Which Side of the Door?
Most of us are probably familiar with a painting and/or some other representation that depicts Jesus standing at a door and knocking. Each of these are intended to be a visual representation of these words found in Revelation 3:20:
“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”
There is probably no way to estimate the number of applications that have been made of this text or of the painting. Most of them have to do with the desire of Jesus to have a relationship with us (and us with Him). In addition to that, there is often an application that reminds us that He will not force that relationship upon anybody. It is up to each person to open the door and invite Him to have that relationship with us.
You may have even heard that the original artist was criticized because he had omitted the latch on the door in his painting. His response was something to the effect that it was not an omission. Rather, it was intentional. He is reported to have said that the latch was on the inside of the door because it was up to the person on the inside of the house to let Jesus enter.
I heard something recently that really challenged my thinking about this. I really wish that I could remember where I heard it so that I could “give credit where credit is due,” but I cannot.
Somebody suggested a more modern and maybe more accurate picture. In this picture, Jesus would still be standing at a door and He would still be wanting the door to be opened. In this picture, however, the door would not be symbolic of entrance into a relationship with a person.
Instead, in this picture, the door would be the door of a church building. Another difference would be that, instead of wanting to gain entrance, Jesus would be wanting to get out to interact with people outside the walls of the church building. I’m wondering if that could actually be an accurate picture of what passes for Christianity today?
My father was a member of an organization that was, in effect, a sort of “closed society.” It was so secretive that even I, his only child, do not know much about it. What I do know is that a person could not just choose on his own to be a part of that organization. The terms of membership, the rituals, the rules, etc. were all kept “in house.” I can still remember men coming to our house to meet with my father, both of them sitting in an automobile in our driveway (away from my mother and me), and dad apparently teaching the other man some of the secrets of the organization.
Is this what the Lord intended for His church to be? Is it what people who claim to be a part of that church have become? Do we have our own vocabulary, procedures, etc. that we are very careful to keep “in house”?
As one reads the history of the church during the time in which the New Testament was being written, we will read about people who were fulfilling the Lord’s command to “GO” with the message of the gospel (Matt. 28:18; Mark 16:16). Yes, there were specific terms of entrance into the church and, yes, there were expectations about such things as conduct, worship, organization etc., but these things were not “locked away behind closed doors.” Instead, even in the midst of severe persecution, these people “…went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8:4, NKJV).
In the actual picture of Jesus at the door and the suggested update, Jesus is on different sides of the door. In one, He’s wanting to get in and in the other He’s wanting to get out. In both, the decision to allow Him to do what He desires to do is on the inside of the door.
I pray that all of us will think about that!
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
