Caller: My question is “Whatever is bound on earth is bound in heaven, and whatever is loosened on earth is loosened in heaven”. What does that mean?
Pastor Doug: Well, what Jesus –shall I read that whole thing in its context? It’s from Matthew 16:19 and what Christ is saying just before that also helps. “Simon Peter said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God’, and Jesus said, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you but my Father which is in heaven’.
And He says, ‘You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church”. Now here He’s talking about the declaration of Peter is the Rock upon which Jesus is going to build the church. ‘And I will give you the keys of the kingdom’—now He’s not talking to Peter, He’s talking to all the disciples who are there in this dialogue. And He says, ‘I’m giving you the keys to the kingdom meaning, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. They had the freedom, in delivering the gospel to people, to make an eternal difference. What they did on earth would be seen in heaven. People who are…. Evil spirits and habits that were bound on earth would be bound for the world to come and it was saying that those who were loosed from those things would be loosed in the world to come.
What they did on earth would last for eternity is all that Jesus is saying here. You want to hear an interesting Amazing Fact, since you waited so long, Walter? Did you know that, of course the Catholic church believes that Peter was given the keys to the kingdom and there is a statue of Saint Peter in the Vatican. And in the hand of Saint Peter’s statue are these keys. In March, his hand came up missing. Did you hear that? The hand was attached it had been repaired once before so it was attached with a metal rod, and they discovered one day that someone had stolen Peter’s hand and so you could say the Vatican lost the keys to the kingdom.
That was interesting fact that I read on the news today. They may have found them since then. This dates back to—I read this in Reuters News Agency from March, so I hope they’ve found the keys by now. But that’s not what the keys were. God does not deliver the power of salvation to any one mortal. Do you agree?
Caller: Yes.
Pastor Doug: Okay. Thanks for your patience, Walter, I hope that helps.
Caller: Thank you.