The icon of Jesus knocks on every home. ...Faith is an open door for God to come in...

Having believed in the Lord, all the brothers and sisters love to sing the song “The Beloved is Knocking on the Door”: “The Beloved is knocking on the door. The handles of the castle are covered with night dew. Get up, open the door for Him; don’t let your loved one leave..."

Every time we sing this song, it touches us all and has a big influence. We all want to hold our beloved and be among the first to hear His voice and greet Him when He knocks at our door. All believers in the Lord desire this. But what does it mean when the Lord knocks on the door? And how should we greet Him when He knocks at our door?

During the Age of Grace, when Jesus Christ came to perform atonement, the news of His works and His teachings spread throughout Judea, His name also became known among a whole generation. For the people of that time, Jesus Christ was knocking on their door as He preached everywhere Gospel with His disciples. The Lord Jesus said: " From that time Jesus began to preach and say: repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."(Matthew 4:17). The Lord wanted people to repent and confess to Him in order to forgive their sins and redeem them from the condemnation and curse of the Law. At that time, many Jews saw the miracles performed by Jesus Christ, as well as the authority and power of His words; they saw the feeding of five thousand with five loaves and two fish after words of thanksgiving, the pacification of the storm and the sea with one word, the raising of Lazarus with one word, etc. As the Lord Jesus said, everything was accomplished and fulfilled. His words are similar to the words spoken by the Creator when He created the heavens and the earth; they are also filled with power and authority. Moreover, such words that the Lord Jesus spoke and with which He taught the people and rebuked the Pharisees cannot be spoken by people. His words reveal God's entire character and essence, and they reveal the power and authority of God. In fact, everything that the Lord said or did could not but concern human soul. We can say that the Jewish people of that time had already heard the Lord's knock on the door.

However, the Jewish chief priests, scribes and Pharisees did not recognize that Jesus Christ was the coming Messiah due to prejudice and their own ideas. They adhered to the letter of the prophecies from the Bible and believed that the one who came should be called Emmanuel or Messiah and, moreover, should be born of a virgin. When they saw that Mary had a husband, they simply denied that the Lord Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin; they slandered Jesus Christ, saying that He was the son of a carpenter, thereby rejecting and condemning Him; and, besides, they also blasphemed, saying that the Lord Jesus casts out demons through Beelzebub, the chief of the demons. Having come into contact with the deeds and words of the Lord, the rumors and slander of the Pharisees, most Jews listened more to the words of the Pharisees instead of God's Gospel. They closed their hearts to the Lord while He knocked. The Lord Jesus said about this, “... and the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled over them, which says: You will hear with your ears and will not understand, and with your eyes you will look and will not see, for the hearts of these people are hardened and their ears are hard to hear, and they have closed their eyes, Lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and lest they be converted, that I might heal them” (Matthew 13:14-15). The Lord hoped that people would be able to hear His voice, know His works, and understand His will. When people open their hearts to God to answer His knock, He guides them to recognize His voice and see His form. The Jewish people of that time, because they believed the rumors of the Pharisees, closed their hearts to the Lord, refused to hear His voice to accept His atonement, and missed the chance to follow Jesus Christ. As a result, they suffered losses among their people for many generations and for almost two thousand years due to their resistance to God. On the contrary, those disciples who followed Jesus Christ, such as Peter, John, James, etc., heard the words of the Lord, knew His works and recognized Jesus Christ as the coming Messiah. As a result, they followed in the footsteps of the Lord and achieved His salvation.

