In this message we will continue to consider Christ as the Priest who trims the lampstands, the churches.
Revelation 3:20-21 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me. He who overcomes, to him I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne.” Christ is the One who will dine with the overcomers and give the overcomers to sit with Him on His throne as He overcame and sat with His Father on His throne. Here to overcome is to overcome the lukewarmness and pride of the degraded recovered church, to pay the price to buy the needed items (gold, white garments, and eyesalve), and to open the door so that the Lord can come in and dine with those who open the door.
This door is not the door of the hearts of individuals but the door of the church. The Lord as the Head of the church is standing outside the degraded church, knocking at her door. The degraded recovered church must realize this. The door is the door of the church, but the door is opened by individual believers. The church in Laodicea has knowledge but does not have the Lord’s presence. The Lord is dealing with the whole church, but the acceptance of the Lord’s dealing must be a personal matter. The Lord’s dealing is objective, but the believers’ acceptance must be subjective.
We often shut the door on the Lord, leaving Him outside the door. Our condition may be like that of the church in Laodicea. Although we love the Lord and consistently pray and attend the meetings, we may not be willing to practically pay a price, and in the end we become lukewarm. The Lord has no ground in us and has been shut outside the door by us, the lukewarm Laodiceans. Even though He is in our spirit, we often shut Him outside the door. For instance, we shut Him outside the door of our emotion. Our spirit is like a prison in which we keep the Lord. Therefore, the Lord has no way to enter into our inner chambers and into our heart. The Lord is standing and knocking in our cold spirit, longing to enter into our heart and our emotion. The Lord desires to have mutual enjoyment with us.
In verse 20 the Lord also said that, after He comes in to him who opens the door, He will dine with him and he with Him. According to the Greek, the word dine signifies the principal meal of the day at evening. To dine is not merely to eat one item of food but to partake of the riches of a meal. This may imply the fulfillment of the type of the children of Israel eating the rich produce of the good land of Canaan (Josh. 5:10-12). During the yearly feasts the children of Israel feasted with God, and God feasted with them. Whenever the Israelites had a feast, they ate with God, offering what they were eating to God and letting God eat with them. In like manner, the Lord says that He will dine with us and that we will dine with Him.
The dining promised here is not only for the future but also for today. If we are an overcomer, we will have the special privilege of eating with the Lord when He comes in the kingdom. Before that day, however, we may enjoy His dining with us.
If we have an overall view of the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3, we will see that the Lord exalts the eating of Himself, the taking in of Himself as our life supply, that we may grow, be transformed, and be the same as He is. In His promises concerning the reward to the overcomers in the seven churches, Christ is considered as the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the feast for us to enjoy with Him. This corresponds to the three stages of eating by God’s people in the Old Testament. God’s people were destined to eat the tree of life, God’s redeemed people were given to eat the manna while wandering in the wilderness, and in the good land they had a feast three times a year on Mount Zion to enjoy the rich produce of the land. These three stages of eating are repeated in Revelation, the concluding book of the Bible, as rewards promised to the overcomers, to whom Christ will be the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the rich produce of the good land. This is altogether for our enjoyment of Christ. We may eat Christ as the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the feast for our enjoyment. Through our enjoyment of Christ, we may be constituted with Him. Eventually, we will be mingled with Him in our constitution as one entity in order to express Him as the New Jerusalem.
The Lord’s word in Revelation 3:20, regarding enjoying Him as a feast, was spoken to the church in Laodicea, which had become lukewarm. The lukewarm saints are self-contented; hence, they have become proud. The best way to help these saints overcome their lukewarmness is to help them open their hearts to the Lord in order to let the Lord come in to dine, to feast, with them. The enjoyment of Christ as a feast will cause us to gain the faith in Christ, the white garments, and the eyesalve (v. 18).