KINGDOM BIBLE STUDIES 

"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God..."

THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Part 34

THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM

            “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mat. 16:19). 

            With the words of this passage in view, let us suppose that a king of incredible wealth decides to do something wonderfully beneficent for his people — something no other king has ever done.  He decides to take all the wealth he has amassed and share it fully with each and every subject of his kingdom.  There are great treasures, vast sums of money, gold, silver, precious stones, houses, lands, huge warehouses full of grain and rations of various kinds, and a multitude of other commodities.  Why all this generosity?  Because the king is good, he has a pure spirit and a loving heart, and justice is the essence of his character.  He wants his people to be happy, to know joy, to prosper and experience the best of what life has to offer.  He wants them to live on his own level of wealth and abundance. 

            Of course, there must be a means, a method for the distribution of all these blessings and benefits.  Certain rules have to be established, and specific guidelines put in place.  For instance, the king must appoint a select company of men to have the oversight over the distribution of his wealth.  These men must be completely trustworthy — honest, unselfish, faithful, industrious, skilled, conscientious and efficient.  They must have only the will of the king and the best interests of the people at heart.

            One bright morning you are called with a chosen group of men to appear before the king.  A background check has been done on each one and only those who have met the rigid qualifications have been selected.  “To you,” the king says to these men, “I entrust the keys of my kingdom.  It is obvious that you understand my heart and share my purpose.  Take these and do what you should.  My palace is available to you twenty-four hours a day, and all my houses, warehouses, treasuries, and gates will open and lock by these keys I give you.  The future success of this venture rests with you.  Now, I must be about other important matters!”

            What an honor!  What a responsibility!

            What would you do?  Would you use the keys carelessly, selfishly, or dishonestly?  Would you brag to everyone you meet that you are one of the select persons in the kingdom who has the final say as to who gets what and who doesn’t?  Would you walk about haughtily with an air of superiority because you have privileged access to the realms of riches of the king?  Would you conceal the full intent of the king to share his wealth with every man, from the pauper to the prince, and prevent certain individuals who appear unworthy, or whom you don’t like, from getting their fair share?  Or would you let everyone know of the king’s benevolence, while at the same time protecting the interests of the king by making known and enforcing the few stipulations and procedures he established?  I do not doubt for one moment that the king would be interested in whether or not the people were receiving and enjoying his gift!  Should some people refuse to believe his generosity, they must be convinced, because it is the decree of the king that they have their part in his kingdom.  If they don’t know the proper protocol for receiving the gift, they must be instructed.  If they have neither the wisdom nor the ability to properly use the gift, they should be taught, or someone appointed to administer the gift on their behalf.  That all this is accomplished is of vital interest to the king — but the importance and power attributed to you, the holder of the keys, would be far less significant to him.

            Within this illustration lies the divine secret to the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.  You see, Peter is not the issue.  The kind of power Jesus did or did not bestow on Peter is not what this is about.  Rather, Jesus was talking about something new and wonderful that had come to earth — the Kingdom of God itself and the possibility and plan for every son and daughter of Adam to enter into a new realm and participate in that whole new dimension of life.  So different, however, was this Kingdom, that only a company of very special people with unique purpose and particular qualifications would be able to successfully unlock all of its riches and judiciously administer all of its benefits fully to every man according to the will of the King.  The issue is not what the people think they want, or what the administrators want, but a matter of the King’s decree!  Any who would illegally grasp after that which is not theirs must be quickly and effectively dealt with — but in the end every man would receive his share.  Those unfaithful servants who would deny the blessings to some because of their own ignorance, unbelief, or rebellion, must be punished, but in the end every man will receive his inheritance.  For any man to live as he had previously lived would impugn the wonder of the gift.  But for any man to express contempt for the gift, or to secure it by illegal means, or to mistreat it in any way, would bring swift judgment by authority of the King.  So the person holding the keys was not only to open up this marvel of grace and glory, but to protect it from ruin as well.  Every man must be so dealt with that he will ultimately accept the gift and live in the power of its provision.  So the work of the keeper of the keys goes way beyond just passing out gifts; it involves the ability to convince every man to joyfully receive the gift and to prepare every man to properly appropriate the gift.  The intention and provision of the King is very wise and thorough!

            “You understand me, Peter,” the Lord seemed to be saying, ‘you are someone to whom I can entrust the keys of my Kingdom!”  What a day of days it must have been for Peter, who had already seen so much beyond what other men had seen, to now be given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven!  Many make the mistake of thinking that only Peter was given these keys!  Notice, however, the qualifying statement that follows which explains how the keys work.  “What soever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  It is revealing to note that this whole incident isn’t even mentioned in any of the other Gospels.  But those identical words about binding and loosing are spoken by Jesus again just two chapters later, when He’s talking to all His footstep followers.  “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.  Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven” (Mat. 18:18-19).  Check it out!  It should be obvious to every thinking mind that the other disciples, too — not every follower, but every specially selected disciple — was given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven!

