Revelation 3:20

Revelation 3:20

The last few things that Jesus said to the people in the church of Laodicea can be found in Revelation 3:20-22 where Jesus said, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am sat down with my Father in His throne. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches."

In Rev. 3:20 is found one of the great verses of the Bible that put forth in a simple and yet profound way the working of the salvation experience. What happens when a person gets saved? What takes place when someone experiences being born again? Jesus said, "I stand at the door and knock." The first thing that happens when someone gets saved is that Jesus visits the person. It always starts with Jesus. Without Jesus we could not be saved: both because He died for us, and because after having died for us He visits each of us to give us a personal invitation to receive from Him the salvation of our souls.

Jesus has done His part to purchase the possibility of salvation for every human being, but notice the condition that is involved. "If any man hear my voice and open the door." We hear the voice of Jesus not in an audible way, but in a way that can only be done by the Spirit of God. Jesus told the disciples that the Spirit would "reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." When a person is saved something comes over them and something speaks to them that awakens them to their need of God and of a Savior.

But then that person must also "open the door." This speaks of the free will of man. Jesus knocks on the door of a human being, but Jesus does not enter unless the human opens the door. If God does not force His will upon the heart of a human, what does that tell you about what our attitude should be to others? There are few things on this earth that are stronger than the will of man. Totalitarian governments have been made to understand this when the common man has risen up and said, "We will take no more. Enough is enough." If you understand the principle of the strength of the free will of every man and woman on this earth, then it will affect the relationships that you have with all those around you including children and spouse. If you push too hard, you may find that someone will push back. If you become determined that someone else is going to do your will, you may find that they become even more determined that they will not.

God desires to save everyone on the earth, and of course He understands the will of man because He created man. Therefore, the gospel is a gentle and kind invitation. Jesus said, "I stand at the door and knock." This is in the present tense and it means that He is always standing at the door and knocking. Jesus is always there. Earlier in the book of Revelation Jesus is called "the faithful witness." Concerning salvation, God has done His part in the past, He is doing His part in the present, but the only obstacle is the will of man. That’s why salvation is actually a surrender. Jesus said that if anyone will come after Him, let him deny himself.

Salvation is a surrender of the will to Jesus, and it’s also the beginning of an intimate personal relationship with Him. You give up something, but you gain something else that is far better. Did not Jesus say that whosoever shall lose his life, the same shall save it? If you open the door of your life and the door of your mind and the door of your soul and the door of your heart and the door of your deepest secrets to Jesus, then He promised, "I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me."

You will never be a complete person until you have this intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. God made man, and He made man to walk in fellowship with Him. There are eternal ramifications to the decision of receiving Christ or not, and there are also lifelong ramifications in this life. You will never fulfill your potential; you will never be all that you can be without knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. What Jesus offers you is an eternity in heaven, and the fulfillment of your potential in this life. In other words, He offers you everything that is of any real value. What He asks from you is the surrender of your will and the opening of the door into who and what you are.

Once a person has opened the door, there will be many results to the new life. "If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new." One of the results is a calling to live a life according to the teachings of Jesus. There is a challenge to this new life, and there are pitfalls and serious trials to be faced. The highest of all standards and the greatest of all commandments were given by Jesus to His disciples. But sometimes it will be difficult. After presenting the gospel in Rev. 3:20, Jesus speaks of the challenge that will surely follow after someone receives Jesus Christ as their Savior. Jesus said in Rev. 3:21, "To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."

The word that Jesus used in Rev. 3:21 for "overcome" comes from the Greek word "nike" and it refers to the winning of a victory. After you receive Jesus Christ into your life, there is a battle to be fought. It’s a spiritual battle and it’s called in the Bible the battle of faith or the fight of faith. You will face heartbreaks and disappointments. You will face troubles and opposition, and you will face powerful spiritual forces that will war against your soul. After you face these trials and struggles what will the outcome be? After you have suffered things that you could never have anticipated, will you still have faith in the promises of God? "This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith." "The trial of your faith is much more precious than gold that perishes." When the apostle Paul reached the end he said, "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."

Jesus said that there will be special rewards for them that win the victory. By saying that such would sit with Him in His throne, He promised power and authority to those who fight a good fight, who finish their course, and who keep the faith. It’s not how you start that counts, it’s how you finish. God is trying to make you into something. You may have failed many times, but you can ask for forgiveness. God is so very kind and merciful that He will even allow you to learn from your mistakes. It’s what you are at the end that will make the difference as far as this promise of Jesus is concerned. Keep the faith. Keep believing the promises of God no matter what happens. If you do, you will sit with Jesus in His throne just as He won the victory and sits with the Father in His throne.

In Rev. 3:22 Jesus said, "He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches." The Lord has delivered His message to the world, and He continues to deliver it through the Word and through the Spirit. Who will hear the message? Whoever desires to hear it, and whoever wants to hear it: these are the ones who will hear and receive and understand the message from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are those who hear and believe. The blessings and benefits that Jesus will give them will stretch into eternity and beyond.

