The Lord commanded his people to remember his Word and pass it on to their families.
“Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Deut. 6:9
This is carried out in Jewish homes today and is called a Mezuzah.
“Whenever passing through the doorway, many people touch a finger to the mezuzah as a way of showing respect to God. Many people also kiss their finger after touching it to the mezuzah.”
The Lord knew the power of this simple act and the symbol of the door. This study will look at some very practical lessons of spiritual principles that doors teach today.
SAMSON AND THE DOOR OF GAZA– Safety and Protection
Judges 16:3 (NIV) But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
The doors of a city were a very important thing for the defense of the city as well as a control point knowing who is coming and going from the city. The city with no doors was at risk!
There are some good lessons to learn from some of the other doors spoken of in Scripture:
THE DOOR AND THE SLUGGARD– A perfect example of laziness and ease.
Proverbs 26:14 (NIV) As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.
Sometimes after a hard day’s work, it is hard for anybody to get out of bed and start the new day. A true sluggard gives in to this and never gets going. He just keeps turning over in his bed and not leaving that comfortable spot, avoiding the possibility of a profitable day awaiting him. Doors are great for many things but they don’t go anywhere.
1. THE DOOR OF SALVATION
Genesis 6:16 (NIV) Make a roof for it and finish the ark to within 18 inches of the top. Put a door in the side of the ark and make lower, middle and upper decks.
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
A great picture of our salvation in Christ is the Ark of Noah. By the command of God there was one way to enter the safety of the ark before the flood came to destroy the earth and that was by the door. God Himself shut and sealed the door when all were safe inside. In the same way, there is one way to heaven and it is the Lord Jesus Christ, he is the doorway to salvation. Believing in Him is like walking through a door. You are on one side or the other. Safety was inside the ark and destruction on the other side.
2. THE DOOR OF TEMPTATION
Genesis 4:7 (NIV) If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”
Proverbs 5:8 (NIV) Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house,
At the door of our life, we do not have to go far to find temptation. It is waiting as soon as we leave our home. The Book of Proverbs speaks of the simple man who gets by the place of the wayward woman and warns him not even to go near her house. If you go near you might be tempted to go in and fall into her trap. Whirlpools are easy to get away from at first and more difficult to get out from as you are drawn in.
3.THE DOOR OF SEPARATION TO GOD
2 Kings 4:4 (NIV) Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”
In this beautiful story about a widow who is obeying the God who will supply for her and her sons we see a detail in the command of God which is good to notice. She was told to shut the door because in that sacred, private moment the little family all would see God’s provision. There are times when a family quietly tells the Lord that they have a need and then watch to see what He is going to do. It is a special moment. There will be plenty of time later on to rehearse to others what God did, but the initial time is a holy moment meant for the family alone.
4.THE DOOR OF THE PRAYER ROOM
Matthew 6:6 (NIV) But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
Luke 11:9 (NIV) “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Matthew 7:7 (NIV) “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
Fellowship and friendship with others is wonderful, but there also is a time when we need to get alone with God and seek His face. In the quietness of that moment of prayer and meditation on the Word, He will reveal Himself in a special way. This comes when we close the door to outside activities and interferences and focus intently on Him.
5.THE DOOR OF FELLOWSHIP
Revelation 3:20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
There are seven short letters written to churches in the beginning of the Book of Revelation. Each one has a message especially fitted for the needs of that church. The Church at Laodicea had a problem that Jesus pointed out using the illustration of a door. Their problem was that He was not accepted to be in their midst and was pushed outside, but He still wants their fellowship. He says to them that He is on the outside of the church seeking admission and knocking on the door. His promise is that if they let Him in He will have fellowship with them and they with He.
6.THE DOOR OF CHRIST’S RETURN
James 5:9 (NIV) Don’t grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!
Most likely, unless you are perfect, you have said something to someone else that you wish others had not heard. Worse yet, this could be an argument that you did not want your parent, boss, or your coach to hear. The Lord speaks in the Book of James saying that He is at that door hearing what is going on and ready to come and judge. What a somber warning to anyone who forgets to put a hold on their tongue!
Matthew 24:33 (NIV) Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door.
7. THE DOOR OF OPPORTUNITY WITH DIFFICULTIES
1 Corinthians 16:9 (NIV) because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.
2 Corinthians 2:12 (NIV) Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me,
Revelation 3:8 (NIV) I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Most times when we speak of an open door it is synonymous to something that is an easy thing to do that stands before us and that we just need to slide on in this opportunity. Paul states that he had an opened door but that there was opposition associated with going through it. It was open but God had allowed an opportunity to trust Him in the move through the door. Not everything that is good is easy to do and it does not necessarily mean God is not leading there.
8.THE DOOR OF HEAVEN OPEN
Revelation 4:1 (NIV) After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.”
This door spoken of in this verse in the Book of Revelation is that of God beckoning us to see what good things await us as we enter heaven. For the believer, it is always, “The best is yet to come.” “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
9. THE SHUT DOOR
Matthew 25:10 (NIV) “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
The day of opportunity exists while we are alive on earth. Choose Jesus and you will find life. Reject Jesus and you will have a door shut that will never be entered after you die. The joy of the banquet of heaven is for those who choose Christ in this lifetime. “Choose now, just now…tomorrow may be too late”.
Chaplain Dave Online 