Harvest after reading:
God's sheep hear God's voice. When they hear God's voice, they'll see God's appearance. God does nothing meaningless. Though some things don't match our conceptions, there is God's good intention. Just these things can show whether we truly listen to God's word, and whether we have true obedience of God.
By Zhenxi
Xiangyang has believed in the Lord for many years. Like all brothers and sisters who truly believe in the Lord, he keeps vigilantly waiting for His return so that he can be raptured into the kingdom of heaven.
After breakfast, he was sitting in front of the desk, feeling in a really good mood. It was sunny outside the window, through which the bright sunshine was shining down on him. He once again opened up the book of hymn and began to sing with deep emotion along with the familiar melody: “The Beloved is urgently knocking on the door outside. His locks are filled with the drops of the night dew. Come on, get up to open the door for Him; don’t let our beloved walk away. …” (“Canaan Hymns”). He repeated the hymn and imagined that he should be a wise virgin, and that he could hear the voice of the Beloved and welcome Him when He came to knock at the door, which was his only wish for so many years. Every time when he was weak, he read the verses and sang this hymn so as to inspire himself. He firmly believed that the Lord is faithful and His promise will not be made in vain…. With the beautiful singing resounding through the room, he was lost in the thought, thinking of the prophecy in chapter 1, verse 7 of the Revelation: “Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” The Lord Jesus will return with the clouds and all people will behold Him. If everyone beholds Him, will it be necessary for Him to knock at the door? Then how on earth does He knock?
At this time, someone was knocking at the door. He quickly opened the door. After seeing it was his wife Cheng’en, he said in surprise: “Ah, it’s you! Hearing the knock, I thought it was …” Cheng’en was a deacon in the church. The other day she went to attend a meeting and came back just now.
She replied jokingly: “I’ve forgotten to take the key before leaving. Who were you expecting just now?”
“Er, nothing. I’m going to serve a meal for you.” Saying this, he went to the kitchen.
In a moment, he served yummy food on the table. No sooner had Cheng’en sat down to the meal than he couldn’t wait to ask: “Hey, what have you fellowshiped during the meeting these days. Tell me, please.”
In a moment, he served yummy food on the table. No sooner had Cheng’en sat down to the meal than he couldn’t wait to ask: “Hey, what have you fellowshiped during the meeting these days. Tell me, please.”
Looking at his look with expectation, she couldn’t help bursting out laughing and then said to him with smiles: “You’re too eager. It can’t be said clearly with one word. Can’t it wait until I’ve finished my meal? Then I’ll tell you in detail.”
Being a little embarrassed, he said with a smile: “Oh, I’m just … You have your meal first.”
After Cheng’en finished the meal, the two people began to communicate with each other. She said: “We all thought that the Lord Jesus would return coming with clouds and knock on our door. Now it clearly can be seen that the disasters are becoming greater and greater. The prophecies of the Lord’s return have basically been fulfilled, but today we haven’t welcomed Him yet. I’m also pondering: Maybe He has appeared somewhere, but we don’t know it at all. …”
Before she finished her words, Xiangyang couldn’t wait to cut in: “Yes, indeed. I’m also pondering this matter these days. It’s said that with the great glory the Lord will return with the clouds and that every eye will behold Him. However, since every man can see Him, need He knock the door? The more I ponder, the more confused I feel. How on earth does He knock?”
Cheng’en said: “We all fail to work this issue out. I didn’t understand until a sister fellowshiped about it during the meeting in those days. These years we’ve been looking forward to the Lord’s return with the clouds, and this is in line with His words. But there is not just one aspect of prophecies saying His return in the last days. Do you remember? He also predicted that ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Matthew 25:6). And it is also predicted in the Book of Revelation that: ‘If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come on you’ (Revelation 3:3). ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me’ (Revelation 3:20). If the Lord really returns coming with the clouds in the last days just as we imagine, then how can these prophecies be fulfilled? How can He stand outside the door and knock?”
Xiangyang nodded again and again: “Yeah, if the Lord returns coming with the clouds and every man beholds Him, how can He come like a thief? But it’s said in chapter 1, verse 7 of the Book of the Revelation that: ‘Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.’ How on earth to explain these words?”
