Knocking at the door is requesting entrance.
Post #294
Except that John is writing the words of Jesus to the church of the Laodiceans. They were already believers. And since we have all those scriptures, most of which we have already gone over, and dozens upon dozens of others that clearly say that believers are foreknown, predestined, called, glorified, sanctified; all those that refer to the epistle recipients as the elect or the called; all the places in the gospels where Jesus says those the Father is giving Him are the ones who are called, and chosen, and who believe; the places where Jesus says the reason some don't believe is because they are not His, that those who are His, the ones the Father is giving Him, hear His voice and follow Him, and that He knows them (as opposed to "I never knew you."):
And since we have the knowledge of God that He does as He pleases; (Psalm 115:3) and since we have the knowledge of God that He is sovereign over all His creation and always accomplishes what He determines to do; Prov 19:21
Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Is 46:9-10 Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, "My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.';
And since we have Jesus substituting Himself in the place of believers making propitiation and purchasing them with His blood;
And in the complete absence of any discussion in the Bible on it being God's plan to give every individual equal opportunity to make a choice whether to accept or reject Christ; absent any doctrinal discussion within its pages of God placing a higher value on man's freedom than on His own; absent any clear teaching or evidence that God was ever concerned about man's will remaining free or being restored to freedom, (it never will be free, but always is subject to God and always has been); absent any teaching that the goal of redemption was to restore free will; in view of all that, and I cut it short for the sake of post length, what does Rev 3:20-21 mean?
The standing at the door and knocking is likely a reference to Song of Solomon 5:2, the bridegroom speaking to the bride.
It is the voice of the of my beloved! He knocks saying "Open to me!' The church is the bride and Christ is the bridegroom, and it is to the church that He is speaking. So it is not an invitation to the readers to be converted, but to renew the relationship with Christ that had already begun. Verse 19
As many as I love I rebuke---be zealous and repent.
We see this picture of relationship in the Song itself. In the Song the bridegroom knocks on the door to encourage his wife to continue to express her love for him. We see how far that church had strayed from this relationship in the things Jesus chastises them for.
I realize that you do not believe the scripture references I give mean what I present them as meaning. And that you do believe what I have stated as being absent from Scripture. Therefore, most likely, you will try to find a way to undo or at least reject, what was said. But consider this. Is that possibly because you start with your own premise and are unable to break away from it and so are unable to be neutral and simply accept what the Bible says. Even to the point of saying, even believing, that you always read and study from a neutral position and simply go by what it says.
