^ Why does Christ not come in ? Is not this Divine Spirit omnipotent? Has He not power to enter where He will, to breathe where He chooses, to blow where He listeth ? Why, then, does He stand without, knocking at the door of a frail human heart? Could He not break down that door in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, and annihilate that opposing barrier which disputes His claim to universal empire ? Yes, but in so doing He would annihilate also the man. What makes me a man is just my power to open the door. If I had no power to open or to forbear opening, I would not be responsible. He meant me to respond to Himself, to open on His knocking at the door. He could have no joy in breaking down the door, in taking the kingdom of my heart by violence ; there would be no response in that, no answer of a heart, no acceptance of a will by His will. Therefore, He prefers to stand without till I open, to knock till I hear, to speak till I respond.^
^ My friend Mr. Collier, of Manchester, told me of an inci- dent that occurred during one of his mission services at the Central Hall. Holman Hunt's picture was on the screen. In front sat a working man and his little boy. A great hush was over the
* G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, 144.
REVELATION iii. 20 145
audience. Presently the little boy nudged the man and said, " Dad, why don't they let Him in ? " The man was a little nonplussed, then after a moment's silence said, " I don't know, Jimmy. I expect they don't want Him to come in." Again a moment's silence, and Jimmy said, " It's not that. Everybody wants Him." After a pause he continued, "I know why they don't let Him in. They live at the back of the house." The man who refuses to admit Jesus has some motive, something kept behind and out of sight. He is living at the back.^
IIL
The Dooe Opened.
1. Notice the simple conditions of the text — "If any man will hear my voice and open the door," Christ does not say : " If any man make himself moral; if any man will try and make himself better ; if any man has deep sorrow ; if any man has powerful faith." No, that is not it. This is what He says : " If any man will hear my voice, and open the door." The con- dition of His entrance is simple trust in Him as the Saviour of the soul. That is opening the door, and if we do that, then, just as when we open the shutters, in comes the sunshine; just as when we lift the sluice in flows the crystal stream into the slimy, empty lock, so Christ will enter in.
2. The text is a metaphor, but the declaration, that " if any man open the door " Jesus Christ " will come in to him," is not a metaphor ; it is the very heart and centre of the gospel : " I will come in to him," dwell in him, be really incorporated in his being. There is no more certain fact in the whole world than the actual dwelling of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who is in heaven, in the spirits of the people that love Him and trust Him. Into our emptiness He will come with His fulness ; into our sinfulness He will come with His righteousness ; into our death He will come with His triumphant and immortal life ; and He being in us, we shall be full and pure and live for ever, and be blessed with the blessedness of Jesus.
1[ The manner and the way, whereby Christ's righteousness
^ G. Campbell Morgan. REV. — 10
146 THE WAITIxNG GUEST
and obedience, death and sufferings without, become profitable unto us, and are made ours, is by receiving Him, and becoming one with Him in our hearts, embracing and entertaining that Holy Seed which, as it is embraced and entertained, becometh a Holy Birth in us, which in Scripture is called : " Christ formed within " ; " Christ within, the hope of glory " (Gal. iv. 19 ; Col. L 27), by which the body of sin and death is done away, and we cleansed and washed and purged from our sins, Twt imaginarily hut really ; and we really and truly made righteous and holy and pure in the sight of Grod : and it is through the union betwixt Him and us (His righteous life and nature brought forth in us, and we made one with it, as the branches are with the vine), that we have a true title and right to what He hath done and suffered for us.
It is not the works of Christ wrought in us, nor the works which we work in His spirit and power, that we rest and rely upon as the ground and foundation of our justification ; but it is Christ Himself, the Worker revealed in us, indwelling in us ; His life and spirit covering us, that is the ground of our justification.^
IV.
The Entrance and the Feast.