He Comes to His Own.


_The front-door key_ hangs right at the very front, outside, low down,
where even a child's hand can reach it. It is in chapter one, verses
eleven and twelve: "_He came unto His own, and they that were His own
received Him not. But as many as received Him to them gave He the right
to become children of God, even to them who believe on His name_." This
is the great key, the chief key to this whole house. It flings the front
door wide open and you are inside at once, and take in the whole of the
house at a glance, one glance, one wonderful glance.

The first twelve chapters tell of Jesus coming to His own, His own
nation, humanly, racially, His own chosen people. He is coming steadily
and persistently, in spite of rebuffs; coming patiently, tenderly,
earnestly; coming ever closer in the ever increasing measure of divine
power seen in His actions.

And continually, persistently, He is being rejected and accepted. He is
rejected silently and contemptuously, then aggressively and bitterly,
viciously and murderously. "His own received Him not." But many received
Him, eagerly and warmly and thoughtfully. They received Him with a
growing depth of conviction and deepening tenderness of love. And as
they come, He is ever receiving them, giving them that touch of new
life that marks only the children of God.

In chapters thirteen to seventeen He is receiving into closer fellowship
those who have received Him, and at the same time wooing them into yet
closer touch. The story of the trial and crucifixion in chapters
eighteen and nineteen, puts the most terrific emphasis on the words,