Page 69 - SoulWinning Crash Course

1. The context of this verse hints at dispensational considerations. After
Peter confessed who Jesus is, Jesus said to him in verse 17: "...flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
Today, we don't need a direct revelation from the Father to know who Jesus

is. "Flesh and blood" can tell us with scripture. Matthew 16:20 "Then
charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus
the Christ." Today, we are definitely not supposed to hide Jesus' identity!
So the "keys" were a temporary thing for a transitional period.

2. The "kingdom of heaven" is not "heaven". What most people think
about when they hear "heaven" is "the third heaven" (2 Corinthians 12:2)
where God lives, above the universe. The second heaven is what we call

"outer space" (Genesis 1:14-16), and the first heaven is the air on earth.
(Genesis 1:20, Leviticus 26:19) Since the first heaven envelops most things
between the clouds and the ground (Psalms 147:8), the Bible speaks of the
"kingdom of heaven" in terms that can only apply to things happening on
earth. For example: Matthew 11:12 "And from the days of John the
Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the
violent take it by force." The kingdom of heaven is a physical, earthly

kingdom that will eventually become Christ's Millennial kingdom
(Revelation 11:15, 20:4).

So "the keys of the kingdom of heaven" are not for controlling who gets to
"go to heaven," but something else, like how they are to hear about it...

3. The "keys" open "doors" which God already planned to open
independent of the key-holder's whims. In 2 Corinthians 2:12, Paul said "...I

came to Troas to preach Christ's gospel, and a door was opened unto me
of the Lord..."

Peter used his first "key" when he preached Jesus to the Jews after the Holy
Ghost first came in Acts 2. Peter used his second "key" when he preached
Jesus to Gentiles for the first time in Acts 10. When explaining that in Acts
11:17, Peter said "Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he

did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I
could withstand God?"