As I was spending time in prayer and reflection early this morning before the family was awake and the house was quiet, I heard the words of a scripture run through my mind “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven”.
Although I’ve read those words in the Bible many times, I believe the Spirit wanted to impress the “weight” of them to me at that moment. Visualize with me standing before the incomprehensible awe of the Kingdom of Heaven holding your personal key, granting access to the riches of that kingdom where the Lord rules and reigns over every detail of His creation.
Matthew 16:19 (ESV): I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
In this verse, Jesus is speaking directly to Peter, and indirectly to the other disciples, soon to become apostles. Jesus was sharing with Peter and the others that they would soon access the Heavenly realm by the possession of these keys, and preaching the gospel would be the means of opening the kingdom of heaven to all believers and shutting it against unbelievers.
Through his boldly spoken sermon on the day of Pentecost found in Acts 2:14-40, Peter opened those doors for the first time.
The expressions “bind” and “loose” were common to Jewish legal dialog, meaning to declare something forbidden or to declare it allowed.
Jesus instructed Peter and the other disciples to continue His work on earth by preaching the gospel and declaring God’s will to men, and they were to speak with the same authority that they had witnessed in Christ Himself. How could this be? Through the gift of the Holy Spirit now living in them as promised and accomplished in Acts 2, it is still Jesus speaking, now through them.
When you and I make the most important decision of our lives and experience salvation in Christ, no less than the apostles, we too have the Godhead dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit!
I’d like to close by noting two important points.
1. Believe it! If we truly believed that the Godhead lives within us and we can speak with His authority to the battlefield that is our mind and to external circumstances, how could we possibly live in defeat, worry, and confusion? But we do. I DO!! I can keenly relate to the boy’s father in Mark 9:24 (NIV) when he said, “I do believe, help me to overcome my unbelief”
2. Using our “key” to access the Kingdom authority within us and exercising the authority to bind and loose on earth as it is first in the spiritual is conditional. We do so as we continue to give Jesus our lives in full, daily seeking, asking, acknowledging each wrong thought and action, truly repenting, and striving to allow the Holy Spirit to fully use our lives as open vessels for the glory and power of Christ to live through.
This truth is both exciting to me today in contemplation of its scope! It also weighs heavy on my mind the responsibility that comes with it!
Thank you to all the men that speak life into my daily walk! I ask the Lord to use me in any capacity to be there for you as well.