Keys to The Kingdom Synopsis

[Study Aired November 15, 2020]

Here is the link to the Keys to the Kingdom series.

This study is a synopsis of each of 12 Biblical principles used by the holy spirit to teach us spiritual things with these spiritual principles:

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

Almost every seminary in the world teaches that the scriptures were written in a way that is intended to make them clearly understood by the least educated among us. Nothing could be further from the Truth. Christ’s parables are a perfect example of this spiritual Truth. While every Sunday school teacher will tell you that Christ taught in parables to make His meaning clear to shepherds and farmers, this is Christ’s own words concerning why He taught in parables:

Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Christ does not say He spoke to the multitudes in parables to simplify His message. He says plainly that He spoke to them in parables because “to them it is not given… to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven”.

It was only to His disciples that He said He would give the keys to understanding the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

Part 1: The ability to loose and to bind, both things on the earth and in heaven.

It is interesting that the same keys that open to us the  mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are also capable of shutting up the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven:

Mat 16:19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind [“shut up”] on earth shall be bound [“shut up”] in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose [“open”] on earth shall be loosed [“opened”] in heaven.

These same keys are also called “the key of the house of David” in both the Old Testament and the New Testament:

Isa 22:22 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.

“The key of the house of David” of Isaiah 22:22 is also “the key of David” which is mentioned in:

Rev 3:7  And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

The word “open” in Isaiah 22:22, “…He shall open and none shall shut…” is H6605, ‘pathach’. This Hebrew word is also properly translated elsewhere as ‘loose’:

Psa 102:20  To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose [H6605: ‘pathach’] those that are appointed to death;

Isa 58:6  Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose [H6605: ‘pathach’] the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

In Matthew 16:19 the ‘key of David’, which opens and no man can shut, is the miraculous ability to see and hear the mysteries of the kingdom of God. It is being given eyes that see and ears that hear what has been bound or loosed in the earth and what has been bound or loosed in heaven.

Mat 16:19  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.

We do not become the Head of the body or the head of Christ because we are given the keys to the kingdom of heaven. To the contrary, Matthew 16:19 is simply informing us that being given the keys to the kingdom of heaven means that we are being gifted with the same mind of Christ and His Father.

Here is a much better translation of that verse:

Mat 16:19 I will be giving you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatsoever you should be binding on the earth shall be those things having been bound [by the Father] in the heavens, and whatsoever you should be loosing on the earth, shall be those having been loosed [by the Father] in the heavens.”

When we pray as we are instructed to pray… “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven…” (Mat 6:10) what we are asking of our Father is that He will give us His mind… “the keys to the kingdom of heaven”.

One who is given the ability to open the gates to the kingdom of heaven, which is also called ‘the house of David’, must first be humbled and “become as [a] little child” in the sense of humbling himself and becoming teachable. That is a prerequisite to being given “the key of the house of David”, and “the keys to the kingdom of heaven”.

Mat 18:4  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Part 2: The Sum of Thy Word Is Truth

Psa 119:160 The sum of thy word is truth; And every one of thy righteous ordinances endureth for ever. (ACV, ASV)

Obviously “the key of the house of David” and “the key of David”, since they both perform the same function of opening and shutting, are one and the same.

It is only after we are brought to acknowledge our own blindness that our sins and our blindness are removed.

We are told clearly that Christ Himself is the only foundation of His church:

1Co 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Matthew 18 tells us how the keys to the kingdom of heaven serve to keep His church of the same mind and free from the diseases He has placed upon all the ‘earth’, the type of those who do not have the keys to the kingdom of God (Jer 22:29). All the diseases of Egypt are the false doctrines of this world which the keys to the kingdom of God “bind [up]on the earth”:

Exo 15:26  And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Clearly “all… the diseases of Egypt” are the fruit of dismissing the doctrines of Christ, and not doing what He says is the right thing to do. The diseases of Egypt are the fruit of listening to and being obedient to the false doctrines of this world and not ‘giving ear to [the Lord’s commandments, and keep[ing] all His statutes. When we simply believe and stand faithful to these words, then we have “bound on earth which has been bound in heaven.

Part 3: “Man Shall … Live By Every Word of God” (Mat 4:4 and Luk 4:4)

What we will be seeing as we discuss all these “keys to the kingdom of heaven” is that they are all really just one key. “The key of David is [also known as] “the key of knowledge, the key of the house of David, and the keys to the kingdom of heaven”. These are all nothing other than the mind of Christ and His Father as expressed in His Word. It is having the mind of Christ that gives us the keys to the kingdom of God, which keys simply open His word to make us to know what the Father has bound and loosed on earth what He has bound and loosed in heaven.

