Who has the keys? In my tweenage years in the Summers, I was outside playing most of the time, playing pickup football, basketball, stickball, tennis, fishing, or riding my bike. Occasionally, I would return home and find that I was locked out of my house. One day, I had gone to the churchyard next door to play football with the local “gang.” The game ended and I climbed the steep grassy hill for home, sweaty and grass stained. When I got home, the house was locked up. Every door was locked, and no one was home. This was before there was an exterior garage door key code panel, so, I did what I usually did when I was locked out, I looked for the “spare keys.” But whomever (probably me) had used them last had failed to return them to the top secret and secure location, i.e.under the doormat, just like most other people. So, then I went to my usual plan B, which was climbing up the side of the house to the balcony, jimmying one of the sliding glass doors and getting in. However, this time, the sliding glass door security pole (a.k.a. sawed off broomstick) was securely in place, but it allowed the door to open just enough for the alarm to sound. In a panic to get in and silence said alarm, I jimmied the other door, but it too had the failsafe broomstick. Then, I was in a real mess. The alarm was obnoxiously alerting the neighborhood that someone was breaking in the McGinnis house and I was stuck on the balcony. BTW climbing up the side of the house is much easier than climbing back down. Once on the ground, I tried all the doors again, but to no avail. In spite of all my best efforts, I was still outside, alarm blaring, I had exhausted all my efforts, I realized I was helpless. Finally, in despair, I sat down in the grass, and cried until my mother returned with the keys, turned the alarm off and let me in. Glad to be inside, I washed my dirty tearstained face, and appreciated the benefits of belonging in the McGinnis home. From that day on we made sure a set of keys was available.
Six times in the book of Matthew, Jesus indicates that outside of heaven there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” He tells all who will listen that entry to God’s kingdom is not about our efforts, knowledge, goodness, cleverness, or anything else we can do, it's about a loving faith relationship with Him. I’ve always wondered what gnashing of teeth meant. One commentator says the word connotes "extreme anguish and utter despair." The apostle John, as he was writing to one of the early churches, says, Jesus, the Holy One, always has the keys to let us into a secure relationship with God. No one can lock us out from being with God when we belong to Jesus. He says, ““Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: Thus says the Holy One, the true one, the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens: I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”(Revelation 3:7–8 CSB17) Apparently, it is very important that we remember Who we belong to, that we identify with His name. The keys to God’s Kingdom are granted by our loving attachment to God through Jesus, who died and rose again to secure that relationship with Him forever. What is the evidence that we have the keys?... We are an insider; we belong to God, we are His child, we are in healthy loving connection with God, we love God and treat everyone in the ways He tells us in His Word. There is no jimmying the door, there is no spare key, there is no pretending nothing is wrong, the alarm is sounding and there are no other ways into heaven. Jesus says, “I am the Way.” Our salvation is not a problem to be solved, it is loving attachment to God to be secured and grown and the key is loving, trusting and belonging to Jesus.
Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying for us all!
