Author: Gary Witcher
Company: none

Jesus: Door

     What comes to mind when someone mentions a "door" or a "doorway"?  We speak of an "open door" as a source of opportunity or blessings.  A doorway or gateway provides the possibility to see what is on the other side.  It is a revealer.  It also offers the chance to walk through and become part of something in another location.
     A closed door can represent a missed opportunity.  But it can also be seen as a symbol of security.
     When we think of Jesus as, "the Door," we have in mind all of this and much more.
     "Yet He commanded the clouds above," Psalm 78:23-24 says of God, "and opened the doors of heaven; and He rained down manna upon them to eat, and gave them food from heaven."
     God opens the doors of heaven and provides physical care for His people.  But, more importantly, through Jesus He opens the doors of heaven and provides spiritual care for His people.
     "All ate the same spiritual food," 1 Corinthians 10:3-4 says in reference to the Israelites in the wilderness; "and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ."
     "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ," Paul acknowledges in Ephesians 1:3," who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ."
     This entire first chapter of Ephesians seems to be devoted to listing the blessings which are ours in Christ, including faith, knowledge and redemption.  After reading this chapter we cannot help but ask ourselves one question: If all blessings come through Christ, what is available outside of Him?
     Jesus is the door to all spiritual blessings from God.  He is also the door in the sense that He is the revealer of God, salvation and heaven.
     "But I said to you, that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe," Jesus points out in John 6:36-40.  "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me; and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My will but the will of Him who sent Me.
     "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
     "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son, and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."
     "He who has seen Me has seen the Father," Jesus explains in John 14:9.
     "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways," Hebrews 1:1-3 reveals, "in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
     "And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power."
     Can we see heaven except through Jesus?  Can we see God but through His Son?  Can we see salvation other than through Christ?
     An important thing to recognize is that Jesus is not simply a glass patio door through which we can see the wonderful things on the other side.  Not only does He reveal God, salvation and heaven, but He is also the doorway through which we can reach heaven, God and salvation.
     "Truly, truly, I say to you," Jesus instructs in John 10:1-3, "he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is a thief and a robber.
     "But he who enters by the door is a shepherd of the sheep.
     "To him the doorkeeper opens; and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out."
     "Truly, truly, I say to you," the Master continues with verse seven, "I am the door of the sheep.  All who came before me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not hear them.
     "I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
     "The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly."
     In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus says that there is only one, narrow gate which leads to eternal life.  And, according to 1 Timothy 2:5, there is only one mediator between man and God: the man Christ Jesus.
     Can we reach God, salvation and heaven except through Jesus, the narrow gateway?

     Jesus is the door.  He is the source of all blessings.  He is the revealer of God, salvation and heaven.  And He is also the passageway to God, salvation and heaven.  Along this same line, we could add that Jesus is the doorway through which we pass to reach spiritual pasture.  As we have already read, this is what the Lord promises in John 10:9.
     All of these assume an open doorway.  Remember, though, that a doorway or gateway can also provide security.  It was common for an important ancient city to be surrounded by a protective wall.  The only way to enter the city was through one of a few gates.  Sometimes there was just one gate.  This system allowed the people of the city to control who could enter and who could not.
     Even in our modern society, a door is often the single source of security.  We don't recognize this so quickly in this part of the world, since many people leave their cars and even their homes unlocked.  But those in the rest of the country understand very well the importance of a strong door and a good lock.  Entering an apartment in a large city is sometimes like gaining access to a bank vault, due to the elaborate system of locks, bolts and alarms.
     "I am the door," we have heard Jesus state in John 10:9; "if anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture."
     We have already seen Jesus as the doorway to the fold as well as to pasture.  But something else is implied in this verse.  The phrase, "go in and out," is a Hebraism.  A Hebraism is a figure of speech which had a great deal of meaning to someone living in Palestine during biblical times.  Unfortunately, the meaning is often lost by the time it reaches twenty-first-century ears.
     In the first century, "going in and going out" carried the idea of being able to conduct business without interference.  It was a phrase of security.  So Jesus is pointing out that He provides the security we need to carry out our daily lives.
     "Blessed shall you be when you come in," Deuteronomy 28:6 offers, "and blessed shall you be when you go out."
     "The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever," Psalm 121:8 promises.
     Our greatest security should come from the fact that Jesus controls the doorway.  He holds the keys.  According to Revelation 1:18, He holds the keys to death and hades.
     In Revelation 3:7, the Lord identifies Himself as, "He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and not one opens."
     Jesus holds the keys to death and hades, as well as to heaven.  Actually, the two are related, since we will all end up with either eternal life or eternal punishment.  There are no other choices.  There are no other doorways.  If we enter one, we are not in the other.
     Revelation 21:8 identifies some of the people who can expect to be turned down at the door of the city of God.
     "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
     "And in the daytime (for there shall be no night there) its gates shall never be closed," Revelation 21:25-27 says of the city of God, "and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life."
     "Blessed are those who wash their robes," Revelation 22:14-15 observes, "that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.
     "Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying."
     Before leaving this discussion we must notice one thing.  In reading the list we find in Revelation 21:8, which includes murderers, immoral persons and idolaters, it is easy to overlook the fact that "unbelievers" are also included.  And we have shown many times from the Scriptures that "believing" is synonymous with "obeying."  On which side of the doorway do we find those who neglect to believe and obey?
     According to the words we read in Revelation 22:14, access to the city is given only to those who have washed their robes.  Other passages in Revelation refer to washing our robes in the blood of the lamb.  And Scriptures such as Acts 22:16, Romans 6:3-11, Galatians 3:27 and 1 Peter 3:21 make it clear that this takes place when adult believers are immersed with Christ in baptism.
     The choice is so simple.  Jesus is the source of great spiritual blessings.  He reveals to us God, heaven and salvation.  He provides access to God, heaven and salvation, as well as to spiritual pasture.  And He offers tremendous security.
     All that the gatekeeper asks of us is that we obey the simple truth.  Then we are free to enter the city.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.lockman.org)