The Keys to the Kingdom

No one knows who invented the first lock and key.  But it stands to reason that the necessity of protecting valuables mothered its invention not long after sin entered the world.  The oldest discovered locking mechanism is 4,000 years old and was found in Nineveh.  It is similar to other locks found in Egypt within that same time.  The Bible also makes mention of locks in the book of Judges, which isn’t long after this period.

In Matthew 16 Jesus uses this imagery to speak about the Kingdom of Heaven.  It is a place and dominion that you need a “key” in order to join.  We don’t generally think of heaven as being a place that is locked.  But Jesus here reveals that he is giving his disciples “keys” that would unlock its gates to specific people.

Do I Know Who Jesus Is?

Jesus had asked his disciples who people were saying that he was in verse 13.  Of course they gave several answers.  Then in verse15 Jesus makes it personal.  Who do you say that I am?  The question is directed to all the disciples.  They had been with him for a while now and Jesus checks to see what they have come to understand about who he is.  Peter is the one who steps forward and answers for the group.  Obviously he risks “getting it wrong.”  However, this time, Peter nails the answer in verse 16.  The first part of his answer is that Jesus is the Christ.  Now Christ is a transliteration of a Greek word, not a translation.  The translation would be Anointed.  So Peter declares that Jesus is The Anointed One.  Now what is he talking about?  In the Old Testament the first group we see being anointed (having oil smeared on or poured over) was the priests.  Aaron and his sons were anointed for the ministry they were going to perform.  It was a picture of the presence of God’s Spirit to empower them for the holy function they were called to do.  Later the same was done for those who were to be King of Israel.  Thus only those called to an important and holy job on God’s behalf were anointed.  This idea of anointing was later given a connection to another concept of a Messiah or Savior that would rise up to save Israel and the World.  We see this in Psalm 2.  In this Psalm God’s Anointed One becomes a specific title.  The messiah would be God’s Anointed One who would be given the kingdoms of the earth.  Thus Peter recognizes Jesus as this Messiah/Anointed One for whom the world had been waiting.

The second part of Peter’s statement is that Jesus was the Son of God.  Now in a physical sense we can understand Jesus being called the Son of God because he was directly created by God in Mary’s womb.  Jesus was miraculously born by a virgin girl through the power of God.  Just as God directly shaped Adam and breathed the spirit of life into him, so God directly creates the matter that would become the man Jesus.

Yet, Jesus was the Son of God in an even deeper way.  The apostle John brings this out in the first chapter of his gospel.  In regard to his humanity, Jesus came into being just over 2,000 years ago.  But in regard to his spirit, he had existed from before the creation.  In fact he was in essence not only with God the Father, but he and the Father were together One God.  Yes, this does bring up the mysterious Trinity that can be a mind bender.  But this is what the disciples came to know about Jesus.  He and the Father were two and yet One.  To see the Son was to see the Father.  Both Son and Father have eternally been One with the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was the only, True God-Man that has ever existed.  All others have been pretenders and fakes.

The Key of  The Knowledge of Who Jesus Is

Jesus points to Peter’s statement as important.  First it was not given to them by a man.  It was God himself who had revealed this to the disciples.  How did God do that?  He did it by first sending his Son, Jesus, who performed miracles and spoke the words of the Father.  He confirmed this by the Scriptures that had been given before hand.  The disciples could recognize the God of the Scriptures in what Jesus said.  The third thing is the inner witness of the Holy Spirit.  When push came to shove, something within the disciples testified that Jesus had the “Words of Life.”

In verse 18 Jesus then begins to talk about the Church he was going to build.  The Church would be built upon the truth of who Jesus is.  This truth is an immovable rock that is like a mountain in comparison to the small rock that Peter was.  But all of these individual rocks making their confessions of the Great Rock of Jesus and his true identity would build a group that even Hell itself could not stand up against.  I know that some try to make Peter himself the foundation of the Church but this seems to fly in the face of the language that is being used.  Yes, Peter is a part of the foundation of Jesus and His apostles, but that is it.  This knowledge of the identity of Jesus is a key that opens the way into the Kingdom of Heaven.  Thus the main task of the leaders of the Church is to use the Key of Knowledge to open the door to those who will receive it in faith.  However, this knowledge also repels some, just as it did in days of Jesus.  In like manner today, the truth of who Jesus is repels some and because they refuse to receive it, acts like a lock that both keeps them out of the Kingdom and stuck in their lost condition.  They are bound in a prison of their own making as they refuse to receive the truth.  So all who follow Christ and proclaim the truth of who he is have this key that both looses and binds those to whom they proclaim it.

