Keys of The Kingdom-Ebook
Keys of The Kingdom-Ebook
Keys of The Kingdom-Ebook
CHARLIE BERRIAN
"The glory which God had in the beginning,
even the unapproachable glory of God, was also the Son's glory.
The Father and the Son exist equally and are
equal in power and possession." ~Watchman Nee
God-Authority
The concept of authority is intricately woven into Scripture. God's authority
is apparent from Genesis to Revelation. The idea of "supremeright" is linked
to God's sovereignty. It is important to understand that authority and Scrip-
ture are inseparable. God's authority is embedded in the scriptures. How-
ever, the true meaning of authority has been misconstrued as illicit forms
and expressions of authority that stem from the abusive use of individual
power, which is a result of selfishness.
There are different ways the world views authority and different types of
authority, including oligarchy, democratic, hereditary, despotic and person-
al. The biblical meaning of authority resides with God and Him alone. God
did not inherit His authority, as there was no one to give or transfer it to Him.
It is obvious that God inherently embodies authority, as He regards himself
as "I AM." God's authority became unquestionable as He made the creation
of the heavens and theearth possible, claimed ownership of the earth and
everything therein, and ultimately, designed the total destruction of that
whichHe created."The earth is the LORD's and all that is in it, the world, and those who
live in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers"(Psalm 24:1-2).
Every word that Jesus spoke shows that He acted on behalf of God,
asHe always spoke about His authority as a messenger sent by God. By
acting in the position of God, Jesus was given absolute power, but limit-
ed to a certain extent, and incomparable to God's supreme authority.
He had similar powers as God, as He was able to forgive sins, heal and
raise people from the dead, control nature's power, teach with authori-
ty, require men to submit to His authority and dominate over Satan and
his minions. These powers were given to Jesus in order to save the earth
and retrace man's steps back to God.All power in heaven and on earth
was given to Jesus in order for Him to be able to exercise His supreme
role and complete His task of subduing God's enemies and redeeming
Man back to the Father, God Almighty. It is to this end that Christians
exercise leadership and authority in a providential way over all things for
the good of the Church.
The keys belong by right to the Messiah alone. And yet if the keys
are His, then they are His to give – if He should choose to entrust
them to another. But that seems preposterous. Who could even
dare to imagine that the Messiah would ever give these keys to
someone else? Who could possibly imagine being the one who is
entrusted with these keys? Could you imagine? And yet Jesus
said to Peter, the uneducated fisherman from Galilee, "I will give
you the keys of the kingdom of heaven."
This does not mean that men have the power to forgive sins. Only God and His
son Jesus Christ have this power (Mark 2:7,10). However, this verse states that
Jesus has given to the apostles and to all His ministers the authority to tell people
that their sins have been forgiven by God. The pronoun,"ye" in this verse of scrip-
ture indicates that Christ is speaking to all of the apostles. Today, when ministers
baptize and lay hands on people (Acts 2:38and Acts 8:17), they can tell the repen-
tant sinner that through the power of God and Jesus Christ their sins have been
forgiven. Man cannot forgive sins, but God can. The Pharisees and scribes
assumed that as teachers of the Law, they had power to "shut the kingdom of
heaven against men" (Matthew 23:13). Yet as "blind guides" they failed to
recognize, as Peter had, that Jesus was the one in whom God's kingdom had
come. The keys of the kingdom authorized the pronouncement of judgment and
the promise of forgiveness—not on the basis of human authority, but on the basis
of Christ's Word.
Compared to Isaiah and Revelation, we see that Jesus changes the imagery from
opening and shutting to that of binding and loosing. The one who holds the keys
of the kingdom of heaven has the authority to bind and to loose. Notice how
Jesus used the word "loose" in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:19,
"Therefore whoever "looses" one of the least of these commandments and
teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of
heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in
the kingdom of heaven."
In Peter's mouth, the word of the kingdom was powerful to do and accomplish all
that it proclaimed – to open the doors of the kingdom to those who believe and
shut the doors of the kingdom to those who refuse to believe! Notice that Jesus
says,"And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and what-
ever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." As Peter faithfully pro-
claims and applies the word of the kingdom to people's lives, he can be sure that
he is truly acting in the Messiah's stead, and that the Messiah Himself guarantees
and validates his word. He can be sure that there is true agreement between earth
and heaven, between his decisions and declarations and the decisions and decla-
rations of the exalted Messiah.
