叩門叩門誰在外

Forward from Chinese hymn comment:

Here is the English translation:

Author: Mrs. Harriet E. Beecher Stowe, born in America in 1812. Her whole family served the Lord. She later married Professor Stowe, and the couple served the Lord together for the rest of their lives.

This is a commonly used gospel hymn, based on Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. ”

Once, at a gospel conference, a local official came to hear the preaching. His father was a minister, and he himself had studied theology. Yet he had no experience of being born again, and harbored a hidden unbelief in his heart — he was an unbelieving theology student. After entering society, he drifted along with the world and often debated with ministers, taking delight in winning arguments against them.

On this particular occasion, the message happened to be about the experience of being born again — something he had never heard spoken of before. That evening when he came to the meeting, his pockets were filled with prepared questions intended to stump the minister. That day, this hymn happened to be sung. He was immediately arrested by it. The Holy Spirit moved through the meeting, and the hymn was sung again and again. He forgot all his questions and joined in singing fervently with everyone else. When they reached the third verse — “The pierced hand still knocks untiring, the crown of thorns still worn; eyes still filled with pleading love — the Savior waits for the door to open” — he suddenly felt the love of Christ touch him. It was as though he saw the Lord’s nail-scarred hand knocking at the door of his heart. Tears burst from his eyes. That very night he received the Savior, was born again, experienced the joy of salvation, and afterward fervently proclaimed this same Savior to others.

On another occasion, in Norwich, England, a mother brought her eight-year-old daughter to a gospel meeting. When they had finished singing this hymn, the little girl suddenly turned to her mother with a look of distress and said: “What’s wrong? The song ends here — can we really bear to let the Lord keep waiting outside? ” As she spoke, she took out a small piece of paper and wrote the following eight lines, then handed it to her mother and said: “I think this is the proper ending for this hymn. ”

Enter! Enter!
Heavenly guest!
Welcome! Welcome!
To my breast.
I have long withstood Thy knocking,
For my heart was full of sin.
But Thy love hath overcome me —
Blessed Jesus! Oh, come in. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​