Abhineet Agarwal has written a wonderfully strange and haunting little story entitled “The House with No Door.” It is a surrealist story about a house that has no door and a town’s struggle to understand what that fact means. It is also about a woman who finally manages to enter the house with no door.
The house was strange not only in the sense that it had no door but also in the sense that no one had ever entered it; for it is common sense that no one can enter a house with no door…
But everyone knew that there was something about the house that allowed entry to only some sort of people — this “something” would forever remain a frustrating mystery, a mystery that would make the clouds over the house rumble with a forlorn anger and the trees whisper in a language only the wind understood. This mystery of the criteria required for entering the house with no door is the reason why no one had ever entered it. That’s why the townsfolk had created far-fetched legends around the house in a half-hearted attempt to explain the light noises that came from the house: there was much talk of angry ghosts and numerous hearsay that elucidated the disturbances with the help of stories of sad spirits.
I love that phrase: “This mystery of the criteria required for entering…”
How one could enter the house with no door seemed to almost drive the townspeople mad.
Many were too afraid to even try to enter the house, though they wanted to.
Others thought about entering the house through the windows but did not because they found the idea of doing so to be “blasphemous” and disrespectful to the architects.
The children cried and the pi-dogs barked, the women beat their breasts, and the earth shook with rage if someone came too close to the windows of the house. Thus the age-old question remained forever unanswered: how was one supposed to enter the house with no door?
Others felt that “maybe, the house with no door was made in such a way because no one was supposed to enter it.”
Others felt that, no, the house with no door was to be entered.
Others thought the whole house was a prank!
Others thought the house was haunted and should be left alone.
Finally, one lady enters the house. She figures out what the house is. We are told in the story what the house means and she is able to enter it.
Let me spell it out nonetheless. Even though I personally feel that the answer is an undemanding one, let me proceed to record it, just so that this “enigma” is finally resolved: you don’t need doors to enter houses—you need feet.
When asked how she had finally entered the house with no door, this would be her raging reply: “I simply walked in.”[1]
It is, again, a wonderfully strange little story, and worth the time it takes to read it.
I am struck by that story: A house with no door, a house with no way in. And, finally, a way in.
It strikes me further that the same conversations were surrounding the Kingdom of God in the first century. Is there a door? Is there a way in? Who can enter? How do we get in?
Some self-proclaimed guardians of the Kingdom said they were the keepers of the door and they would determine who could go in.
Some said everybody could go into the Kingdom.
Some said nobody could enter.
Some completely misunderstood what the Kingdom was.
But what about Jesus? What did Jesus say about entering the Kingdom? Does it have a door? And, if so, how do we enter?
Jesus wants the door of the Kingdom of God to be open.
We begin with a fundamentally important fact about Jesus and the Kingdom, and it is this: Jesus wants the door of the Kingdom of God to be open. And we know this because, in Matthew 23, we see Jesus’ intense reaction to those who would keep it closed.
13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.”
Upon the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus pronounces woe and a charge of hypocrisy. Why? “For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.”
Here, the heart of Jesus is revealed through a rebuke. He is angered by the religious leaders’ shutting of the kingdom of God off from people, by the way they are making it difficult for others to come into the Kingdom.
Jesus wants the door of the Kingdom to be open and for all to come in.
But Jesus shows that the door of the Kingdom is in fact closed to many people.
Even so, Jesus shows, in many ways, that He is not a universalist. He shows that the Kingdom of God is, in fact, closed to many people. Consider:
The door of the Kingdom is closed to the unrighteous.
In Matthew 5, Jesus say:
20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
The door of the Kingdom is closed, then, to the unrighteous, to workers of wickedness. It is a place of holiness and goodness where wickedness will find no home.
The door of the Kingdom is closed to those whose faith is all talk.
In Matthew 7, we see that the door of the Kingdom is closed to practitioners of empty religion.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”
This is a picture of “faith” that is all talk, of faith that does not really believe. The religious talkers—those who merely say “Lord, Lord”—will not enter the Kingdom. Rather, those who do the will of God will enter. The obedient. The righteous.
The door of the Kingdom is closed to the haughty.
In Matthew 18, we find that the door of the Kingdom is closed to the haughty and the proud.
2 And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them 3 and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
Verse 4 explains what the “become like children” in verse 3 means: humility. The door is closed to the haughty. The door is open to the humble. The pretentious, the proud, the arrogant: they will find themselves outside of the Kingdom.
The door of the Kingdom is closed to the unrepentant.
So, too, the unrepentant. In Mark 9, Jesus offers a startling pronouncement in the language of prophetic intensity.
