These things says He that is holy, He that is true, He that has the key of David, he that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens:
The title is from Revelation 3:7 and is the beginning of the LORD’s words to the church of Philadelphia. He speaks of the key of David as what opens and shuts, a reference to Isaiah 22:22, which speaks of the same words and thereby gives us its meaning.
Revelation 3
7 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things says he that is holy, he that is true, he that has the key of David, he that opens, and no man shuts; and shuts, and no man opens;
8 I know your works: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it: for you have a little strength, and have kept my word, and have not denied my name.
9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews [who say they are the true believers and entitled to God’s kingdom], and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
10 Because you have kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which you have, that no man take your crown.
12 Him that overcomes [see 1 John 5:4 & 5 below] will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
13 He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.
The word translated “key” in verse 7 is the six times used Greek word kleis, from the word kleio, which is the word rendered “shuts” twice in the same verse. The verse following defines the opening as to those who kept His word and have not denied His name. It is speaking of what we now understand is the LORD manifesting His presence in His word, to those who have not denied is His presence preaching Jehovah’s Salvation: Jesus. It is John referring us to the LORD’s words in John 14, where He defines the role of the Father [sending His word – the source for the light], Son [speaking His word – the light], and the Holy Spirit [teaching by leading to understanding – the witness of/to the light]. “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. 24 He that loves me not keeps not my sayings: and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. 25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. 26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will SEND IN MY NAME, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
We know from Revelation 1:18 the LORD also holds the keys of death, which bring to life those who have not denied Him when He comes in those He has sent in His name, to lead His people in through this open door (into all truth). “18 I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of Hades and of death.” He is speaking of understanding as what opens the grave and brings the dead out of its abode (contrasting it to John 14:23 above).
John 5
24 Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
25 Truly, truly, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.
26 For as the Father has life in himself; so has he given to the Son to have life in himself;
27 And has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which has sent me.
31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
32 There is another that bears witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesses of me is true.
33 You sent unto John, and he [the Holy Spirit in him] bare witness unto the truth. [this portion is speaking of what John says in 1 John 5 {see below} describing the two witnesses – in heaven and on earth.]
34 But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that you might be saved.
35 He was a burning and a shining light: and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
36 But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father has sent me.
37 And the Father himself, which has sent me, has borne witness of me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
38 And you have not his word abiding in you: for whom he has sent, him you believe not.
39 Search the scriptures; for in them you think you have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
40 And you will not come to me, that you might have life.
41 I receive not honor from men.
42 But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you.
43 I am come in my Father’s name, and you receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.
44 How can you believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that comes from God only?
45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuses you, even Moses, in whom you trust.
46 For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me; for he wrote of me.
47 But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words?
1 John 5
1 Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loves him that begat loves him also that is begotten of him.
2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
4 For whatsoever is born of God overcomes [see Revelation 3:12 above] the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.
5 Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
6 This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.
7 For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
8 And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he has testified of his Son.
10 He that believes on the Son of God has the witness in himself: he that believes not God has made him a liar; because he believes not the record that God gave of his Son.
11 And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.
This brings us once again to ask what has caused the understanding to be removed (truth shut up). The LORD gives us the first part of this answers in Matthew 16 when we are told of Peter knowing He is the Son and the LORD giving Him the keys to the kingdom. This is followed immediately by the LORD defining the “blood” aspect, which John defines above as one of the three parts of the witness in the earth. The blood is the sacrifice, the price to be paid by any who knows and confess the Son, knowing what Peter hadn’t yet fully comprehended. He wouldn’t understand until after the LORD was resurrected in Him, what the LORD understood by the life of God in Him; that all who come in this name, the LORD alive in them, will be rejected and suffer for their witness: the living waters flowing from them. This is the full message (euaggelion) of Christ, against which the gates of Hades will not stand shut.
Matthew 16
15 He said unto them, But whom say you that I am?
16 And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God [“and have not denied my name”].
17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed are you, Simon [hearing – what he has been told by the Spirit] Barjona [son of Jonah – the first to rise from the belly of Sheol]: for flesh and blood has not revealed it unto you, but my Father which is in heaven.
18 And I say also unto you, That you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
20 Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ.
