Bible Study - Revelation 1-3 Part 15

Last week, we heard words of “reproof and discipline” from Jesus to the church at Laodicea. He speaks this way because He loves the people there and wants them to stop being “lukewarm” believers and return to Him as “repentant” and “zealous” believers. That is His wish for us all.

Jesus follows up with a famous, often quoted portion of God’s Word, 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 eat with him, and He with me.” This is a passage often used by CRU (Campus Crusade) and many other churches and groups to call people to make a decision for Christ. This passage is often used with a picture of Jesus outside, knocking on a door that has no doorknob on the outside. It can only be opened from the inside, when a person makes a choice, as an act of his own will, to follow Jesus, as the true beginning of his life as a Christian. In other words, we must make the first move toward Christ, and some would say we cannot be saved without being able to identify our “moment of decision” and opening the door for Christ.

Using this passage this way takes this passage totally out of its context and creates other problems in the perspective of the Bible, though. First of all, Jesus is writing this letter to a church, to a group of believers in Laodicea, some of whom had come to faith many years before. Certainly, some had become weaker in faith, over time, and needed to repent and be renewed. Jesus is not talking about initial faith in Him, though.

Secondly, the Scriptures say that we cannot decide to become a Christian by our own power and will. I often refer to Ephesians 2:1-3, but it is worth looking at again and again. Paul begins by reminding us that we were “dead in our trespasses and sins” because of our sinful nature. We “all once lived that way in the passions of our flesh” and were “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” And how much can a dead person do, on his or her own? Absolutely nothing. We cannot open the door to Jesus on our own.

Then, Paul says, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5). Paul goes on to define that grace as His undeserved love and favor for us, His gift to us. “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” And even faith “is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” Our good works follow, but they are enabled by our Lord and are only a thankful response to His saving work in Christ.

Think also about another passage, John 1:13, often linked with Rev. 3:20. “To all who did receive Christ, who believed in His name, God gave the right to become children of God.” Some would say that we must first receive Jesus and believe in Him, on our own, and then God will follow up with making us His children, etc. However, the very next verse, John 1:14 says, “…children of God, who were born, not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” We did not give birth to ourselves physically or spiritually but by God’s miracle and blessings. Jesus says, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” It is by the Holy Spirit, working through the water of baptism and the Word of God that we are born again (John 3:3-5, 8 and 1 Peter 1:3, 23, also). It is not by our flesh and will.

Remember the story of Lydia, too, in Acts 16:14-15. She did not first open her heart. “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” Soon she was baptized, and her household, as well, and a church was begun in her house. See Paul writing, in 1 Thessalonians 1:3-5, and speaking of the faith, love, and hope, of the people of this church. He also adds, though, “For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our Gospel came to you, not only in Word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” God was at work, in all that happened. Listen also to Philippians 2:12-13. Paul says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” That makes it sound as if it is our work and effort, but then Paul adds, “For it is God Who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” It is His Word and will at work, above all.

A better way to look at Revelation 3:20, then, is to see it in light of Luke 12:35-40. Jesus is encouraging His believing people to be ready for His return on the last day, by continuing faith in Him (12:40). We do not know when He is coming, so we need to be spiritually awake (12:38-39). When the Master comes home from a wedding feast and knocks on the door, we can then “open the door to Him at once” (12:35-36). Surprisingly, then, Jesus says that when He returns, He will dress Himself for service and have His people recline at table, and He will come and serve them” (12:37-38). Twice Jesus says they will be blessed by Him if they wait for Him in faith and trust.

That is just what Jesus promises in Revelation 3:20. When He returns for His people, waiting in faith in Him, on the last day, and they hear His voice and eagerly open the door, He will come in to them and he will eat with them and they with Him. It is part of the continuing joy from that time forward with the Lord Jesus in everlasting life.

In Revelation 3:21, Jesus again speaks of the ones who conquer (and as we have heard, we conquer only through Christ and His power and final victory over sin and Satan and death, described near the end of Revelations). Jesus even promises that believers will, in a certain sense, reign with Christ and be blessed by His victory for us. (See Revelation 3:21, Matthew 19:28-29, and 2 Timothy 2:12, for example.)

I suspect that when we reach heaven, whether it is at the moment when we die or when Christ returns, if we are still living then, we will not care just what our place will be. We will just be amazed to be in the perfection of heaven and the presence of our Lord Jesus and all His blessings, though we deserve none of them. We will just sing our praises and thanksgivings to our Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with great joy. May the Lord give us His grace and strength to stay firmly in Christ all our days through His Word and Sacraments. May our confidence be not in ourselves and our decisions, but in Christ and His faithfulness to and forgiveness for us. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:21-22).