47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell
To tear your eye out, here, is not to be understood literally. Rather, it is to be understood in terms of deep and sincere repentance. If you are not willing to rid yourself of the sin that is destroying you, you will not enter the Kingdom. The unrepentant cannot enter because the unrepentant will not enter.
The door of the Kingdom is closed to those who treasure wealth more than the Kingdom.
We find the same with those who treasure wealth more than they do the Kingdom of God. Jesus, in Mark 10 makes this clear.
23 And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
The idea here is not that the wealthy cannot. It is rather that many of the wealthy—not all—love their wealth more than the Kingdom. And if you will not let go of your gold to take hold of Christ, you cannot enter the Kingdom!
These two truths establish something fundamental to our understanding of salvation: Jesus wants the door open to all but He knows the door is closed to many. So, Jesus warns us.
But the warning goes even beyond these specific cases. It is more expansive. Why? Because we are all sinners and, as such, are all unworthy of the Kingdom. In point of fact, if we are honest with ourselves, none of us are deserving of the Kingdom of God. Not of us have a “right” to enter. We are all outsiders.
And this much is true: It is a terrible thing to be outside of the Kingdom. In Matthew 8, Jesus says to the centurion:
11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
In the Kingdom is light and life and joy.
Outside of the Kingdom is weeping and judgment.
It will be terrible to be outside.
Human beings cannot stand a structure with no entrance, cannot stand the thought of not being able to enter something. I recently read an online forum in which a person in Vermont found a structure, something that looked like a house, in the woods. The only problem? It had no doors. There was no way in! He posted pictures online and asked for help in understanding it. It was humorous how many people said, almost in a panic, “Dude, you have got to find a way in! We have got to know what is in there!” (Turns out it was a structure built over a water reservoir.)
There is something about a house with no door that drives people seemingly mad!
I have a picture here of a house that is for sale in Atlanta, Georgia. The article in which the picture appeared was entitled “Atlanta House with No Front Door.” The front door is tucked obscurely up beneath the house giving the outer form of the house an impenetrable and foreboding appearance. The comment section was riddled with comments like, “Why on earth would anybody buy such a thing?”
Again, human beings seem not to like homes without doors! There is something maddening about it, unnatural about it. There is something almost ominous about it.
But what will it be like to be outside of the Kingdom and realize there is no door for you? To realize that the sounds of life and peace and joy and love that you hear coming from within are not for you? According to Jesus, this will be the case for many and, indeed, it ought to be the case for us all.
None of us are deserving of entrance into the Kingdom!
Yet Jesus shows that He is the door to the Kingdom for all unworthy humanity.
But there is a final point about entering the Kingdom and we dare not miss it! It is this: There is a door into the Kingdom and, while you have breath, you may enter! That door is Jesus Himself!
In John 10, Jesus makes this abundantly clear:
7 So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”
I am the door!
Jesus is the door!
And if you will enter by Jesus, you will be saved!
Jesus is the door and Jesus is the way, as He says in John 14:
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus is the way.
Jesus is the door.
Jesus is how we enter the Kingdom.
And, specifically, it is the obedient life of Jesus, the substitutionary death of Jesus, and the victorious resurrection of Jesus that renders Him the way and the door! We enter through the broken body and blood of the Lamb who was slain and rose again!
In Matthew 27, we find the reality of Jesus as the way and the door depicted in a most amazing and beautiful way. Jesus is the on the cross and He breathes His last. Then we read:
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.
Do you see? In Jesus, that which separates us from the Kingdom, from God Himself, is removed. The temple veil is torn in two. We can now enter in.
Church, there is a way home! There is a way into the Kingdom! There is a door! It is open to us! And that door is Jesus! Place your faith in Him and enter! Call upon His name and enter! Trust in Him and be saved!
[1] https://abhineetagarwal123.medium.com/the-house-with-no-door-2eef00fd6017
My stars, the premise of this message like to have scared me 1/2 to death. Had the power gone out here before your final point and THAT little crescendo call to come to Jesus in closing me was at risk for dying in abject fear. My second time through and further study this week was MORE BETTER after praying for grace and mercy and help NOT to be so afraid of God. Work out salvation in fear and trembling per Phil. 2:12 became a lifeline back to sanity. That watch story for some of us is just sickening in contrast to a life-long “addiction” to stay focused on the poor, starving, suffering & often isolated believers all over our nation some of whom we drive past every week on the way to church and imagine this is NOT such a big problem in America when clearly it is a global problem only the return of Christ Jesus will “fix”. Thank you Wyman and CBCNLR for your outreach way out here 🙂
Bless you brother!