21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from you, LORD: this shall not be unto you.
23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get you behind me, Satan [resisting the work and word of God]: you are an offense unto me: for you savor not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.
24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
The LORD, in Matthew 23:13, uses the word kleio to tell of the scribes and Pharisees (the divided religious sects), who have shut up the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 23
1 Then spoke Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2 Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not you after their works: for they say, and do not.
4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
8 But be not you called Rabbi: for one is your Master [kathegetes – guide – teacher], even Christ; and all you are brethren.
9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
10 Neither be you called masters [kathegetes – teacher]: for one is your Master [kathegetes – only used these three times], even Christ [the Spirit of God in man].
11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. [this passage is referring to what John says in Revelation 19:10, saying, “I am your fellow-servant, and of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”]
12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut [kleio] up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in.
14 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore you shall receive the greater damnation.
15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of Gehenna than yourselves. [preaching their own kingdoms – not the full gospel of Christ]
Luke 11 uses the word kleio in verse 7 to describe when the door is “shut” in this way, by the teaching of the religious sects and it removing understanding. He prefaces this with the LORD’s pray, it ending with “lead us not into temptations, but deliver us from evil,” meaning teach us so we will not deny your presence (the temptation – Exodus 7:1 thru 7), but deliver us from those who do. This aspect is the point of the parable that follows, which is understood as it says He will answer (teach us – open) if we ask Him, as in the example of His prayer.
Luke 11
1 And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, LORD, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.
2 And he said unto them, When you pray, say, Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;
6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?
7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give you.
8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.
11 If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?
12 Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit [to guide them into all truth] to them that ask him?
Later in Luke 11, after the religious leaders call Him Beelzebub [the lord of the trash heap {Gehenna}], and vilify the work of the Holy Spirit in Him; after they ask for a sign and He tells them the only sign will be the sign (call to repent) of Jonah (when he comes from the belly of Sheol); after He tells them to cleanse the inside of men rather than making the outside clean, and tells them their churches are as tombs housing the dead; the LORD uses the word kleis to say it is the lawyers (those who define the law) who have taken away the key of knowledge.
Luke 11
44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are as graves [which hold the dead in their ideas] which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
45 Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying you reproach us also.
46 And he said, Woe unto you also, you lawyers! for you lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.
47 Woe unto you! for you build the sepulchers of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
48 Truly you bear witness that you allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and you build their sepulchers.
49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zechariah which perished between the altar and the temple: truly I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for you have taken away the key [kleis] of knowledge: you entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in you hindered.
53 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:
54 Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.
Friends the mouth of understanding of God’s people is, in ending Ezekiel 16, said to be shut up by their abominations. The chapter begins with the LORD telling the son of man to show Jerusalem her abominations, which have caused her desolation.
Ezekiel 16
58 You have borne your lewdness and your abominations, says the LORD.
59 For thus says the LORD God; I will even deal with you as you have done, which have despised the oath in breaking the covenant [and left the LORD for idols – the creations {ideas and advice} of men].
60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish unto you an everlasting covenant.
61 Then you shall remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you shall receive your sisters, your elder and your younger: and I will give them unto you for daughters, but not by your covenant. [the covenant you have made with death and Sheol – Isaiah 28:14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. 15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste. 17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. 18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it. 19 From the time that it goeth forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.]
62 And I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall know that I am the LORD: [Jeremiah 31: 33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, says the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, says the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.]
63 That you may remember, and be confounded [realize your confusion], and never open your mouth any more because of your shame [of not reaching the end your false prophets have seen by their abominations], when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the LORD God.
In Ezekiel 29 the LORD tells of when He has accomplished this work, after he has destroyed the rivers of Egypt: the information flowing from our captors, which caused and now keeps us captive. The LORD says He will give them into the hand of their own false prophesies, their false rock in which they rely: the lies that have caused the desolation, and their own confusion (Babylon) turned delusion shall consume them.
The LORD says, in that day He will open our mouths, and these captors shall know He is the LORD.
Ezekiel 29
13 Yet thus says the LORD God; At the end of forty years will I gather the Egyptians from the people whither they were scattered:
14 And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros [the place of the LORD’s interpretation], into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom.
