This is not your typical Easter message but one I think needs to be heard (or at least read). When I sat down to write this blog I wasn’t planning on it being about Easter. I was just thinking about this month’s post about the Kingdom of Heaven. But the more I studied this month’s verse the more God began to show me that it is about Easter; and God’s resurrection power and his triumph over death. The verse for this month is Matthew 16:19 which reads “I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in Heaven, and whatever you loose on the earth will be loosed in Heaven” (CSB). It is probably a familiar verse to lots of us. It is also probably a confusing verse for lots of us, too (I include myself in that group).

To fully understand this verse you need to understand the context it was spoken in. Jesus is hanging out with his disciples and asks them, “Who do people say I am?” They give him a few different answers, like John the Baptist, or Elijah, even Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. Jesus then asks them who they say he is. Peter speaks up proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah – the Son of God. Just two verses down we come to our verse for this month. Peter could only have the keys to the kingdom once he understood who Jesus really is. The saying “I will give you the keys” was a Jewish expression that signified the rising of someone to great authority and power. There is a prophecy in Isaiah that talks about Jesus being given the keys of David, and whatever He opens can not be shut (see Isaiah 22;22). We know that Jesus is the fulfillment of the Davidic Kingdom that has no end. We also know that Jesus in his death and resurrection now holds the keys to death and hell (see Revelation 1:18). So the keys that Jesus is giving Peter here in this verse and then to all the disciples in Matthew 18:18 are the keys to eternial life. Peter and the disciples and even you and me (if you consider youself a disciple or student of Jesus) have been given the ability to help unlock eternal life for people by sharing the Good News and leading people to confession of Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. Are you starting to see how this lines up with Easter now?

Let’s unpack a few more words in our key verse to help us understand this better. We know the keys are figurative for power and authority, but what about this binding and loosing business? These two words were commonly used words in church lingo that referred to things that were lawful or unlawful for those in the church to do or partake in. They were medical terminology that meant what was lawful for a human body to do in a physical sense like food is lawful and even needed to sustain life, but certain foods were unlawful or poisonous leading to death. A person living around the time of Jesus would have understood this in the natural sense and been able to apply it to the spiritual sense. Think about all the laws that the Jewish person had to know and live by. The Pharisees and leaders of the Synagog were constantly declaring something lawful or unlawful. These words binding and loosing became Rabbinical idioms. Here is what they mean in the original greek. To bind means to declare, to be prohibited or unlawful, to put into chains. To loose means to unleash, let go, release what was once held back.

What I think this verse is saying first to Peter and then to all disciples in Matthew 18:18 is that we have been given the power to bind the enemy who blinded people from hearing and seeing the Good News. “For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers’ minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.” (Amplified Version). When we are sharing the Gospel we have the authority to pray and bind this spirit that keeps people from knowing God. We can also loose the mind of Christ over them.

We have the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. It’s our ability to share the love of God with those who don’t know Him yet, in a way that compels them into God’s Kingdom through salvation in Jesus, and confessing Him as Lord. So as Easter approaches we who are holding keys to the Kingdom of Heaven should bind the god of this world, loosing souls to confess Jesus as Lord. That could be as simple as inviting them to church with you, or taking someone out to dinner with the intent to share the full Gospel story. However you do it, let’s walk in the authority we have, and bind doubt and unbelief and loose salvation for thousands this Easter.