Keys to the Kingdom

• The Key, the Secret – Urban Cookie Collective frpm 1993
• Key Largo – Bertie Higgins from 1982
• Brand New Key – Melanie from 1972
• Key to the Highway- Eric Clapton & B.B. King from 2000
• Key to My Kingdom – B.B. King from 1969
• Key to My Life – Boyzone from 1995
• Keys to Your Love – The Rolling Stone from 2002
• Key to Love – John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers from 1966
• The Key to Life on Earth – Declan McKenna from 2020
• Hotel Key – Old Dominion from 2016

Interestingly, the phrase Keys to the Kingdom occurs in a few other songs, both Christian and secular. That comes from Matthew 16.

Matthew 16:19
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

I don’t believe that that was about appointing Peter as the first pope or appointing the Roman Catholic Church as the one true church. You didn’t have popes and international denominational structures back then 😀. It was about giving the apostles authority to shape what Christianity would become. Jesus didn’t write any New Testament book. He left that tasks to the apostles, but he sent his Holy Spirit to guide them. You might think that he was placing too much trust in them, but the same thing happened in the Old Testament. The Spirit of God inspired humans to write his word. And Jesus demonstrated time, and time again that he regarded the Old Testament as God’s word. Even in the run-up to his final ascension, he studied it with his disciples:

Luke 24:27
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Luke 24:43
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶ He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

What was it the Father promised? It was the Holy Spirit, who guided them on what to write and ensured that it was what God wanted to say. And the Holy Spirit illuminates our minds nowadays as we read the Scriptures, provided that we are looking to him to do so.

So what has all this to do with keys? Well, just as my physical key gets me into my physical house, I get into my heavenly home by believing in Jesus. And my authentic guide to what happened 2,000 years ago is the New Testament, which the apostles and their associates wrote. So, just as I’d feel a bit lost without my physical key, I’d feel even more lost without my spiritual key. But is the key Jesus? is it the Bible? is it the message of the gospel? or is it my faith? You could probably use the key metaphor for all these, but broadly, the result is the same. I read the Bible, I hear the gospel, I hear about Jesus, and I put my faith in him. That’s the key! That’s what opens the door to heaven.

On the night before Jesus died, he spoke the following words to his disciples. It fascinates me that he spoke such kind words, given that they were all about to desert him. But our place in heaven doesn’t depend on our merits. It depends on God’s mercy and our trust in him. 

John 14:2
My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

And here’s one final verse, demonstrating that our final destiny is in the hands of the risen Jesus. And as it happens, one of my favourite hymns, “At Your Feet We Fall”, is based on that very passage.