Doors
When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, open for us,” and He will answer and say to you, “I do not know you, where you are from” (Luke 13:25 NKJV)
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.” (Revelation 4:1 NKJV)
Door Closed in Heaven
In Luke 13, there is a door that is closed in heaven. Years ago I was driving home late at night during a terrible storm. I pulled into a farm driveway where there was a light on in what appeared to be the kitchen of the home. The moment I pulled in the light went out. I had my wife and my two year old daughter with me and I was driving a little Saab that always started missing when it rained. I wanted to find shelter, but even though I got out of the car and knocked at that door, no one would answer. I don’t blame them. They probably thought I was out to rob them in that storm. Yeah! Sure! I just waited for the storm to have that chance. But I stood at a closed door. Someday, people who think that God owes them salvation because of what they have supposedly done for Him, are going to find out that they never really listened to the message of the Gospel. They never learned that all have sinned. They never learned that works of any kind do not save even though faith does produce good works. They never learned that it is not what we do for Christ that saves, it is what He did for us. And they are going to be surprised when they are told that the Lord does not “know” them. And that door is never going to be opened for them.
Door Open in Heaven
Do you ever wonder what heaven is like? John the Apostle got to experience heaven in Revelation 4 and 5. The picture that John records may be symbolic and it may be literal but either way, it is a marvelous place. Paul must have experienced this as well. In 2 Corinthians 12:4 he says, “he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful (or permitted) for a man to utter.” Actually, I think Paul is saying that words cannot properly describe what He heard and saw. One would have to experience it to understand it. But He is also saying that he was not allowed to relate his experience to others.
John’s open door seems to start the third section of the book of Revelation. It no doubt represents the “catching away” of the saints before the judgments following the rapture begin. It gives me great joy to know that John, who represents the believers of this age, is in heaven while the earth and the world society that rejected Christ is punished for its rejection of the One who wanted to save them from the consequences of their sin.
The question is often asked, will the church go through the tribulation period? The answer is yes and no. Many who claim to be Christians, who have never been “born again”, will go through the tribulation. To the world system it will appear that many Christians are present during these terrible judgments. I suspect that people are going to be deceived into believing that aliens have attacked and have taken a bunch of people and a generation of young children. Yes, I do believe that children who have not been able to reject Christ will be taken in the rapture and that is going to be hard to explain by those so called prominent wealthy Christians who have been left behind because they thought their good works would outweigh their bad works and would “earn” them a way into heaven.
John got to see the beauty of heaven but he also saw the wrath of God poured on on the earth. Fortunately, he was watching from heaven. He had been delivered from the wrath to come (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
Doors represent Opportunities
Doors keep the wrong persons out and allow the right persons in. Doors are the proper way into a dwelling or building. The Lord says He is the door to heaven. As we enter this Christmas season, it is nice to think of a baby born in Bethlehem; but it is better to recognize that the baby became the man who died on the cross. Religious people who were never born again and the immoral, the skeptics, the liars and all other “bad” people who justify their lifestyles are going to find out that the Lord was the door. They are going to get the surprise of their lives when they knock at that closed door.
Christ came as a human, and then He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8.) He came to save. That is the reason for the season. Please don’t find yourself standing at a closed door when this life is over.
Bruce Collins
Meditation for the week of December 13, 2020