Keys.  Those wonderful, important keys.  They empower us.  They open things which are otherwise off-limits to us.  Keys open our boundaries and our possibilities.   There is a sense of power in having the right keys; a sense of comfort and security.

Throughout history keys have come in many forms.  The most ancient key and lock documented to date (illustrated below) are described by Joseph Bonomi in his book, Nineveh and its Palaces.  Bonomi observed this lock on a door in a palace at Khorsabad in Mesopotamia.  “At the end of the hall,” he writes, “was a massive single-leaf door, closing an exit.  It was locked by a heavy wooden lock of the type which may still be seen in the East.  The key, also of wood, was of such dimensions that it had to be carried on the shoulder. This key operates a wooden bar, which slides from right to left and enters a square mortise in the wall.” 

 The Bible also refers to keys... 

In the book of Matthew, we learn of some most important keys (see Matthew 16:13-19).  Jesus has been travelling the countryside, and many people have been speculating as to his actual identity.  In a private moment, Jesus turns to his disciples to ask them what is being said about him.  It seems that there were several ideas of his identity circulating among the people.  But then Peter, under revelation, gives his own answer in what will be the most important truth ever heard by human ear: “You are the Christ [or ‘the Messiah’], the Son of the living God.”   This is the monumental truth which would become the foundation for the Kingdom of God.  No one, no place, no thing could be worthy of being the Rock on which the Christ’s Church would be built, other than the perfect Son of God, Christ the Messiah himself.  The Church will not be built on the weakness of human flesh, rather on the perfect and absolute divinity of Jesus Christ.

Jesus tells Peter that he has been blessed by God in this truth, and that Peter would soon hold the keys to the Kingdom.  And what would be these all important keys?  

We soon see after Christ’s death that the Jews are convicted by their sin of murder of Jesus, and ask on the Day of Pentecost, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). They are essentially asking, “Are there any keys for us to open the door of salvation which is now closed to us?   What will unlock the mercy of God?”  In response, Peter fulfills Christ’s words by sharing the keys of the kingdom, those precious keys which allows every sinner then and now to be covered by the saving blood of Christ.

Based upon their conviction (faith) that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the Son of God, Peter instructed them: "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized [immersed] in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38).