            But beyond this — what was Jesus’ intent in giving the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to His chosen disciples?  Was it to let everyone know clearly who was in charge of letting people into the Kingdom and keeping them out?  Not by any means!  It had nothing whatever to do with letting people in or shutting people out of the Kingdom of Heaven — it was rather a matter of releasing the blessings and benefits of the Kingdom of Heaven to all men, but not so indiscriminately that men could inherit the Kingdom on their own terms without meeting its requirements.  To the key keepers is given the responsibility and ministry of opening up this new realm of the Kingdom of Heaven to all men, and making sure that Kingdom principles are adhered to.  Was Peter a good key keeper?  Or was Peter more interested in impressing people with the great power he had within himself — to admit or bar them from the favor of God?  Ah, Peter proved worthy of this honor!  He never mentions the keys in his epistles, nor do any of the other apostles speak of the keys, but he does write about the wonders of who we are in Christ, a Royal Priesthood, of the great and precious promises by which we escape corruption; of the great principles of our entrance into, and inheritance in, the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; of the passing of the old heavens and earth and the establishment of the new; and how to walk in the will of God as sons of the Most High.  These are the words and wisdom and revelation of a man who within himself possessed the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven!  And he possessed those keys as an apostle of the church age to bring forth the formation of the Christ body in the earth!

            The sun is now setting on the church age with its ministry of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.  The transcendent glory of that brighter and greater age when the body of Christ has been brought to its fullness in the manifestation of the sons of God is even now dawning upon us.  We know this, not by claiming a scripture or by  embracing a doctrine, but because the Holy Ghost has powerfully spoken and testified of it among vast numbers of the Lord’s elect in recent years.  It is a revelation “come down from heaven” and proclaimed in the “power of the Spirit.”  Those who cannot see the change in dispensations, nor the implications of it, have not heard from God.  The present work of the Spirit has to do with the Kingdom of God increasing into the new age, not established just in the lives of the elect body of Christ, but through them among all the nations and peoples of the earth.  It is a new day and a new work.  In the previous age the Lord’s dealings have been for the formation of His body, the sons of God.  In the dawning age the Lord’s dealings will be through the manifested sons of God, gathered out of the previous age, for the increase of His kingdom and peace throughout the earth.  Of the increase of His kingdom and of His peace there shall be no end!  From age to age the Kingdom shall increase, first in the Lord’s people, then in all the earth, and finally throughout all the endless vastnesses of infinity forever more! 

            God has prepared His holy remnant, who are all sons of God, those whom He has formed for His purposes and called to sonship for such an hour as this.  Our Father has made us what He wants us to be, and that is what we are.  He has called us, separated us unto Himself, laid His hand upon us, broken us to pieces, purged and purified us out of the world and out of the religious systems of men, in the furnace of affliction, and led us in the strange paths of His dealings, that He might raise us up by the power of His Spirit and make us a blessing unto all the ends of the earth.  We now desire to do all the will of our Father in the earth!  Our expectation is to use the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to bring the blessings and benefits, the power and the glory and the riches, of God’s Kingdom upon all men of all the nations.  During the church age the Lord’s ministers have only had power to claim the called out for God.  If men refused, there was nothing else we could do.  But in the age coming upon us, the sons of God will have power to claim all men for God!  We are not willing to lose even one to hell or eternal damnation. We will do whatever it takes to accomplish this!  We will use the keys of the Kingdom that God gives His sons, just as Jesus said, “If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing (or any person or persons) that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”  What power to claim all men for God lies in these keys!  All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and resistance is futile, for the transforming power of the Spirit shall be poured out from on High through the sons of God.  All men shall be assimilated into the Kingdom of God!  All creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.  What a day!

            It is now time for the apostles of the Kingdom to be sent forth.  These apostles of the Kingdom are the firstfruits company.  In these firstfruits the foundations of the Kingdom are being laid.  It is to these — to the elect remnant of the Lord — that the first dominion or reign of the Kingdom of God comes.  Christ must first rule and reign in the lives of His elect before He can reign in the lives of anyone else.  And when Christ fully reigns in our lives, the scepter, or ruling authority of the Kingdom of God, is then bestowed upon us.  According to the measure that Christ fully reigns in our lives He has given us the authority to reign with Him from His spiritual throne in the heavenlies.  And according to the measure that His life, wisdom, grace, nature, power and purposes are established in our lives WE ARE GIVEN THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN!  How wonderful and complete is the plan of our God!

            There shall again be a true witness of God in the earth when the holy sons of God fully possess the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and are guided and empowered by the Spirit to use those keys.  These keys of the realm of the Kingdom of Heaven where God dwells and reigns over all are of very great value, above estimate, invaluable.  There is a very great need today for the exercise of the keys of the Kingdom!  The witness of the professing church has become quite weak; indeed, it is a flickering flame, the exaggerated claims of the televangelists notwithstanding.  Much ministry is carried on, but the true testimony is obscured by fleshly programs, fleshly lusts, carnal showmanship and worldly theatrics, soulish sentimentalism, and self-seeking.  Few Christians have as yet been entrusted with the keys of the Kingdom because they are ignorant of God, of His Kingdom purposes and processes, and His ways.  The churches today are full of sin, rebellion, carnality, self-love, fleshly pursuits, presumption and pride.  Believers and popular preachers cannot be trusted with the awesome authority and power of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven!

