Ⅲ
In the degraded recovered church, Christ is seen as 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—Rev. 3:20-21:
A
"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"—v. 20:
１
The 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.
２
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.
３
In the eyes of the Lord the degraded recovered church is ྄ wretched because she is proud of being rich in the vain knowledge of doctrine but in reality is sorely poor in the experience of the riches of Christ; m miserable because she is naked, blind, and full of shame and darkness; ➾ poor because she is poor in the experience of Christ and in the spiritual reality of God's economy; ¾ blind because she lacks true spiritual insight in the genuine spiritual things; and ྈ naked because she does not live by Christ or live Christ as her subjective righteousness, as the second garment in her daily walk—vv. 15-17; cf. Psa. 45:1, 9-14.
４
The Lord is dealing with the whole church, but the acceptance of the Lord's dealing must be a personal and subjective matter.
５
To dine with the Lord is not merely to eat one item of food but to partake of the riches of a meal, a feast; 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.
６
Through our enjoyment of Christ as the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the feast, we will be mingled with Him in our constitution as one entity in order to express Him as the New Jerusalem—Rev. 2:7, 17; 3:20.
Morning Nourishment
Rev. 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am about to spew you out of My mouth.20 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.
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. [In Revelation 3:21] to overcome is to overcome the lukewarmness and pride of the degraded recovered church [vv. 16-17], to pay the price to buy the needed items (gold, white garments, and eyesalve) [v. 18], and to open the door so that the Lord can come in and dine with those who open the door [v. 20].
The Lord as the Head of the church is standing outside the degraded church, knocking at her door…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 Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4215-4216)
Today’s Reading
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…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 Revelation 3:20 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.
In Revelation 2 and 3, we [can] 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…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 Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4216-4217)
Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 413