The
Door to the Kingdom of Heaven
God cares little about who we
are on the outside but everything about what we are on the inside. As always,
whoever would come can come. The door to the kingdom of heaven is forever open
to all. And so, through the
process of deciding what we stand for in life we select who we will become,
unlike the flower, who has no choice but to unfold.
The remnant arises from within
the midst of the world’s peoples "like droplets of dew on grass."
These people "do not look to any man" or "place their hope in
mortals" because they look only to God in everything they do. As
always, the door will be held open for any that will turn from their way. God
desires man to correct his ways. He does not desire their punishment. However,
the innocent must be protected, and poor choices have poor results.
Jeremiah 10:23
I know, O Lord, that man’s road is not his to choose,
That man, as he walks cannot
direct his
own steps.
Revelations 3:7
And to the church of
Philadelphia write: "This is the message
from the one who is holy and true. He (Jesus) has the key that belonged
to David, and when he opens a door, No one can close, and when
he closes a door, No one can open it.
The one who is holy and true,
with the key of David, is Jesus Christ who holds the keys to the spiritual
kingdom of heaven within. He says to the church of Philadelphia:
Revelations 3:8
I know your works.
Behold, I have set an open door before you,
which no one is able to shut; I know that you have but little power;
and that you have kept my word (or have been faithful to my message: Phillips
translation) and have not denied my Name (Jesus).
This is a group that Jesus gives
wholehearted approval (an open door), living at the end of The Age, who are
true to the message
of Jesus, the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. Consider the "door" which
Jesus speaks of:
Revelations 3:20
‘Behold, I stand at the
door and knock,’ if anyone hears my voice and opens his
door, I will come in to dine and eat with him and he with Me.
Matthew 7:7
Keep on asking and it
will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find, keep
on knocking and the door will be opened to you.
10:7 I tell you that I Myself
(Jesus) am the Door of the Sheep.
The door represents entrance
into the kingdom of heaven within where man communes directly with God, as son
with Father. For the price of faith and obedience, God promises to do
everything else. Jesus is the personification of faith and of obedience to God’s
will: "not my will but Your will be done," Jesus prays. And so, the
Father is glorified in Jesus and Jesus is glorified in his Father. "The
kingdom of heaven is the will of God enthroned in the heart of man." (UB) And so, the door of the kingdom of
heaven is always open to the members of the church of Philadelphia because they already know God and seek to do His Will, i.e. they
already
understand the kingdom
of heaven.
Absolute love requires absolute
freedom. God must wait at the door of the Kingdom of heaven within until we
knock and truly desire to enter. When we seek Him with our whole heart and our whole mind and our whole soul there is nothing that can stop the
circuit closing between man and God. His divine energy (love) pours over,
around, and through us, filling our cup; hollowed out with suffering; but now hallowed with
overflowing joy.
Emily Dickinson #670 1863
One need not be a
Chamber – to be Haunted –
One need not be a House –
The Brain has Corridors – surpassing
Material Place –
Far safer, of a Midnight Meeting
External Ghost
Than its interior Confronting –
That Cooler Host.
Far safer, through an Abbey gallop,
The Stones a’chase –
Than unarmed, one’s other-self encounter –
In lonesome Place –
Ourself behind ourself, concealed –
Should startle most –
Assassin hid in our Apartment
Be Horror’s least.
The Body – borrows a Revolver –
He bolts the Door –
O’erlooking a superior
spectre –
Or More –
Here the spirit within is
compared with the notion of an outside spirit or ghost. The "brain"
or mind houses a "superior spectre" or "Cooler Host," the
divine spirit within, which the unsuspecting material self startles at, upon
its discovery within consciousness. This divine "Host" within is an
"assassin" because the material self must die to itself to obtain
values of the
divine self. The
material self willingly
subordinates its
previously central position, in essence laying down its life to allow for a new
life in the spirit of God’s transforming grace. We "let go" to
"let Him in." But by losing the dominance of the material self we
gain our life in
the spirit and the choosing mind has finally found its Way to eternity. This paradox has been perfectly
expressed, long ago, by the Son of man, Master of men: "He that loveth his
life shall lose it; and he that would give his life for this gospel shall gain
it." "Except as a grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it bringeth
forth no fruit."
Comically in #670, the
"Body" or material self tries to lock out the spiritual self within
by "bolting a door" while being overwatched, unobserved by the
spiritual self, the "superior spectre" that dwells within and not on
the outside. I’m afraid there is no locking this ghost out.
John 10:1 I Assure you, most
solemnly I tell you, he who does not enter by
the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way is a thief and a
robber.
John 10:2 But he who enters by
the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
This article is a quote from "The Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand" by Ed Roache.