Day 160, Year 1

The Church that Shuts Jesus Out!?

Jesus said, “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.” (Revelation 3:20 NASB)

Today’s verse is a message that the Apostle John received from the Lord Jesus to the church in Laodicea at a time. Laodicea was an inland city located in what is now western Türkiye. In the New Testament period, a typical city usually had only tens of thousands of residents. Many cities were not very large, and each city often had just one church or was represented by a single church.

For devout believers, it is surprising and saddening to see that Jesus was knocking at the door of the church. He was not inside the church, but outside, with the door closed, instead of always welcoming His presence inside. This verse reminds us that not everybody claiming to be a church or Christian necessarily belongs to Jesus. Also, people who have been hurt by those nominal or false Christians can let go of the heaviness in their hearts, because they might not actually have Him within them. This verse makes the point that Jesus and the church could be two separate entities—a church could be without Jesus, and Jesus could be outside the church. In the same way, Jesus and Christians could sometimes be viewed as divorced. Thus, it is very unfair to attribute the sins of Christians to Jesus Himself.

The good news is that Jesus is knocking at the door of the church, and He has not abandoned any church that lacks His presence. Rather, according to today’s verse, it seems that Jesus will knock on the door of each believer’s heart, one by one. When Jesus is welcomed in and we dine together, it is as if having a one-on-one, face-to-face conversation with Him. Indeed, Jesus invites every one of us to have a one-on-one, comprehensive dialogue with Him. And the dining of the Israelites was always a time of in-depth conversations with one another.

Jesus has experienced rejection, maybe just like you and me. If you find that you do not have Jesus within you, know that He will not abandon you. If you have been wrongly rejected by others, you can learn from Jesus not to give up, but to persistently seek the persons whom the Lord wants you to. And you must not give up on yourself in any way, either! In the following days, we are going to delve into the various meanings of Jesus knocking on the doors of believers’ hearts from a personal perspective. Because we would sometimes find ourselves, like the Laodicean church, becoming too self-sufficient to welcome Jesus. If this is truly the case for you, please repent promptly!

Reflection questions:

1) Have you been hurt by someone who calls themselves Christian? If yes, would you have a different response from now on? Why?

2) Recently, do you feel that the Lord Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart? If so, how are you going to respond to Him?