Jesus said
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)
Revelation (3:14-20) “And, unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:…
Jesus is speaking to a church. They know Him. They decided things were so good for them they didn’t need Him.
If there is one thing I understand about studying the Bible it would be I’m not a Biblical Scholar and others know I’m not as well. . Yet, Jesus gave us all such love and understanding making it easy for anyone that has a desire to know Him to be able to read His Word, the Bible, and get to know Him.
As we read about Jesus and hear about him through scholars, Bible footnotes, teachers and share groups we might find ourselves singing, 🎶“I keep falling in love with him, over and over and He gets sweeter and sweeter as the days go by. 🎶 (Sing along link below)
“For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known”. (NKJV 1 Corinthians 13:12.)
We understand we’re not all “scholars” or experts of sort. And, human understanding of life and God is unclear right now. It’s like looking at a reflection in an old, maybe damaged mirror, but the time will come; NLT says it like this:
“Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
Knock Knock! Whose there? Open the door and Jesus will come in!
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“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock”…
From the photo, it looks like Ricky Craddock has created a beautiful entrance for us to enter into, gaze at and reflect upon the beauty of Jesus. As I look at it, it seems filled with symbols that encourage us to “get to know Him” as Sara writes.
The iris in the artwork reminded me of Sara’s retreat book, “Dressing for His Glory”, where, in the chapter, “Clouds of Rain Bring Showers of Blessing:, we learned that the Iris in Greek means Rainbow; and Rainbow represents a “Sign of God’s Covenant – Genesis 9:12-17”. So, when Sara writes this scripture above, “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)”, we are assured that Jesus has made an agreement with all that will open the door to Him.
The beautiful, lush vine which surrounds the stain glass window like a rainbow, also speaks to me of another symbol in scripture. Some of the Lily readers learned about this studying at Sara’s retreat, “Dressing for His Glory”. We found in the chapter, “Image: The Garden of the Lord”, that this Jesus who knocks at our door is the Vine (John 15); and that when we open the door to sup with Him, we can also dwell with Him in the Vine and have the fruit of the Spirit…love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control… develop in us. (Galatians 5:22-23).
Thank you, Sara, for sharing the scriptures to warn us, the beautiful song to encourage, and photo to inspire.
I hope you feel joy in reading these words as much as I do:
“anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”
He invites us to have a meal with him and talk things over. I find this invitation to dine and communicate to be delightful. I hear couples talk about date night and that’s nice. Maybe they dine and communicate. Jesus invites his children to dine and communicate. There is beauty in communicating with Jesus and telling Him all my flaws and mistakes that I am making and I need help with. And, to find peace and have faith to believe that He will give me guidance to find my way.
There is so much to embrace in these scriptural verses as we find the fruit of the spirit as Debi states in her comment.
The footnotes for Revelation 3:20 says: (NLT) “The Laodicean church was complacent and rich. They felt self-satisfied, but they didn’t have Christ’s presence among them. Christ knocked at the door of their hearts, but they were so busy enjoying worldly pleasures that they didn’t notice that he was trying to enter. The pleasures of this world— money, security, material possessions— can be dangerous, because their temporary satisfaction makes us indifferent to God‘s offer of lasting satisfaction. If you find yourself feeling indifferent to church, to God, or to the Bible, you have begun to shut God out of your life. Leave the door of your heart constantly open to God, and you won’t need to worry about hearing his knock. Letting him in is your only hope for lasting fulfillment. Jesus knocks at the door of our heart because he wants to save us and have fellowship with us. He is patient and persistent in trying to get through to us — not breaking and entering, but knocking. He allows us to decide whether or not to open our life to him. Do you intentionally keep his life-changing presence and power on the other side of the door?” 🙏
To think that the Creator of the whole universe loves us and wants fellowship with us!!
The footnotes give us very clear instructions on having an ongoing relationship with God. And, how to rekindle if we have grown indifferent to his love for us.
Isn’t it a beautiful thought we have a forever friend that works with us to keep our relationship with him healthy.
Tammy shares from her footnotes, “Letting him in is your only hope for lasting fulfillment.”
And Sara writes, “Isn’t it a beautiful thought we have a forever friend that works with us to keep our relationship with him healthy.”
Both made me think of these scriptures about our Friend, Jesus, and becoming His friend:
“One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” John 15:13-15
“One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24
Debi, how would you classify “unreliable friends” in this context of this scripture?
Sara, according to the dictionary, “Unreliable means not able to be trusted, counted on, or depended upon to do what is needed or promised”.
So, I would “classify “unreliable friends” in this context”, as those with these characteristics.
The One Friend Who is completely reliable is Jesus. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
“Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.” Joshua 21:45
From the definition of reliable and the scriptures below, it seems we should choose our friends wisely.
“Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” I Cor 15:33
“He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.” Proverbs 13:20