…Faith is an open door for God to come in…. ''Jesus is still standing at the door.'' Jesus Christ knocking on the door icon

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 one 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 an 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 the good and only Husband Christ, who worked hard for us and redeemed us with His own blood (Heb. 9:12) longs to rest in His home, in our bodies and souls! 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 His desire good will so that, while we are still in this age, He may 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].

These words are written in last book Bible. They reveal one of the basic and very important truths of Holy Scripture: God wants a person, having heard His voice, to open the door of his heart and let Him in. Written on this verse wonderful paintings, created 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 communion 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 also speaks to us through the 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 opens true meaning 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 it is not shameful to recognize His dominion over us; 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 the grave sin of the earth with His Blood. To open means to accept His mercy, Christ alone can save everyone. Open up! Open up!

In 1854, the English artist William Holman Hunt presented the painting “Lamp of the World” to the public. You are probably familiar with its plot from numerous imitative variations, which tend to become sweeter and sweeter from year to year. Popular imitations are usually called “Behold, I stand at the door and knock” (Rev. 3:20). Actually, the picture was written on this topic, although it is named differently. It shows Christ knocking on some doors at night. He is a traveler. He has nowhere to “lay his head,” just as in the days of his earthly life. On His head is a crown of thorns, on His feet are sandals, and in His hands is a lamp. Night means that mental darkness in which we habitually live. This is “the darkness of this age.” The doors on which the Savior knocks have not been opened for a long time. A long time ago. Evidence of this is the thick weeds growing at the threshold.

Viewers in the year the picture was presented to the public perceived the painting with hostility and did not understand its meaning. They - Protestants or agnostics - seemed to see an obsessive style of Catholicism in the picture. And it was necessary, as often happens, to tell someone sighted and attentive about the meaning of the canvas, decipher it, read it like a book. The critic and poet John Ruskin turned out to be such a smart interpreter. He explained that the painting was allegorical; that Christ still receives the same attention as the beggars knocking on doors; and what is most important in the picture is that the house is ours, and the doors lead to the depths where our innermost “I” lives. It is at these doors—the doors of the heart—that Christ knocks. He does not break into them as the Master of the world, does not shout: “Come on, open it!” And He knocks not with his fist, but with the phalanges of his fingers, carefully. Let us remind you that it is night all around... And we are in no hurry to open... And on the head of Christ is a crown of thorns.

Let us now pause for a moment to say a few words about the numerous imitations and variations on the theme. The ones you've undoubtedly seen. They differ from the original in that, firstly, they remove the night. They show Christ knocking on the doors of a house (guess what it is) during the day. An eastern landscape or cloudy sky is visible behind His back. The picture is pleasing to the eye. Due to the uselessness of the lamp, the staff of the Good Shepherd appears in the Savior’s hand. The crown of thorns disappears from the head (!). The doors on which the Lord knocks are already devoid of those eloquent thickets of weeds, which means they are opened regularly. The milkman or postman apparently knocks on them every day. And in general, houses tend to become clean and well-groomed - sort of bourgeois from the canon of the “American Dream”. In some images, Christ simply smiles, as if he had come to a friend who is waiting for Him, or even He wants to play a trick on the owners: he will knock and hide around the corner. As often happens in fakes and stylizations, the tragic and deep semantic content imperceptibly gives way to a sentimental play, in fact, a mockery of the original theme. But the mockery is swallowed, and the substitution is not noticed.

Now to the meaning. If Christ knocks on the door of our house, then we do not open it for two reasons: either we simply do not hear the knock, or we hear it and deliberately do not open it. We will not consider the second option. It is beyond our competence, which means let it exist until Last Judgment. As for the first option, there are many explanations for deafness. For example, the owner is drunk. You can’t wake him up with a gun, much less with the careful knock of an unexpected Guest. Or – the TV is playing loudly inside the house. It doesn’t matter that the doors are overgrown with weeds, that is, they haven’t been opened for a long time. The cable was pulled through the window, and now the football championship or social show thunder from the screen at full blast, making the owner deaf to other sounds. It’s true, each of us has such sounds, hearing which we deafen everything else. It is very possible and realistic option– if not for 1854 (the year the picture was painted), then for our 2000s. Another option: the owner simply died. He is not here. Or rather, it is there, but it won’t open. Could this be the case? Maybe. Our inner self, the true owner of the mysterious hut, may be in deep lethargy or in the embrace of real death. By the way, listen now: is anyone knocking on the door of your house? If you say that you have a bell on your door and it works, which means they are calling you and not knocking, then this will only expose your lack of understanding. Is no one knocking on your door? Right now? Listen.

Well, the last one for today. The doors on which Christ knocks have no outside handle. Everyone noticed this during the first inspection of the painting and pointed it out to the artist. But it turned out that the lack of a door handle was not a mistake, but a deliberate move. Heart doors do not have an outside handle or an outside lock. The handle is only on the inside, and the door can only be opened from the inside. When K.S. Lewis said that hell was locked from the inside, he probably started from the idea embedded in Hunt's picture. If a person is locked in hell, then he is locked there voluntarily, like a suicide in a burning house, like an old alcoholic bachelor in a bedlam of empty bottles, cobwebs and cigarette butts. And going outside, to the knocking, to the voice of Christ is possible only as an internal act of will as a response to God's call.

Pictures are books. You need to read them. Not only in the case of paintings based on gospel themes or Christian allegories. Anyway. Landscape is also text. And the portrait is text. And the ability to read is not limited to the ability to make out words in a newspaper. You need to learn to read throughout your life. What does this mean? The fact that we have a lot of work, and our life should be creative, and the undeveloped fields for activity have long been overdue for workers. If you agree, then maybe we heard a knock?

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
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 interfering with 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**