WHO WILL ANSWER

Revelation 3 vs. 20 says: “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends".

There is a famous painting depicting Jesus standing before a door with His hand raised simply knocking. I am sure you have all seen it at some time.

You are also likely to know that the picture is not significant because of the character of Jesus in it, or because of the artist that painted it. No, it is the door that is the significant thing in the picture. From the outside there is no handle and therefore Jesus is unable to open it.

And when I hear people talk about that picture, or even about the verse at the top of this post, that inspired the picture, I hear them talk about Jesus knocking on the door, the heart, of one who does not know Him and then use it to talk about Jesus coming into someones life for the first time, when that person gives their lives over to the loving Father and becomes a Christian.

Well that is all well and good and the "picture" as it is is fine. We have a loving God and He will not force Himself onto anyone and therefore it is the individual that must open "the door" and allow Jesus to "come in" rather than Jesus opening a door and stepping "in".

However this particular section of the book of Revelation was written to the church at Laodicea. So this was not written to those "outside" of the family of God, rather I would say that it is directed towards those who are already in that "family", who are already Christians and part of His church. The verses before verse twenty have some hard things to say. Paraphrased they talk about a luke warm, tepid, church just content to chug along  doing their own thing and not focusing on what God had called them to do. Content to invest in the riches of the world around them rather than in the riches of the Kingdom of God.

So when verse 20 comes along Jesus is speaking to people who already "know" him. He says He wants to do what friends do, invest time in getting to know us and sharing his time with us. The passage talks about Him sharing a meal with the church.

To often we keep God locked away in a small box somewhere, and that "box" we have closed shut and only you and I can open it. We need to remove the walls we have built up between ourselves and Daddy God and spend some time really getting to know Him like real friends would want to do. We should be throwing that "door" wide open and welcome Him in with open arms, and embrace all that He has in store for us.

Verse 22 at the end of that section emphasises even more that this passage was to those in the church rather than those outside when it says: "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches".

I have learnt, and I am still having to learn, to remove those barriers I have, not enough time, too busy "doing" things for the church, family commitments (although extremely important), and just other stuff we all put in the way. I have "opened the door" because I want to get to know Him like I want to get to know my close friends. I want to be intimate with Him so I know what he is going to do before he even does it, isn't that just how friends are. I think so.

So I ask at the top in the title "Who Will Answer"?

I will.

Will you??

Blessings