Revelation 3:20
Revelation 3:20-21 (see also John 14:23)
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”
The invitation is personal (i.e. “anyone,” “him,” “he,” ect.), and it involves repentance, “be zealous and repent” (v.19), and in terms of Jesus entering a person’s heart, Adrian Rogers observes that in the Old Testament, God made a Temple for His people, while in the New Testament, God made a people for His Temple. The Bible speaks of the Indwelling of the Holy Spirit, to the point that both the Father and the Son indwell a person: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” (John 14:23) So should a person invite Jesus to come into their heart? Well, of course! Because that’s the destination of God for the believer. How could that be up for dispute?
Calvinist, J.I Packer, explains: “…the new gospel has in effect reformulated the biblical message.…we depict the Father and the Son, not as sovereignly active in drawing sinners to themselves, but as waiting in quiet impotence ‘at the door of our hearts’ for us to let them in.” (Introductory Essay to John Owen’s Death of Death in the Death of Christ, emphasis mine)
Would Packer also state the same thing concerning Christ at Matthew 23:37? Calvinism has, in effect, reformulated the concept of sovereignty, and not in a high view, but a narrow view. Moreover, it is God’s sovereign prerogative on how He wishes to deal with His creation: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,’ declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8) Doesn’t this show that you cannot rely on your own feelings, when it comes to God’s ways?
“Apostate Church”? It sounds like this is an evangelical message then. (I find it truly fascinating that people who profess a “Lordship Doctrine,” simultaneously insist that those of the Church of Laodicea, whom the Lord described as “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,” were actually saved. Do they also wish to suggest that these were taking up their cross daily?)
MacArthur writes: “The invitation is, first of all, a personal one, since salvation is individual. But He is knocking on the door of the church, calling the many to saving faith, so that He may enter the church.” (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Revelation 1-11, p.140, emphasis mine)
Is that an old hickory door or is that a spiritual door?, and if it’s a spiritual door, what exactly is it a door into? The answer is “him,” meaning the individual who accepts Christ’s offer.
MacArthur continues: “Christ’s offer to dine with the repentant church speaks of fellowship, communion, and intimacy. Sharing a meal in ancient times symbolized the union of people in loving fellowship. Believers will dine with Christ at the marriage supper of the Lamb (19:9), and in the millennial kingdom (Luke 22:16, 29-30).” (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Revelation 1-11, p.140, emphasis mine)
The context of Revelation 3:20 is the Lord’s address to the Church at Laodicea: “‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘“I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.’” (Revelation 3:14-19)
What is a petition to the Laodicean Church, but a petition to so many members of that Church, which is tantamount to individuals? Testifying to that fact that individuals are in focus, is the fact that Revelation speaks of “anyone” and “him.” However, some Calvinists suggest that the only people who are enabled to “hear” His voice, are His elect sheep, who effectually hear Him upon Preemptive Regeneration: “‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.’” (John 10:27) However, the hearing of Christ’s voice comes through the hearing of His word, from which faith is born: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17)
Consider the views of those who believe that individuals are in focus and that it’s objective is salvation:
Billy Graham writes: “God has provided the only way...man must make the choice. Step four is for man to make his response to receive Christ. We must trust Jesus Christ and receive Him by personal invitation. The Bible says, ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock [Christ is speaking]: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him’ (Revelation 3:20). ‘But as many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name,’ writes the apostle John (1:12).” (The Enduring Classics of Billy Graham: The Secret of Happiness, Happiness Through Peacemaking, p.126, emphasis mine)
Gary Cohen and Salem Kirban comment on Revelation 3:20: “The promise of this verse applies to ‘any man’ (Greek: tis, ‘any-man;’ ‘any-woman’--it is both masculine and feminine) and hence its offer goes beyond merely those who were at Laodicea at the turn of the 2nd century A.D. Christ is standing at the door (He is near to all, Acts 17:27); He is knocking (Greek Present Tense--He now is continually knocking--He is thus actively seeking us; He is making the initial overture). Christ’s voice is calling--This is heard in the preaching of the Lord’s Day, over the air waves, in the printed page, and from Christian’s who tell others of the Good News. Man’s part in salvation involves hearing Christ’s voice and opening his heart’s door. God’s part involves the initial call and then upon the opening of the heart in trust, it involves God’s entrance and continued abiding fellowship--‘I will come in…and sup.’ The promise is definite; if the door is opened the knocking one will certainly enter. This verse, in an allegory, puts for the identical truth found in Acts 16:31, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.’” (Revelation Illustrated, p.80, emphasis mine)