Now the word “keys” is plural.  So it stands to reason that there are other keys and we will talk about those in the weeks to come.  But this key is critical and cannot be left out.

Here are some practical thoughts for those who have put their faith in Jesus.  People who have not heard the truth about who Jesus is are bound in a prison and kept back from his Life.  They are bound by a principle of death that comes from the effects of sin.  Only those with the keys to Life can help them.  God has given you a powerful key to life in the truth about who Jesus is.  Are you sharing it?  We must first see the plight of the lost before we will be motivated to help them.  What was it like for you before you became a believer?  May God start by reminding us of our own past, but also continue the teaching by opening our eyes to the pain, hurt, and death that is in the lives of people around us who do not know him.

Keys to the Kingdom audio

Hope Raised

We talked last week about how God is the source of this idea called hope.    Specifically the hope that in the future all that is wrong with our world and people will be fixed.  We also talked about how important the target of your hope is and how important the basis or foundation of your hope is.

In the weeks ahead we are going to talk about how the Resurrection of Jesus gives us hope in our relationships, job, hard times and good times, successes and failures, and throughout all aspects of our life.

However, on this day we are going to look at how the Resurrection gives us hope that we have the Truth.  This can be a very fragile thing at times.  It was just like this when Jesus came on the scen in the first century.  There was very little hope that Truth had been obtained, both in the Roman world and in Israel.  Truth is something many of us desire, however, at times we find ourselves doubting we can ever truly obtain it--and if we did we couldn't truly be sure.  Through the Bible God tells us that he himself is the embodiment of Truth and that he wants us to have Truth, to have him.  This is where the Resurrection is so important.  It is one of those events wherein God gives us something concrete on which to build a foundation of Hope.  The Resurrection of Jesus gives us the hope of having obtained Truth.  Let's look at 1 Corinthians 15 in the Bible.

The Resurrection gives us Hope of the Truth

Jesus made some great claims before he was crucified and it stands to reason that people today would have some questions and even bear some cynicism towards those claims.  Jesus claimed that he was the Son of God and that he had come down from heaven.  He claimed that he was the Truth from God.  He claimed that those who believed him would have eternal life and be resurrected at the end of the age.  There is so much deception in the world today and there was in the days of the followers of Jesus.  In this passage Paul deals with some questions and cynical rejections of the concept of a day in which people are Resurrected.  Paul says in verse 3 that he is giving to them exactly what was given first to him.  As I said earlier, God wants us to have Truth.  Truth is not something that we arrive at purlely through reason.  But reason can help us to analyze that which we receive.  God himself is the source of Truth.  There are other sources out there that purport to have truth, but these sources always pervert truth to their own ends.  So let's look at some common accusations or objections to the claims of Jesus and his disciples.

Jesus Never existed? The first objection is a basic denial that Jesus existed and the resurrection happened.  Of course we live in a day that loves to "correct" the historical record.  However, if you love truth, you don't just change history to make yourself feel better.  You have to have some sense of humility that you weren't there.  It is safe to say this, there is enough evidence for a rational person to recognize that Jesus did exist and that he was executed.  To believe else is to stretch reality.  I will mention first that the New Testament itself is a witness or evidence that Jesus existed and was executed.  However, since its claims are what we are questioning then let's move elsewhere.  There are historical records that were written by non-Christians, which give evidence that Jesus existed.  Josephus was a Jewish nonChristian historian who wrote while the apostle John was still alive.  He gave testimony that Jesus existed, was executed, and that his disciples claimed he had been resurrected.  A Roman, nonchristian historian named Tacitus wrote within 80 years of the cross.  He mentions Christ who was crucified in Jerusalem under Pontius Pilate.  He also mentions many followers who existed in his day of this Christ.  We also have the verification of archaeology.  The Bible gives places, events and people that continually are verified by archaeological finds.  Many "objections" of the past that accused the Bible of false information have been proven unfounded by new archaeological finds.  So it is difficult to explain these things without creating a highly unlikely web of conspiracy.

