"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: 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. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. 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. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." (Rev. 3: 17-22)
Our Hardshell brothers have a hard time with this text. If you hear them explain the verses, you will hear them merely pick at what they think is the error in interpretation of all others. They think that they are the only ones who properly understand and explain it. They spend more time telling us what it does not mean rather than what it does mean.
What It Does Not Mean (to the Hardshells)
1. It does not mean that Christ knocks at the door of the heart of the individual (but only of the church as a group)
2. It does not mean that Christ knocks at the door of the heart of the lost sinner (the ones being addressed are regenerated people)
What It Does Mean (to the Hardshells)
1. It means that a church of regenerated members had excluded Christ from the church
2. It means that Christ is knocking at the door of the congregation, desiring entrance
3. The state of these members (individually or as a group) is that of a disobedient child of God, the description being not one of a lost depraved state
In my previous posting on this text, I think I was able to show that the description cannot possibly be made of any truly born again person. Saved people are not blind, naked, and bankrupt, nor wretched, spiritually speaking.
What is the "door" that receives the knocking of the Lord? If it is not the door of the heart, but only of the church, then just what does that mean? How does he knock at the door of the church? Does the knocking not imply that a choice is called for by those who have authority to open the door?
The fact is, the knocking is not on the door of the church (whatever that means). Notice how the text is clearly addressed to individuals. Jesus says "if any man" open the door. The text says "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."
The call to "hear the voice" of Christ, and to "open the door," is addressed to the individual within the professing church. How can one individual open the door of the church?
Jesus says "I will come into him," into the individual who opens the door of his heart and soul, and the result is that Christ enters into the individual and there abides and sups with the person. But, if Christ were already abiding in the heart of such, then why knock for entrance?
What is the further result of Christ being given entrance into the individual? He says that the one "who overcomes" (by letting Christ into the soul and having him rule there) will be given a position with Christ on his throne. How is that not salvation in the fullest sense?
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