[This little gem came out at our last weekly on-line meeting. I just had to share.]
“. . .Look! I am standing at the door and knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into his house and take the evening meal with him and he with me.” (Re 3:20 NWT)
What a wealth of meaning is to be found in these few words.
“Look! I am standing at the door and knocking.”
Jesus comes to us, we don’t go to him. How different this is from the concept of God that other religions have. They all seek for a god who can only be appeased through giving and sacrifice, but our Father sends his Son to knock on our door. God seeks us out. (1 John 4:9, 10)
When Christian missionaries were granted expanded access to Japan following the Second World War, they looked for a way to reach out to the Japanese who were by and large Shintoists. How could they present Christianity in an appealing way? They realized that the biggest appeal was in the message that in Christianity it is God who comes to men.
Of course, we have to respond to the knocking. We have to let Jesus in. If we leave him standing at the door, he will eventually go away.
“If anyone hears my voice and opens the door.”
When someone knocks at your door after dark—during the evening meal—you might call out through the door to find out who it is. If you recognize the voice as that of a friend, you’ll let him in, but you will likely ask a stranger to return in the morning. Are we listening for the voice of the true Shepherd, Jesus Christ? (John 10:11-16) Can we recognize it, or do we listen instead to the voice of men? To whom do we open the door to our heart? Whom do we let in? Jesus’ sheep recognize his voice.
“I will come into his house and take the evening meal with him.”
Notice this is not breakfast or lunch, but the evening meal. The evening meal was eaten leisurely after the day’s work was finished. It was a time for discussion and camaraderie. A time to share with friends and family. We can enjoy such a close and warm relationship with our Lord Jesus, and then through him get to know our Father, Jehovah. (John 14:6)
I continue to marvel at how much meaning Jesus could squeeze into a few succinct phrases.
Hi Meleti,
Very nice to see Revelation 3:20 being referenced. I thought you might like this picture that came my way recently:
http://tnvalleytalks.hoop.la/fileSendAction/fcType/0/fcOid/331606174629164643/filePointer/331887649632957220/fodoid/331887649632957216/imageType/LARGE/inlineImage/true/Friend%2520Request%2520-%2520Jesus.jpg
I would also like to be included in your weekly on-line meeting
Hi California Rose,
Welcome. I will send you a link separately to the meeting.
Meleti
I’d like to join the meeting as well. 🙂
Hi Meliti,
Could I please also access these meetings?
Yes that was a great point one of our members made last week.. I thoroughly enjoyed it, plus the additional comments you made here on this platform..
I would like to participate join your online meeting.
Meaningful indeed! Very comforting. I feel like I’m reading this verse for the first time! (One of those skimmed over in the Revelation book) Thank you for sharing this. Just got back from our CO visit tonight. The CO talk was a break down of 2 Cor 6:1-10. It was discouraging. A few guilt trip interpretations combined with a ‘you should live up to your dedication’ phrases left us with an odd feeling. It was Chinese, translated into English for the audience. Even the translator for the CO told us after over drinks that it was a bad talk he… Read more »
I’ve had to sit through my share of talks like the one you describe. So nice not to have to go through it anymore.