In Matthew 16:13-20 we have a very interesting conversation recorded between Jesus and Peter about WHO Jesus is. First of all Jesus asked what others were saying of Him, and Peter gave their opinions. But when He asked Peter directly as to WHO he thought Jesus is, Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God."  Jesus told Peter that that statement did not come from an earthly source, or from man"s idea. He had received a revelation from the Father in Heaven.

The word "revealed" here is from the Greek "apokalupto" (pronounced ap-ok-al-loop"to) meaning "to remove the veil or covering away from, and so to expose to open view what was before hidden, hence, to reveal, make manifest" (Bullinger"s). Peter received revelation on WHO JESUS REALLY IS! He is THE CHRIST! THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD! THAT REVELATION MADE JESUS GOD! THE ONLY ONE TRUE WAY TO HEAR AND KNOW THE TRUTH OF SALVATION, THE WAY OF GOD, THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD! We cannot know the things of God by our own learning, opinions or knowledge (1 Corinthians 2 )!Has the veil been removed for you to SEE JESUS?

UPON THIS ROCK

Jesus told Peter it was upon "this rock" He would build His Church! What was that rock? It wasn"t the "flesh and blood" Peter, because "flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 15:50 ). It was the revelation of the Father now within Peter that was the rock. All revelation from Heaven is "rock" because it is very truth " the truth of all truth! The gates of hell have no way of winning against that which comes from Heaven! It is a spiritual enlightenment that comes to us from above that causes us to know Jesus and the truth of what Christianity is all about. It is all about knowing the keys of that Kingdom and discovering how to use them!

Listen to this " this is Jesus speaking: "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).

The Amplified Bible puts it this way: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind " that is, declare to be improper and unlawful " on earth must be already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth " declare lawful " must be what is already loosed in heaven."

A cross reference is given to Isaiah 22:22 (concerning Eliakim): "And the key of the house of David I will lay upon his shoulder; he shall open, and no one shall shut; he shall shut and no one shall open." (See also Revelation 3:7 , where it tells us Jesus has the key of David. We receive that key by revelation).

Keys are for binding and loosing, opening and shutting " first in the spiritual realm and then in the natural. The spiritual realm is where revelation comes from to give us our authority to do these things.

What does it mean to "bind"? (Greek word is "deo"):

• "to bind, fasten, tie" (Young"s & Bullinger"s).

• "to impose legal obligation or duties upon (a person or party to an agreement); to place under certain constraints; govern" (Collins Dict.).

What does it mean to "loose"? (Greek word is "luo"):

• "to loosen (literally or figuratively): break (up), destroy, dissolve, (un-) loose, melt, put off" (Strong"s).

• "to loose, loosen what is fast bound; hence, to unbind" (Bullinger"s).

• "free or released from confinement or restraint; to unfasten or untie" (Collins).

What does it mean to "open"? (Hebrew word is "pathach"):

• "to open wide (lit. or fig.); specifically to loosen" (Strong"s).

• "to open a door, a house, the mouth, the ear, the eyes, the grave, the clods of earth by ploughing; to open or loosen, i.e. to draw out the sword; to open as a bud" (Wilson"s O.T. Word Studies).

What does it mean to "shut"? (Hebrew word is "cagar" " pronounced saw-gar):

• "to shut up; fig. to surrender: close up, shut (in, self, out, up, together), stop" (Strong"s).

• "to shut, to close, as a door, a gate, the womb, a breach in a wall; to shut in, to shut up over; absolutely, without the object expressed" (Wilson's).

The keys of the Kingdom of Heaven have been given to us by Jesus " through revelation " for us to be workers together with God to do the above things. They can be applied in so many different ways. We just need to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and co-operate with the "commands" from Heaven. In the spirit realm we Holy Spirit-filled Christians here on earth are connected to God in Heaven!

WHAT ARE SOME OF THOSE KEYS?

• Some of those keys are to enable us to minister effectively into the lives of people so that they (and their circumstances) can come into line with the will of God.

• The nine gifts of the Holy Spirit are keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to do according to their names, i.e. wisdom, knowledge, faith, the gifts of healing, the working of miracles

(Greek is dunamis meaning power and ability to do anything), prophecy, discerning of spirits (good and bad), many kinds of tongues (spiritual languages that enable us to talk "spirit to Spirit" with God), and the interpretation of those tongues.
  

• The true five-fold ministry gifts of Ephesians 4:11-16 are keys to releasing  the  body of Christ to mature in the things of God.

• The apostle and prophet ministries, especially, carry the "key of knowledge" (Luke 11:49-52 ).

WHAT ARE WE DOING WITH THOSE KEYS?

The question is, What are we doing with those keys?  We have four choices!

1. We do nothing (through ignorance of Who Jesus is in us)

2. We use them to bind (according to the revelation received)

3. We use them to loose (according to the revelation received)

4. We give them back to God (through our abrogating our responsibility to use what God has revealed and given).

What we do with those keys and how we use them  is directly determined by the revelation of Jesus we have within us. Everything we receive from God comes by revelation of the Father through the Holy Spirit Who glorifies Jesus! That is why the prophetic ministry is so vitally important today. It brings the revelation of God to the Church and individuals to help us to know what to do in the right season, in the right way, to get the right results! That"s what glorifies God here on earth!

THE COMMAND IS TO ALL BELIEVERS!

Some may argue that what Jesus said in Matthew 16 was just to Peter (the Roman Catholic Church even claims it as their God-given foundation in Peter!). Was that revelation just for Peter, or for all believers on Jesus? Let"s turn to Matthew 18:18-19 . Here Jesus is addressing all His disciples:

"I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,  and  whatever you loose on earth  will  be loosed in heaven.

Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them" (NIV).

The Good News Bible puts it this way: "And so I tell all of you: what you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven, and what you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven."

It is interesting that Matthew 18 gives us this authority to bind and loose in the midst of Jesus" teaching of our need to forgive those who oppose, criticize, hurt, trespass and make false accusations against us. Forgiveness frees us to be available to the Holy Spirit and the revelation of Jesus that He brings. Not much revelation flows into an unforgiving heart! We cannot afford to let others rob us of our receiving revelation from Heaven and in using the keys of that Kingdom!

We are called to be ambassadors of Christ. An "ambassador" is one who has already been "given power and authority to speak and act on behalf of" the King of the Kingdom of Heaven. We do that here on earth! Ambassadors have to know how to use the keys of the Kingdom they represent, to know when to bind and/or to loose, to know when to open and/or to shut. That is what determines how successful he is in representing the King of the Kingdom of Heaven!

• Revelation is all about knowing Who we are serving ~ JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD!

• That revelation enables us to know who we are as His repre-sentatives here on earth. This determines our calling, ministries, giftings, effectiveness, everything! The Apostle Paul"s ministry was based upon revelation from Heaven (see Galatians 1 and 2).

• The way we respond to revelation will determine how fruitful we are, how much damage we do to Satan's kingdom, etc.

JESUS HAS GIVEN US THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM! Let us not be guilty of settling for anything less than what He has accomplished for us through His coming to earth to reveal Himself to us as the very SON OF THE LIVING GOD " GOD IN THE FLESH, NOW GLORIFIED IN THE SPIRIT! Hallelujah!

It's time to bind and loose, open and shut, with the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven  in Jesus" name!

 "The Gospel Faith Messenger" Ministry.  PO Box 57, Paraparaumu 5254, New Zealand.  Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.