Matthew 16:13-19 13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.
We see here in Matthew 16 that on the heels of Peter’s confession, Jesus confirmed who He was. He confirmed He was the Promised Messiah, and then He said something very intentionally, something very powerful. He issued a declaration about the role of the Church in the world. Look at verse 18.
And I tell you that you are Peter,[b] and on this rock (on this confession) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades[c] (Hell) will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.”
This is the first time the Church is mentioned in Scripture, and here, at this juncture, when Jesus talks about His Church, He says that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His Church. Satan will not be able to take down His Church. The conflict that Satan has with God is carried over to a conflict with the Church. By affiliation with Jesus, the One who dealt Satan an eternal blow on Calvary’s cross, by affiliation with Him, God’s Church is part of a war with unseen, evil powers.
In verse 19 Jesus went on to say He was giving some keys to the disciples. They were the keys of authority that would assist them in this war against the powers of darkness. Keys are a symbol of delegated authority. Jesus is giving us His authority to use here on earth.
In Revelation 1:17-18 Jesus said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Revelation 1:17-18
This war between Satan and God isn’t even a fair fight because Jesus holds the Master Keys to everything that would set itself up as an enemy of His Church. He is large and in charge. There is no possibility that Satan will be victorious. His fate has already been secured. He was dealt an eternal blow when Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave. His fate is sealed, but he is still fighting, still acting as if he has a shot. What a fool!
With the spiritual keys that have been given to those who are in God’s Church, we have power and authority to open stuff, to close stuff and to evict demonic spirits that aren’t welcome into our circumstance. What kind of stuff? How much authority do we have? Jesus said, “Whatever you bind on earth will be[d] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be[e] loosed in heaven.”
The authority Christ gives you is to do what He would do here on earth. As His representatives on earth, we have authority to do His will on the earth. Did you ever stop and think as you pray, “May Your Kingdom come and Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” that you held the keys to make that happen? As we are surrendered to the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, who will always guide us in truth and in the Father’s will, we can trust that as we use Jesus’ authority, what we bind and loose will take place. We don’t have authority to contradict God’s will or His Word, but we have Jesus’ authority to act like Jesus!
Look at John 14:12-14 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Our authority as believers isn’t a carte blanche authority to just use the name of Jesus to get what we want. This whole binding and loosing isn’t about using the name of Jesus as a good luck charm, but it is about radical obedience to wanting what Jesus wants in the hearts and lives of all people, including us. “You may ask me for anything in my name,” doesn’t just mean if you use Jesus’ name when you ask for something, it is yours. The use of Jesus’ name means we are asking for Jesus to be glorified in a situation that we are asking what we are asking is because what we are asking for is what Jesus would want to see happening in our situation if He was walking the earth. We have a spiritual, legal right, to deal with the things Jesus would deal with and did deal with when He walked the earth.
If we have the authority of Jesus to push back and subdue the powers of darkness, if we have been given biblical authority to make disciples and to teach them to obey all that God has commanded, how in the world did it get this dark? As I pondered the answer, God said this to me, “The Church hasn’t been using their keys.”
Have we put the keys in our purses and pockets and forgotten what we have been commissioned to do? Have we misplaced the keys because we have been self-absorbed and just been focused on living our lives? Have we been trying to use the keys Jesus’ gave His disciples to unlock the doors of prosperity for ourselves instead of using them to unlock the prison doors that are holding people captive?
Believing that we can do the things Jesus did and doing them shouldn’t be radical. It should be the regular practice of a disciple.
What if God has allowed things to get so chaotic and complex in this world because He is trying to get His Church to look for their keys and use them? Maybe it is going to take an intense darkness unlike we have seen in our lifetimes, to wake us up and to get us to start doing what He told Peter and the other disciples they would do in His name.
I am praying for revival. How bad does it have to get before we grab those keys and do the work Jesus said His Church would do. If we do, Satan cannot stop us. The darkness will be transformed into light. We cannot sit back and just be focused on our walk with Christ and then wonder why it seems that Hell is winning. We have been given keys. They were meant to be used. It is time to get radical and become regular disciples of Jesus!
