Jesus At The Door Knocking - A Closer Look at Rev 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 dine with him, and he with Me." -Revelation 3:20

If you have read any of my notes at all, it is painfully obvious that I am a firm believer of the doctrines of grace. Admittedly, though, this passage above has given me trouble in the past, never fully knowing how to explain this passage to anyone if I were asked.

Let me explain. This passage is one commonly referred to if you are to tell people that no man is able to come to Christ unless God first grants you the ability to do so, because all men are in a state of total depravity, unable of themselves to believe on Jesus for salvation.

Other known passages that people refer to are ones such as Rev 22:17 "And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely"(KJV, emphasis added). OR John 3:15,16 "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life"(KJV, emphasis added). Interestingly enough, I knew how to deal with passages like those, but not Rev 3:20. Turned out they are really dealt with in the same manner, because they are saying the same thing, and the same truth is present in all of those passages. I'll explain.

1. An Important Doctrine

First, we must understand a doctrine that is clearly taught in the scriptures and just obvious in experience, called the "call". The call is commonly broken down into two different kinds, the general and the effectual.

a) The General Call. Simply put, this is what is preached every Sunday at church. It is what every evangelist, missionary, preacher and Christian gives to the world. The gospel is given in the general call, it is the "repent and believe" that we are obligated to give to all men. Thus it is general, it is given to all. We are commanded to bring the gospel to all nations and all men, with no limitation. "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" -Matt 28:19. "How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?" -Rom 10:14,15.

b) The Effectual Call. The word effectual is a derivative of effect, so then it is a call which goes out and accomplishes a purpose, it achieves its goal and nothing will hinder it. As God states it, "My word...that goes out from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it" -Isa 55:11. The Bible says of this call, "[those] whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified" -Rom 8:30. So we see in that verse that those whom God predestined He called effectually and saved. It is a different call, because obviously not all men are justified and glorified. We see this in just common experience, one man accepts the word of God and another man who heard the same sermon is unaffected...why? God effectually called one man to repentance and the other was left hardened.

2. What Is Happening In Rev 3:20?

In Revelation 3:20 Jesus is addressing the churches, and this passage in particular is addressed to the Church of Laodicea, a church described as lukewarm (v. 16). In all actuality this at this specific point in the chapter and book, its not even clear if he is necessarily speaking to unbelievers, but that point is not to the purpose and does not change the point. The fact is the phrase "if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him..." or "whosoever will" is applicable to an unbeliever all the same.

3. How Are All These Verses Related?

Like I said before, the verse in question has the same answer as all the "whosoever will" passages you will ever come across. I'm going to attempt to paint this picture as best I can, here goes... There is a house, and the owner of this house is dead (not sick, crippled or slow) on the floor in the living room. A man comes up to the house and begins to knock on the door and say "I will come in and give you a million dollars if you come and open this door!"...get it? That dead man will not be able to come to that door unless something supernatural occurs, and he is resurrected.

Jesus came and gave that general call, He gave it to all those around, and even today the word is carried to all nations by missionaries and is preached continuously. Yet I tell you, no one will ever be converted by those words unless God gracefully opens their ears and hearts. Unless the Holy Spirit gives that person the ability to answer that door it is not going to happen.

4. A Final Thought

Take this for an example...

The General Call= Jer 4:4
"Circumcise yourselves to the LORD; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem..."

The Effectual Call= Deu 30:6
"And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live."

The command is to circumcise your heart, just like the command to all of us is to repent and believe on Christ, the fact is we cannot circumcise our own hearts and we cannot bring ourselves to faith and repentance. Only the Lord is able to do all this, by His grace, for His praise...so may we pray for the work of the Lord in the hearts of all men, because "Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people! Selah" -Psa 3:8.

Weekly Puritan Pulpit

The Origin of Repentance
by C. H. Spurgeon, "the last Puritan"

When we cry, "Repent and be converted," there are some foolish men who call us legal. Now we beg to state, at the opening of this first point, that repentance is of gospel parentage. It was not born near Mount Sinai. It never was brought forth anywhere but upon Mount Zion. Of course, repentance is a duty--a natural duty--because, when a man hath sinned, who is there brazen enough to say that it is not man's bounden duty to repent of having done so? It is a duty which even nature itself would teach. But gospel repentance was never brought forth in the soul by demands of the law, nor indeed can the law, except as the instrument in the hand of grace, even assist the soul towards saving repentance. It is a remarkable fact that the law itself makes no provision for repentance. It says, "This do, and thou shalt live; break my command, and thou shalt die." There is nothing said about penitence; there is no offer of pardon made to those that repent. The law pronounces its deadly curse upon the man that sins but once, but it offers no way of escape, no door by which the man may be restored to favour. The barren sides of Sinai have no soil in which to nourish the lovely plant of penitence. Upon Sinai the dew of mercy never fell. Its lightnings and its thunders have frightened away the angel of Mercy once for all, and there Justice sits, with sword of flame, upon its majestic throne of rugged rock, never purposing for a moment to put up its sword into the scabbard, to forgive the offender. Read attentively the twentieth chapter of Exodus. You have the commandments there all thundered forth with trumpet voice, but there is no pause between where Mercy with her silver voice may step in and say, "But if ye break this law, God will have mercy upon you, and will shew himself gracious if ye repent." No words of repentance, I say, were ever proclaimed by the law; no promise by it made to penitents; and no assistance is by the law ever offered to those who desire to be forgiven. Repentance is a gospel grace. Christ preached it, but not Moses. Moses neither can nor will assist a soul to repent, only Jesus can use the law as a means of conviction and an argument for repentance. Jesus gives pardon to those who seek it with weeping and with tears; but Moses knows of no such thing. If repentance is ever obtained by the poor sinner, it must be found at the foot of the cross, and not where the ten commandments lie shivered at Sinai's base.

Full Sermon Here.