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The Gift of the Keys
In the light afforded by these references we may extend the significance of this gift of the keys to include all who live and act in the power of the Holy Spirit. If we have received that blessed gift of the Comforter, as they did on whom the Master breathed that Easter evening, we also may wield the power of the keys. Not ours the prerogative of the Apostles, but only the humble distinction of having, walked to Emmaus, first with broken and then with burning hearts; yet even such may, in the power of the Spirit, be entrusted with keys that shall open closed doors, and emancipate prisoners from their cells. Here, for instance, is a broken-hearted penitent who thinks that her sin is too great to be forgiven, and some Christian sister takes as her key our Lord’s words to such in Luke 7, or John 8, and instantly a door is opened by which she passes into the Peace of God. The Knights of Arthur’s Table rode forth into the wild wastes of the Kingdom of the Beast, intent on righting wrong, and succouring the oppressed. Never a day without its gallant deed. We, too, are dedicated to similar enterprise. Let us not hold back lest we miss the vision of the Holy Grail! We, too, possess the Sword of the Spirit and the Keys of the Kingdom! We, too, may catch a glimpse of the holy cup of sacrifice! F.B. Meyer |
It must be carefully noted that our Lord used the same words which He addressed to Peter also to individual believers in Matt.18:18, and again to His assembled Apostles and others who were gathered with them in the Upper Room on the evening of the Resurrection Day. See Luke 24:33, and John 20:22&23.