Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
OUT OF CONTEXT
About a year ago, a sister-in-Christ used this verse to try and defend her beliefs. She claimed that in our natural state, we can choose to follow Christ and brought up Revelation 3:20 to confirm her point. She stated that in this verse, Christ is telling us that He is waiting for us to let Him in, giving human beings the option to open the door of our hearts or not let Him in. Unfortunately, many believe that salvation is in our hands. This strips God of His sovereignty, and it goes against what the Bible teaches.
This wasn’t the first time I had heard this verse used out of context. Modern evangelists preach from this text. They try to get the attention of the unconverted, and set a tone of urgency by saying, “Jesus Christ is waiting for you to let Him into your heart.” or “He’s waiting for you to invite Him in.” This image of Christ knocking at the door of a sinner’s heart or of Him being invited in may be touching, but it’s not Biblical.
PROPERLY HANDLING THE WORD OF GOD
A few years ago, I found myself cherry-picking Scripture. I took a verse and ran with it. I know there are many Christians who do the same. They may not be doing this intentionally but from a lack of Biblical knowledge. If we’re not taking the time to study Scripture, it can hurt our walk and how we share God’s truth with others. We can’t properly share Biblical truth if we’re not taking the time to study it ourselves. I can assure you that if this sister-in-Christ had come to me two years ago, telling me that Revelation 3:20 was about us letting Christ into our hearts, I would have nodded in agreement. But praise God I had studied these chapters and was able to share the true meaning with her.
I want to remind us that Scripture never contradicts itself. If we ever come across verses that don’t line up, we must study them to see why we don’t fully understand them. God has entrusted us with His Word, and it’s our responsibility to properly handle God’s Word. We read this command in 2 Timothy 2:15, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
THE VERSE IN CONTEXT
We must look at the verse in context- focusing on the chapters and verses that come before and after. We can’t isolate a verse and ignore the rest. That’s how we end up misinterpreting Scripture. In chapters two and three of Revelation, Christ is talking to seven different Churches in Asia. He was speaking to these Churches about their spiritual condition. This verse is not a spiritual metaphor, it was an actual door. Although Christ wasn’t physically standing there, knocking, He was directing His words to this specific group of people. He’s not knocking at the door of a sinner’s heart, waiting to be accepted as their Savior.
SO WHAT IS REVELATION 3:20 ABOUT?
In chapter three, the original recipient of this passage was the Church in Laodicea. The chapter is a warning to the Church of Christ. He starts out by calling them lukewarm (v.16). The Church boasted of their riches and saw themselves as a successful Church. The Church considered itself rich, prosperous, and in need of nothing. Christ was telling them that although they saw themselves a certain way, they were ignorant of their spiritual poverty- refusing to realize they were “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (v.17). He was calling for the Church to repent for having departed from the gospel that He gave it to proclaim (v.19).
So here is verse 20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” So since they had departed from the gospel, Christ was outside of this apostate Church- knocking, waiting for His people to repent, and invite Him in to renew their fellowship since they had gone astray. We can look back at verse 19, where He is telling them that those whom He loves, He reproves and disciplines- insinuating that it’s directed to believers. We can cross-reference this to Hebrews 12:6 “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” Christ disciplines His children.
DOES JESUS CHRIST NEED OUR PERMISSION TO COME IN?
Christ doesn’t just go around knocking in the hearts of sinners, in hopes of being allowed in. If He were to wait for sinners to let Him into their hearts, nobody would. The Bible teaches that we are born dead in sin (Psalm 51:5), enemies of God (Rom. 5:10), haters of God (Rom. 1:29-30), and without a desire for the things of God (1 Cor. 2:14).
Nowhere in the Bible will you read, in context, that we are saved by opening the door of our hearts to Jesus Christ, inviting Him in, or by seeking Him ourselves. This isn’t is the gospel. This thought diminishes who God is and distorts the sinner’s call to repent and believe. To eliminate any idea that Revelation 3:20 is about Christ just waiting at the door of our hearts to let him in, we have to look at the verse in context. And also use the analogy of faith, which makes us look at what other parts of the Bible teach. In this case, we look to see what the Bible teaches about salvation.
REGENERATION PRECEDES FAITH
This is what the Bible teaches. Sinners can’t possibly want a relationship with God without first having a desire for the things of God. And God has to instill that desire in us. When regeneration takes place, it immediately changes the disposition of our heart. Ezekiel 36:26 says that God will give us a new heart. And with this new heart, we now have affection for Christ. Therefore, we put our trust in Him and repent of our sins. In addition, we can look at other verses. John 6:44 says, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” Luke 19:10 says, “For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.” He seeks us, we don’t seek Him. God chooses us, we don’t choose Him.
John 15:16 says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
REPENT AND BELIEVE
What are sinners called to do if it’s not to invite Christ into our hearts? The gospel of God calls sinners to repent and believe in the gospel. Jesus made this clear. Matthew 4:17 says, “From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” In Luke 13:3, Jesus said, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus told the Pharisees and Scribes that He had come to call sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). This is what Jesus Christ’s entire earthly ministry is about. He came to save sinners. His disciples are commanded to preach repentance as well (Luke 24:47). In Acts 2:38, we read that Peter said, “repent and be baptized”. Jesus sends out His twelve Apostles (Mark 6). In verse twelve, we read “So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent”.
Mark 1:14-15 says, “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
THE WAY TO SALVATION
The bad news is that we are born sinners, alienated from God since conception (Eph. 4:18), and incapable of obeying the commands of a Holy God due to our fallen nature. One day we will stand before Him and give an account for everything that we said, did, and thought and will be judged by Him (2 Cor. 5:10, Rom.14:10-12, Matt. 12:36). We will be found guilty of sin, and we will receive eternal punishment (Matt.10:28, John 15:6). There is nothing we can do to save ourselves from God’s wrath.
But God so loved the world He sent His only Son to die on the cross for our sins (John 3:16, Rom. 5:8). Jesus came to fulfill the law (Matt 5:17) and lived a sinless life in obedience to God (1 Pet. 2:22, Heb. 4:15). He did for us what we couldn’t do for ourselves. He lived a sinless life, died for the sins of those who would believe in Him, and rose on the third day conquering death and raising for our justification. If you put your trust in Christ and repent of your sins, God is faithful to forgive you.
Excellent article! I need to read more of your blog posts;)
I appreciate your feedback, Pam. And thank you for subscribing to my blog. I’m excited to hear your thoughts on other articles. Grateful for your support and encouragement.
Great article though great opportunity for me to read your work…. Hoping to get more✨
Hi Shehrebanu. Thank you for leaving a comment. I appreciate your time and feedback.
Heard this misquoted and taken out of context my whole ife, including many other verses. Truly blessed by this. May God bless you!!
I am happy to hear that you found this article helpful, Joshua. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate your feedback.