RECEIVING THE KEYS

            “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?  And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.  He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?  And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.  And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven” (Mat. 16:13-17). 

            How was it that Peter suddenly realized who Jesus was?  He got a revelation from the Father that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God!  He received a revelation of who this Christ was.  If there is one thing in the world that you and I and all men everywhere need to know it is who this Christ is.  Without a revelation of who the Christ is we will never attain anything in God.  But one cannot receive a revelation of who the Christ is without getting something else to go with it.  Let me show you what that something else is.  “Thou art Peter (Petro, small rock, fragment), and upon this rock (Petra, large rock, rock mass) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat. 16:18).  Upon the revelation of who I am I will build my church, saith the Lord.  When you receive a revelation of who this Christ really is, the church is in that moment established in your heart, for Christ is not one member, not one person, but many.  “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ” (I Cor. 12:12). 

            It was upon this revelation of who the Christ is that Jesus said to Peter, “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”  A key is an instrument that closes or opens something which without that key cannot be closed or opened.  Spiritually, it may be a word that opens a hidden mystery which cannot be otherwise discovered, or a power by which a state or condition or circumstance may be revealed, dealt with, or changed, which could not otherwise be effected.  Jesus spoke of keys several times.  To the astonished John on the isle of Patmos He declared, “I have the keys of hell and of death” (Rev. 1:18).  To John there came One who announced Himself as “the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.”  At His girdle hung “the keys of Hades and of death.”  Ah, the enemy usurped control over mankind, ruling with fear, and bringing creation into bondage to the whole dreadful realm of death.  Death was the adversary’s “trump card,” his final victory.  He beguiled man into sin, and “sin when it is finished, bringeth for death” (James 1:15).  After all the beguilement, which the adversary has exercised with ruthless working and deception, causing man to become perverted and corrupt, sinking into the quagmire of fear, sorrow, and hopelessness, the final result was death with its habitation in Hades.

            When Jesus came into the world in the humiliation of the Incarnation, He started on a route of conquest that took Him through the lonely years prior to His introduction at the muddy waters of Jordan, where the bony prophetic finger of John the Baptist was pointed at Him and those significant words were uttered, “Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (Jn. 1:29).  For some thirty-three and a half years He overcame and lived an impeccable life so that it was said of Him that “He was tempted in all points like as we, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). 

            Jesus’ flawless life was followed by a decisive death.  He went to Calvary to endure inexplicable and incomparable suffering: suffering of which we can only have a hint; suffering we can only look at curiously with a sob in our throats; suffering veiled in the mystery of the bearing of sin: suffering surrounded by torn rocks and a sun that refused to shine, and an earth that writhed in agony.  As He hung there alone, God reached down His giant fist and gathered the accumulated sins of men and placed them upon Him.  In the awful agony of Calvary, Christ made His soul and offering for sin.  The sin of the world was imputed unto Him, and the waves of sin’s judgment were released upon Him.  When He had become an offering for sin, He gave up the Ghost and came down from the mystery of His sufferings, having finished that work.  What men saw was a man hanging limp — every bone out of joint, a swollen tongue protruding from burning lips that cried out, “It is finished!”

            And then He arose the conquering Christ!  What a marvelous turn of events!  He took control of the situation as with one exultant shout He grasped the keys of death and hell from him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; stripped away the power of death, burst asunder the bars of hell, stalked boldly out in eternal triumph over all the dread powers of that unseen realm, entered back into His body in the garden tomb, passed through the walls of rock as water passes through a filter, ascended up far above all heavens, stepped up to the Father’s throne, and presented the tokens of His redemption.  The Father said, “Sit down, Son, at my right hand until all your enemies are made your footstool!”

            Nearly two hundred years ago the world was in chaos because “The Scourge of the Earth” (we know him as Napoleon Bonaparte) almost conquered the world.  Everything fell before him.  The British feared that soon their homeland would be invaded by the troops of France.  In one last effort to stop the tremendous on-rush of Napoleon’s army, they sent their greatest general.  General Wellington invaded the heartland of Europe.  The people waited as the forces were joined at Waterloo.  Eagerly they followed the watchman on the tower of Winchester Cathedral as he looked out over the English Channel in the fog waiting for some sign of a ship to bring them news of the outcome.  The hope of England rested on that report.  Finally, as the fog lifted just a little bit, the watchman saw a ship blinking the signal of what had happened.  The letters were taken down.  W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N  D-E-F-E-A-T-E-D.  The fog sank and with it all the hope of England.  The people quivered at the thought that soon they would hear the tramp of French troops upon their land.  However, an hour  later, the fog lifted and again the message was sent forth: W-E-L-L-I-N-G-T-O-N  D-E-F-E-A-T-E-D  E-N-E-M-Y!  A wild shout of glee went out all over England; that feared invasion never came.

