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Revelation 3:20
by Jon Zens
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This text appears in a host of evangelistic books, booklets, and tracts. The sinner is told that Christ is waiting outside the door of his heart, and that the Savior cannot enter until he opens the door. Further, Christ is powerless because the door-latch is on the sinner*s side. There is a famous picture hanging on walls in many homes that depicts Christ helplessly standing outside a door.
Is this a correct use of Revelatin 3:20? Absolutely not. First, it can be noted that in the context seven letters to churches are in view. This particular section was addressed to the Laodicean church (3:14).
Secondly, 3:19 indicates that Christ is confronting erring believers — “as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten” (cf. Hebrews 12:5-12). The text itself, then, is a call to repentance to those in a basically disobedient church. It is a call to the sheep who will hear His voice to open their hearts for renewed fellowship to the living Christ.
The fact that a verse like this can be handled with so little regard to its setting must be a commentary on the depth of those who claim to rightly divide Scripture.
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