Christ made clear that we must “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”:

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Luk 4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

This statement happens to appear in scripture three times. Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4 are quoted from:

Deu 8:3  And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.

Christ made it clear that the manna of old was simply a symbol of His Words and His doctrines, and ‘living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God’ is therefore something which we neither ourselves nor our fathers “knew not”, meaning we could never of ourselves understand how it is possible to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Isaiah helps us to understand how that is possible when He tells us:

Isa 66:3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burneth incense, as if he blessed an idol.

Christ is actually telling us that we simply must come to see with “the eyes of [our] understanding” (Eph 1:18) that “as in Adam” (1Co 15:22) means that all that has happened since the creation of Adam and Eve is simply the result of what the Lord Himself had placed within our first father, and has kept it a secret “from the foundation of the world.” Not one Christian in a thousand knows that “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” were in our original parents before they ever touched the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. An equal number are aware that these three categories of sin encompass “all that is in the world”:

1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, [1] the lust of the flesh, and [2] the lust of the eyes, and [3] the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.

It is because these things are in every man that we are all guilty of all sins, “as  if” we had actually committed them all. For example:

1Jn 3:15  Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

The preceding verse also demonstrates the spiritual “as if” nature of every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord” when it informs us of our spiritual condition as a spiritual murderer:

1Jn 3:14  We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

Part 4: This bring us to our fourth key to the kingdom of heaven: “all things are yours”

1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

Yes, “the world [and] death… are [ours]”, and because that is true we live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”. We live by every word, including ‘death and the world’, first and if we are in the first resurrection, we lived ‘death and the world’ first and therefore we are “not hurt of the second death” (Rev 2:11 and Rev 20:6). To say otherwise is to say “the resurrection is already past”, and it is tantamount to denying that those who are judged first will reign with Christ a thousand years before the rest of the dead are resurrected to face their judgment and their own death to their carnal-minded “old man” for the first time. The word ‘second’ is an ordinal word, referring to the order in which those in it first experience the death of their carnal minded old man.

Christ made it clear that the food on His table is the doctrines which He came to give to us.

Joh 6:51  I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Paul, when admonishing the Corinthians and you and me, said:

1Co 1:10  Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

That is our goal, and if we are given to achieve that goal it will be a gift from God.

Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

The fact that every good gift is from God does not deny that “all things are [ours]”. The fact is that the scriptures very plainly teach that it is God who also sends evil spirits to trouble us, and He even “creates evil”.

1Sa 16:14 But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

“All these things… are all ours].” The evil spirit in the wicked man, who is created for the day of evil, is within every one of us at our own appointed time, because “all things are [ours”].

Those who refuse and deny this key to the kingdom of heaven, this doctrine that “all things are [ours]” are actually “hindering” those who are entering into the kingdom of heaven.

Luk 11:49  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; [“This generation” reading these words]
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
Luk 11:52  Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in [into the mind of God, entering into His mind] ye hindered.

Part 5: Christ is His word, and He and His word “is… was… and will be”

Rev 1:8  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Rev 1:11  Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.

Rev 1:17  And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Rev 1:18  I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

This “Is, Was And Will Be” Nature of Christ and His Words… is our fifth key to the kingdom. Including the phrases “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last”, and acknowledging that these phrases include the present, we find that this is, was and will be characteristic of Christ and His Words is mentioned in the book of Revelation 12 times.

There is nothing emphasized more in the book of “the revelation of Jesus Christ” than this is, was and will be character of the words of this book. Christ has given us “the keys to the kingdom of heaven” if indeed we acknowledge that He and His words determined our past, how we are living today and that He will always dominate our lives.

Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Part 6: If Ye Be Christ’s, Then Are Ye Abraham’s Seed is our 6^th “key to the kingdom of God”.

As with all of our ‘keys’, this key is also hidden from the world, which is shut out of the kingdom of God and is still in spiritual prison:

Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

The apostle Paul was given by God to use this key to explain clearly who is, and who is not, God’s true chosen people, and the world is simply blinded to this statement:

Gal 4:21  Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
Gal 4:22  For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23  But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
Gal 4:24  Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. [The law of Moses “gender to bondage”, and very few believe this to be true]
Gal 4:25  For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

The keys to the kingdom of heaven are not given to the natural man. The keys to the kingdom of heaven are given only to those who are granted to receive the things of the spirit. The whole world denies that “Jerusalem which now is …is in bondage with her children… and… shall not be made heir with the son of  the freewoman”. The churches of Babylon teach that the Lord has two “chosen people”, two “elect”, one natural, that being physical Israel, and on spiritual, that being the Christian churches of Babylon. The truth is that both are “the son of the bondwoman [who] will not be made heir with the son of the freewoman”.

Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Part 7: Our seventh key to the kingdom of God is the knowledge of who is “The First Man Adam… The Last Adam”

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Another way of expressing this point is the process of “put[ting] off… the old man… [and the] put[ting] on [of] the new man.” To understand this key of the kingdom of God, it is important to note that the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life both come up out of the ground.

Gen 2:9  And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

The fact that here in the second chapter of Genesis we are informed that the tree of life was “made to grow… out of the ground” is for those who are given “the key of knowledge… the keys to the kingdom of God”, a prophecy of the coming of Christ as “the seed of Abraham”. Christ makes clear that He is the One we must “eat” and He is also this ‘tree of life’:

Joh 6:48  I am that bread of life.
Joh 6:49  Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
Joh 6:50  This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
Joh 6:51  I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Rev 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

Rev 22:2  In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Rev 22:14  Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in [with the keys to the kingdom] through the gates into the city.

Both trees were placed by Christ Himself right in the middle of the Garden of Eden. It is also very important we notice that both of these trees come “out of the ground”. What this tells us is that it is in the earth where God begins His ultimate work of placing the crown jewel of His creation in His garden “paradise”.

Rev 2:7  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

It is only after we make this final break with our “father the devil’s” house, our ‘old man’s’ house, that the heavens begin to open up to us, and we are granted to see much more of the Lord’s plan for us:

Gen 13:14 And the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward,and southward, and eastward, and westward:

There are in scripture many types of the old man and the new man: First Adam – Last Adam; Cain and Abel; Abraham and Lot; Ishmael and Isaac; Jacob and Esau; King Saul and King David. The “last Adam… Abel… Isaac, Jacob, and King David, are all types of the true spiritual “seed of Abraham”, meaning those who are in Christ.

Part 8: “The Words I Speak Unto You, They Are Spirit.”

We have referred to this verse several times already, but without demonstrating how all pervasive this principle is upon all the rest of scripture:

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

When we are taught by the holy spirit, it will not be “in words which man’s wisdom teaches.”

1Co 2:4  And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
1Co 2:6  Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

The Lord teaches us “with the spirit and with power”, which is simply saying the same thing twice, because it is the word of God which is spirit and which is powerful:

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick [Greek: zaō, life giving], and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The “two witnesses” of Revelation 11 are those in every generation who witness to “the word of the Lord”. The gift of “the discerning of spirits” and the knowing and the understanding the doctrine of Christ comes only to those who are given to love God with all their hearts and who are by God’s sovereignty granted to see the doctrine of Christ with their eyes, hear it with their ears and be obedient to His doctrine from their hearts.

It is through the understanding of “the things of the spirit” that “the holy spirit teaches [us by] comparing spiritual things with spiritual”:

1Co 2:12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
1Co 2:13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

“The holy spirit teaches comparing spiritual things with spiritual”. But it uses the things that are made to do that. “The things that are freely given to us of God [are] the things of the spirit” and the world simply cannot appreciate nor value “the things of the spirit”:

1Co 2:14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

It is because “we have this treasure in earthen vessels” that God has determined that the invisible things of the spirit are to be understood by the things that are made…”

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Part 9: The Positive and The Negative Application of Every Word.

This key to the kingdom is another witness to the fact that “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned”.

Those who have been given the keys to the kingom of God will see this spiritual principle revealed in these words about our Lord who is “the Word” (John 1:1).

Exo 14:20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

Not understanding that all scripture has both a positive and a negative application has served to keep the keys to the kingdom of heaven hidden from those to whom those keys have not been given (Mat 13:9-15).

What this key to the kingdom reveals in practice is that there is a positive and a negative application to every word of God and every man lives out both of those applications, all the blessings and all the curses that have proceeded out of the mouth of God, including the very dark, negative words like:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Part 10: “The Dream Is One”

Gen 41:25 And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: God hath shewed Pharaoh what he is about to do.

In this story of Joseph we are given a vital key to the kingdom of heaven. That key is the revelation which Joseph gives the Pharaoh that both his dreams have one message. As different as seven cows are from seven stalks with seven ears, still we are told they are both saying the same thing.

This principle explains how Christ can speak of an unjust steward and yet commend him for his resourcefulness. It explains how He can liken Himself and His crucifixion to a serpent being placed on a pole. It explains how “the last man Adam” is still called Adam.

