Revelation 3:7 *
Dear Friends in our Advent King, Christ Jesus:
In the past two Advent services we have considered the Biblical descriptions of our Savior used in the ancient and beloved Advent hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.”
Two weeks ago we heard Christ described as “the root of Jesse,” calling to mind that the promised Savior, according to His human nature, came from the line of Jesse, the father of great King David. And as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus has rescued us from Satan’s tyranny.
Last week we heard Christ described as “the Dayspring from on high.”
“Dayspring” is a reference to
the light of dawn, and we were reminded that just as people look forward to the
dawn of a new day chasing away the darkness of night, so God’s people look
forward to the coming of the “Sun of
Righteousness.”
Today we want to consider the Biblical image found in the last verse of the hymn, where we sing
O KEY OF DAVID, COME…
“Key of David” is a little known but interesting title for Christ. As we heard just a moment ago, we find it used in the New Testament Book of Revelation. But in order to understand it, we have to go back to a little known historical event found in the Old Testament…
Speaking through the prophet Isaiah (22:22), the Lord
says: “I will place on his shoulder the
key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts, no
one can open.” These words refer
to a man named Eliakim. The man who had
been holding the position of treasurer, or steward, over the royal household in
Evidently, Shebna was a proud man who was interested in using his position to further himself. So God said He was going to depose him and put Eliakim in his place. As an indication of the power and responsibility that went with this office, Eliakim would now be given “the key to the house of David,” meaning control over all the royal treasures. God expected that Eliakim would use this power faithfully and wisely for his people.
Since Jesus applies these words to Himself in the Book of Revelation, Eliakim is, in this respect, a type or symbol of Christ. As the man who had the keys to the royal treasury, Eliakim had full control of the material blessings of the kingdom and the authority to bestow or withhold them. In the same way, Jesus has the keys to all the treasures of heaven and the power to bestow or withhold them according to His will…
So that’s the historical connection behind this title of Christ. Let’s spend a little time now on the concept or illustration of Jesus being our “Key.” In order to do that, I’d like you to silently think through and answer the following questions:
Have you ever lost your car keys? Have you ever locked your keys in your car? Have you ever placed your keys in the trunk – and then closed it? Have you ever forgotten your house key and found yourself circling around the house hoping you had been negligent in locking all the doors?
If you are married, have you ever had a conversation along these lines: “Honey, I’m getting ready to go but I can’t seem to find my keys. Could you please check your purse/pockets to see if you have both sets? Because I really can’t go anywhere without my keys…”
It really is quite interesting, is it not, how a couple of two inch pieces of cut metal can control our destinies – at least temporarily? A key is important because without it a car won’t start or a door stays locked and we can’t go where we want to go or be where we want to be. Keys open things for us, and we need them…
And that, of course, is what Jesus Christ does for us in a spiritual sense. So we sing, “O come, O Key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home.” Jesus Christ is the key to us residing in our heavenly home.
How so? Let’s push the illustration a little farther. Please imagine one of those old fashion keys – the ones we see in the movies that open up jail doors. They have a long shaft with an open circle on one end, and the other end has a piece of metal, or prong, hanging down from it. Let’s think of Jesus as key with three prongs…
The first prong represents His sinless life. This is what God asks of us. But sinners that we are, we can’t deliver. We sin. So Jesus took on our flesh and blood, became
our brother, and did in our place what we couldn’t do. The inspired author of the Book of Hebrews
put it this way (
The second prong represents His sacrificial death. Through the prophet Ezekiel God tells us the soul that sins is the one that will die. And in the Book of Romans we are told “the wages of sin is death.” In both cases God is referring not just to temporal death, but eternal separation from him in a very real hell. That is mankind’s great problem.
But Jesus is the great solution. He died in our place, as our substitute. His death satisfied God’s righteous justice against our sins. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us…” writes the Apostle Paul.
And the third prong is His glorious resurrection. How do we know Jesus carried out His mission successfully? Again, Paul writes of Jesus: “He was delivered over to death for our sins and raised to life for our justification.” Jesus’ resurrection is God’s declaration to the world that His Son did everything necessary to redeem the world. And as Jesus put it: “Because I live, you also will live.” Eternally.
Jesus’ perfect life as our substitute, His sacrificial death
as our substitute, and His glorious resurrection as proof that it all “took” is
the three pronged key that opens the door to heaven for us. And through the faith in Christ that God has
created in our hearts, He has graciously placed this key in our spiritual
hands… and, in the words of our hymn, “made safe the way that leads on high.”
There is an additional benefit the “Key of David” provides for us.
He “closes the path of misery.”
What is misery? How would you define it? Is it a feeling (like, “I feel miserable”)? Is it an attitude that one chooses (all of us know people who aren’t happy unless they’re not happy)? Is it a state of mind that one has the power to control (like the saying, “pain is inevitable, but misery is optional”)? Perhaps.
But real misery goes beyond that. I would suggest the definition of true misery as not having God in our lives. True misery is a spiritual malady which exists independently of one’s outward circumstances. There are lots and lots of people who, by their own admission, walk the path of success on the outside but trod the path of misery on the inside.
Because we possess the Key of David, we’re not among them. But what if we were? Think about that. What would it be like if God was not at the center of our lives, and Christ was not at the core of our existence. What would that mean?
Without God, how would we deal with our difficult times? How would we approach death – either our own or of our loved ones? How would we react when things don’t go as planned?
What would life be like without the promise of salvation in John 3:16? Or the promise of God’s ultimate guidance and
oversight in Romans
That would be misery. But that path has been closed off to us. The Key of David has locked us out of that place. How blessed are we?
As we bring our Advent devotions to a close this year, I’d like to share a little information with you that you might find of interest, and make some final remarks on the theme we’ve considered these last three Wednesdays…
The verses of the 9th century Latin hymn "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," are derived from the "O ANTIPHONS". An Antiphon is a short devotional composition used by the church as a part of its liturgy. Originally there are seven verses. In our hymnal we have four…
These seven great "O's" originally mark the last week of Advent. One was sung each day until Christmas Eve. They summed up the longing of Advent as they depict the desperate plight of humanity in need of a Savior, and address Christ with seven grand titles, pleading with him to come save his people. The verse we know as the first was actually the last, climactic verse in the series.
In Latin the letters which begin the titles form an acrostic S-A-R-C-O-R-E which when reversed spells ERO CRAS meaning "I shall be there tomorrow." In other words, this is the answer (spoken the day before Christmas!) that echoes back from the One to whom the people call.* [* This information came from “Worship Map: Story of O Come, O Come Emmanuel” found on the internet.]
In a sense, then, we haven’t used this hymn the way it was initially intended, because we don’t gather for services the last seven days before Christmas. This is our final public midweek devotion, so our Advent preparation now becomes personal.
Nevertheless, may the anticipation of the great promise of Christ embodied within the structure of this hymn, “I shall be there tomorrow,” encourage us this final week of Advent as we await the “coming of Emmanuel.” Amen.