            There is a great hero whose name is Jesus.  On a hill outside the city wall of Jerusalem, He went forth to take on the combined forces of death, hell, and the devil.  He did this with His hands and feet secured to a cross, and a lion out of the pit leaped forth in rage and threw itself upon Jesus.  The world and all spiritual realms waited to see what the outcome of that life and death struggle would be.  Hour after hour His life oozed forth drop by drop.  The people waited, hoping that soon He would respond to their taunts, “Come down, if thou be the Son of God, and we will believe on thee.”  Jesus never moved.  Finally the great, piercing cry — He bowed His head and gave up the Ghost.  Word went out in the midst of that midday blackness: JESUS DEFEATED.  A pallor hung over the world.  Life went black, hopeless and meaningless.  But then, on the third day, as the sun began to break over that lonely sepulcher, a new light came with a dazzling radiance.  The huge stone that blocked the door began to move back as if by some unseen hand.  Those Roman troops were startled by the appearance of the messengers resplendent in white.  Then, out of the darkness of that tomb, out of the jaws of death, out of the very pit of hell itself, there stepped forth One who was dead and could now say, “I am He that was dead and, behold, I am alive forevermore and have the keys of death and of hell!”  Word went out through all of Jerusalem.  At first just a whisper — then a voice — then a cry — then a shout — and a chant sublime: JESUS DEFEATED DEATH!  JESUS DEFEATED HELL!  JESUS DEFEATED SATAN!

            Jesus has the keys; He proved that He has the keys of both death and hell, for He unlocked both and arose Victor.  Death could not hold its prey!  Hell could not hold its captive!  Oh Christ!  Thou Son of the living God!  Thou art the resurrection and the life.  Thou wast alive.  Thou wast dead.  And, behold, Thou art alive forevermore and in Thy nail-pierced hand dost hold in triumph the keys of hell and death.  Oh, death, where is thy sting!  Oh, grave, where is thy victory!  Oh gates of hell, thou shalt not prevail, thou shalt one day be empty, for the Redeemer of Israel and the Saviour of the world holds in His triumphant hand thy key.

            Who now has the key of death?  OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.  Who now has the key to hell?  OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST.  Praise God, no one passes through the gates of either of those two, hell or death, except the Lord open or close those gates.  The devil has no authority there.  And now Jesus proclaims, “FEAR NOT — I have the keys of death and of hell.”  Think about it!  What reason do we have to not fear?  He was dead, but behold, He is the living One.  He is living for the ages of the ages.  And this ever living One HAS THE KEYS.  We commonly think of keys being used to lock or unlock doors, but there is another sense in which the word key is used.  Many times when we say that we have the key to a thing, we mean that we have the solution to a problem.  Jesus was saying to John and to us all that HE HAS THE SOLUTION TO THE UNSEEN WORLD.  He has all the problems connected with it unraveled and solved.  He had worked out the problem for Himself, overcame in it, and now stands to proclaim to all men everywhere the GREAT EMANCIPATION.  Through His death and resurrection, Christ took away from the adversary his power of death, and from hell its’ power of containment.  No longer can negation claim the final victory over any man — CHRIST HAS THE KEY, and shall ultimately bring every man into the fullness of His life.  Christ has the power to redeem, and He has the keys of death and hell. 

            Praise God!  Not only does the firstborn among many brethren possess the keys of death and hell, but He shares them with His OVERCOMING ONES IN WHOM IS INWROUGHT THE TRIUMPH OF HIS LIFE.  Jesus said to Peter, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock shall I build my church; and the GATES OF HELL SHALL NOT PREVAIL AGAINST IT” (Mat. 16:18).  The gates of hell have not prevailed against our Lord Jesus Christ, and they shall not prevail against His Church.  What are the “gates” of hell?  Gates are used either to bar entrance or prevent exit.  What does it mean that the gates of hell shall not prevail against Christ’s Church?  I used to erroneously imagine the conflict between the Church and Satan as a game of “cat and mouse.”  Satan was the cat and the Church was the mouse!  Satan was big and powerful — the Church was small and weak, always on the defensive.  But that’s not what that passage means!  Far from it!  The picture instead is of a VICTORIOUS CHURCH laying siege to hell and breaking down its gates to release its prisoners!  The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the example and prototype!  The key of hell gives Christ and His sons the spiritual power to open the “door” of Hades to set every captive free.  Death is literal and spiritual death, and includes the second death, for in the end there shall be “no more death” — first death, second death, any death!  And the key of death gives the Christ company power and authority to conquer all death in every man.  What joy shall be ours when we fully possess the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, giving us Kingdom authority to reign with Christ and to release every captive from the bondage and curse of hell and of death!