Jesus has granted to His church the authority and power of the keys of the king-
dom of heaven. In full Christian perspective, the kingdom will be consummated in
sudden, apocalyptic fashion at the coming of Christ, when God's actions are final
and quite independent of human means. But now, the keys of the kingdom are
confided to men. Who would have ever dared to imagine that the Messiah would
entrust to us the keys of His kingdom? Who is sufficient for these things? We must
simply be faithful to proclaim and apply the word of the kingdom, knowing that in
our mouth this word of the kingdom is active and powerful to accomplish all that it
proclaims, to open the doors of the kingdom to those who believe, and shut the
doors of the kingdom to those who refuse to believe.
The key figuratively depicts the responsibility of a position and the power to
make decisions in that position—i.e, to open and close doors. Placing the key
on someone's shoulder, as referenced in Isaiah 22:22, denotes giving that
person the power and responsibility of a certain position. In our text, Shebna,
the treasurer of Hezekiah, is warned that Eliakim will carry "the key to the
house of David." This is a figurative way of expressing what was already said
in verse 21,"I will hand your authority over to him."A trusted servant to the
king wore the key to the king's house on a hook on his shoulder. Therefore, he
had the authority to open or close the king's house.
Jesus showed that the religious teachers of His day who had access to the
knowledge of God's ways, had failed in this duty. Occasionally, the ministry
has the sad duty to inform some that because of their choices and actions,
the doors to the kingdom are being closed to them unless they repent.
This is apparent in 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Thessalonians 3:14.
Even if we don't know what the "keys of the kingdom of heaven" are, we
can't help but feel that this is a very, very big deal, the keys of the kingdom
of heaven. Surely, whoever holds these keys must be in some special posi-
tion of authority and privilege and great responsibility. Can you imagine
possessing the keys of the kingdom of heaven?
The Detriment of
Misunderstanding Authority
When Yeshua (Jesus) spoke of binding and loosing, He wasn't talking about
spiritual warfare. The people to whom He spoke understood that He was
talking about what was consistent with the Torah and what was not consistent
with the Torah. This matter of binding and loosing was not unique to Yeshua.
It was entirely familiar to them all, because it was how the rabbis would sanc-
tion something or ban it according to the teachings in the Torah. Here is one
of those areas where knowledge of Hebrew as a language and of the culture
in which Yeshua lived are now bringing clarity to some scriptures we have not
understood properly for centuries. This provides a deeper revelation of
Yeshua Himself, as well as further insight into how He intended for His follow-
ers to function. Had the translators of our English Bibles used words that more
correctly conveyed the meaning of certain passages, we would see how they
fit like puzzle pieces into a Hebrew mindset. With all due respect to the men
who translated the King James Version of the Bible, they knew nothing of the
science of linguistics at that time, nor did they have any insight into Hebrew
culture. They basically, translated it word for word from Greek to English,
which introduces concepts that were never intended. For example, our
English Bibles quote Yeshua as saying, "Do not think that I came to abolish
the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill" (Matthew
5:17, HCSB, emphasis added).
Let me mention here that the Torah can mean the first five books of the Bible
that God gave to Moses, but it can also mean the entire Hebrew scriptures.
The prophets were all about getting Israel to keep the Torah, so they were not
a separate issue. How many of you have regarded the New Testament as the
"real" Bible and the Hebrew scriptures or the Old Testament as less import-
ant. When I ask that question, many of you will say, "of course not." But there
has been for millennia, since Constantine, the sense that God's real message
is in the New Testament and the Old Testament is just that,"old." It is unfortu-
nate that it assumed that label. God doesn't see it as old.
People often use the passage,"bind the devil." Yeshua did say that the
strongman needed to be bound. We assume He meant the devil (Matthew
12:39; Mark 3:27). Some think that Yeshua bound the strongman (the devil)
when He was resurrected from the dead. When we come to Yeshua and are
born from above, we become new persons in Him and we are empowered by
God to no longer sin. Now we can see sin for what it is, which we could not see
before we were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. In that sense, the strongman has
been bound in the lives of believers and we are free from Satan's power,
because Yeshua has given us authority over Satan and his ways. As long as we
believe that and live it out by faith, we are loosed from Satan's grip. It is also
true that we have been given the authority in Yeshua's name to command
demons to cease their influence and to leave.
This scene has some pretty significant things going on. I would even say
this conversation is a pivotal one in history. Peter was blessed by God
with the revelation of who Yeshua really is. Up until that moment, no
one "got it." It's finally out — Immanuel! God is with us! When Yeshua
then says, "upon this rock," He means that His Kingdom would be
built on the revelation that Peter received of who Yeshua is — the Mes-
siah, the Son of God, not built upon Peter himself. He was not making
a statement of "apostolic succession"or making Peter the head of the
Church. If God had intended for Peter to be the head of the Church, He
would have given Peter, and not John or Paul, the increased revelations
they received, revelations which far exceeded what the apostles knew
even at the time of the Resurrection. Nor would Paul have had to
rebuke Peter when Peter erred in judgment over a significant issue (see
Galatians 2:11-14).
