Did Jesus and Satan fight
over the keys to the kingdom? What are the keys to the kingdom?
In Matthew 16, Jesus asked the disciples who they thought He
was.
Simon Peter
replied, "You
are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered him,
"Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed
this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and
on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall
be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16:16-19)
There are several
confusing parts to this passage, including who or what is the rock, what is the
kingdom of heaven, and what is binding and loosing. Not least of
these is "What are the keys to the
kingdom?"
Obviously this
would include heaven where God dwells, and the new heavens
and the new earth where we will spend eternity with Him. But it also
means moments on earth where a truly godly act is experienced.
A "key"
to the kingdom of heaven, then, would be a tool used to experience God's
sovereignty. When used in this particular context, however, it refers to the
authority to send people to heaven or hell.
There is a popular
story that says that in between Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, He went
down to hell and wrestled the keys to the kingdom from Satan. It implies that
Satan held the power of death and the power to condemn men, and only after
Jesus' death could He take that power. The story is based on a sequence of a
few verses:
In 1 Peter
3:18-19, Peter says, "For Christ
also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison …"
Psalm 16:10 in the King James
Version says, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;
neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."
In Revelation
1:17b-18, Jesus tells John, "Fear not, I
am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive
forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."
The prophecy in Revelation
9:1-3 says, "And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I
saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft
of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the
shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air
were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts
on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the
earth."
The passage goes
on to say the locusts tormented unbelievers for five months, but left the
plants and the Christians unharmed.
Preachers have
used these passages to say that Jesus went down to hell and wrestled with
Satan, taking the authority to send people to heaven. There are several things
wrong with this theory.
First of all,
Satan is not in hell and never has been. Hell does not exist yet. Revelation
20:11-15 explains that hell is the permanent place of torment for demons and
those humans who reject God.
But it will not be
used until after the millennial kingdom (Revelation 20:7-10) and the Great White
Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:15).
Until then, the
dead are kept in a temporary place, often referred to as Hades. Believers go to
a part of Hades known as paradise (Luke 23:43) and Abraham's bosom (Luke 16:22), while unbelievers go to a place of torment (Luke 16:23).
The word
interpreted "hell" in the King James Version in Psalm 116:10 is actually "Sheol,"
which is another term for Hades - the temporary dwelling place of the dead.
The 1 Peter
passage says that Jesus visited the spirits in prison between His death and
resurrection.
"Spirits"
is a term used of angels, demons, the spirit of Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is
unclear as to who these demons are exactly, but since their actions are
compared to the sexual sin of Sodom and Gomorrah in Jude verse 7, it is
speculated that these are the "sons
of God" of Genesis 6:2 - demons who came to earth and mated with human women, perhaps resulting in the Nephilim.
Language issues
and ancient speculation have added to the confusion. An old story about Jesus
descending into hell appeared in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus from AD
425, and was passed around so much it was added to the Apostles' Creed.
Although both the
Greek and Latin versions of the Apostles' Creed say Jesus went to "those
below" or the "abode of the dead," the modern version includes
the line "he descended into hell."
It is likely the
Old English "hell" refers to Hades, not the eternal lake of fire. But
since the use of terms such as Sheol and Hades had fallen out of style, the
word "hell" was taken literally.
Much of this is
speculation on the part of Bible scholars, but we do know this: between Jesus'
crucifixion and resurrection, Satan was not in prison. And there is nothing in
the Bible to indicate Jesus interacted with him at that time.
The passages in Revelation 1 and 9 seem related, but
they're not.
In Revelation 1, Jesus is saying
that He has authority over death and the temporary holding place of the dead.
He has authority over where people in that place go—to eternity with God or to
hell forever.
Revelation 9 says that Satan
(the "star fallen from heaven to
earth") is given permission to release awful scorpion/locusts to
torment unbelievers during the Tribulation.
This key and the
authority affiliated with it are retrieved by an angel—not Jesus—in Revelation
20:1, who then binds Satan and throws him into the pit until the end of the
millennial kingdom (Revelation
20:1-3).
Finally, the
entire concept of Jesus having to fight Satan for the key and the authority to
atone for our sins defies logic and gives far more importance to Satan than he
warrants.
When it comes to
fallen man, Jesus' sacrifice, and our sin, Satan is a secondary character only.
He does not have control over the eternal destiny of humans. He does not have
control over hell - hell was created by God to hold and punish Satan and the
other demons (Matthew 25:41).
Satan influences
people to rebel against God because he wants the attention and because he wants
to defy God. But he has no spiritual authority over men except what men give
him directly.
So Satan never had
authority over who could enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus, whose
sacrifice covered the sins of those in the Old Testament as well as we who live
after His resurrection, always had that authority. The only keys Satan will
hold are to the bottomless pit—the abyss—and only because he will be granted
them for a specific time period.
It is unclear
where the story of Jesus, Satan, and the keys to the kingdom of heaven
originated. It was mentioned in an apostolic magazine in 1980 and has spread
around the Word of Faith Movement ever since.
Wherever it
originated, it is a misinterpretation of Scripture passages. Jesus did not
fight Satan for the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
In this spiritual war, there are no fence-sitters –
you are either on the Lords’ victorious army or on the wicked “Powers” of
Satan.
Ensure you’re enlistment on the victorious army of
the Lord. Settle that sin issue right
now by saying this prayer:
“Father
God, I confess I am a sinner and my sins have separated me from You.
I
am truly sorry. I now want to turn away from my past sinful life and live a new
life pleasing to You.
Please
forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again.
I
believe that Your Son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the
dead, is alive, and hears my prayer.
I
invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from
this day forward.
Please
send Your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your will for the rest of
my life. Thank you, Lord, that according to Your Word, I am born again. I
promise to obey You and study your Word – the Bible.
Use
me for Your glory.
In
Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.”
RELATED POSTS:
Fight the
Right Enemy. Satan and his demons are your lifelong
enemies!
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God’s
Spiritual Armor http://puricarefiles.blogspot.com/2016/07/spiritual-warfare-every-christian-is.html
.
.
Your Most Powerful Weapon of Warfare (God’s Presence)
http://puricarefiles.blogspot.com/2016/11/gods-presence-most-powerful-weapon-of.html
“Mighty Warrior”
“Mighty Warrior”
Randy Rothwell
lyrics
Chorus
Mighty Warrior
Dressed for battle
Holy Lord of all is He
Commander in Chief
Bring us to attention
Lead us into battle
To crush the enemy
Satan has no authority
Here in this place
He has no authority
For this habitation
Was fashioned
For the Lord's presence
No authority here
Chorus
Jesus has all authority
Here in this place
He has all authority here
For this habitation
Was fashioned
For the Lord's presence
Mighty Warrior
Dressed for battle
Holy Lord of all is He
Commander in Chief
Bring us to attention
Lead us into battle
To crush the enemy
Satan has no authority
Here in this place
He has no authority
For this habitation
Was fashioned
For the Lord's presence
No authority here
Chorus
Jesus has all authority
Here in this place
He has all authority here
For this habitation
Was fashioned
For the Lord's presence
compellingtruth.org
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