            Jesus also declared that He has the “key of David.”  There was a day when God called a man by the name of Eliakim to rule Judah, and the Lord said of him, “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open” (Is. 22:22).  The key of the house of David speaks of the divinely-invested power and authority given to Eliakim to rule and reign over the house of Judah.  With that key Eliakim was fully authorized of God to open doors of opportunity, favor, and blessing that no one else could shut, and to shut doors that no one else could open.  For the overcoming sons of God, the key of the house of David represents God-given authority and power, not merely to do a few works of God, not merely to build up churches, not merely to govern one nation, but to govern all the nations in the Kingdom of God.  And when we have fully come into possession of that Kingdom key, we shall shepherd all nations with a rod of iron, and govern  all peoples wisely, for we shall do so with the mind of Christ  and with the authority of the Father.

            It is interesting to note that God told Eliakim that He would lay the key of the house of David “upon his shoulder.”  The Hebrew word translated “shoulder” in this passage indicates the area where burdens are placed.  When a man like Eliakim is commissioned by the Lord to reign over an earthly government or kingdom, none can deny that such responsibility is indeed a burden.  One has only to consider how quickly our recent  presidents of the United States have aged, how soon their hair turns gray and their faces wrinkle, to see how the responsibility of rulership in the earthly governments and kingdoms under man’s corrupt order is indeed a burdensome experience.  Ah, but in the Kingdom of God there are no burdens!  The Kingdom of God is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost!  It is not a burden to rule and reign with Christ in our Father’s Kingdom, for we reign in righteousness, we minister by peace, and we shepherd with joy!  We are then doing our Father’s will on earth in righteousness, peace, harmony and perfection.  All our would-be burdens are placed upon “His shoulder.”

            Another aspect of keys is revealed when Jesus reproved the Jewish leaders, saying, “Woe unto you, lawyers, for ye have taken away the key of knowledge” (Lk. 11:52).  This they had done by killing the prophets and traditionalizing their teachings, for to them had been revealed the mysteries of God.  As it is written, “Surely Yahweh will do nothing, but He revealeth His secrets to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).  “To the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:1-3).  These hidden treasures are made known by the Holy Spirit in the power of inspiration, revelation, and spiritual understanding.  The key of knowledge opens the door of spiritual perception by which we understand by the Spirit the true and spiritual meaning of all things that are written in the scriptures.  If our understanding of the things of God is on a literal and carnal level, then this blessed key of knowledge has been taken away.  Woe unto all who see only the letter of the Word!

            Keys — what blessings, benefits and opportunities they open up!  Who would not like to be given the keys to a new Lexus or Rolls Royce!  You will notice that every key is formed with a series of notches.  The purpose of those notches is that when you insert the key into the lock they turn some things there which you cannot see, called tumblers.  A key that doesn’t have the notches that correspond to the tumblers won’t open the lock.  That is why a key will generally open only one door.  My car key will not unlock my house, neither will my house key open my Post Office box.  If you are given the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and you use those keys, what are you going to get?  The Kingdom of Heaven!  You can bring the Kingdom of Heaven right into your now, into your present reality, and the reason you can do that is because you have the keys.  I can go out and get in my Dodge Intrepid today and go anywhere I want, but you can’t, because you don’t have the key.  There are men who live in beautiful mansions and in swanky penthouses and they come and go at their pleasure, but I have never stepped a foot in those places because I don’t have the keys.  While on the island of Puerto Rico one time we visited the El Conquistador Resort on the east end of the island at Las Croabas.  What an incredibly beautiful place!  We could not afford to stay there, but if you pay the price the hostess will give you the keys to a room with a magnificent view of the Caribbean.  When you receive the key you are given the ability to enter, occupy, and use to the full all the wonderful facilities of that magnificent resort.  Keys give access.  Keys grant the right of entrance.  Keys often denote ownership.  Keys open up a world, a realm, a reality, a dominion.  Jesus says to Peter, “I will give unto you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.  I will give you the keys to the spiritual world.”  Do we today possess any of the keys to that bright and exalted domain of the spiritual heavens?  If you don’t have any keys how are you going to see that realm?  Without keys how can you enter that world?  With no keys how could you possibly use and enjoy the powers and glories of the Kingdom of the Heavens?

USING THE KEYS

            The keys of the Kingdom provide us with all the authority and power of the Kingdom of God!  Those keys enable us to do God’s Kingdom work and are given to those elect members of His body who have grown spiritually and have followed the Lamb all the way to His fullness upon mount Zion.  They have the Father’s name written on their foreheads.  They have put on the mind of Christ.  When the keys of the Kingdom of God are fully operative in our lives we shall bind and loose things on earth according to God’s will out of the heavens where we dwell.  While the King James Version says, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven,” that is not how it reads in the Greek.  Young’s Literal Translation is one of the most accurate in conveying the meaning of the Greek text and reads, “Whatever thou mayest bind upon the earth shall be having been bound in the heavens, and whatever thou mayest loose upon the earth, shall be having been loosed in the heavens.”  The Amplified Bible also does a beautiful job, rendering “Whatever you bind on earth must be already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.”

