It is an eternal principle in Revelation 3:20 that Jesus is seeking connection with His beings created in His own image, saying, “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.”

Two things are important to recognize in the verse: Jesus says, “anyone” who “hears” His voice. Thus, it has continual application throughout the centuries.

Relate this to the statement in the parable in Matthew 22:1-14 where Jesus says, “For many are called but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).

In the Revelation verse, a voice is not mentioned with the knocking on the door (of the heart), but one can surmise Jesus saying, “Hello, is anyone in there; is anyone home?” The point is that He is calling for a response by the individual.

In another passage, that of Jeremiah 29:13, God is saying, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” It looks like the Scriptures, tending toward the whole counsel of God, are giving us an insight into how the Lord brings about salvation to a lost sinner.

Correspondingly, John 4:23-24 tells us, “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

He is constantly knocking on the door of a person’s heart, as the gospel is told, or the word of God is heard.

The person who is seeking – because he is troubled by a sense of guilt for being in the wrong when he knew what was right – hears the voice and opens the door for the Lord to enter.

The point is, also, that the Lord is not hard to find if a person’s heart is fully committed to the seeking. There, then, is the issue of choosing: Many doors are knocked on (called), but few open the door to become the chosen.

But why is it that way?

God does not force Himself upon anyone, but stirs the conscience in man to become so desperate in his awareness of ungodliness that he wants Jesus to come into his life. The same principle is couched in the passage at John 1:11-13 where it says, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”

Some translations render the phrase in 1 Peter 1:2 as “elect (or chosen) according to the foreknowledge of God….” The word “foreknowledge” does not indicate an action, but only an observation by eternal foresight as to what will be happening, now seen in advance. Thus, the chosen, or the elect, are not made so by God’s foreknowledge, but by that attribute He is able to see it happen. How God chooses or elects a person for His own is then more understandable if the principle of Revelation 3:20 is considered.

When mankind fell out of favor with God in Adam’s disobedience, he gained the knowledge of good and evil, or right and wrong. That is where man’s conscience comes into play. It is God’s secret inside link to the man’s lost soul.

Remember that reference to the conscience Paul made as to the condition of man in his rebellion in the last days, in 1 Timothy 4:1-2:

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron….”

A conscience that is hardened toward the truth, toward God, is not receptive to the gospel, thus Jesus’ knocking on that person’s heart-door will not get a response.

Why? Because of what John 3:19 says:

“And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”  

The constant keyword in the New Testament is “believe,” and it is always present or implied in verses that spell out how salvation is obtained. Note that in these verses:

John 1:12 – “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”

John 5:24 – “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believe in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”

Acts 16:30-31 – “And he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ So they said, ‘ Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.’” (Note that the disciples did not say to the jailer, “You must be chosen or elected!)

Romans 10:9-10 – “…That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved, for with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 – “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Notice that three words that are prominent in evangelistic messages are not mentioned in those verses—forgiveness, repentance and baptism. Why? Because forgiveness and repentance are automatic results when a person is brought by conviction to surrendering himself to Christ, and baptism is a physical action undertaken as a testimony of commitment to Christ, a confession of that new faith.

Another word only mentioned in the Ephesians passage is “gift.” Romans 6:23b tells us that eternal life is a gift of God, and 1 John 5:11-12 says, “And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life and this life is in His Son; he who has the Son has life and he who does not have the Son does not have life.” Availability of the gift is not affected by rejection of the offer, but acceptance is necessary for the gift to take effect. When Christ died on the cross, the result was the availability of forgiveness of sins for all mankind for all time. It is not effective, however, until the gift is accepted.

This brings us to another reference that must be recognized, and that is John 6:29, which says, “This is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He sent.” God’s desire that man be saved is evident in the totality of Scripture and simply stated in the message of the familiar John 3:16. Overcoming man’s rejection and rebellion is a task that takes the wisdom and grace of almighty God to accomplish. Perhaps it can be summed up in the quaint old adage, “You can take a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink—so, you salt his oats.”

Finally, a son or daughter of Adam, as all mortal beings are, can never go to heaven. Jesus said, “You must be born again,” a spiritual renewal, as Titus 3:5 tells us, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

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Jesus was and is the Prophet of all prophets because He fulfills His own prophecies. Perhaps paramount of these is John 10:17-18:

“Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

Yet, His self-fulfilling prophecy goes back further into the past, as the writer of Hebrews explained it to those early Christian Jews in Hebrews 10:5:

“Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: ^‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You have prepared for Me.’”