He was saying that those who receive from God the revelation of who
He is and surrender their lives to His Lordship are those with whom He
will build His kingdom. What He says next confirms this is what He
meant.He continued to say, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom
of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound
in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed
in heaven" (Matthew 16:19).
What does having these keys to the kingdom mean? First, you need to
understand that the translation that says, "the Kingdom is at hand"
(Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15) gives us the impression that it is
on its way, but not here yet. The Hebrew word, karav means it is here
So, how were Peter and the rest of His followers to use the keys? What
would the keys open?What did they mean in reality? Notice it is not one
key. There are several keys. These are keys to His kingdom which still have
much to do with the revelation of who Yeshua is. Revelation always brings
a certain level of authority in the one who has received the revelation. To
the extent that we have "seen" Yeshua, we will become like Him. That is
just a biblical fact."We know that when He appears, we will be like
Him, because we will see Him just as He is" (1 John 3:2). That does
mean when we see Him for real, when one wonderful day we are able to
come before Him. But it is also true that each revelation we receive of Him
changes us somehow and we become more like Him in character and
nature. Amazing! Surely, something only God can do.
The same principle is at work in life here and now, to the extent that
Yeshua is revealed to us primarily through His word or in a personal inter-
action with Him. We gain Kingdom authority based on seeing something
about Him. We can speak with assurance. It is not hearsay. No one can tell
you that you did not experience what experienced. You can speak about
your experience with confidence that you have experienced truth. He has
given us keys of authority to reach out in confidence that what we have is
real, powerful, ultimate and eternal. On the other hand, what you gain by
revelation comes from the Father and, as a result of your revelation, you
now have an authority, a kind of authenticity in how the revelation changes
you and what you learned through the revelation.
Let's look again at Matthew 16:19, in a more correct reading. The words
"binding and loosing" do not convey what Yeshua meant. Here is one of
those places where a knowledge of Hebrew roots straightens out a whole
doctrinal conundrum. Again, the Hebrew word for "binding" is to disallow
or forbid, and the Hebrew word for "loosing" is to allow or permit. So, the
verse should read, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;
and whatever you forbid on earth shall have been forbidden in
heaven, and whatever you permit on earth shall have been permit-
ted in heaven." Yeshua was saying that binding and loosing, or rather
permitting and forbidding, are directly connected to this issue of authority.
So, what is being forbidden or permitted?
The rabbis deliberated, and this one said this and that one said that,
and all is recorded in the Talmud. Once the Talmud was closed or
completed, no more commentaries were included. Jewish learning
was largely about quoting what this or that rabbi said in the past, but
it would be the local rabbi(s) who would be consulted about any
given issue for a ruling on whether something was "permitted" or
"forbidden." When it was allowed, or permitted, it was loosed from
restriction. When it was forbidden, it was bound from use or action.
So,"loose" means permit; "bind" means forbid. Questions were
continually presented to the rabbis to find out what was "kosher" so
to speak. What the rabbis permitted was loosed; what was forbidden
was "bound," meaning tied up, disallowed or imprisoned.
That is how assured Yeshua was that His followers would be entirely
in tune with the will of God through the Holy Spirit so that He could
trust them with that kind of authority. His followers would be so at
one with Him and His Father that they would be the expressions of
God's will, just as He had been.When we read the book of Acts we
see incredible power and effectiveness in the lives and relationships
of the early believers, all of whom, I might add, were living To-
rah-compliant lives by the Spirit of God. But in the course of time,
things were incorporated into the doctrines and practices of the
Church that were apart from the Torah. Looking back, we see that
the wisdom of men in authority replaced the authority of heaven in
the lives of men.
But here is the exciting part. God is reversing the whole thing and
bringing His people back to a correct understanding of the place of
the Torah, not in any legalistic, performance-based rigidity, but in
our Spirit-led lives. God is restoring the authority of the believer so
that the supernatural that was there in the first century is restored.
Yes, there are always frontrunners who God teaches first, but they
present a picture of what is possible in God. So, if it is not happening
in your life yet, realize that God is restoring to the end time body of
believers the revelationof Yeshua in Spirit and in truth, which
includes Him being the Torah made flesh, the embodiment of all
God revealed of Himself and set forth for the wellbeing of His
people. Power and authority laced with humility, obedience to the
Word of God and the leading of the Spirit of holiness.
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