In Matthew 16:19, Jesus tells Peter that he is being given the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. However, it is not just Peter that receives the keys, they are also given to the Apostles and to the church (Matthew 18:18). Keep in mind that the “Kingdom of Heaven” is not the domain of Heaven. Only Jesus has all authority in Heaven and on Earth (Matthew 28:18). No mere human could possibly carry the keys to the domain of Heaven. However, a key is a badge of authority (Isa. 22:15, 22; Luke 11:52). Just as Paul is given the privilege of “opening the door of faith” to the Gentiles in Acts 14:27, we are also to open the doors of Heaven by obeying God’s will on Earth (Matthew 28:19-20). In the expanded translation of Matthew 16:18, by Dr. Kenneth S. Wuest, we read: “And whatever you bind on Earth [forbid to be done], shall have been already bound in Heaven; and whatever you loose on Earth [permit to be done], shall have already been loosed in Heaven.” Jesus did not say that God would obey what the church wills on Earth, but that the church should obey God’s will from Heaven. We obey God’s will by opening up the Kingdom of Heaven through our witnessing and our pointing to Jesus Christ as the only Savior, the only Lord, and the only King of Heaven and Earth. Don’t close eternity to anyone here on Earth by judging and hating, but preach the grace of Christ and the love of God. Let us declare that Jesus is the one who came down from Heaven, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. The door is grace and the keys are faith, so let us share the message that you can be saved by placing your faith in Jesus to all that will believe.