15 It shall be the basest of the kingdoms; neither shall it exalt itself any more above the nations: for I will diminish them, that they shall no more rule over the nations.
16 And it shall be no more the confidence [the {false} rock] of the house of Israel, which brings their iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them: but they shall know that I am the LORD God.
17 And it came to pass in the seven and twentieth year, in the first month, in the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
18 Son of man, Nebuchadrezzar [the lies of the false prophets that caused the desolation] king of Babylon [the reign of confusion] caused his army to serve a great service against Tyrus [the false rock in which they rely]: every head was made bald, and every shoulder was peeled: yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus, for the service that he had served against it:
19 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Behold, I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon; and he shall take her multitude, and take her spoil, and take her prey; and it shall be the wages for his army.
20 I have given him the land of Egypt [the captivity] for his labor wherewith he served against it, because they wrought for me, says the LORD God.
21 In that day will I cause the horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give you the opening of the mouth in the midst of them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Isaiah 22
1 The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you are wholly gone up to the housetops?
2 You that are full of stirs, a tumultuous city, joyous city: your slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.
3 All your rulers are fled together, they are bound by the archers: all that are found in you are bound together, which have fled from far.
4 Therefore said I, Look away from me; I will weep bitterly, labor not to comfort me, because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people.
5 For it is a day of trouble [confusion], and of treading down, and of perplexity by the LORD God of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking down the walls, and of crying to the mountains.
6 And Elam [what was hidden long ago] bare the quiver with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir [wall – the same word as in verse 5] uncovered the shield.
7 And it shall come to pass, that your choicest valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate [the gate shut by ignorance and confusion].
8 And he discovered the covering of Judah, and you did look in that day to the armor of the house of the forest [the mighty men of the earth].
9 You have seen also the breaches [created by abominations: the lies of the false prophets and the misleading of false teachers] of the city of David, that they are many: and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool [the water that flows under the city].
10 And you have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have you broken down to fortify the wall [devoured widows’ houses].
11 You made also a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: but you have not looked unto the maker thereof, neither had respect unto him that fashioned it long ago [see verse 6].
12 And in that day did the LORD God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:
13 And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die.
14 And it was revealed in mine ears by the LORD of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you till you die, says the LORD God of hosts.
15 Thus says the LORD God of hosts, Go, get you unto this treasurer, even unto Shebna [those who have build their own kingdoms], which is over the house, and say,
16 What have you here? and whom have you here, that you have hewed you out a sepulcher here, as he that hews him out a sepulcher on high, and that graven an habitation for himself in a rock?
17 Behold, the LORD will carry you away with a mighty captivity, and will surely cover you.
18 He will surely violently turn and toss you like a ball into a large country: there shall you die [see verse 14], and there the chariots of your glory shall be the shame of your LORD’s house.
19 And I will drive you from your station, and from your state shall he pull you down.
20 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim [who God raise] the son of Hilkiah [whose inheritance is Jehovah – in them]:
21 And I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your girdle, and I will commit your government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
22 And the key of the house of David [truth and understanding] will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
23 And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place [he shall be relyable]; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
24 And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.
25 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place [who they have relied on] be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD has spoken it.
This vision is of the things hidden long ago, the word of God, “kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” The word vision is from the Hebrew word chizzayown, meaning and ecstatic state or revelation, as opposed to the shame and disappointment of the enemies of truth.
Zechariah 13
13 In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
2 And it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
3 And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, You shall not live; for you speak lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesies.
4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision [chizzayown], when he has prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in your hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
7 Awake, O sword [this word of God, reserved from this time], against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, says the LORD of hosts: smite the [false] shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones [to gather them from where they have been scattered].
8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, says the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
Job 33
14 For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceives it not.
15 In a dream, in a vision [chizzayown] of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, in slumbering upon the bed;
16 Then he opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction,
17 That he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man.
18 He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.
19 He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain:
20 So that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty meat.
21 His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out.
22 Yea, his soul draws near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.
23 If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:
24 Then he is gracious unto him, and says, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
25 His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth:
26 He shall pray unto God, and he will be favorable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.
27 He looks upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not;
28 He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.
29 Lo, all these things works God oftentimes with man,
30 To bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.