Exactly the same in Lately, we need to be even more alert and prepared because the Lord will come and knock on our door again at any time. Jesus Christ said: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches: To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7). “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them; and they follow me"(John 10:27). From these scriptures we learn that Jesus Christ will speak and do all things new again at His return, which means the Lord will knock on our door. All those who are wise virgins will actively seek and listen carefully to His sayings, knowing whether it is the voice of the Lord. When they recognize the voice of the Lord, they will accept His return. Our Lord is faithful. He will surely enable those who thirst and seek Him to hear His voice when He speaks. Perhaps He will tell us about His return through the mouths of others, just as the Lord Jesus warned us: “ But at midnight a cry was heard: behold, the groom is coming, go out to meet him"(Matthew 25:6). Perhaps we will hear His voice in person, or we will hear His word through churches preaching the Gospel of the Lord's return, or through the Internet, radio or Facebook. But in any case, the Lord hopes that we can become wise virgins so that we can observe and listen to His voice at any time. We do not need to approach His knock according to our ideas and prejudices, as the Jews did, and even more so we should not blindly listen to lies or rumors about religious antichrists, thereby refusing God's call, thus losing the opportunity of meeting the returning Jesus and rapture in Kingdom of heaven. Instead, we should open the door to the Lord and welcome Him by hearing His voice. This is the only way we can stand before God's throne at the Feast of the Lamb.

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These words are written in last book Bible. They reveal one of the main and very important truths Holy Scripture: God wants a person, having heard His voice, to open the door of his heart and let Him in. Wonderful paintings have been painted on this verse, exciting musical works, many inspired sermons are preached.

What is striking in these words is that the almighty Lord God, to whom everything is subject, appears before us not as a ruler, but as a stranger knocking on the door of the heart. Can't He Himself open the door and enter? Can't He, the Creator of heaven and earth, force people to accept Him?

Surely God can do this. But He does not want to take possession of us by force. He is waiting for us to voluntarily accept Him into our hearts and respond to His love with love.

God created people free. But they abused their free will, fell into the sin of disobedience to the commandments of God and, becoming embittered, said to the Lord of life: “We do not want You to reign over us!” As a result of this, the Lord found himself outside the human heart.

However, He has not gone far from us, He stands behind the doors of our hearts and knocks, waiting for us to let Him in.

How can the great and holy God, who dwells in the unapproachable light, dwell in our hearts? We can find an explanation for this only in His love. God loves His creation and longs to be in fellowship with it. He wants to give peace and rest to our souls. He knows that without Him we are unhappy, pitiful, poor and blind, but with Him we possess the countless riches of heaven. How does the Lord knock on us?

God appeals to our minds through His Word - the Bible. Jesus Christ says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The Lord testifies of His love: “...I have loved you with everlasting love, and therefore have shown favor to you” (Jer. 31:3), and at the same time He warns: “You will die in your sins if you do not believe.” To those who respond to His call of love, He promises: “Whoever believes in Me has eternal life” (John 6:47).

God speaks to us through inner voice . When left alone with oneself, a person often experiences inexplicable melancholy. He feels that his life should be different, that his soul is missing something important, valuable, basic. At this moment, the merciful Savior approaches the person and says: “Let Me in, I will calm your restless soul and fill it with lasting joy and peace.”

The Lord knocks on us through illnesses and failures. When illness confines us to bed, God gives us the opportunity to think about the frailty of life. He breaks the idols that control our hearts without any right, and reveals the true meaning of life.

God speaks through world events, disasters, changes in society. All this indicates that humanity is approaching its end and the day is near when everyone will stand before the judgment of God if they do not repent of their sins.

Why do people for the most part remain deaf to God's call? What prevents them from letting in such a great Guest?

Some are hindered by pride, others by everyday worries, and others by favorite sins. People realize that before they can accept Christ, they must forsake all sin. However, sinful deeds seem to them to be the only pleasure in this world, so they say: “Not now, later.”

Others are hindered by a sense of their own unworthiness, and they vegetate in vain away from Christ.

It is true that all people are sinners, that no one is righteous, and no one is worthy of the Lord. But God does not disdain us as we are. He wants to make us all new people, because He “came to seek and save what was lost.” According to Him, it is not the healthy who need a physician, but the sick (Matthew 9:12).

The Savior knows well what exactly prevents us from accepting Him, therefore He says in His Word, “Let every valley be filled, and every mountain and hill be made low, and let all flesh see the salvation of God” (Is. 40:4-5) In other words, let not The humble one is embarrassed and let the high one not be proud of his position - Jesus Christ is equally ready to save both.

