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June 21 Daily Devotional

Unable to Open

Frans Bakker

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock. —Revelation 3:20

Bible Reading

Revelation 3:14–22

Devotional

The Lord Jesus Christ stands at the door of your heart and He is knocking. It is an urgent knocking. The best way to dismiss this urgency is by saying that you cannot open up the door. Saying this is the most splendid, most orthodox, and at the same time, the easiest way to ignore this knocking. You can appeal to your inability and then you appear to have the truth on your side. You could reason that you were born deaf and that therefore you cannot hear. That is all perfectly true. But have you ever sincerely wept behind the hard bolts of your corrupt heart of stone? Have you recognized your sin and guilt?

You have locked the door to God. Consider how many bolts there are that keep you fastened to your own will. It would be worthwhile, when you hear these calls from above, to look for the cause of your harshness against a loving God. Truly, the bolts are on the inside of your heart. It is because of your sins that you have locked the door of your heart to God. You have forsaken God. You have neglected Him. You do not want to know Him anymore. But now you read: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” Behold, the Lord has not withdrawn Himself from you; He still wants to be acquainted with runaway people. The Lord goes after man on his way to perdition.

Does it move you? Does it melt you that God does not want you to perish in your sin? The bolts of your heart have to melt as ice exposed to heat. You must answer God who has done nothing else but good, who still does not cease to do good, and who knocks on the door of those who have forsaken Him. He has no pleasure in their death; He has no pleasure in your death.

Christ knocks at your door, seeking to enter your life. He Himself encountered a closed door until He paid for the wages of your sins. Now He knocks on the door of your human heart. Have you been made humble and meek because of the deep love of God who searches for you that He might save you from destruction?

Or do you complain that you have locked yourself up behind the bolts of your own sins and are now unable to pull the bolts back? Consider your terrible bolts. They are so heavy that you cannot open them yourself anymore. You cannot open them to receive the King. Remember, then, that you still are dealing with a God who is willing to give what He commands. Therefore, you cannot ask too much, for the Lord is willing to make room for Himself. “To him that knocketh it shall be opened” (Matt. 7:8). That is all because God Himself was the first who knocked on the door.

 

From The Everlasting Word by Frans Bakker, compiled and translated by Gerald R. Procee. Reformation Heritage Books and Free Reformed Publications, 2007. Used by permission. For further information, click here.

 

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