19. HOW DOES THE LORD KNOCK?

How does the Lord knock? We read in Revelation 3:20 that we should hear His voice. He knocks by speaking to us. How does the Lord speak to us? Does He do it, as in the case of Paul, directly from heaven in our own language? (Cp. Acts 26:14)
He can if He wants to. But it is certainly not the rule. The Lord says to those who preach the Gospel: "He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me." (Luke 10:16) The voice of the Lord (Rev 3:20) manifests itself in the voice of the preacher. (Luke 10:16) This means that the voice of the preacher is the voice of the Lord; when we hear the voice of the preacher, it is as if we hear the voice of the Lord.
Peter writes as follows: "You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God ... And this is the word that was preached to you." (1 Pet 1:23-25) God works towards our rebirth through the preaching of the gospel. (Cp. 1 Cor 4:15) Paul writes: "For, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" (Rom 10:13,14) Further on, he writes that: "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." (Rom 10:17)