him. He knocks because He loves us and knows that apart from Him we will live empty and superficial lives. How gracious is the King’s knock! He knocks by the dealings of his providence, the warnings and teaching of His word, and the influences of His Spirit.

As Martin Lloyd Jones wisely exhorted believers, “Always respond to any impulse to pray.” Jesus is knocking. And the lover of our souls promises, “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” “What a fellowship, what a joy divine!”

May we never turn a deaf ear to the voice of Jesus and his knock on the door of our hearts.

Blessings,
Pastor Marco