Miracles, Death, Resurrection All a Lie?  Another objection or accusation is that the miracles were made up, the body was stolen, and the resurrection is a lie.  I put these together simply because they do not deny Jesus existed, however, they do question the Bible's presentation of the facts.  If we wanted to change the historical record of what the Sumerian culture did, there would not be any Sumerians around to object to our changes.  There might be some students of history that would object, but they would be objecting on the principle of Truth.  Historians are supposed to hold Truth as a foundational principle.  But as we become more and more cynical about Truth, then we become more and more likely to accept wholesale historical revision as long as it makes us feel better.  Historical revisionism could happen if the history in question is in the far past.  But it is simply impossible at the same historical period when most of the eye witnesses are still alive.  Let me give you an example.  If I were to state that it is historical fact that during the Bush presidency he had declared martial law and taken dictatorial control over the country.  In fact he had suspended the election of 2008.  He almost got away with it, however, a young senator from Illinois named Barack Obama had led a contingent of Black Panther brigades up to the white house and had wrested control of the country away from Bush and had restored the USA back to a democracy.  Though many people may wish this had been true, it would be impossible for me to establish a "hero worship" cult around Barack Obama's supposed exploits within decades of the real events that took place.  Any one who followed such poppycock would be clinically insane (out of touch of reality). 

Within 2 months of Jesus death, burial, and "mysterious" disappearance, Peter was standing up in Jerusalem stating that Jesus had done miracles among them and the religious leaders had put him to death.  Peter also claims that Jesus had been resurrected and that he and the other disciples had witnessed this.  3,000 people believed from the crowd that assembled that day.  And, month by month, year by year, more people continued to believe that Jesus had been resurrected.  No one refuted the claims to miracles, nor the claims to death and burial.  The only dispute had to do with whether or not Jesus really was resurrected from the dead.   The only counter explanations for the "missing body" are that he wasn't really dead (swoon theory) or that his disciples stole the body and lied about his resurrection.  Let's deal with these claims.

To claim that the Romans were not successful in putting Jesus to death does seem to stretch reality.  The Romans had developed crucifixion into a torturous, killing mechanism.  The death of Jesus was never in question during the first century.  It is only today when the Roman soldiers cannot defend themselves that such accusations can surface.  Add to that the public action of being stabbed through the side into the heart seems to put this theory of "near death" in the arena of more than highly unlikely.  So the real issue is the idea that the body was stolen.  This brings up several problems.

How were the fishermen that followed Jesus able to steal the body of Jesus while a contingent of guards were at the mouth of the tomb?  It had a huge stone rolled over the mouth of it.  How were they able to move it without waking these slumbering guards?  These guards were under penalty of death if they "fell asleep."  Next we have the problem that hundreds of people claim to have seen Jesus and spoken with him after his death.  He had the wounds, but was able to appear and disappear within a group.  He appeared to individuals, small groups, large groups and not just once but many times over the course of 40 days, indoors and outdoors.  Paul explains some of this in 1 Corinthians 15:5-8.  Over 500 people saw him at once?  At what point do you give up the idea that Jesus would have to visit everyone in Israel at the time if you are going to believe?

Lastly, it is hard to explain why the apostles would be willing to die torturous deaths for something they knew was a lie.  One of the problems with torture is that eventually people will say anything in order to get the torture to quit.  Basically you can make the average person confess to being a twinkie if you inflict enough pain over a long enough period.  Thus if the Resurrection were true we would expect for there to be some individuals who would "recant" in the face of torture merely to stop the pain.  But who would be willing to be tortured and killed for something you knew was a lie?  It stretches belief.  The only logical conclusion is that these guys really did believe that they had interacted with a resurrected Jesus and they really did think they had seen him ascend into the sky and go out of sight through the clouds.  Now what are you going to do with that??

Resurrection Impossible?  The last accusation or objection I will deal with is the idea that a resurrection is impossible.  Bear in mind that we are not talking about a CPR situation, that is more like a "resuscitation." Let me just approach it this way.  If it were to be reported today that scientists have figured out how to freeze a person for as long as they want and then can bring them "back to life," some people might be sceptical.  But we would be sceptical that it is true, not that it is possible.  Most people have come to realize that through the scientific method, mankind is capable of doing "miraculous" things.  In a similar way if it were to be reported that through analysis of the human genome scientists have figured out how to fix a person's DNA so that they would never get sick.  Also, they have learned how to make the gene responsible for aging (maturing) to "switch" off once a person reaches their prime.  Many people would be sceptical, but they would be sceptical that it is true, not that it is possible.  It is somewhat hypocritical that we would believe that all manner of "improbable" things are possible when it comes to men doing it.  But we just cannot believe that the creator of all things, including life, is capable of bringing a person back to life?  Whether or not the resurrection was actual, it seems silly to persist with an argument that it is impossible.