Cheng’en said with a smile: “Actually, these prophecies aren’t contradictory at all. There’s the truth to seek in them. Those scriptures mentioned just now mean that there’re two ways in which the Lord returns, namely in secret and in public. He first returns secretly to work and then will appear in public after making a group of overcomers. During the time He is working in secret, if He knocks our door, but we don’t open or welcome Him, we’ll be the ones who are weeping when He appears in public. Therefore, if we want to open the door and welcome Him when He knocks, first we must understand what on earth the meaning of His knocking the door upon His return is, and how to knock. Otherwise, even if He knocks our door, we’ll shut Him outside due to our lack of knowledge of Him. Thus we’ll miss the opportunity of welcoming Him and being raptured into the kingdom of heaven!”
After hearing her words, Xiangyang thought: Yeah, it’s quite important to know how the Lord will knock the door when He comes. The scriptures said if the wise virgins wanted to welcome the Lord, they had to prepare for sufficient oil. If we just wait foolishly, we’ll miss the opportunity of welcoming Him like the foolish virgins. At that time, we’re really going to wail! At this time, Xiangyang said excitedly: “Yes, Cheng’en, you’re right. It’s really a mystery how the Lord will knock the door when He returns, and there is the truth to seek in it. There is light in your fellowship. Thank the Lord. You haven’t attended this meeting in vain! Tell me. As regards the Lord’s knocking when He returns, what does on earth it mean? In which way does He knock our door?”
Cheng’en continued: “Yeah. It is prophesied in the Book of Revelation: ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation 2:7). And also chapter 16, verses 12-13 in the Gospel of John: ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.’ It can be seen from these words that the Lord Jesus hasn’t finished His words and that there will be more truth He’s going to utter when He returns in the last days. So He reminded us to pay attention to hear His voice. Let’s think back on two thousand years ago when the Lord Jesus often said at work: ‘Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’ (Matthew 4:17). He also performed many wonders and miracles, such as calming the wind and sea with one word, allowing the lame to walk with one word and bringing Lazarus back from the dead…. His words carry authority and power, and unable to be said by anyone. Peter, John, Jacob, the woman of Samaria, Nathanael and other people recognized from the Lord Jesus’s words that He is the promised Messiah. So they followed His footsteps and received His salvation. Rather, the Pharisees and ordinary Jews also heard the Lord Jesus’s words, but because of stubbornly holding on to the words of the prophecies of Old Testament Scripture they defined Him by their conceptions and imaginations and also refused to acknowledge that He is the coming Messiah. Eventually they not only lost His salvation but encountered His punishment because of nailing the Lord to the cross and resisting Him, and even their descendants were cursed. Therefore, we must learn from the failure of the Pharisees, and not measure or define God according to our imaginations. The Lord can’t receive us with the clouds, nor can He knock our door. We should pay attention to hear His words and recognize His voice. Only thus can we welcome Him and sit with Him at the same table. Just as the words in the Book of Revelation: ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me’ (Revelation 3:20).”
Pondering while listening, Xiangyang thought what she said was a fact. When the Lord Jesus was doing His work, the Pharisees and many of ordinary Jews heard His words, but not only did they not accept, rather they blasphemed and condemned Him. While Peter, John and the woman of Samaria listened to His words and recognized that He is the promised Messiah, and so followed Him. The two categories of people both heard the Lord Jesus’s words and beheld His work. Some opened the door and accepted Him, while the others sealed the door to their hearts and shut Him outside the door. No wonder the Lord said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Xiangyang said excitedly: “Thank the Lord. I didn’t understand until today’s fellowship like this. The returned Lord Jesus in the last days knocking the door means His spoken utterances to mankind. That is, He uses His words to knock the door to man’s heart. It’s really good. Now we’ve learnt how the Lord will knock the door when He returns, so the hope of opening the door and welcoming Him is greater.”
Cheng’en said: “Yeah. The Lord will use the word to knock the door to our hearts when He returns, so we’re supposed to pay more attention to hear His voice. If we hear the Holy Spirit’s spoken utterances preached by someone, on the internet or on the radio, we should listen closely. Once we recognize the Lord’s voice, we should open the door for Him and accept His return. Only thus can we be raptured before His throne and attend the feast of the Lamb. When the Lord knocks the door, if we treat Him according to our conceptions and imaginations like the Pharisees and ordinary Jews, refusing to receive His call, we’ll forever miss the opportunity of welcoming Him and being raptured into the kingdom of heaven.”
Xiangyang nodded again and again. At this time He couldn’t help thinking of the lyric he had sung: “Come on, get up to open the door for Him; don’t let our beloved walk away. …”
