Ponderize – Revelation 3:20 – Christ knocks – Will we hear and open the door?

Revelation 3:20 – Christ knocks – Will we hear and open the door?

Revelation 3:20
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.

There are two qualification mentioned here, “if any man hear my voice, and open the door.” The question to ask yourself is, why would someone hear the Savior knocking and not open the door?

We have all experienced a time or two when we refused to answer or open the door when someone knocked. The reasons are plentiful as to why, but usually those reasons are due to some negative reason or outcome. Clearly, that does not apply here, for how glorious would it be to have the Savior come in to us, and sup with us? This is symbolic of the second Comforter and having one’s calling and election made sure, which is a personal promise of eternal life. So, it can’t be that we just don’t want to open the door, there still has to be more to the puzzle. That is when I realized that it is not so much the actual opening of the door to the Savior that is hard but rather it is what the door represents and who is qualified to open it, that matters. Let’s read a few verses before this verse, starting in 15. This is the Savior speaking:

Revelation 3:15–19
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 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:
18 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.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

The door represents a barrier between us and the Savior. This barrier is the process of purification which includes sufferings, rebuking, chastisement, and complete repentance. The door handle represents our willingness to completely surrender our will to the will of the Father, and to be purified, regardless of how difficult it may get, we will stay the course.

The phrase “gold tried by fire” is an interesting phrase. A few months back, I watched a YouTube video on how gold was purified, and it blew me away. To get pure gold, it must go through a rigorous purification process, involving many levels of sifting, melting, hardening, melting again, grinding to powder, and more melting. We learn in Job 23:10, “when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

We, too, must be purified like gold through a rigorous purification process, which is also known as taking up your cross. (D&C 112:14) Only when we are completely purified can we fully open the door to the Savior. This purification process and all that it entails, is the reason why when many people hear the voice of the Savior, they will not open the door to him.

Joseph Smith said, “I say to all those who are disposed to set up stakes for the Almighty, You will come short of the glory of God.

“To become a joint heir of the heirship of the Son, one must put away all his false traditions.”

In that same sermon, he also said that even “angels… have set up too many stakes.”

If at any time or point during the purification of gold, the process is stopped, we will not have pure gold. Even if the process is 99.9% complete, it still must finish 100% to become purified gold. We are no different–almost will not yield onto us eternal life. How eternally sad and heartbreaking it is when someone we know, sets up a stake or two (set limits), meaning they will suffer this much or will go this far in the process of purification, but will not go any farther. I wish that I could persuade them with the sound of a trump, like Alma of old, that would shake them to the core and cause them to see the folly and eternal consequences of their actions.

The question is, will we, too, set up stakes and fall short of the glory of God? Or rather, will we hear His voice and gladly submit ourselves over to the perfect and personal process of purification, and then swing wide open the door with all the energy we possess and fall into the loving arms and embrace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? I pray that we will all enthusiastically scream yes!! In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Craig