Friend,
I am resuming my daily devotions after several months of respite. I am grateful for your understanding and kind wishes following the death of my father, Gene. For the next five weeks, I will be working through the book of Revelation. For those of you who are listening to the sermon series, A Glimpse of the Future, I encourage you to read the first four chapters of Revelation by Sunday, July 21st.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor David
“Look! I’m standing at the door and knocking. If any hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to be with them, and will have dinner with them, and they will have dinner with me” (Revelation 3:20, CEB).
Affixed to a prominent wall within London’s historic St. Paul’s Cathedral is a portrait painted by the nineteenth century artist, William Holman Hunt. The image of Christ standing at a wooden door is based upon Revelation 3:20. Several renditions have been created since. However, the original painting is shown below:
The English writer, John Ruskin, was a friend of Hunt. Ruskin was so inspired by the portrait that he invited a famous art critic to view the painting. As the critic examined the painting, he chuckled quite loudly. Ruskin asked the critic what he found to be so amusing. The critic replied:
I can’t believe you didn’t notice. You think Hunt is such a good painter. Well, look carefully at the door in the painting. Hunt forgot to put in the door latch. How can you open the door without a door latch.
Ruskin stood stone faced and slowly shook his head. When the critic calmed down, Ruskin explained:
You do not understand the painting at all. The door Jesus is knocking on is the door to our heart. There is no door latch on the outside, because the door to our heart can only be opened from within.
Ruskin’s interpretation of Revelation 3:20 has been widely adopted by many in the church. However, I believe Ruskin’s reading of this verse is too narrow in its scope.
The passage comes at the conclusion of Jesus speaking individually to the seven churches in Asia Minor. Jesus condemns some of the practices the churches had taken up collectively. Though each church is uniquely criticized for their wrongful actions, there exists a common mistake all of them made. They fell prey to the political influences of their present culture.
I fear that the 21st century church is suffering the same fate. Like the first century church, we are succumbing to forces that lead us away from the teachings and example of Jesus. Ideologies on both sides of the political aisle are compelling members of the Christian community to degrade the intrinsic value of human life. Political pundits are enlisting Christ followers to proliferate hateful and incendiary messages in an effort to destroy their opponents rather than reconcile their differences. The goal of winning political office is taking precedent over bringing souls to Christ.
Yet Jesus is standing at the threshold of the church in hope that we will open the door to his unwavering leadership over our lives, once again. I remind people that while it is proper to stand for the raising of the flag, we should never bow to it. As Christians, our allegiance, individually and collectively, is to Jesus and his mission first and foremost. Anything less is heretical.
I am resuming my daily devotions after several months of respite. I am grateful for your understanding and kind wishes following the death of my father, Gene. For the next five weeks, I will be working through the book of Revelation. For those of you who are listening to the sermon series, A Glimpse of the Future, I encourage you to read the first four chapters of Revelation by Sunday, July 21st.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor David
“Look! I’m standing at the door and knocking. If any hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to be with them, and will have dinner with them, and they will have dinner with me” (Revelation 3:20, CEB).
Affixed to a prominent wall within London’s historic St. Paul’s Cathedral is a portrait painted by the nineteenth century artist, William Holman Hunt. The image of Christ standing at a wooden door is based upon Revelation 3:20. Several renditions have been created since. However, the original painting is shown below:
The English writer, John Ruskin, was a friend of Hunt. Ruskin was so inspired by the portrait that he invited a famous art critic to view the painting. As the critic examined the painting, he chuckled quite loudly. Ruskin asked the critic what he found to be so amusing. The critic replied:
I can’t believe you didn’t notice. You think Hunt is such a good painter. Well, look carefully at the door in the painting. Hunt forgot to put in the door latch. How can you open the door without a door latch.
Ruskin stood stone faced and slowly shook his head. When the critic calmed down, Ruskin explained:
You do not understand the painting at all. The door Jesus is knocking on is the door to our heart. There is no door latch on the outside, because the door to our heart can only be opened from within.
Ruskin’s interpretation of Revelation 3:20 has been widely adopted by many in the church. However, I believe Ruskin’s reading of this verse is too narrow in its scope.
The passage comes at the conclusion of Jesus speaking individually to the seven churches in Asia Minor. Jesus condemns some of the practices the churches had taken up collectively. Though each church is uniquely criticized for their wrongful actions, there exists a common mistake all of them made. They fell prey to the political influences of their present culture.
I fear that the 21st century church is suffering the same fate. Like the first century church, we are succumbing to forces that lead us away from the teachings and example of Jesus. Ideologies on both sides of the political aisle are compelling members of the Christian community to degrade the intrinsic value of human life. Political pundits are enlisting Christ followers to proliferate hateful and incendiary messages in an effort to destroy their opponents rather than reconcile their differences. The goal of winning political office is taking precedent over bringing souls to Christ.
Yet Jesus is standing at the threshold of the church in hope that we will open the door to his unwavering leadership over our lives, once again. I remind people that while it is proper to stand for the raising of the flag, we should never bow to it. As Christians, our allegiance, individually and collectively, is to Jesus and his mission first and foremost. Anything less is heretical.