“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.” —MATTHEW 16:19, NIV
If you’ve ever been given the keys to your workplace or a new home or other important place, you know that those keys represent trust and authority. In some cases, the person jangling the keys or keeping the lockbox code is in charge.
It usually means you have been entrusted with an important responsibility and access to something very special.
Giving Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven also gave Jesus’ followers the authority to bind and loose.
What on earth (and in heaven!) is binding and loosing?
To bind and loose were common Jewish phrases used by rabbis, meaning to declare something forbidden by an indisputable authority or to permit by an undeniable authority. I love that phrase “indisputable authority!”
Jesus talked about binding and loosing twice in the gospel of Matthew. First, when Peter declared that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16). Jesus replied that only God could have revealed that to him and gave Peter the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Later, talking to His disciples, He said again, “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven (Matthew 18:18).
In commonly understood terms, Jesus was saying: If you declare this to be illegal, then it’s against the law. If you say this is lawful, then it’s allowed.
This was not permission to usurp Christ’s Lordship and authority. It was not the power to change the ruling principles of heaven but rather to release them on earth! Binding and loosing meant declaring God’s will on earth backed up by heaven’s authority, “on earth as it is in heaven.”
Peter and the other disciples had authority symbolized by the possession of “keys.” And through the preaching of the gospel, the declaration of Jesus as the Messiah and Son of the Living God, they bound evil and loosed the very kingdom of heaven.
Those same keys are given to every generation of believers. Those keys represent the authority of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Every time we declare Jesus as Messiah and Son of God, every time we share the gospel, we’re using the keys to open up the kingdom of heaven.
We’re binding the activity of evil and losing the power of God to work in a person’s heart.
