‘THE PORTER OF THE DOOR’
‘To him the porter openeth.’
Who is the Porter? Christ we know is the Door. The only satisfactory explanation is to see in the Porter the office and work of God the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is the Porter. He opens the Door, and when once we grasp this idea, we carry with us a master-key that unlocks every difficulty, a stream of Divine light issues forth and lights up the whole passage. The Divine Porter has suddenly opened our understanding that we might understand the Scriptures, and parts that appear disjointed and out of proportion now fit in and harmonise.
I. Let us see how true this is.—Christ is the Door, but the Holy Spirit is the Porter who opens the Door. Take the case of the Apostles. Our Lord lived with them, they heard His words, they listened to His Parables, they heard Him speak of His Death, Resurrection, and Ascension; but what effect had these words upon them? They misinterpreted nearly everything He said. When He spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven, they thought of earthly dominion and power; when He spoke of Death, they thought of defeat. It was only after the descent of the Holy Spirit that the full meaning of our Lord’s Life and Words dawned upon them. Then the Porter opened the Door and a flood of light streamed into their hearts. ‘They remembered His words.’
II. Was there no light in the world, then, until Christ came?—Was man left to grope his way through the dark vale of tears alone—to follow the light of his own distorted reasonings? There was ever the true light, which lighteth every man coming into the world, at first dim and uncertain, but still shining amidst the surrounding darkness in unbroken line, not always confined to one nation or family, but like the wind of God blowing where it listeth—sometimes manifesting itself in the patient endurance of wrongs, in the bright faith of the Patriarchs, in the bravery of the soldier, in the meekness of the great Law-giver, in the uprightness and simple piety of the King. Then in the long line of prophets it flashed forth with peculiar splendour, and afterwards seemed to die away—as though after all the darkness had comprehended it—until the Dayspring from on high visited us. Then, at the Ascension, the Porter opened wide the Door to let the King of Glory in, and the light came forth in a livid flood and was diffused all over the world, enlightening, guiding, sanctifying every soul of man that will walk in its light, and leading them
‘O’er moor, o’er crag and torrent, till the night be gone!’
Yes, so it is. Our understanding is darkened, our hearts are sealed, our ears are closed, unless the Porter openeth.
Rev. J. L. Spencer.
Illustration
‘An old Father of the Church writes, “Christ is the Door of the fold and the keeper of the Door, as well as the shepherd of the sheep. He is the Truth, and opens Himself and reveals to us His Truth;” and St. Bernard sings in that wonderful rhythm from which we get the beautiful hymn “Jerusalem the Golden”:
“Jesus the Gem of Beauty,
True God and Man they sing,
The never-failing Garden,
The ever-golden Ring.
“The Door, the Pledge, the Husband,
The Guardian of His Court,
The Day-star of Salvation,
The Porter and the Port.” ’