Albert Barnes comments: “…he recognizes our freedom in the matter. He does not obtrude himself upon us, nor does he employ force to find admission to the heart. If admitted, he comes and dwells with us; if rejected, he turns quietly away - perhaps to return and knock again, perhaps never to come back. The language here used, also, may be understood as applicable to all persons, and to all the methods by which the Savior seeks to come into the heart of a sinner. It would properly refer to anything which would announce his presence: his word; his Spirit; the solemn events of his Providence; the invitation of his gospel. In these and in other methods he comes to man; and the manner in which these invitations ought to be estimated would be seen by supposing that he came to us personally and solicited our friendship, and proposed to be our Redeemer. It may be added here, that this expression proves that the attempt at reconciliation begins with the Savior. It is not that the sinner goes out to meet him, or to seek for him; it is that the Savior presents himself at the door of the heart as if he were desirous to enjoy the friendship of man. This is in accordance with the uniform language of the New Testament, that ‘God so loved the world as to give his only-begotten Son;’ that ‘Christ came to seek and to save the lost;’ that the Savior says, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,’ ect. Salvation, in the Scriptures, is never represented as originated by man.” (Parallel Classic Commentary on the New Testament, p.1125, emphasis mine)
Jacob Arminius explains: “All unregenerate persons have freedom of will, and a capability of resisting the Holy Spirit, of rejecting the proffered grace of God, of despising the counsel of God against themselves, of refusing to accept the gospel of grace, and of not opening to Him who knocks at the door of the heart; and these things they can actually do, without any difference of the elect and of the reprobate.” (Works of James Arminius, Vol. 2, emphasis mine)
These quotes represent the heart-beat and pulse of Arminian Evangelicalism. We don’t come to Christ, rather, Christ comes to us. We didn’t first love God; God first loved us, and sent His Son to save us.
Question: Do all Gentiles hear the voice of Jesus?
Answer: If you’ve heard the Gospel preached, then you’ve heard Jesus’ voice. His voice is His word (Psalm 103:20), the Scriptures, and He speaks to us through it. Hearing His voice alone, however, does not save. Revelation 3:20 states: “…if anyone hears My voice and opens the door....” Psalm 95:7-11 states: “For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.” The issue is not whether they could hear His voice, but whether they would hear His voice, meaning whether or not they would obey Him or harden their hearts against Him.
Question: Is this an invitation for faithful Christians to have fellowship with God or is this an invitation for phony Church-goers to receive salvation?
Answer: It doesn’t sound like these are truly abiding in Christ, as per John 15:6, now does it? Jesus states: “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.” (John 15:6)
Question: What does Jesus mean when He says, “I will spit you out of My mouth”?
Answer: What I want to know is how can someone profess to believe in the “Lordship Doctrine” and simultaneously say, with a straight face, that these people are saved? That’s what I would like to know.
Question: Upon what “door” does Jesus stand and knock?
Answer: Jesus states: “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9) So Jesus both stands at the door, and is the door. This is a metaphor for a subject on how to be “saved,” and “anyone” indeed confirms individuality. Jesus states: “‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.’” (John 14:23) Now we have the Indwelling. Seriously, if it’s illegitimate to use Revelation 3:20 in “countless tracts and evangelistic messages,” then it’s equally illegitimate to use John 10:9 and John 14:23. Whether or not Calvinists wish to presuppose that a preemptive Regeneration causes a positive response to Christ, it ought to, at least, be agreed that Revelation 3:20 is a message on how to be “saved.”
Calvinist, John MacArthur, comments: “Though this verse has been used in countless tracts and evangelistic messages to depict Christ’s knocking on the door of the sinner’s heart, it is broader than that. The door on which Christ is knocking is not the door to a single human heart, but to the Laodicean church. Christ was outside this apostate church and wanted to come in—something that could only happen if the people repented.” (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Revelation 1-11, p.140, emphasis mine)
Question: So is the invitation personal?