One of the biggest obstacles to accepting Christ is widespread doubt and unbelief. And many are simply ashamed to believe in God. We are accustomed to accepting only what fits into the framework of ingrained concepts. For too long we have been going against our true original purpose - to glorify God and serve Him - and therefore the abnormal began to be considered normal, and a holy life began to seem impossible to us. This is why we run from Christ, fearing His revealing truth. And if you look carefully, many do not believe in Christ only because deep down in their souls they want Him not to exist. So, whoever of us is proud, let us humble ourselves before Him, for recognizing His dominion over us is not shameful; on the contrary, this is fully consistent with true human dignity.

When we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts, He transforms our entire life. He forgives all our iniquities, frees us from sinful oppression and the torment of a guilty conscience, streamlines our thinking. He instills in us pure desires and illuminates our hearts with an unearthly light.

He gives an endless holiday to our soul, personally settling in us

The Stranger comes to you and knocks on the door. Open up! Open up! The Holy Guest repeats to your soul. Open up! Open up! Where He enters, where He finds shelter, there is eternal peace, there love lives. That dear Guest is your Savior Himself, He washed away with Blood grave sin earthly To open means to accept His mercy; Christ alone can save everyone. Open up! Open up!

T You closed your heart with a yellow door
There's a huge lock attached inside,
Locked it with a key so no one could
To enter the heart or cross the threshold.

Jesus knocks with meekness on the door of the heart
And He asks you to let him in,
But Jesus won't knock like that
And stand at your door forever.

If you don’t open it, he’ll leave after standing.
He will take the blessing with him,
And you will continue to live as before
And you will serve the devil as a slave.

You knew Jesus before - suddenly remember
You were with him - he was yours best friend,
But you stumbled and fell into this mud
Understand - after all, whoever didn’t fall didn’t get up.

Yes, you cannot free yourself from sin
He is like a king to you now,
He says go - go
He says take it, take it.

Computer, Internet - everything for you
He offers new pages,
You look without blinking your eyes
And your conscience doesn’t condemn you.

Cinema, theater, TV - class
I sat down at two, and it was already five o’clock,
The enemy doesn't let you keep track of time.
He will always find something new.

He controls you like a horse
It often leads you over the abyss,
More and more often he is not allowed into the meeting
He prepares friends for sin.

Friends call: “Let’s go and have fun”
You don't want to, but it's a shame to refuse,
"Then they will give me the nickname of the weak
And even worse, the neighbors will laugh.

Well no, I'd better go...
I'll try some wine, but I don't drink,
You can also try drugs
I’ll try a little and carefully.”

Oh wait, you didn’t understand, friend.
After all, you have already fallen into a whirlpool,
That you yourself have already taken the nickname “weak”
When he couldn’t do it to the enemy, he didn’t refuse.

He's laughing at you now
After all, you are now in his hands,
He took the reins into his own hands
And he can completely control you.

You closed your heart, but the enemy remained there
He has power over your heart,
He doesn't let you live in peace
And he wants to destroy your soul.

You don’t want to sin, but you sin again
I would like to attend the meeting
But again you step in a different direction
Along the road that does not lead to salvation.

You walk backwards, looking with a sigh
When you were in church, you were happy
You watered your soul with prayers
And he sang a song of praise to God.

Now you stand and fall asleep while praying
When they sing, you don’t open your mouth,
You're tired of life - you're tired of everything
And tell me, who cares?

You say: “After all, my life, I am responsible for it
Why are you stopping me from living in this world?
Why are you meddling in my destiny?
And making your life seem like hell?

Read your notations
It's like I'm hearing this for the first time,
And sermons, repentance, come
Why should I repent? After all, I’m in church, look.

Maybe I sin sometimes
But there are no holy people,
People are twice as sinful as me
So tell them about Christ.

On Sunday, I'm always in the meeting
I pay attention to the sermon.
And I have the Holy Spirit within me
This means I am always with Christ.”

And Jesus is at the heart of everything
With patience he knocks on your door,
Open, Christ will cleanse everything
He loves, because you are his child.

He will restore joy in the heart again
And you will glorify God and praise,
Think friend, quickly open the door
Let Christ in and you will find peace.

