Door

A point of entry, especially to a house. The door-frame was given special significance within the law of Moses, and temple doorkeepers had a special status. Used figuratively, it relates to opportunity, and Jesus Christ used it of himself as the means of access to God.

The function of doors: gaining or barring entry

Psalm 24:7 See also Genesis 19:6, Genesis 19:9–11; Exodus 12:22; 2 Samuel 13:17–18; 2 Kings 4:4–5 Elisha and the widow's oil; Nehemiah 13:19; Psalm 24:9; Proverbs 5:8 warning against adultery; Matthew 6:6 Jesus Christ advocates secret prayer; Mark 1:33; Luke 11:7; John 18:15–16; Acts 5:19; Revelation 3:8

Lift up your heads, O gates! Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may enter!

The status and role of temple doorkeepers

Psalm 84:10 See also 2 Kings 25:18 parallel Jeremiah 52:24; 1 Chronicles 15:23–24; 2 Chronicles 23:19, 2 Chronicles 34:13

For better is one day in Your courts than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

The door and its surroundings as a symbol of a household

Exodus 12:22–23 See also Exodus 12:7, Exodus 21:6; Deuteronomy 6:9, Deuteronomy 11:20, Deuteronomy 15:16–17, Deuteronomy 22:21; Isaiah 57:8; Ezekiel 45:19

Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

Figurative use of opening a door

The door as a symbol of opportunity

1 Corinthians 16:8–9 See also Genesis 4:7; Hosea 2:15; Acts 14:27; Colossians 4:3; Revelation 3:7–8

But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, even though many oppose me.

Opening the door as a symbol of allowing Jesus Christ into one's life

Revelation 3:20 See also Luke 12:35–36

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.

The door opened in answer to prayer

Matthew 7:7–8 parallel Luke 11:9–10

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Jesus Christ as the means of access to God

John 10:7 “Door” is sometimes used as a synonym for “gate”. See also John 10:9

So He said to them again, “Truly, truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.

The door is indicative of imminent arrival

Matthew 24:33 parallel Mark 13:29

The door as the entry to the coming kindgom

Matthew 25:10–12; Luke 13:23–25