The Keys

 

If the Church is Israel, why does the Bible not just say that directly, straight up directly. If the promises of God are fulfilled in the Church, not in the secular, godless nation of Israel in the land of Canaan today, why doesn’t the Bible just say that directly, straight up directly. It does, in countless ways.

Here is one example. We read this in Revelation 3:7-13,

“7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

8 “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. 11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

This is directed to the predominately Gentile Church in Philadelphia, one of the two churches to receive no criticisms among the seven churches. This was a faithful church and it was under serious attack from the local non-believing Jewish community, who are described here with words reminiscent to what Jesus says in John 8:44-45. This contrast of the Synagogue of Satan should not be seen as some unrecorded esoteric historical cult, but an example of the same contrast of the people of God and the people of the devil that John shows us in 1 John 3. John is building on Jesus words from the gospel. 

So where are the direct references to the Church being Israel? Well let me draw your attention to a couple of things in the text.

Firstly, in verses 7 Jesus says, “The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.” What is this referring to? Well, if we go all the way back we read about a steward in the days of Hezekiah and this is what it says,

“15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: 16 What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? 17 Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you 18 and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house. 19 I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. 20 In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21 and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open” (emphasis added).

This steward is going to be replaced by his son Eliakim and upon him is going to be given supreme authority in Israel, underneath the king. And now look at verse 22, “And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” It is very obvious that Jesus is quoting Isaiah here, the book of Revelation is filled with many direct references and allusions to the Old Testament, and this one is very explicit.

The one who has the “keys of David” holds the key to power in the nation of Judah and the city of Jerusalem. Jesus now has these keys, he is the king of Jerusalem, there is no longer any need for a steward because the king has come, and he uses this authority to open and close doors for his people still, that is the Church, Israel, “8 ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” This direct reference from Revelation to Isaiah is enough to support out thesis. But there is more.

Jesus goes on to say, “12 The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.” Those who conquer sin and continue to persevere in faith and cling to Jesus will have written on them the name of God, the name of the city of God, Jerusalem, and the Lord’s own new name. We will become pillars in the temple of God.

The Israel imagery here is off the charts, especially when we read in Isaiah 22:21, “…and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.” This promise to Eliakim, a steward of Judah, is now fulfilled in the Church. The Church is now being granted the same kind of authority, the same kind of high place, the same kind of position in Israel, that was once bestowed on the stewards of the king of Israel. Our Lord now holds the keys and he uses that power to raise his faithful servants to honoured positions in the kingdom of God, the spiritual Israel, the new Jerusalem.  

And just to be clear who this directed to, “13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

The New Testament refers to the Church as Israel in so many ways. So many. So many it is in fact incredible that many people miss it. But if you have been trained to read the Bible with the lens that Israel and the Church are separate entities, then you may miss the significance of verses like this.

This is not to say that God has replaced Israel with the Church, God forbid that he would cast way his people. No, God has done what he has always done; he has replaced dead branches with living branches, he has replaced fruitless branches with fruitful branches, he has replaced unbelievers with believers. This has always been how God has dealt with his people, and it always will be. The key difference is now you do not have to become Jewish to join Israel, you simply have to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, who has the keys of David and reigns in the New Jerusalem, where we will reign with him (c.f. Rev. 2:25-18).