You will return that first love again
And you will inspire your hearts again,
And Jesus is still standing at the door
With love he knocks on your heart.
**Helen I**

In the picture: Hunt—“THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD.” …Very important thing what needs to be said about faith is that faith is open doors in order for God to come in. God does not enter a person’s house, knocking down doors with his foot, as, for example, police officers run into a drug den, or as someone else has the audacity to break into our home through a window, with noise and screaming. No! The Lord stands and knocks!
In the 19th century there was such an English artist W. Hunt, he painted a picture “ Night Traveler”, or “Traveler of the Apocalypse” (“Lamp of the World”). It depicts Jesus Christ with a lantern, the lantern in a closed container so that the wind does not blow it. The Savior in a crown of thorns, in traveling clothes; He is standing at the door of a certain house. This is very famous picture, extremely famous, there are many redrawings of it, and original painting I'm very curious myself.
Christ stands at the door of a certain house and knocks on these doors. Obviously, these are the doors of the human heart, and He knocks on them. He doesn’t hit these doors with his elbow, or his shoulder, or his knee, He knocks there carefully. There are a lot of weeds at the threshold of this house - this means that the door was not opened often, the door is closed, it is already overgrown, and He stands and knocks... You know how it happens when they knock gently on your house, and suddenly you are listening to music, you can’t hear there's a knock, or you're having a drinking party and you can't hear it, or there's football on TV - Hurray!!! - what is it, can you hear that Christ is knocking on the door? Can not hear! What if you are sleeping, for example, and you don’t hear either... You never know why you don’t open the doors of your heart.

And Hunt, the author of this picture, noticed this interesting thing: “We understand that this is an allegorical picture: Christ is knocking on the door of our hearts. Everything is clear, the doors are overgrown and don’t open... But there’s no handle! There's no handle there outside! You forgot to draw a pen here! Every door has a handle, both outside and inside.” To which the artist said: “This door only has a handle from the inside.” There is no handle on the outside of the door of the heart. The doors of the heart can only be opened from the inside. This is extremely important idea! A person must open himself to God. Christ will not force miracles on a person who does not open the door for Him.

... The Lord rejoices in faith and is surprised by faith where it, perhaps, should not have been; The Lord is saddened by her absence where she should have been, and wonders: how come you have no faith? why don't you have faith? A person has faith at the same time as unbelief, and it is up to the person to enter into the struggle and expel from himself that which hinders, and leave that which helps. And, finally, the doors of our hearts are locked from the inside, and the Lord does not force miracles on us until we open the doors of our spiritual home wide open to Him.

Have faith in God, and may the merciful Christ save you through the prayers of the Mother of God. Amen.

Archpriest Andrey Tkachev

Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

I’m standing at the door and it’s no use.- Not violent, says My presence: for I there's no use in the door of the heart and I rejoice with those who open them for their salvation. - I consider this salvation food and supper and I feed on what they feed on and drive away the smoothness of hearing the word of God.

Interpretation of the Apocalypse.

St. Tikhon Zadonsky

God Himself wants to come to us and present Himself to us for knowledge! He stands at everyone’s door, and wants to be known to everyone, but few people hear Him knocking on the door, since everyone’s hearing is drowned out by the lusts of sin and the love of the world. And so, having knocked on the door and having found nothing, he leaves the person with nothing. Calm and calm your mind and your heart from the lusts of the flesh and the noise of worldly desires. Turn away from all this and listen to Him alone. Then you will truly know that He stands near you and knocks on the doors of your heart, and you will hear His sweet voice, and you will open the doors to Him. Then he will come into your house and dine with you, and you with Him. Then you will taste and see "how good is the Lord"(Ps. 33:9) . Then you too will cry with love and joy: “The Lord is generous and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in mercy, and true.”(Ex. 34:6) . And further: “I will love You, O Lord, my strength”, and further. And further: “What’s in heaven for me? And without You, what do I want on earth?” and further. Seek everywhere for Him who is everywhere, and, leaving everything, seek Him alone. And then you will certainly find it.

A spiritual treasure collected from the world.