            The message is clear — whatever a son of God binds on earth must have already been bound in the heavens.  Whatever you bind in the outward world must already be bound in the spirit world.  It is impossible to bind something on earth that is loosed in the spirit realm!  If it is not loosed in the spirit realm you will never have enough power to loose it in the physical world!  How much do we know about what has been loosed in the spirit realm?  Only with the mind of Christ can one know what the Spirit of God has bound or loosed from the heavenly realm, and therefore only by the glorious mind of Christ can we, like the firstborn Son, do only those things that we see the Father doing.  The heavens must be opened to us so that we can clearly see the will and purpose of God on earth from that high realm of divine wisdom and understanding.  I am not talking about learning a set of scriptures or a doctrine, but I speak of seeing and knowing by the Spirit the will and purpose the Father in every situation.

            This is what Jesus meant when He said, “I do only those things I see my Father do.”  “As I hear, so I speak.”  “The Father shall show me greater things.”  Jesus saw by eyes of spirit into the spiritual world of His Father and there He saw what His Father in heaven was doing.  He perceived by the spirit the plans and purposes and will of the Father and then acted upon what He saw.  And that is why Jesus had 100% perfect results!  When He saw the Father healing a blind man, He touched the eyes of that blind man and he received his sight.  When He saw His Father feeding the multitude, He multiplied bread and fish.  When the Father showed Him Lazarus alive and well coming out of the dark tomb of death, He went and raised Him from the dead.  Jesus had 100% faith and 100% results because He only bound and loosed things in the earth realm that He saw and knew were already bound or loosed in the spiritual world. 

             You see, beloved, contrary to popular thinking, Jesus did not heal every sick person He met, He did not cast out every devil that passed before Him, nor did He stop every funeral procession in Israel.  One beautiful day He went to the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem and there was on Solomon’s porch a great number of sick people who waited for the stirring of the waters, for every now and then an angel of God made his appearance in the pool, stirred and agitated the waters, so that they bubbled up like a modern jacuzzi, and whoever was first to step into the waters at that sacred moment was cured — made every whit whole of whatever disease of infirmity he had.  The Son of God came there that day, and lying among the multitude of sick folk was a man who was completely paralyzed and had been in this condition for thirty-eight years.  When Jesus saw Him lying there helpless, knowing that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, “Wilt thou be made whole — are you really in earnest about being healed?”  The invalid answered, “Sir, I have nobody when the water is moving to put me into the pool; but while I am trying to drag myself, somebody else steps down ahead of me.”  Wonderful words of compassion and power flowed from the lips of Jesus as He said to the man, “Rise, take up your bed, and walk!”  Instantly the man was made whole, strength flowed into his body, his withered flesh filled out, and he picked up his sleeping pad and walked.

            Now if this would have been in one of our modern healing meetings the preacher would have shouted, “Glory to God!  The power of God is here, the Lord is present to heal all who are sick,” and he would have immediately gone throughout all of Solomon’s porch and laid hands on everything that moved or didn’t move.  And do you know how many would have been healed?  Only the paralyzed man would have been healed!  All the rest would have gone home in the same condition they arrived, because in the heavens only one man was being loosed that day.  Jesus saw the Father healing this one man and He made His way there and did exactly what He saw His Father doing — no more and no less!  As an obedient Son He healed the one man and walked away.  Jesus had the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and He also understood this great and eternal truth — the keys will only lock or unlock on earth what has already been locked or unlocked in the heavens!

            How often do we pray for things that are not God’s will?  How often do we speak things that we think are good and profitable and worthy, but about which we have no personal word or direction from the Lord?  Many years ago I heard Oral Roberts confess that he considered his ministry successful if only one person in five who passed through his healing lines received a touch from God.  What a confession!  It means that he was praying for five people, but the Father was healing only one.  It is obvious that he neither saw nor knew what the Father was doing, therefore he tried to loose five people on earth for every one that had been loosed in heaven.  How much time and energy we waste trying to do things the Father isn’t doing!  And I’m not condemning Oral Roberts — we’re all just as guilty. 

            “Oh,” you say,  “it is God’s will to heal everyone!”  The truth is, beloved, He doesn’t heal everyone.  Evangelists and pastors may try to loose every person they minister to.  But how many of us have healed every sick person we have prayed for?  How many of us have had every demon we adjured to leave to come out?  How many of us have had every prayer we prayed answered?  I do not believe I will be contradicted  when I say — not one of us!  Is it not because we failed to see what the Father was doing?  We thought we had a blank check to write in anything we wanted, not realizing that God has a time and a way for everything and everyone.  We must know what God is doing today, right now.  When we truly understand these three things — His will, His purpose and His timing, we will speak His words and not one word we speak will fall to the ground!  Everything we touch will turn into a miracle!  Jesus had 100% results just because He never wasted time and energy ministering to those He knew the Father was not ministering to.  He did only what He saw His Father doing!  He carried within Himself the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and in the spirit He carefully watched the heavens to see which lock they would or would not fit.  What He saw bound in the heavenly realm of the spirit He bound on earth, and what He saw loosed in the spiritual world of the heavens He loosed on the earth.  It is just as simple as that.  And He had 100% results.  The keys worked every time!  Hear me, sons of God — we cannot lock or unlock every door we come to.  We must see that door in the heavens and as it is in the heavens, so act.  It will then work for us every time when we walk in harmony with the divine order out of the heavenlies!  When we try to bind and loose on earth and nothing happens, it is only because we fail to see by the Spirit what the Father in heaven is doing in the realm of the Spirit.  Sometimes we tread on illegal territory and brashly take unauthorized actions.  When the keys of the Kingdom of God are inserted in an illegitimate manner, the spiritual monitor flashes: Unauthorized request — admission denied!

