What Is the Key of David? Unlocking God’s Authority for Breakthrough
The Key of David is a spiritual principle taught in both the Old and New Testament, and I believe it’s going to help you today.
In Isaiah 22, we see Isaiah during a time of significant strategic change of leadership in the temple. A prophecy came regarding the ungodly leaders defiling the temple. For a season of time, these leaders would be replaced by a godly leader God was empowering to bring righteous change, and the Bible says:
The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; so he shall open, and no one shall shut; and he shall shut, and no one shall open (Isaiah 22:22 NKJV).
This is an obvious indication of authority being delegated to someone for the task of advancing the Kingdom of God, of bringing a righteous cleansing into the house of God, and a just outcome into the unjust circumstances. He called it the key of the house of David.
Jesus adopts these words in the book of Revelation:
And to the angel of the church of Philadelphia write, “These things says He who is holy, He who is true, ‘He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens’” (Revelation 3:7 NKJV).
In the first chapter of Revelation, Jesus appeared to John, and He wasn’t five foot seven inches with long hair, sandals, with a rope for a belt. No, He was as tall as the Empire State building. His voice sounded like Niagara Falls. His skin shining like the sun.
I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death (Revelation 1:18 NKJV).
Jesus was saying He stripped from the devil the power of eternity; he could no longer consign people to his jurisdiction. Jesus has the power now. Jesus holds all the keys.
Remember, He gave to us all the authority in Matthew 28:
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20 NKJV).
Jesus was telling us that He gave His authority to win the nations to us. In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus further opens the authority that we have. Here, He beautifully invited the disciples into a learning lesson:
When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus answered and said to 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 also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:13-19 NKJV).
At the outset of this lesson the disciples spouted off different opinions that the culture had about Him. Jesus knew these things, so He drilled down on their beliefs. Who did they say He was, after spending time with Him? We will face this same question at a time in our lives.
This is the most important question that you’ll ever have to answer in life: Who do you say Jesus is?
It’s interesting to note that it was Simon the fisherman, the one known for sticking his foot in his mouth, who answers the question correctly. He knew who Christ was and spoke it out. I always imagined Jesus as being surprised who got the answer right. This fisherman was uneducated, didn’t have a religious education, or even a secular education. And Jesus’ response confirms that it could only have come from God the Father. Simon’s knowledge was given by the Father.
His answer leads to Peter getting a new name—Simon the reed became Peter the rock. The man who was potentially the most unstable of all 12 disciples is the one about whom Jesus says is the rock the rest of the guys are going to talk about. Others see Peter as someone who is unsure of himself, but he really is a rock. “Upon this rock, the revelation of who I am,” Jesus says, “I will build My Church.”
The Rock of the Church is the revelation that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. This revelation is the founding stone, the core doctrine that the Church will need as the gates of hell open wide in the end times. Please remember this as we enter into more and more difficult times—the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church that Jesus has built.
The Church belongs to Jesus; the devil cannot defeat it. No matter what things look like, or you hear people saying about the future of the Church, the Church is God’s idea and Jesus is the Author, Initiator, and Lord of the Church. Jesus said the devil himself cannot defeat His Church.
To top it off, Jesus gave us the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever we bind on earth shall be bound in Heaven. Whatever we lose or permit on earth shall be permitted in Heaven. Jesus is telling us, “I have the authority. I’m sharing it with you. So, you represent My purposes; build My Kingdom with these keys.”
What do keys do? They lock doors open or lock doors shut. They allow things to happen, or they stop things from happening. Often the Church asks God to do things He has already empowered us to do.
The Key of David
…He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens (Revelation 3:7 NKJV).
Jesus is the One who opens all the doors. I’m so glad Jesus—in eons of time before the creation—spoke out my name and your name. He chose us before the foundation of the world to follow and love Him.
Every demon in hell could not stop Jesus when He opened salvation to us and we walked into the blessing of a new life in Him. Jesus bound the devil, and He proclaimed that what He opens no devil can shut. Because He has given us the same power, what we open in the name of Jesus no devil can shut.
Christ took and developed the key of David, then gave it to us as sons and daughters of the King. David did things that no other had ever done in Israel. He didn’t just do them because God really loved him. God did it for David because he walked in the fullness of the beautiful identity he had been given by God. David was anointed king at age 30 by Judah, and then seven years later the northern tribes—the other 11 tribes—anointed him; he was not king over all Israel. He united the kingdoms.
The first thing he did, we read in 2 Samuel 5:6 (NKJV):
And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who spoke to David, saying, “You shall not come in here; but the blind and the lame will repel you,” thinking, “David cannot come in here.”
There are all kinds of interpretations to that verse, but I simply see it as them saying, “Our weakest, most broken people people can defeat your strongest warriors.” Why did they think this? For a thousand years, the Jebusites had been undefeated. They become arrogant; their hubris spilled out over the wall as they shouted down at David—but God would not be defeated:
Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David) (2 Samuel 5:7 NKJV).
In one day, David did with the help of God, what others could not do in a thousand years.
Then David said:
Whoever climbs up by way of the water shaft and defeats the Jebusites (the lame and the blind, who are hated by David’s soul) he shall be chief and captain… (2 Samuel 5:8 NKJV).
David incentivized his leaders, challenging each to be first into the city using the “key,” going through the water shaft. Joab got in first and became captain of David’s army.
Then David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the City of David. And David built all around from the Millo and inward. So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him (2 Samuel 5:9-10 NKJV).
What had been a stronghold of a foreign nation serving a foreign god for a thousand years became a stronghold for God in a moment. God wanted what belongs to Him to come back into His Kingdom. He wanted them to repossess what He owned. He wanted them restored, and He wanted them correctly named. The devil has tried to establish in our world and in our generation things that can never change. They are strongholds that we should not even try to overcome. But God wants us to be like David, use the keys He gave Jesus, and change what the devil meant for evil to good. We are to break every stronghold. Read this again:
Then David dwelt in the stronghold, and called it the City of David. And David built all around from the Millo and inward. So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him (2 Samuel 5:9-10 NKJV).
The city of David grew to become Zion, the most talked about mountain in the Bible. It is the hill where the tabernacle would be established—the Tabernacle of David. With the help of God, David has now conquered the unconquerable and defeated the undefeatable.
David carried inside him properties that allowed him to do things he could never do, go places he had never been, and achieve things he had never achieved. God had called and chosen and anointed him to do it—and you are too. You can do the same because the Holy Spirit in you is the same then as He is now.
Everything you need to fulfill the purpose of God for your life is in you now. Why? Because He put it there. Every giant you are going to face, the Holy Spirit has the weapon you need to defeat it.
