In the call to worship, consider the contrast of two doors. The first, found in Revelation 3:20, is the door of the church, a door at which the Lord Jesus Christ stands and knocks. This is not the door of an unbeliever’s heart, as so many today assume, but is rather the door of a complacent, self-satisfied church – a church very much like the contemporary church. And because the modern evangelical Laodecian church talks so much about opening the door of the heart, and knows very little about what it means to welcome Jesus Christ into their midst as a church, we have the contemptible state of worship as it exists in our nation today. And so Christ stands outside the door of the worship service, knocking. But no one can hear Him over the hubbub of babbling, strumming, amplifiers, worship bands, and applause following the skits. Some might think this unfair, but I think not. I shudder to think what Isaiah would say about it all. There is a vast difference between revival humbling and revival humbug.
The other door is mentioned just a few verses down, and it is the door of heaven. This door, unlike the first, is open. This door beckons the one who is humble and contrite in spirit. This door is open to all who want to join the twenty-four elders in prostrating themselves before the Glory, and who want to cast their crowns before Him.
Outside the first door, the Lord Jesus stands, and knocks. Inside the second door He sits, and He sits on a throne.