Note the manner of the conversation: The pre-existing Son tells the Father, “You have prepared a body (a future human body) for Me.” It is before the framework of time in which Isaiah records the following prophecy that details it:

“Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).

Did Jesus personally place Himself in prophecy of the end-time Rapture? Look at John 11:25-26:

“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?’”

Some may hurriedly put this into the context of the death of Lazarus, but Martha points the issue toward the end-time resurrection in these two preceding verses 23-24:

 ^“Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to Him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’”

When verses 25-26 are laid down beside Paul’s prophecy of the Rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, it looks like this:

“…and the dead in Christ shall rise first.” John records this: “He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live” (NKJV).

Then Paul writes, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air….”

John’s account reads, “And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”

Note, too, that Paul’s account starts off with this: “For the Lord, Himself, shall descend from heaven with a shout…”

These thoughts are not meant to imply that self-fulfilling prophecies of Jesus are more truthful or important than any other prophecies, since we know that Colossians 2:9 declares that “the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Him.” Perhaps it may highlight it for our attention more so. Either way, Amos   3:7 tells us, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.”

His own prophecies of His coming again are not casual statements of possible happenings. They are clearly personal determinations of commitments. Look at John 14:3, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” He says, “I will come again….”

More compelling is this prophecy in Luke 17:26-30 where Jesus identifies the signs of the times when He will return for His body of believers:

“And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise, as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”

Genesis 6:5 tells us of the absolute sinfulness of the people of Noah’s day, even though Jesus now reveals the flourishing economy and party-time spirit in their social life:

“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

As for Lot’s situation, Genesis 18 and 19 tell the story in detail. The men of the whole city of Sodom pounded on Lot’s door, wanting those men (angels) who had come to his house to rescue Lot and his family. They were in total moral degradation and “had no fear of God before their eyes.”

So Jesus says “as it was” in those days, so will it be in the time when He reveals Himself again. Sinfulness will abound increasingly while the secular world—and many in the churches—will be enjoying a flourishing economy and celebrating their returning affluence with “letting the good times roll!”

Why would Jesus come at a time like that, having allowed a return from obviously planned destruction of the nation that leads the world? The answer is in the passage—“As it was in the days of Noah and of Lot,” judgment was ready to come upon the people who were left behind. The flood and the destruction of Sodom were the judgments.

That is the message of Psalm 75:6-8, and the question is, “Can we see it applying to this change of leadership in America?” The Psalmist wrote:

“For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south, but God is the Judge: He puts down one and exalts another. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is fully mixed, and He pours it out; surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth drain and drink down.”

When the election of 2016 occurred, and continued leadership of the Obama-Clinton faction was snatched out of their hands, the shock was vividly known and continues to be promoted. The hate for Donald Trump has split the nation to an apparent unredeemable divide. Even though his leadership has brought economic revival and prosperity to a nation that was being slowly destroyed by design, the obstruction continues. 

Check these video messages for verification of the intended goal [1].

Based on the Luke passage and its background in the Genesis accounts, the signs of the times of the Lord’s return are an increasing lawlessness while an economic upswing is taking place. Is this the time and conditions of which Jesus was foretelling of His return?

The continuation of the Luke passage clearly presents a self-fulfilling prophecy of Jesus of the coming Rapture, where one is taken to safety and the other is left behind for judgment, just as it was in the days of Noah and Lot. They were not taken to judgment but were taken out of the way of judgment. (Have you noticed that the judgments recorded in the Book of Revelation are all in the earth and its atmosphere and are of a physical nature? Secondarily, then, those left behind are judged before the Lord and sent into “outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.”)

In that passage Jesus gives instructions to those who are to be taken—do not turn back for anything, remember Lot’s wife, etc. Never does God give any instructions to prepare those to be judged, as Jesus did here for those to be taken to safety. For example, did Samuel tell King Agag, “Now brace yourself, this is going to hurt!” before he “hacked the king to pieces” with a sword? (1 Samuel 15:33).

Those who belong to the Lord are bought with a price, the price of His blood, and He takes care of His own.

Jesus said, “When these things begin to happen, look up, for your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28). Be ready.

End Note:

[1] (Obama’s expectation) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-5vD5YVLv8&t=184s

(New World Order proponents) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MADYzQstpsU&t=66s                                                                                                                                                                                

Contact email: andwegetmercy@gmail.com