In Revelation chapter 4 John saw things in heaven that we will all see one day. John wrote in Rev. 4:1-3, "After this I looked, and behold a door was opened in heaven; and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up here and I will show you things which must be hereafter. And immediately I was in the spirit: and behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon as a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald."

John was permitted to see into heaven. If you open the door of your heart to Jesus, one day Jesus will open the door of heaven to you. When the door to heaven was opened to John, before he saw anything he heard a voice. When we compare this description of a voice that sounded like a trumpet to something similar that is said in Revelation chapter one, we know that it was Jesus who was talking to John. Whoever hears the voice Jesus will be permitted to enter the kingdom of heaven.

The first thing that John saw in heaven was a throne and one that sat upon the throne. Remember that Jesus said in Rev. 3:21, "To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne." Evidently, this is the throne of God in heaven upon which Jesus is seated in power and majesty and authority. The message that God is on the throne of heaven is the message that God is in control. The believers can be happy and secure and confident because they know that God is in control. The world is on a schedule that God has set, and the rest of the book of Revelation is going to tell us a great deal about His timetable. God has the authority to set the schedule for the climactic events of history because God is on His throne in heaven.

The first thing that John noticed in heaven was Jesus on the throne of God. That’s the first thing that we will probably also see when we get there, and it’s certainly the first thing that we will want to see. After telling us that he saw Jesus on the throne, in Rev. 4:3 John described for us a little bit the beauty of heaven. John mentioned the jasper and the sardis stone, the emerald and also a rainbow. We know that a rainbow is associated with light and beautiful colors that are produced from light; and we also know that these precious stones and gems that were mentioned are translucent so that rays of light can pass through them which results in their great beauty. What John saw was a place of great beauty and of multi-colored rays of light shining and glimmering in a wonderful way. You may have heard of someone on their death-bed who also got a glimpse of heaven just before going into it, and who said something like this, "O, Dorothy, it’s so beautiful." Don’t sorrow for those who have died in the Lord: they have gone off to a wonderful, beautiful place; and they are much better off than we are.

In Rev. 4:4-5 John wrote, "And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white clothing; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices, and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God." We will find throughout the rest of the book of Revelation that the 24 elders will be mentioned several times. I think that the 24 elders are probably human beings who have gone to heaven and who have been rewarded for faithful service by being given these places of honor and authority close to the throne of God. There are other elders mentioned in the Bible, especially the elders of the church that are mentioned many places in the New Testament. For example, the apostle Paul wrote to Titus and told him in Titus 1:5 to "ordain elders in every city."

In a church the elders are to be chosen and given places of responsibility based upon their faithfulness to the Lord. There is every reason to expect that the 24 elders that John saw near the throne of God will be chosen by God out of all the believers based upon who most deserves such an honor. The choosing of these 24 elders very likely will be the fulfillment of the conversation that Jesus once had with the disciples when James and John asked to be granted the privilege of sitting the one at His right hand and the other at His left in His glory. Jesus deflected their request by saying to them in Mark 10:40, "But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared."

The elders had on their heads crowns of gold. The crown is a symbol of power and authority. Works are important. There is much to gain from serving God faithfully in this life. The responsibilities and privileges that you will have in heaven will be based upon it. The 24 elders had crowns of gold, and they also were clothed in white raiment. To be clothed in white is symbolic of being pure and righteous. Everyone who is in heaven will be clean and pure and washed from their sins. The great work of Christ on the cross has made it possible for all who believe to have by faith the righteousness of Christ. When we get to heaven we will be sinless and pure and good in ways that were never possible in this life. Not only will we be delivered from the penalty of sin, but we will also be delivered from the presence of sin.

John continued his description of what he saw in heaven and he wrote in Rev. 4:6-8, "And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast was like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." When John saw the throne of God in heaven, he saw the 24 elders who were close to the throne, and he also saw these four beasts who were close to the throne. The word beast simply means created being. We know that God has created human beings, and that He has also created angels. And we know that God has created other angelic-like beings that live in heaven and who have been given specific purposes from God.

These four beings that John saw in heaven are very similar to four beings that Ezekiel described in Ezekiel Chapter 1. When we consider these four beings and try to see what we can learn from them, we notice that twice we are told that each of them was "full of eyes." Eyes are symbolic of seeing and knowing and understanding. What did these creatures see, what did they know, and what did they understand? The answer to this question is found by looking at Rev. 4:8 where the Bible says that "they rest not day nor night, saying, Holy, holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is, and is to come." They declare among other things the great holiness of God. If these same creatures were to fly around the world looking at and observing the human race, what would they conclude? How would they describe the humans. It certainly would not be "holy, holy, holy." It would be "depraved, corrupt, sinful." These four creatures that live near the throne of God remind us continually of the great contrast between God and man. God is holy; man is sinful.

The problem that every member of the human race has is the sin problem. The sin problem can ruin your life and keep you out of heaven, because heaven is a place of holiness. But thank God there is a remedy to the sin problem. Through Jesus you can find salvation and forgiveness, and then you also will be given a white garment to wear in heaven.

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