Keys

We know about keys. They open things and shut things. They allow and prevent. The person with the key can cause those without a key to have to wait on entering. The person with the keys usually has authority to carry the keys. So in Matthew 16 Jesus in talking with the apostles, and specifically with Peter since he is the confessor of Jesus here, tells them He will give them the keys to the kingdom. He adds that there is authority in these keys to bind and loose correspondingly on earth and in heaven. Some see the binding and loosing of demons in this, but that seems to me to be totally out of the context of the passage. Others connect it to Numbers 30:1ff to the Jewish practice of a young woman making a vow which had to be approved by her father for it to be validated. There might be some connection here. Others point out the connection with Eliakim in Isaiah 22 who was given the key to the house of David around his shoulders, and a reference to the Messiah in Isa.9:6 who has the government on His shoulders. What Eliakim opens no one can shut and what he shuts no one can open. This connects to Rev.3:7 and Jesus who also holds the key of David and does the same as Eliakim, shutting and opening. This text bears very close scrutiny since it has some elements of the text of Matthew 16. Jesus places the open door before this church and no one can shut it. The Philadelphian Christians are confessors of Jesus' name. They did not deny Him. And Jesus will give them a new name, just as He did to Simon (i.e. Peter). Now there are also a couple of other connections to our passage. In Matt.18:18 after giving instructions on the unrepentant brother Jesus tells the apostles they can bind and loose. Immediately after this in 18:19-20 Jesus speaks of people agreeing and coming together in Jesus' name. Finally, Jesus, in Luke 11:52 and in Matt.23:1`-4, upbraids the Jewish authorities for taking away the key of knowledge and binding up loads on people with their rules, and not raising a finger to lift those loads.

OK! What do we make of all this? The apostles are being entrusted with a solemn responsibility. They are Jesus' chosen vessels to unlock the chains of binding sin through the truth of who Jesus is, the Son of the Living God. This is their proclamation to the ends of the earth. They are entrusted with making confessors of as many as possible, loosing them from the loads placed on them by man-made religions and their own sins. They are to do as Jesus did, set the captives free. They do this by means of the gospel. However, this same gospel binds those who do not confess His name. It binds them over as it does Satan. It holds the non-confessors behind the bars of Hades. The apostles are forgiveness brokers. It is Jesus' forgiveness, but they are like midwives assisting in the new birth. They are like match-makers helping to arrange the marriage between Jesus and His bride, the church. This same responsibility is not exclusive to the apostles as they are entrusted with the responsibility to instruct those who in turn can instruct others also (2 Tim.2:2).

1 Chronicles 9:27 tells us of the gatekeepers of the Tabernacle. Every morning they would open it so the business of the Jewish religion could be carried out. Imagine if one morning the designate to unlock the doors could not find his keys. The chaos that would follow would be great. Imagine if this happened on the Day of Atonement and this most important service could not take place because of his incompetence. You and I have the keys to the kingdom. Do we know where they are? Are we using them regularly to set the captives free?