“Key of David”

Advent Hour - December 20, 2011

Revelation 3:7-11/Psalm 118:19-24/Matthew 21:23-27

Bishop Ariel P. Santos

There is that perennial question of, “Who is in authority?”  I believe we answer that question by our deeds.  Who we acknowledge as having authority, he is it that we obey. You don’t acknowledge somebody as not having authority; we ignore them.  If we believe in our hearts that whoever commands us has authority, then we do according to what they say.

In Jesus’ message to Philadelphia, He introduces Himself as, “Holy and true and He who has the key of David who opens a door that no one can shut and who shuts doors that no one can open.”  Who the speaker is determines our response to the message. He makes it clear first hand, “I am in authority. I have the key. You should be listening to me because I am in total and complete authority.”

When something is said and we don’t acknowledge their authority, our response is, “Why would I follow what you say?  Who do you think you are? Either that or we say, “Yes, sir.  Yes, Ma’am. Right away!”  It is always a question of authority that determines our response to things and to messages.

Picture this: as you are in the computer and are logged in to your Facebook account, your officemate says, “Hey, don’t do that.  You should be finishing your report.”  You ignore him because he is your equal.  Then comes in your boss who hired you and who has just fired somebody in your department and says, “Logged off now and finish your report.”  What would the response be?  “Yes, sir!  Right away!” or you will have it on your desk first thing tomorrow.

This is the question of authority.  If an older brother or an older sister tells a younger brother, “Clean your room,” he would be ignored.  But if he sees the father holding a leather belt with a metal buckle on the other end, then he would listen because he has realized who it is speaking with authority.

Other than being under duress and being forced, credentials also influence the response to a message. You listen to the advice of a doctor who is in authority in his field because you know that he is a good doctor.  If you are a businessman who is just starting, you would listen to a successful businessman who gives you an advice rather than someone who is just also starting like you.  They are in authority and they know what they are saying.

Authority of the giver of the message gives us confidence or the lack thereof depending on who they are.  If it is somebody who has authority, it elicits a positive response from the hearer.  This is why in the gospel, the Pharisees questioned Jesus.  He never answered them.  We know the answer to their question.  “By what authority do you do these things?”  This is of course by the authority of God Almighty Himself.  Otherwise, He would not be able to do what He was sent to do.  Only in God’s authority could He and we fulfill our mission.

Many times in the Old Testament, God would preface His commands with, “I am the Lord your God.  I am He who did this.  I am the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt.  I am the God of your father Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  I am the Omnipotent Lord who made heaven and earth.  Listen to what I say because I hold the key and I am in authority.”

Having a true picture of who God is gives us confidence and draws from us a positive response.  It actually gives us a better understanding of what He says because it makes better sense if we know who it is that speaks.  This is what caused St. Paul to say, “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.”  Christ Himself appeared to him and made Himself known to him.  Paul knew His power and His authority and he knew that Christ strengthens him so that he can do all things.

In the case of God speaking to us, we also then realize who we are and what we are able to do.  We know that we have been created in His image and in His likeness. In His message to the church at Philadelphia, Jesus said, “I know your deeds.  You have little power and yet, you have trusted Me and kept My word. Because you did, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, I will make them bow down to you and worship you.”

It is not by our might, but His opening the door for us when we trust Him and obey.  All we need is a mustard seed.  All we need is a crumb.  If we take that crumb, then God will open the door for us.  He holds the key, but He waits for us first to trust Him and obey Him.

We give our offerings for the land.  Recently, the Archbishop mentioned that we have passed the ten million mark.  If you know the prices of the property in Metro Manila and compare what we have and what we need, you would need a lot of faith to believe that God will fulfill His promise.  We might say, “If that is the case, what is the point of giving?”  The point of giving is that when we obey and trust Him, He uses the key that He holds and opens doors.  He unlocks with that key.

The famous verse in Malachi 3:10 that every Christian need to know says, “God says to His people, ‘Bring the full amount of the tithe into the storehouse so that there may be meat there. Prove Me now in this if I will not open the gates of heaven, and pour out a blessing upon you until you will not be able to hold it.’”  Where did the blessing come from?  Is it from the tithe in the storehouse? No, it came from heaven, but God waits for the people to give of their tithe first then He unlocks the gates of heaven and the blessings flow.

We must not make as an excuse, “I have little power.  I have one talent.”  The servant, with one talent, if he did business with it and obeyed his master, his master would have opened the door of opportunity and would have prospered him.  We may see ourselves as a small group of people.  You may be waning in your faith about the land for our monument, for our Cathedral as a testimony to God and to the nation.   It is not our power; He knows our deeds.  He knows whether with that little power, we trust and obey Him and we use that little power that He has given in the first place.  We use it and He would unlock with His key.  Doors will open and great things will happen and our enemies would bow down before us because He would cause them to bow down before us.

This is what He teaches us.  He has all authority.  We should not look to owners of land because they are not really owners of the land.  God makes them store those properties for the righteous; and when the righteous prove with their deeds, their righteousness, then God would release, using His key, that which the unrighteous has stored and would give it to the His people, the righteous ones.   He appoints them to do so.

God is blessed –Father, Son and Holy Spirit; but also, blessed is His kingdom.  He is in authority.  He has blessed His kingdom and He opens doors for them when they act according to His blessing them.  We need to understand that He teaches us.  Only to Him should we look because He is the One that can make things happen.

Psalms says, “Do not trust in princes or in mortal man.”  You cannot hope in them. It is vain to hope in them.  They may seem like they are owners of possessions but it is God who has the key.  He unlocks and locks at will, but He would lock and unlock according to our faith and obedience to Him.

When the fullness of that time comes and we have shown our righteousness and our trust in Him, then shall come that prophecy, “The mountains will be made low.  The humble valleys, that which has little power, with one talent, will be exalted. The power and pomp of nations shall pass like a dream away, and the righteous will make a highway for our God so that He can come in His glory and share His glory with His people.”

There is a song that we sing on Holy Saturday morning whose title is, “He Holds the Keys”.   We see what Jesus did on that day.  One line of the song says, “And to all the things that have kept you away, that keep you defeated day after day after day.  The heartache that nobody sees that eats at your soul like a cruel disease, He who set the captives free it is He who holds your keys.”

God is the answer to all our miseries, the answer to all our problems.  When we have proven Him in our lives, then we show those who need to see it too; how that He does that for anyone who would trust in Him and obey Him.  That prophecy will be fulfilled and people who have seen what God can do for His people, they will say, “Show us your ways.  Lead us to the mountain where your God is. We now see what He has done for you, how that with your little power, He has done great things for you and unlocks doors for you.”

This is the God that we serve and the God that we are encouraged to trust in and obey.  Our limitations don’t matter.  We can magnify those limitations or we can realize we may have little power, but God is the One who holds the keys and it is in Him that we trust!