"I stand at the Door and Knock"
Jesus stands at the door and knocks in our lives. Yet we are living in the church-era of Laodicea. At this time, many will be neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm, (Rev. 3:16). This, then, is the main characteristic of people’s religious attitude in our world and the ecclesias. We must see through God’s eyes and not according to our impressions of it. In his eyes, this ecclesia was neither cold nor hot, and He wishes that they would decide more firmly for Him. We must take very seriously what Jesus Christ writes to Laodicea, because it is intended for us in our generation. He says that those whom He loves, He will rebuke and chasten and therefore we must repent. We must repent of being cold or lukewarm, of being passive, of not getting up and giving everything in hotness of zeal for our Lord Jesus Christ. He says that He will rebuke and chasten us until we do this. We are His spiritual children and He wants to bring us to spiritual maturity. In order to do this, He will use trials in our lives in order to create a conscience, because only by having a conscience can we repent. Let us remember this, as we endure the trials which He brings to us in these last days.
Having said all this, Jesus Christ then tells the Laodiceans that He stands at the door and knocks, wishing they will open to Him (Rev. 3:20). So, His knocking on the door is Him bringing rebuke and chastening into our lives. Our opening the door to Him is like our repentance. So the purpose of all our trials is to change our hearts, to create conscience, and to prepare us for the return of Jesus. Therefore we shouldn’t be surprised that we have many trials, nor should it seem strange to us that we who live in the very last days will be especially tested, because Jesus is trying to prepare us to meet with Him, to be ready for Him.
Jesus says that He knocks on the door, and if anyone hears His voice, then He will enter. So the knock at the door is like His voice. And the knock at the door is like our trials and tribulations. This means that those trials are in reality, for us, the voice of Jesus. He is trying to talk with us through our trials. John 14:23 has a similar idea - that whoever keeps the word of Jesus, Jesus will come to him and dwell with him. This can be true at any time of life, but especially is it true in the last days before Jesus returns. Then, when we properly respond to His voice, He will come and return physically and live literally with us on the earth. There is another verse about this, in Song of Solomon 5:22 where the girl hears the voice of the beloved one knocking on the door and asking her to leave. So we too are asked to leave the world which is surrounding us.
Jesus says He will not only come in and live with us, but He will eat with us. What does this mean? It means that in this life, if we really are answering the call of His voice and responding to the trials, then He will eat with us at the breaking of bread. For these last days it could mean that if we properly understand and obey His voice, then He will enter back into this world and eat the Supper again with us in His Father’s Kingdom.
“But you, fellow Christians, are not in darkness that you should let that day take you by surprise as a thief would do. For you are all children of the light and children of the day. We have nothing to do with night and darkness. Let us not sleep then, like the others, but be awake and sober (1Thes 5:4-6).
Bro. Gennady (Poltava, Ukraine)
