Doors

Doors

Have you ever fought with a door or gate?

One time when I was young and quite inebriated I fought with a bathroom door and if I remember right the door won.

How about a gate? Have you ever tried to get your gate open when its raining and you are carrying groceries? That gate can put up a tremendous fight.

I know this all sounds silly but I am trying to illustrate a Biblical Research Principle.

If a verse is not literally true to fact it is either a figure of speech or an orientalism.

There was a very endearing term my mother would use (when she saw my room was a disaster) which was to redefine my genus and species by calling me a “pig”. I could have informed her that she obviously erred, and that her basic knowledge of biology was blatantly inaccurate, but somehow I do not think that would have helped the matter.

My mother was speaking in the figure of speech “Metaphor”. Was my mother always consistent with her usage of Metaphors? No.

Are there metaphors in the Word of God? Yes. But with God His usage is precise and consistent.

Figures of Speech which reveals great truths in The Word of God. They are God’s markings of emphasize in His Word as to that which is very important.

Now let’s see an illustration of this figure in the Scriptures.

Let’s go to Matthew 16:17-18, “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Here the figure Metaphor is used twice.

The first usage is Peter receiving revelation from God which is called a “rock”. But the second usage of “gates of hell” is not defined.

The key is in the culture at the time of the writing.

Every door or gate had a guard whose responsibility was to open and close the gate to allow people or disallow their passage. They had two to three foot long keys that they hung around their neck or on their shoulder.

The gates or doors were men whose job it was to allow or refuse passage. Only thing similar we have today are the door men at prestiqous Hotels, but the original purpose and meaning of them has been lost. Door men today are not guards, but only servants that open and close the door for guests.

Matthew 23:13, “But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.” Here Jesus refers to the Pharisees as doors.

And in John 10:9, Jesus says “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved,” Jesus refers to himself as a door.

Matt. 7:7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.