TEACHING

Don Atkin

KINGDOM KEYS

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. - Matthew 16:19

Those who are keepers of keys bear responsibility for the wise and righteous use of those keys, for they open doors for some and keep others locked out. We also must realize that the job of using the keys - binding and loosing - has been delegated to the disciples of Christ. We cannot ask God to do what He has already given us the responsibility and authority to do!

There is a real key to successfully using these keys. We must know what has been bound or loosed in heaven. We can only bind on earth what has already been bound in heaven. We can only loose on earth what has already been loosed in heaven.

The use of kingdom keys requires our insight into heaven! We cannot bind, we cannot loose, what we do not see already bound or loosed in heaven. This is where true intercession comes in.

 

INTERCESSION DEFINED

Webster says that intercession is the act of interceding, mediation, pleading, or prayer in behalf of others. To intercede is to plead or make a request in behalf of another or others; to intervene for the purpose of producing agreement.

An Intercessor is one who intercedes. He/she does not hold a special office in the body of Christ. This is not a unique gift to be exercised by a few.

All believers are to be intercessors, intervening in lives and situations

for the purpose of producing agreement with heaven.

 

INTERVENTION REQUIRES INSIGHT INTO HEAVEN

Jesus, the Pattern Son, demonstrated how this is to work:

Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner. - John 5:19

I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. - John 5:30

He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him. - John 8:29

I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. - John 12:49

Jesus, the Son of man, lived His human life under open heavens. He knew exactly what to bind and what to loose. He knew how to rightly use the keys of the kingdom. Because, He was in constant contact with His Father through the Holy Spirit.

This same privilege and possibility is for all followers of the Way. Let’s look at Stephen’s experience:

Being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God;

(Notice that Jesus was standing. We understand that Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father. I can imagine that, as Jesus witnessed the actions of those who were about to stone Stephen, He stood up - wanting to intervene. I can hear our Father say, "No, Jesus. You sit here until I make every enemy a footstool!")

and he said, "Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."

But, they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" Having said this, he fell asleep. - Acts 7:55-60

Only a vision into heaven could have given Stephen the grace to loose those who were stoning him from the sin of their actions! Stephen was not praying by his emotions. He was praying in faith, according to revelation.

Righteous judgment is the result of heaven’s revelation,

not human conclusion or even man’s evaluation!

 

GOSPEL PROCLAMATION: SPEAKING WHAT WE HEAR

Jesus sent out the twelve, saying,

As you go, preach, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. - Matthew 10:7-8

Another seventy were sent forth, returning and exclaiming,

Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name! - Luke 10:17

We have the keys. We can bind what has been bound in heaven. We can loose what has been loosed in heaven.

There are no sick people in heaven. There are no dead people in heaven. There are no lepers in heaven. And, there certainly are no demons in heaven! The sick have been loosed from sickness. The dead have been loosed from death. The lepers have been loosed from leprosy. And, the demons have been forever bound.

That’s heaven. And, the kingdom of heaven is emerging in the earth with all of heaven’s attributes. This is happening as believers use the keys that have been entrusted to us. The mystery is being revealed. Paul said,

To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. - Ephesians 3:8-10

The church is God’s instrument to boldly proclaim liberty to the captives, and to bind the forces of darkness that now rule in so many regions of the world. As the Holy Spirit burdens you, find out from Him how to pray. Inquire of God regarding people and situations. Pray in the Spirit and with revealed understanding.

(Romans 8:26-27; I Corinthians 14:15)

God’s purpose in giving us kingdom’s keys is that we intercede, intervene, to bring all things into alignment with heaven, reconciling all things to Him.

Intercession is intervention

for the purpose of producing agreement with heaven,

and seeing our Father’s kingdom come, His will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.