Revelation 3:7–8: “‘To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write the following: This is the solemn pronouncement of the Holy One, the True One, who holds the key of David, who opens doors no one can shut and shuts doors no one can open. I know your deeds. Look, I have put in front of you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, but you have obeyed My word and have not denied My name.’”
This is Jesus Christ telling us—telling you—about Himself, starting with “the Holy One, the True One.” And there is something here: “who holds the key of David.” What does that even mean?
What do we see with David? We saw God do something new with David. God established a dynasty, a kingdom, through David (2 Samuel 7:12–16). God signaled a rejection of the old and the placement of David on the throne—on an everlasting throne, a throne without end. So we can see Jesus Christ also in that shape. Jesus is the Lamb of God, as opposed to the numerous other lambs whose blood was shed repeatedly in Israel’s history for sin (Hebrews 10:1–4). Jesus is that Lamb of God (John 1:29), signaling the establishment of something permanent and doing away with something old because of its disappointing nature.
God did away with Saul, who disappointed God, and established David—as a type of the Christ (1 Samuel 13:14; Acts 13:22).
What about the temple? We see repeated establishment of a temple in Israel. We had the tabernacle in the wilderness. We had the temple built by Solomon. We had the temple demolished because the people were disobedient to God. We had a temple rebuilt after the exile. The last temple was destroyed around AD 70. But who is Jesus Christ? Jesus Christ is now the temple—God in the flesh (John 2:19–21).
What about Adam? Adam was the old creation (1 Corinthians 15:45–47). All these things—the people involved in the old ways—would not have imagined something else coming. When God called Saul to be king, he could not have imagined failure. Nobody was planning that there would be a failure from Saul and that David would have to be chosen to come in. God told Samuel, “I have chosen another… a man after My own heart” (1 Samuel 16:1; 13:14). “I’ve found a replacement.”
So in a way, we are talking about Jesus Christ as the second Adam, the greater David, the true temple.
This idea of “holding the key of David,” and “who opens doors no one can shut, and who shuts doors no one can open,” is talking about someone with absolute, total control. Someone for whom there is no one “more than” Him. Someone for whom there is no one coming after Him who will now be greater than Him.
John the Baptist said, “After me comes one who is more powerful than I” (Mark 1:7), pointing to Jesus. But not with Jesus. He is the One—the only One. Not one of the holy ones; He is the Holy One. Not one of the true ones; He is the True One.
He is the One who holds the key of David—talking about absolute, complete, total authority.
God bless you. See you later.