OPEN THE DOOR OF YOUR HEART

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” – Revelation 3:20

What a paradox: He Who is the Door into salvation says here that He stands at the doors of our hearts and lives, knocking to gain our attention, to secure our response and to bless us with His nourishing presence!

This scripture is perhaps aptly illustrated by Holman Hunt’s famous picture of Christ as the Light of the World, hanging in Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London. Here the artist depicted Jesus wearing a crown of thorns and standing outside a door which represents the human heart. Concerning this painting, Phillips writes: “When it was first displayed, critics came to comment on the work. One of them turned to the painter and said, ‘Mr, Hunt, you have painted a masterpiece, but you have made one very serious mistake. You have painted a door without a handle.’ ‘There is no mistake,’ replied the artist. ‘The handle is on the inside.’” (Exploring Revelation, p.93).

The Lord Jesus Christ is not a burglar, thief, or robber. He never forces Himself upon an unwilling heart. The ‘handle is on the inside’ for candidates of His grace and mercy to open the doors of their heart and lives to the Lord of all creation. There is neither force nor compulsion behind His sure knock and gentle voice: if any man hears my voice, and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me!

Strangely, this word of hope was part of the ending portion of the message sent to the church at Laodicea, which among the seven churches received about the most severe rebuke from the Lord. Hidden within His judgement, the Lord offered counsel to the lukewarm, wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked Laodiceans: to receive the gold of eternal truth or true faith, that they might be rich, the white raiment of righteousness that they might be clothed and eye salve of spiritual enlightenment. His loving Heart was resident even in His rebuke: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten… (Rev.3:18-19; Heb.12:5-8). It is on this platform of the call to repentance, that the Lord extends the invitation for men to open their hearts unto Him!

According to J. Vernon McGee: “His invitation is to the evening meal, the last call for dinner. It is an invitation to come to Him before the night of the Great Tribulation.” (Reveling Through Revelation, p.36). I believe this invitation is re-sounding to the current ‘Laodicean’ generations of humanity, before the age of grace winds up. O, that the billions of human beings on the face of the earth would heed His gentle knock, hear His loving Voice, and open the doors of their hearts and lives in response to this divine invitation!