St. Macarius the Great

Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

So, let us accept God and the Lord, the true physician. Who, having come and worked hard for us, alone can heal our souls. For He continually strikes the doors of our hearts, so that we would open to Him, and He would ascend and rest in our souls, and we washed and anointed His feet, and He would make an abode with us. And there the Lord rebukes him who did not wash His feet (Luke 7:44); and in another place he says: “ Behold, I stand at the door: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him" For this reason, He deigned to suffer a lot, giving His body to death, and redeeming us from slavery, so that, having come to our soul, he would create an abode in it. Therefore, those who will be placed on the left side at His judgment, and whom He will send with the devil to Gehenna. The Lord will say: “ he was strange, and did not know Me; you are hungry, and you will not let me eat; you got thirsty and didn’t give me a drink"(Matthew 25:42-43); for food, and drink, and clothing, and cover, and His rest are in our souls. Therefore, he constantly knocks on the door, wanting to come in to us. Let us accept Him and bring Him inside ourselves; because for us He is food, life, drink, and eternal life. And every soul that has not received Him into itself and has not rested Him within itself now, or better to say, has not itself rested in Him, has no inheritance with the saints in the kingdom of heaven, and cannot enter the heavenly city.

Collection of manuscripts type II. Conversation 30.

Let's not be like bad and unfaithful wives who, when their hard-working husband comes home to rest, go away from the yard to wander somewhere on the side. How he longs to rest in His home, in our bodies and souls, the kind and only husband Christ, who worked hard for us and redeemed us with His own blood (Heb. 9:12)! He always knocks on the doors of our hearts, so that we would open to Him and He, entering, would rest in our souls and create an abode with us (John 14:23), so that we may not be reproached, as the Lord reproaches one who has not washed and not wiped His feet and Him who did not comfort Him. And in another place the Lord says: “ Here I am standing at the door and knocking; If anyone opens to me, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me." But we move away from Him without truly seeking Him. And He Himself is always close to our souls, knocking and striving to enter and calm down within us. For this reason, He endured great suffering, giving His Body to death and redeeming us from the slavery of darkness, so that, having entered into every soul, He would create an abode for Himself in it (John 14:23) and rest in it after the great labors endured for its sake. . This was the desire of His good will, that while we are still in this age, He would dwell and dwell in us, according to His promise (2 Cor. 6:16).

Collection of manuscripts type III. Lesson 16.

Blzh. Hieronymus of Stridonsky

Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

However, God allows us to be kings of the earth, so that we reign over the earth and rule over our own flesh. As the apostle says: let sin not reign in your mortal body(Rom. 6:12) - and elsewhere it is written: The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord(Prov. 21:1) . Was the heart of Julian the persecutor in the hand of God? Is Saul's heart in the hand of God? Is Ahab's heart in the hand of God? Are the hearts of all the wicked kings of Judah in the hand of God? You see that there can be no talk of a literal understanding here. So the kings here are the saints, their heart is in the hand of the Lord. And let us pray to God that we may be kings and rule over our flesh, so that it will obey us. As the apostle says: But I subdue and enslave my body, so that, while preaching to others, I myself would not remain unworthy(1 Cor. 9:27) . Let our soul command, and let our body obey, and immediately Christ will enter and live in us.

Treatise on the Psalms.

Caesar of Arles

Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

It’s true, if an earthly king or some head of a family invited you to his birthday, what kind of clothes would you try to decorate yourself with, if not new and exquisite, if not shining, so that neither their dilapidation, nor cheapness, nor ugliness would hurt your eyes? who invited? Therefore, with as much zeal as you can, with the help of Christ, direct all your efforts so that your soul, composed of the various ornaments of virtues, is adorned precious stones simplicity and flowers of moderation, came to the feast of the Eternal King, that is, the birthday of the Lord Savior, with a calm conscience, shining purity, sparkling love and sincere sacrifice.

Sermons.

Ecumenius

I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

The Lord reveals Himself to be gentle and peaceful. For the devil, according to the word of the prophet, with an ax and a reed (Ps. 73:6) crushes the doors of those who do not accept him. And the Lord, both now and in the Song of Songs, says to the bride: open to me, my sister, my beloved(Song 5:2) . And if someone opens for him, he will come in. A meal with the Lord means receiving the Holy Sacraments [Body and Blood].