CLOSED DOORS AND NEW BEGINNINGS
Some years ago, my wife Christina and I had grandma (our kids call her Gigi) come and babysit our 18-month-old Levi. Today, we have four kids, so babysitting can be an adventure, but back in those days, when there was just one toddler, it should have been easy.
It wasn’t.
At one point, Gigi ran out to her car to grab something and returned to find the front door was locked. She didn’t know it, but Levi was obsessed with shutting doors. He had just learned to walk and would toddle around the house, shutting every open door. So, when Gigi walked out, and he saw the front door open, it was his opportunity! He closed the door. And it automatically locked behind her.
Gigi freaked out. She ran around the outside of the house, but every door and window were closed and locked. Her cell phone was in the house, so she couldn’t even call for help. She ran across the street to one of our neighbors and asked to use their phone to call me.
Immediately, I jumped in my car to drive the thirty minutes to our house. As I’m driving, I’m talking to Gigi, “What’s happening? Can you see him? Is he at the door waving at you? Is he okay?” She was not reassuring, “I can’t see him. I’ve knocked on all the doors and all the windows. I don’t know where he is.”
When I finally arrived, I opened the garage door and found Levi crying in the laundry room with the lights off. He had shut himself into this room (remember, he was obsessed with shutting doors) after he had shut Gigi out of the front door. He had probably been sitting in that dark little room for up to an hour. Someday, someone may be paying for a lot of counseling!
I picked up crying Levi, held him, and whispered, “It’s ok. I’m here. You’re safe.”
All of that happened because of one closed door.
It’s incredible the difference doors can make. And I’ve noticed that throughout the Bible, God shows us the story of humanity through a series of doors. In fact, if you look for them, doors are all over the Bible.
THE GARDEN DOOR
In Genesis, God creates the first two people and lives in perfect relationship with them in the Garden of Eden. That’s God’s desire for all of us.
We were created in love, by God, who is love, so we could love and be loved by him.
Because the goal was love, and love must be freely chosen, God gave people freedom. Unfortunately, the first two people decided to use their freedom not to love God but to sin against him. Sin led to separation from fellowship with God and a closed door to Eden:
“So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” (Genesis 3:23-24)
This is a heartbreaking story. And a closed door on the end of an incredible beginning. But God has a plan.
THE ARK DOOR
Before things get better, they get worse. Rather than an isolated sin by two people, by Genesis 6, all of humanity turns away from God.
God decides to start over with Noah, “a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time,” who “walked faithfully with God” (Genesis 6:16). God tells Noah to build an ark that would save him and his family from the coming flood. The flood represents God's anger at our sins, and the ark represents Jesus, whom God would send to rescue us from judgment.
The ark featured a door. Those who walked through the open door were saved, and those who didn’t were lost forever.
THE PASSOVER DOOR
In Exodus, the next book of the Bible, God’s people are slaves in Egypt. They cry out to God, and he decides to lead them out of slavery. God gave Pharaoh many signs to convince him, but Pharaoh did not relent. Finally, because Egypt will not allow God’s children to go free, God decides that every firstborn son in Egypt will die.
God tells Moses he will save the firstborn of each Israelite family who sacrifices a lamb without defect. The lamb's death would save the person from the coming plague. After sacrificing the lamb, they were to “take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs” (Exodus 12:7). Yep, doors.
Generations later, when Jesus came for us, John the Baptist introduced him to the world. John pointed to Jesus and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
The slaying of the Passover lamb and putting of blood on the doorposts of the houses is a beautiful picture of what Jesus would do for us through the cross. Those who believe in Jesus are covered by his blood and protected from eternal death.
THE TEMPLE DOOR
Between the original Passover in Exodus and the arrival of Jesus, the people of Israel built a temple where believers could come to worship God, but they could only get so close. There was a series of closed doors, shutting out various people from getting too near the presence of God. There was a door shut in the faces of Gentiles, another in the face of women, another shut to everyone but the priests, and at last, there was a great curtain that only the high priest could go past and come fully into the presence of God.
It all represented people having to stay at a distance from God because of their sins.
Until Jesus.
Jesus came to break down the barriers that separated people from God. And when Jesus died, God caused something symbolic to happen at the temple so that humans could understand the significance of what was happening on the cross.
“And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom” (Matthew 27:50-51)
The curtain that had always acted as a closed door, shutting people out from getting too close to God, suddenly tore in two and became an open door. Jesus’ death opened the way for anyone to come to God. The throne room was now wide open. Jesus made a way.
Instead of being fearful of God, we can now “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
THE GRAVE’S OPEN DOOR
“After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone” (Matthew 28:1-2).
The stone was rolled away – the door was open – and the tomb was empty.
An angel explains to Mary, “He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead” (Matthew 28:6-7).
The angel invited Mary to “come and see the place where he lay.” He wanted her to go into the empty grave and see for herself.
I grew up thinking the stone was rolled away so Jesus could get out. That’s not what the gospel writers record. Jesus was already out. The stone wasn’t rolled away so Jesus could get out; the door was opened so we could come in, see, and believe. The door was opened for us!
Just like on the day Jesus died, there are many today who do not yet believe. They assume Jesus was a kind man and a good teacher, but they claim the idea that he was God in the flesh is exaggerated folklore.
What can convince someone that Jesus is who he says he is? The same thing that convinced Mary and the other disciples: his resurrection.
The resurrection stands as the greatest evidence for our faith, and the open door it created remains God’s great invitation to anyone who wants to come in.
And God has given us the same mission he gave Mary: Go quickly. Tell everyone. He has risen from the dead just as he said!
A NEW BEGINNING
Like an ignorant, impulsive toddler, we go through life shutting doors in our faces. We shut doors through our sinful and selfish decisions, not realizing that going through those doors can lead to life.
That’s terrible news.
But there is good news: God is obsessed with opening doors.
From the very beginning, God’s desire has been for us to be inside with him instead of outside alone. So, he sent Jesus.
And if we will let him, Jesus will find us, open the door, pick us up out of the darkness we have gotten ourselves trapped in, hold us, and whisper, “It’s ok. I’m here. You’re safe.”
TAKE ACTION
If you haven’t yet met Jesus for yourself, I invite you to do that today. Please read my post about starting a relationship with Jesus at https://bradjenkins.me/blog/the-god-of-the-open-door and pray the prayer at the bottom of the page. Then, let me know of your decision so that I can celebrate with you.
Where in your life do you currently feel like you are shut out or in darkness? What might it look like for you to let Jesus come and hold you and tell you it will be okay?
Who has God put in your life who needs to know they are invited by God to come to him through the open door? How about opening up that conversation with them this week?
Image from Doors of the Bible message series at Anthem Church. To watch messages from this powerful series, please visit Anthem’s YouTube channel
*If this has been helpful, please send me a message and let me know. And please help me by sharing this post with others who could benefit from it. My writing aims to help people enjoy a vibrant relationship with Jesus, and it is an honor to be on this journey with you. To read previous newsletters, visit www.bradjenkins.me/blog. To sign up for my free newsletter about life, leadership, and the Bible, subscribe at www.bradjenkins.me/subscribe.