            Did you know that if you are praying to stop something that in God’s plan has to happen, you’re wasting your breath?  The disciples of Jesus, when He spoke to them of how He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, could have prayed and fasted until they starved themselves to death to keep Jesus from going to the cross, and He would have died there anyway.  Peter could have practiced the power of positive thinking, he could have moved into his deliverance mindset and rebuked and bound every devil in every Pharisee, scribe, priest and in every Roman soldier throughout the land; he could have boldly spoken a word of authority to the principalities and powers in the heavenlies, commanding them to release Jesus from His hour of agony; but none of that would have availed anything.  What is bound in heaven cannot be loosed on earth!

            My friend Franklin Fitzjerrel told about an event in the state of Utah several years ago.  There were devastating floods there due to the rains that had exceeded any rainfall they had received in recorded history.  The lakes were overflowing, the rivers and streams were flooding, highways and railroad tracks were washed out, homes and communities were under water, and destruction and devastation were everywhere.  Finally the Mormon Church called a day of fasting and prayer to stop the rain.  And the day they fasted and prayed they got the most rain that the state of Utah had ever had in one day!  Someone did not have the keys to the Kingdom!  You see, you can fast and pray until you wither away and die, and you will not receive what you are fasting and praying for unless that thing has first been accomplished in the spiritual heavens.  If it has already happened in the spirit world then I commend your fasting and prayer, for fasting and prayer are two of the primary instruments of binding and loosing in the Kingdom of God.  But if our fasting is merely a hunger strike by which we are trying to force God into a corner, and force His hand to make Him do what we want, then we are indeed of that ignorant company of the spiritually stupid.  As it is written, “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him” (I Jn. 5:14-15).  And that is not just saying, “Thy will be done,” but involves the knowledge of His will and asking accordingly.

            People sometimes ask us to pray for folks, situations, or nations that are under the dealing hand of God.  It is time for God’s elect to clearly understand that we cannot always pray for everything people request prayer for.  Ah, we will pray, but sometimes not the way people would desire, but according to what we sense in the spirit.  If God is purging, correcting, breaking, refining, teaching, or judging a person and has thrust them into the fires of tribulation and the waters of trouble, putting them under pressure of His making, how can we beseech God to save them out of it and abort His necessary work?  It is impossible to loose on earth what is bound in heaven!  Furthermore, it is spiritually irresponsible to try and do so.  It is mutiny, yea, treason against the Kingdom of God!  Let us seek the understanding of the Lord before we pray lest we be found fighting against God.  The spirit of wisdom and revelation from God is the vehicle bearing the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.  It was when Peter received a divine revelation of who the Christ was that Jesus disclosed that it was out of that very spirit of revelation that the keys of the Kingdom would be committed to him.  And it is clear to me that these keys come by revelation of the spirit in the life of each and every son of God!

            It is only when we know by the spirit what God’s purpose is, it is only when we see by the spirit what the Father is doing, it is only when we hear from the spirit the counsel of God’s voice, that we can go forth and do the works of God.  Those works may be small or great, visible or invisible, but we will be found doing our Father’s will in the earth.  When some Kingdom purpose is wrought, first in heaven and then on earth, it is completed and finished, it is totally fulfilled, and the glory of God is manifested in the earth!  The will of God is then done on earth as it has already been decreed and fulfilled in the heavens!  What power and authority shall be ours when we have fully received the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and have matured in the knowledge of God to use them!  Such power shall not be given to babes in Christ, nor to the unprepared, nor to the carnal-minded Christians held captive to the deceptions of man’s religious systems.  I speak the truth when I insist that the Pentecostal and Charismatic realms today are filled with preachers and people who are presumptuously and illicitly trying to use the keys of the Kingdom.  Most of them have not even been given the keys but are trying to “jimmie” the door, and those who do in some measure possess keys of the Kingdom often use them according to their own will and for their own ends, to make a name, to build a kingdom, for financial gain, or for power over other men’s lives.  We may be sure that in this sacred hour God will not commit the fullness of Kingdom power to us until we are prepared and matured to both receive and use that Kingdom power and authority.  As the elect of the Lord we will have been thoroughly processed and finished by our heavenly Father to use the keys of the Kingdom.  We shall also have the fullness of the mind of Christ to know what should be bound and what should be loosed.

