OPEN THE DOOR. Our King is knocking!

Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

The scripture above is one said by our Master to one of the churches of Rev. 2 and 3 – Laodicea.  Many believe that church in particular depicts many of the end-time believers. Could Yeshua (Jesus) be trying to come into your life?  Is He possibly knocking at your door?  For that matter He IS the Door to salvation (John 10:9).  Why would a believer not open to our King? Why would we not open the door to our Master?  Is it possible you and I aren’t responding?  Read the rest of this blog to read some possible reasons why we may already be missing His knocking on His door.  We must hear His voice and we must be sure to open the door!

•    We look out the door “peephole” or through a side window, and don’t recognize the One knocking. 

If Jesus (Yeshua) were truly to literally knock on your literal door, would we recognize Him?  I assure you, He doesn’t look today anything like the artists’ paintings – people who never saw him.  He certainly did not have long hair.  But more importantly, I’m thinking of Matthew 25:31-40, where Yeshua says, “when you did these things to the least of these my brethren, you did them unto Me.”

My point is—Yeshua comes to us in many different ways. Anyone with His Spirit is considered a member or part of His “body” (Romans 12:4-5).  When we respond to the needs and prayer requests of His body – the “brethren” – we are responding to HIM.  How many times could He be calling for us, but doing so through one of His brothers and sisters – the called-out ones?

Hear HIS voice, hear his knocking, even if that voice is the voice of a church brother or sister you know very well.  In a way, Yeshua could be considering our response to that brother or sister as the way we are responding to our Savior himself.  Let’s learn to “see Yeshua” living through His Spirit in otherwise ordinary men and women.

•    If we’re spiritually naked, we may be reluctant to open the door.  
Perhaps you’ve had the experience of just coming out of your shower or bath when the doorbell rings.  Most of us would be very uncomfortable opening the door to someone knocking if we’re caught naked. Apply this now spiritually.  Maybe we are beginning to clean up, have taken off our clothes (our own righteousness) and are just beginning to put on the garments of His righteousness, which He offers us. So many scriptures tell us in essence to “be clothed, cover yourself with, and put on, Christ” (Rom. 13:14).  HE is our covering (Ephesians 4:24), HE is our righteousness when we accept the gift of God, His righteousness (Romans 5:15-18).  We are to guard our garments, lest we be caught naked (not covered by Him and His righteousness), lest when He come and knock, we’re not ready to open to Him. Also see Revelation 16:15.  We have to “watch our garments” lest we be found to be spiritually naked.

So the antidote:  put on Christ. Ask for HIS righteousness, which is offered as a free gift to us by faith (Romans 5:17; 1 Cor. 1:30-31; 2 Cor. 5:21).  Of course if Christ lives in us, He will live as He did before: obediently.  We can’t say we belong to Him and not walk as He walked (1 John 2:3-6). But it should be HIM walking in us, working in us. HE is the Vine and we are the branches. When we abide in the Vine, we bear much fruit (John 15:4-5). We certainly can’t by ourselves. I’m mixing metaphors like crazy, but just trying to point out that HE is our righteousness.  Without Him, we’re naked. Many believers apparently are naked and don’t see it (Rev. 3:17). Father is not into having His children be spiritual nudists!

•    We don’t, or can’t, HEAR His voice or His knocking because there is either a lot of noise or because we’re sound asleep spiritually.

If there’s a lot of “noise” in our lives, we won’t hear His knock.  “Noise” can include anything that distracts us:  non-stop TV blaring, for example. So many of us believers spend hours a day or each week on social media – Facebook, Twitter, email, web surfing, internet games, texting – that we simply have put spiritual matters to the sidelines.

Children of God, this should not be.  My brother calls these things “weapons of mass distraction”.  They can be useful when used in moderation.  Let’s not use social media, Facebook and texting so much we have no time left for our Master and Savior.  Remember we are to “seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” (Matthew 6:33). Our Father and our Savior should never be relegated to whatever time we might have left! Seeking God should be first place in our lives. 

•    We’re ASLEEP spiritually.  
If we’re asleep, far away from the Door, we probably won’t hear the knock.  We’re admonished repeatedly to awake from our spiritual sleep – Rom. 13:11; 1 Thess 5:6-7, 10.  Someone asleep is not aware to the urgency of the times.  We’re in dire times and it’s high time we children of God wake up and be zealous again.

•    We’re not HOME!  
Someone not home certainly won’t hear any knocks on their door.  If we’re “not home”, I mean we’re outside the residence of the King.  We’re at places other than “at home” with our Maker. Are you usually “home” with God?

•    Working too hard on our employment or hobbies. 
Once again, God and His word get relegated to 2nd or 3rd place in our lives. In Matthew 22, in the parable of the wedding supper, those first invited ended up not being at the King’s wedding for His Son because they had other commitments, other “to-do” items to cross off their lists.

I’m sure you could think of many more reasons why someone wouldn’t answer the knocking at your door.  Apply these and other reasons spiritually, let’s move closer to the Door of our salvation – Yeshua/Jesus – open it gladly and enjoy the dinner with Him that He wants to share with us.  

[Please let others know about these blogs and sermons if you’re finding them helpful. Thank you. ]