Dr. Roger W. Thomas, Preaching Minister
First Christian Church, Vandalia, MO
Christ at Heart’s Door
Revelation 3:20
(Projection of the classic painting illustrates the message.)
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 him, and he with me.
Tonight I call your attention to what may be the best known verse in Revelation—3:20. The verse has been vividly illustrated in an equally familiar painting. Let’s use the painting to analyze the verse.
Artist Warner Sallman painted Christ at Heart’s Door in the late 1940’s. Sallman worked as a freelance artist and magazine illustrator in Chicago. In 1994, the New York Times called him the “best known artist of the century.” His fame primarily grew from another painting, The Head of Christ. He completed that work in 1940. It was immediately popular because of what many called “a serene, best friend” presentation of Jesus. It was soon picked up by the Salvation Army and the USO who distributed it in pocketsize to US soldiers. By the time the war ended, Sallman’s Head of Christ was one of the most recognizable pieces of religious art in the world. Christ at Heart’s Door and several other paintings with the same recognizable face soon appeared.
Sallman based Christ at Heart’s Door on our verse from Revelation. In many ways, the painting is a visual parable. Imbedded in the artwork are several clues that help us understand the verse.
We will come back to the painting in a moment. First, a note about the verse. Revelation 3:20 comes in the last part of the last letter to the last church in Revelation, the last book of the Bible. Revelation provides heaven’s answer the question “what on earth is God doing for heaven’s sake?” It explains how he is going to make it all turn out alright despite the fact that it doesn’t always look like it now. Before addressing the fate of the world, Revelation speaks to the condition of the church. In seven brief memos, Christ diagnoses the health of his church and prescribes the appropriate remedies. Those words ring just as true for the church of the 21st Century as they did for those seven congregations at the end of the 1st Century. Our verse is among the last words to the last church. Laodicea considered itself wealthy and prosperous. Jesus’ verdict—materially, maybe. Spiritually, the church was bankrupt. Our verse offers Christ’s solution to a church that has everything except what matters.
The focus of the painting like the verse is The Visitor. Who it is that knocks on your door matters. Anyone would open the door a lot quicker for someone he knows than for a stranger. In this case, we recognize the visitor. We’ve seen him before. Of course, the artist’s depiction is only one man’s imagination. No one knows exactly what Jesus looked like. But we understand the idea.
The visitor who stands at the door is a man. He comes in normal human form. Do you know how remarkable that is? The greatest miracle of the Bible is not healing the sick, walking on water, or feeding the 5000. In a sense, it wasn’t even the resurrection. The greatest miracle of all is what theologians call The Incarnation. The Word that with God and was God and by whom all things were created became flesh and dwelt among us. (Jn 1:1-14). If that is true, all the rest becomes credible. All other miracles are small beside that one. Here he stands at the door and knocks!
But there’s just a hint that this is not any ordinary man who stands at the door. He is the Light of the World. He is the very presence of the Living God among us. We beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. Demons tremble before him. Darkness recedes. Someday every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is Lord. HE stands at the door. Behold I stand at the door and knock!
This is not just any door. We understand the symbolism of the parable. A door stands for entry, opportunity. A door opens into something. This is more than a door of a house. It is the door of a life. Note the shading of light and shadow that encircles the door. Ever so subtly it forms a heart—the inner life of a person. Sometimes the Bible calls it the soul. Sometimes the spirit of a man. But most often, it just speaks of the heart, that inner part of us that controls our values, our choices, our affections, and ultimately our relationship with our Maker.
You have a heart. So do I. It is the real you. It is the place the Lord of Glory wants to enter, live, and stay. Your heart has a door. Christ stands at the door and he knocks.
Did ever wonder what’s on the other side of the door? Who lives there? What’s it like on the inside? There are some clues in the picture. It’s nighttime but there’s no light on. Darkness fills the heart. Jesus stands at that door and knocks.
There are more clues. Briars and thorns have overgrown the walk. Jesus likened such weeds to the cares and anxieties of this life. This life has more than its share. Look overhead. A bird has made a nest above the door. That doesn’t happen where there is lots of coming and going. I wonder if many visitors come to this door. It doesn’t look like it. At first glance, this looks like a lonely life with a lot of darkness and cares. Still he comes.
Behold I stand at the door and knock. No amount of sin or personal problems can keep the savior of souls from walking through the darkness and cares right up to the door of a broken heart, knocking, and waiting.
Perhaps the most striking part of the text is the invitation. Christ doesn’t just knock once and walk away. He knocks, leans close to listen for a response, and then calls out. “Open. I will come in and we will eat together.” He doesn’t come to lecture and scold. He comes with forgiveness and fellowship. To the ancients breaking bread together was a symbol of friendship and peace. The prince of peace stands and knocks.
You do know that we each have a heart. The heart has a door. The Lord of Glory knocks, knocks again and again, asking for us to open and let him in so we can have sweet fellowship together. Have you heard him knock? You might not always have recognized his knock. Those good times of laughter and joy, those blessings you didn’t expect—those may well have been a gentle reminding of how good it could be all of the time with Christ in the heart of your life. Even those tough times could have been a wake-up call from Heaven. They could have been the savior calling for your attention, pleading with you to let him in so he could put things right. Scripture says the Lord never leaves himself without a testimony in anyone’s life. He is always knocking. He is knocking on your life.
Some have pointed to another fact about the picture and our text. This door shows no outer latch. The principle is true whether the artist intended it in the picture or not. Christ never forces himself into any life, not yours, not mine. If we are to have fellowship with the Savior, we must open. He knocks, listens, and waits. He waits for us to open. Have you? Are you?
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More often than not, preachers use this text and painting to illustrate the Savior’s invitation to those who have not yet accepted him. It pictures the opportunity, so we are told, to open their lives, receive and believe the Gospel, and become personal followers of Jesus. This is a good illustration of that. However, that’s not the message of our text.
Remember this is the part of the last letter to the last of the seven churches of Revelation. In reality, this text addresses Christians, not unbelievers. It is a call for believers who have professed their faith in Christ but whose relationship has grown cold and distant. Every time believers see this picture, they should take stock of their relationship with Christ. We need to ask, even though I believe in Jesus, have I somehow left him standing outside the door of my life while he really wants to come in and live it with me? There is a difference!
Poet Lois Blanchard makes this image personal when she asks, “If Jesus came to your own home to spend a day or two -- If He came unexpectedly; I wonder what you’d do? I know you’d give your nicest room to such an honored Guest, and all the food you’d serve to Him would be the very best. And you would keep assuring Him you’re glad to have Him there -- That serving Him in your own home is joy beyond compare; but when you saw Him standing there, could you go to the door, with arms outstretched to welcome Him your Heavenly Visitor? Or would you have to change some things before you let Him in? Or hide some magazines and put the Bible where they’d been? Would family conversation be continued at its pace? And would you find it hard each meal to say a table grace? Would you be glad to have him meet your very closest friends? Or would you hope they’d stay away until His visit ends? Would you be glad to have Him stay forever, on and on? Or would you sigh with great relief when He at last was gone? It might cause some embarrassment the things that you would do, if Jesus came to your own house to spend some time with you.”
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 him, and he with me.
***Dr. Roger W. Thomas is the preaching minister at First Christian Church, 205 W. Park St., Vandalia, MO 63382 and an adjunct professor of Bible and Preaching at Central Christian College of the Bible, 911 E. Urbandale, Moberly, MO. He is a graduate of Lincoln Christian College (BA) and Lincoln Christian Seminary (MA, MDiv), and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary (DMin).
