„ „ Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in
Asia, 216. Christian World Pulpit, x. 166 (J. S. Exell) ; xxxiv. 215 p. MacDonald) ; ^-Ixiv. 420 (L. A. Johnson) ;1xvi. 371 (E. Rees) ;Mxix. 387 (G. C. Morgan) j'^lxx. 173 (S. M. Crothers) ;" Ixxvi. 365 (N. G. Phelps); '-Ixxxi. 131 (A. H. McElwee) ; Ixxxiv. 216 (C. Brown). Churchman, New Ser., xxiv. 133 (J. Reid). Free Church Year Book, 1908, p. 39 (P. T. Forsyth). Preacher's Magazine, xxi. 494 (J. Edwards) ; xxiv. 269 (G. W. Polking-
horne). Twentieth Century Pastor, xxxiv. (1914) 19 (C. F. Aked). WeeUy Pulpit, ii. 3 (T. Phillips).
134
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The Waiting Guest.
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.— Rev. iii. 20.
The Church of Laodicea, to which these words were originally addressed, had grievously declined, so that it scarce retained any sign of spiritual life. Words cannot be found to express more strongly a decayed and almost desperate moral condition than those which Christ addresses to this once flourishing community. Spiritual pride, strange to say, is the most common attendant and fatal sign of spiritual degeneracy, as though, the worse men grew, the better they fancied themselves. But when Christ solemnly rebuked the Church of Laodicea, depicting its condition in terms which lead us to expect nothing else than its final con- demnation, then it is that, in place of assuming the office of Judge and thundering forth the vengeance of heaven, Christ still presents Himself as a pleader with the obdurate, and makes one more effort to prevail on them to be saved. This is one of those exquisite transitions which give the Bible such power of persuasiveness.
The text was originally spoken in reference to the unworthy members of a little Church of early believers in Asia Minor, but it passes far beyond the limits of the lukewarm Laodiceans to whom it was addressed. And the " any man " is wide enough to warrant us in stretching out the representation as far as the bounds of humanity extend, and in believing that wherever there is a closed heart there is a knocking Christ.
If Of all the pictures which flashed before the mind of the prisoner-seer of Patmos, the most wonderful is that which shows Jesus standing as a suppliant at a door, and that the door of a church (Eev. iii. 20). It was only the other day that I discovered for myself the reason why this is the most wonderful picture in the Apocalypse. Others may have found it out before, but it was only then that I saw that the words in verse 14 should be read as
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j6 THE WAITING GUEST
an inscription over the door — " The Church of the Laodiceans." I had not thought of that before ; the door had been any door to me. And while it was wonderful that Jesus should stand there and knock, His action has all the effect of a surprise when it is seen that He is standing and knocking at the door of the Church of the Laodiceans, of which He had said, "Because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." What was the matter with this Church ? It was not a society of un- believers or hypocrites. It was not accused of unfaithfulness or of heresy, or of any gross or open sin. It was not even a cold Church. Evidently it was not without some faith or love or obedience. Jesus said it was " lukewarm " obedience. What was the cause of this lukewarmness ? Our answer is found in the position of Jesus. He is standing at the door — outside. The Church bore His name, and called Him Lord and worshipped Him, but He was not " in the midst " of it. That is enough to account for its spiritual condition. Intensity of devotion is impossible while He remains at the door.^
We have represented in the text — I. The Waiting Christ. II. The Closed Door. IIL The Door Opened. IV. The Entrance and the Feast.
I.
The Waiting Christ.
Who knocks ? The exalted Christ. What is the door ? The closed heart of man. What does He desire ? Entrance. What are His knockings and His voice ? All providences, all monitions of His Spirit in man's spirit and conscience, the direct invitations of His written or spoken word — in brief, whatsoever sways our hearts to yield to Him and enthrone Him. This is the meaning, in the fewest possible words, of this great text.
1. This wonderful picture of Christ standing at the door like a weary traveller asking to be let in just reverses the common view which one is apt to take of the religious life. We couimonly
1 J. Reid, in The Churchman, Feb. 1910, p. 133.
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REVELATION iii. 20 137
think of truth as hiding itself within its closed door and of our- selves as trying to get into it. We speak of " finding Christ," or " proving God/' or " getting religion," as if all these things were mysteries to be explored, hidden behind doors which must be unlocked ; as if, in the relation between man and God, man did all the searching, and God was a hidden God. But the fundamental fact of the religious life is this — that the power and love of God are seeking man ; that before we love Him, He loves us ; that before we know Him, He knows us; that antecedent to our recognition of Him must be our receptivity of Him. Coleridge said that he believed in the Bible because it found him. It is for the same reason that man believes in God. God finds him.