The ultimate lesson for us in this key to the kingdom of heaven is that all scripture has but one message, and that one message is that God is through Christ reconciling all men of all time to Himself:

Col 1:19  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;
Col 1:20  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

As we are coming to understand, the keys to the kingdom of heaven are the principles we are given to help us to understand how God Himself thinks, how He expresses His thoughts and how He carries out those thoughts.

The principle of “the dream is one helps us to understand how “all things come alike to all”… to our old man and to our new man, both must “groan together in pain until now…”:

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

Rom 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

This key to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven reveals that the messages of “all the prophets… have written” is one message, and that message concerns Christ and how all will one day be in Him.

Luk 24:27  And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Act 3:24  Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days.

Act 10:43  To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

Part 11: The Inward Versus The Outward

This principle is given to us in its clearest sense in the book of Romans:

Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

It is the kingdom which is inward now, in this age… “this present time” (Rom 8:18), which will rule over the kingdoms of this world outwardly in the coming age. Only if we are given the gift of submitting ourselves to every ordinance of man in this present time, in this age, will we be given to rule over the kingdoms of this world and administer the Lord’s revenge upon our enemies of this age:

2Co 10:3  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of [inward] strong holds.
2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
2Co 10:6  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
2Co 10:7  Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ’s, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ’s, even so are we Christ’s.

We have seen that the key to the house of David is the same as the keys to the kingdom of heaven because both give us the power to bind on earth that which has been bound in heaven and to loose on earth that which has been loosed in heaven.

While being ready to physically and outwardly be “your servant”, the inward intent of these words is revealed beyond doubt with these words:

Act 6:2 Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God [our spiritual inward table], and serve [outward physical] tables.

This is the inward spiritual table at which God’s ministers serve continually:

1Pe 5:2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
1Pe 5:3 Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.

In this series of studies we have seen that the ‘keys to the kingdom of heaven’ are simply the keys to understanding the mind of Christ and the mind of His Father, which are, of course, one and the same mind. Therefore the elders within the body of Christ, who have been given the keys to the kingdom of heaven, will never lord it over the Lord’s heritage, inwardly or outwardly. What they will do is remain faithful to every word of God and thereby persuade “God’s heritage” to also be obedient and faithful to His Words.

This particular key to the mind of Christ and His Father is the Biblical principle of seeing that there is both an inward and an outward application to Christ and His Words. We are “a spiritual house”:

1Pe 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Having the key of understanding that there is both and inward and an outward application to the Word of God, we can also understand how these words are also true  of us:

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

If we “cleanse first that which is within” then, and only then, “the outside of them may be clean also.

Part 12: Who Is The Lord’s Christ?

Before we can answer this question we must be made aware of who Christ is to His Father, and this is what we are told:

Act 2:36  Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

We must also remember what Christ says of us:

Mat 25:40  And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

Act 22:8  And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou persecutest.

In other words we are, as we read in our previous ‘key’, the “flesh and bones” of Christ to this world.

Truly ‘as He is so are we in this world’:

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

In accord with Christ’s statement that He is sending us “as His Father has sent Him… that the world through Him might be saved” (Joh 3:17), we find that the Lord also has “His Christ”:

Act 4:26 The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.

Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Rev 12:10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

In Luke 17:20-21 we are told, “the kingdom of God is within you.” In Matthew 16:19 and 18:18 we are told that we are given the keys to that kingdom, and that with those keys we can bind on earth what has been bound in heaven, and we can loose on earth what has been loosed in heaven. That is exactly what Christ does for His Father:

Joh 8:28  Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

Christ tells us that He is the door, and He also tells us:

Joh 10:2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

‘Entering by the door’ symbolizes strict fidelity to the doctrine of Christ, who is “the door”. Anyone who is flippant about the doctrine of Christ has not yet entered by the Door, which is Christ and His doctrine.

Joh 12:48 He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Mat 10:40 He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you,
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

All sacrifices must be presented to God at the altar, and the altar is the Old Testament symbol of the cross. What we are being told is to place ourselves on the cross with Christ if we count ourselves to be His.

The life of every animal offered to God had to be slain at the altar which was before the temple. If we are the Lord’s Christ, His scapegoat, we are very special to Him. We are of ourselves no better than anyone else, but still chosen by Him and of Him and not of anything we have done to be in that blessed and holy first resurrection to judge this world  throughout the thousand-year reign of Christ, to be followed by continued judgment of angels in the lake of fire.

There is really no end to the number of keys to the kingdom of God, because each key reveals to us more about the knowledge of God and His Son. Coming to know them is an inexhaustible endeavor as “the things that are made” (Rom 1:20) demonstrate for us by the limitless physical heavens.

Rom 11:33  O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34  For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.