Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. – Revelation 3:20

I am sure you all have them – boxes, stowed away in the depths of a cupboard, containing items that have been passed down to you, or left behind by your parents. In addition to the usual pottery, glassware, and linen, I have an old vinyl record case full of family photographs going back many years....sister, brothers, aunts, uncles, parents and grandparents – you name them – they're there. Sadly, all have now gone to their rest, awaiting Christ's return.

As I look through the photo's my mind travels back to the times my sister and brothers visited my parents. In my mindseye I can still picture my father waiting by the door for them to arrive – just as he did each weekend when I returned home from college in Leeds....huge smile on his face and arms open wide. No matter how frenetic the journey had been for all of us, the welcome made it all worth while. 

Unlike William Holman Hunt's painting “The Light of the World,” (painted 1851-1853), we didn't have to knock on the door and wait for it to be opened.

Depicting Revelation 3:20 – “behold I stand at the door and knock.” Hunt’s painting shows Jesus, complete with crown on his head, standing at a door with his right hand raised to knock. The light from the lamp Jesus is carrying illuminates the door, but leaves much of the background in darkness. The door itself is overgrown with weeds. There is no evidence that anyone has used the door recently. Hunt said the door represents “the obstinately shut mind.” This mind has ignored the knocking at the door for a long period of time, but Jesus has just kept on knocking. The other significant feature of the painting is that there is no door handle on the side of the door where Jesus is standing. Jesus can’t open it. It can only be opened from pur side.

(Acknowledgements Garry Mullen)

Will we welcome Him with a huge smile on our faces, and our arms open wide?

"I Believe, Help Thou My Unbelief" By Bill Gaither, Marshall Hall, & Guy Penrod (2008) is music today. Click on the picture to listen.