            When Peter perceived who the Christ really was, Jesus told him, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”  Ah, herein lie the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven — THE REVELATION OF THE SPIRIT!  Someone insists, “But, brother Eby, isn’t it God’s will to save, heal, bless and deliver everyone in the whole world?”  YES!  There is no doubt about it.  But that doesn’t mean, precious one, that it is His will to save, heal, bless and deliver them all today!  If such were indeed His will, you can rest assured that it would be fully accomplished before the sun again sets beneath the horizon!  Furthermore, if it were God’s will to save the whole world today there would be no plan of the ages.  “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.  But every man in his own order” (I Cor. 15:22-23).  There is a time, an order, a plan for everything and for every man.  You see, beloved, it may be God’s will to heal you today, but on the other hand it may be His plan to heal you one year from today.  Only He understands the why, but His purposes are always wise and meaningful.  When that day arrives you will be healed.  If you prayed for healing yesterday, if you earnestly sought the Lord for healing yesterday, and didn’t receive it, obviously it was not His plan to heal you yesterday.  Only when one knows by the spirit what the Father is doing can one speak and act with authority.  And only then will we, like the firstborn Son, have 100% results! 

            That loved one for whose salvation you have been praying — I tell you he or she will be saved!  You can count on it.  God has an appointed time and a prescribed order to deal with that one and bring him or her  to His salvation.  That appointed time could be today, tomorrow, or in another age.  Only by the spirit can we know.  Only God can teach us these things.  Ah, yes, do pray for them!  Do not hesitate, do not fail to do so, do not faint, never give up! for prayer is a vital part of the redemptive and restorative processes of God.  But seek God at the same instant for that holy understanding by which you can know WHEN HIS HOUR HAS ARRIVED so that you can cooperate in wisdom with Him to do your part, if indeed you have a part, in bringing it to pass.  Only then can you loose on earth what has already been loosed in heaven!

            Within the living revelation of the Spirit of God is found THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN!  Keys are of no use unless we use them.  And if we mis-use them we will get into trouble.  Instead of trying to save, bless and deliver the whole creation today, or even your own family, wait humbly before God in holy submission to hear His voice, to know His ways, to understand His will and to see His works.  Then go forth and speak and do those things that you have heard and seen of your Father in the secret place.  As you go you will hold in your hands the keys of the Kingdom! 

            I will close this message by sharing the following words of godly instruction from the pen of our beloved brother Paul Mueller.  “Luke tells the story of a certain centurion who had a servant who was dear to him.  The centurion’s servant was sick unto death.  When he heard about Jesus, the centurion sent word through the elders of the Jews, beseeching Jesus  to heal his servant.  So Jesus started to go to the centurion’s house.  But when the centurion heard that Jesus was coming, he sent his friends to tell Jesus, ‘Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a WORD, and my servant shall be healed.  For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it’ (Lk. 7:2-8).

            “This centurion understood the power and authority that belonged to Jesus the Christ.  This story shows the power and authority of the kingdom of God in demonstration.  It is the same power and authority that we shall have in Christ.  Because that centurion understood the power and authority of Jesus, he saw that Jesus could simply speak a word and his servant would be healed.  That centurion was also a man of authority.  He was under authority, and had authority over other soldiers, as well as his own servants.  All he needed to do to accomplish something was to speak the word and his servants would obey him, thus fulfilling the centurion’s wishes.  As the centurion’s servants obeyed his every word, so also would every specter, of all the diseases and afflictions of man, obey the Lord Jesus Christ.  The centurion knew this, and so also should we.  This is the power of God given to His sons!

            “We are living in a greater and more glorious Day than did the centurion.  We are living in the great Day of the kingdom of God on earth when every disease and affliction — when every sin and every form of death — shall be completely conquered and put under the feet of this glorious Christ.  And the sons shall be given that authority!  The whole earth shall be cleansed of the many diseases and afflictions of man, including sin and death in every form, by the power of the Word that He is.  What a Day this is!  And what a privileged people we are! 

            “‘When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.  And they that were sent, found the servant whole that had been sick’ (Lk. 7:9-10).  The servant that once was sick unto death was now healed and made whole by the power of God.  But how was that power manifested?  Obviously, Jesus did not go to the centurion’s house.  But did Jesus pray the prayer of faith?  Did He speak a word commanding the sickness to leave that servant?  There is no record that Jesus said or did anything!  When He heard the centurion’s plea for help, Jesus Christ saw the Father doing that work in the Spirit, and lo, it was done.  Just a thought in harmony with the Father’s will, sent on the winds of the Spirit, is all it took to heal that servant.  And that is all that is necessary to bring deliverance to the groaning creation, and bring forth the new earth.  Just a thought or a word in harmony with the Father’s will, sent on the winds of the Spirit, is all that is necessary to change us from the earthbound worms that we are into that glorious body, bearing the image and likeness of Christ.  As sons of God, we can see and hear in the Spirit.  And so we await our transformation”   — end quote.

            To be continued...                                                                                          

J. PRESTON EBY