He who has the key of David

 

He who has the key of David

 

Revelation 3:7-8 'And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth:'

The church in Philadelphia received the sixth letter from Jesus Christ. The church in Philadelphia was the least influential of the seven churches in Asia Minor. Jesus said to them, “See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it. I know your works (ta erga), and you have little strength, yet you have kept my word (ton logon) and have not denied my name (to onoma).” (Revelation 3:9)

Taerga means ministry. The minister preaches the life of resurrection, and although he has difficulties in having a body, he baptizes with the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ, and the saints who received the baptism of the Holy Spirit have the resurrected Christ enter their hearts and continue to spread the seeds of the gospel. He preached the gospel in the synagogue, and although many Jews criticized him, he opened the door to the kingdom of God and went forward relying on the power of God.

The key of David is the key that opens the door to the kingdom of God. The key refers to the key that guarded the treasury that was in charge of the finances of the nation in the Old Testament. The key of David is because the nation had strong finances and was a king who was spiritually in accordance with God's will.

Isaiah 22:20-22 “On that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your garments, and gird him with your belt to strengthen him, and I will commit your government into his hand. He will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ​​I will also place the key of the house of David on his shoulder; he will open and no one will shut, and he will shut and no one will open.”

During the reign of King Hezekiah, the Assyrian king Sennacherib led an uncountable army and invaded Jerusalem. Judah was like a lamp in the wind, and there was nothing they could do, but God killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night. At this time, the people of Jerusalem should have been thankful for the history that God had given them, repented for their past rebellion and stubbornness before God, and decided to live a new life. However, they were intoxicated with the victory itself. Seeing the people of Jerusalem like this, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah.

God said, "Your officials (leaders) were busy running away, and were captured before they could even fire a single arrow, and were not taken captive again while running away? Now do not try to comfort me when I mourn over Jerusalem." The following story is the story of Shebna. Shebna, a high-ranking official in Jerusalem, was in charge of the treasury in the palace. He was the second most powerful person in Judah, second only to the king. But what Shebna did was that he dug his own tomb higher than the tombs of the kings. He even dug it out of the rock so that his body would be preserved for a long time. He thought that if he made his tomb higher than the tombs of the kings, he would enjoy greater power than the kings. However, God said that he would make Shebna into a ball and throw him into the wilderness.

When the nation was in crisis, Shebna was demoted to a low-ranking official because he only cared about himself. His position was given to Eliakim. The clothes and belt that Shebna wore were given to Eliakim. God said that He would place the key of David on Eliakim’s shoulder. Shebna was the steward of the national treasury, but because he only cared about his own interests, God gave it to Eliakim.

The key of David is, on the surface, a key to keep the treasury, but spiritually, it is a key to open the door to the kingdom of God. Now that the resurrected Jesus Christ has the key, no one can enter the kingdom of God without going through Him. Only those who are united with the resurrected Christ can enter the gates of heaven.

Regarding the Key of David, why does the name David appear? Acts 13:21-23 "After this, they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. Then he removed him and raised up David to be their king. To this he testified and said, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my will. ' From this man's descendants God, according to his promise, has raised up for Israel a Savior, Jesus."

David was a man after God's own heart, so Jesus was born through his physical descendants. A person after God's own heart is someone who understands God's plan of salvation well. Salvation is when the Son of God dies as a substitute for sinners who have fallen into the hands of the spirits of the fallen angels, and when he is resurrected, those who are united with him are restored to the kingdom of God. Does this mean that David knew this well? In any case, Jesus, who was born through David's bloodline, fulfilled God's will.

A person who is in line with God’s heart realizes the meaning of death on the cross and believes that only the resurrection life is the way to salvation. On the surface, David prayed to overcome worldly status and physical difficulties through war with the Philistines, conflict with King Saul, and the rebellion of his son and subordinates who opposed him, but he knew well how dirty his inner world was, and he asked to be saved from this pit. The salvation of the spirit is ultimately the faith in resurrection.

Through the Psalms and other passages, he ultimately connects the salvation that God gave him in the midst of suffering to a spiritual issue. Psalm 17:13, “Arise, O LORD, and cast him down; save my soul from the wicked by your sword.” The enemy refers to none other than his own greedy heart. For example, taking Uriah’s wife, who was his subordinate, was a representative incident.

God saw the heart of David. Although David sinned against God by making the wrong decision, he repented and turned around to become a person who followed God’s will. He tried to rebuild the temple, retrieve the Ark of the Covenant that was taken away, and cherished the sacrifices offered to God. God placed David next to Abraham in the line of faith.

Jesus Christ declares that God has opened the door for the church in Philadelphia. The reason God opens the door is, as in the parable of the prodigal son, to allow the prodigal son who left home to repent and return. At that time, the Jewish synagogue served as a channel for keeping and spreading the word of God. After the Babylonian captivity, the people of the promise who struggled to keep the tradition of the word gradually began to change. Even when Jesus preached in the synagogue, people put their own traditions first, and even in the face of the gospel given through Paul, people tried to protect their own interests with their traditions. That is why in Jesus’ letter to Philadelphia, the synagogue that should have been the Lord’s synagogue was described as the synagogue of Satan.

Revelation 3:10 Because you have kept the word of my patience (tes hypomone), I also will keep you from the hour of temptation which is about to come upon the whole world, to test (peirasmus) those who dwell on the earth. ” The reason the church in Philadelphia is praised is because the work of repentance has taken place, Christ has come again and is present in the temple in our souls established through resurrection life, and also because they have entered the temple in our souls and practiced hypomone well. Hypomone means going and remaining before the throne of God in our souls. Jesus Christ praises this and tells them to keep it steadfastly.