Given the evidence that they had at the time, many followers of Jesus came to believe that Jesus had been resurrected.  Also, given the evidence of witnesses and what they had seen about Jesus, many others came to believe.

The resurrection itself became the proof to those who witnessed his life and teaching that Jesus had not been lying.  He really was the Son of God who had come down from heaven.  He really was paying the price for our sin through his death, burial, and resurrection.  Those who believed upon him really would be forgiven and saved from the punishment of their sins and be resurrected at the last day.  He really is coming back one day to rule upon the earth.  This really is what the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament were pointing to all along.  These people believed because of the evidence that they saw and heard, the fuller understanding of the Bible they received, and the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus himself emphasized that to believe on him was more than a mental event.  It really was accompanied by the presence and work of the Spirit of God himself.

Without the Resurrection our Hope is Worthless

In Verses 12-19, Paul points out that all of Christianity stands or falls upon the Resurrection.  This is why every year around this time of year there is a new attempt to disprove the Resurrection.  Last year a documentary purporting to have found the Tomb of Jesus and possible proof that he was not resurrected came out.  What is interesting is that most of the stuff in the documentary was discovered 20 years ago and had been dealt with by scholars.  It was not the "silver bullet" that it was made out to be.  Why would they do this?  Because they know that many people do not actually view the evidence.  Many people make decision for very emotional reasons.  Be careful of this.  The Resurrection is important because it is the proof that God had accepted the claims and statements of Jesus.  It is one thing for Jesus to say he can forgive sins by dying for us.  But how would we know that he is right?  The resurrection itself becomes the proof (vs. 17) that our sins are forgiven.

Here is the kicker.  For those who think disproving the Resurrection would solve the world's problems reread verse 17.  Notice that if the Resurrection is false then we have a bigger problem:  Our sin has not been dealt with.  Regardless of what you think about Jesus, if he was not resurrected then there is no answer for what is called "sin" in the heart of all people.  Religions in general tell you what you need to do in order to obtain freedom from the negative junk of this life.  But Christianity tells you that you simply need to believe in what God has done.  This is a big difference. One focuses on what men (myself) can do.  Christianity focuses on what God can do and has done.  If Christ was not resurrected than being a Christian is the dumbest thing in the world (vs. 19).  Jesus taught us to lay our lives down so that others might live.  This is a dumb thing to do if there is no life to come.  If there is no "after-life" then trying to live like Jesus is stupid. 

Paul closes his arguments with the Corinthians in verses 56-58.  The resurrection is what ensures us victory over death and the Law.  Why has God done it in this strange way?

False Hopes must Die For True Hope to Rise

In our humanity, we put our hopes on the wrong targets for all the wrong reasons.  God loves us too much to let us continue to hope in that which can never happen.  Our leaders will never figure out how to create a world in which we have Eutopia.  This False Hope will lead to the greatest tyranny this world has ever known.  At the cross the "messiah" of Israel and all the Hope that had been placed on him was executed on a cross.  The hopes died at the same time.  But when Jesus appeared in his resurrected form, he began to "retarget" their hopes and a new understanding arose upon a foundation that was no longer built upon a certain race, or a certain people.  It was a hope that was built upon God himself and cannot be shaken even when the people of Israel were kicked out of Jerusalem and scattered to the four corners of the world.

God sent Jesus to take your punishment upon himself.  God is not telling you to be a more perfect you.  He is telling you to die to your false hopes and to embrace the true hope that he is giving you.  What things in your life are you living for that are merely "wishful thinking?"   What flimsy reasons are you banking on to make it happen?  Think about this.  When your hopes are dashed might it be the grace of God to show you that your hopes are misplaced?  Could it be the love of God that tries to get your attention so that you might embrace a True Hope?  The resurrection of Jesus is God's way of trying to get your attention.  Has he succeeded?  Are you without Hope, today?  Good, now you are able to receive a real hope that God has for you:  A hope of freedom from your sins and failures, a hope of life everlasting, a hope that sees beyond the things of this world, a hope that can bring us through the worst that life has to offer.  Put your faith in Jesus today and ask him to forgive you of your sins and he will make you a part of his family.

Hope Raised audio