Dr. Barclay with Something to Think About - KEYS

 KEY(S)

A key, by and of itself, is a useless object.  We all have keys for which we no longer have a use and they just hang on hooks collecting dust. But if there is a lock for that key, an opening for it to fit into, then it’s an entirely different matter.

I am sure there have times when we have the lock but no key; times when we have locked ourselves out of the car or house, or being somewhere and wishing to leave but someone else has the key to the escape vehicle. The point is if you want to get somewhere or get into some place that’s locked, you need a key or to be with someone who can undo the lock.

Most people want or expect to get into heaven even though the Bible states that “…narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it,” (Matthew 7:14).  If that is the case, how do people really get to the destination they long for? 

It must be evident that you would need the key or know the one who has it.  Also, not to follow one who may have given it away.  Luke 11:52 states: “Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter in yourselves, and those who were entering in you hindered.”

So who has the proper key?  The one referred to in Isaiah 22:22, “The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; So he shall open, and no one shall shut; And he shall shut, and no one shall open.”  Revelation refers to Him the same - “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David. He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens…” (Revelation 3:7).  An angel was given the key to the bottomless pit.  “Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand,” (Revelation 20:1).

So who do we follow? The intellectuals who haven taken away the key of knowledge, the angel who has the key to the bottomless pit or He who has the key of David?  Perhaps the one who has all the keys.  “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.  Amen.  And I have the keys of Hades and of Death,” (Revelation 1:18) and He, graciously, is willing to “…give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven…” (Matthew 16:19).

You want to get to heaven? Then you should be with the one who has the keys and is willing to give them to you. Then can you be sure about your entrance into the Kingdom and that’s something you can be certain of.  It’s also something you should think about.