Jesus said something both wonderful and terrible when he said to His disciples, "Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained" (John 20:23). It was a parallel statement with the one in Matthew, "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (16:19).
As authority figures to other people (that is, parents, teachers, preachers/pastors), can we actually open or lock the gates of heaven to people? Jesus says YES! If in a fit of temper a parent tells a child, "You are lazy! You'll never amount to anything!" that child will have to carry that burden all his life unless somehow he finds the true gospel that gives him relief from that "burden." If a preacher/pastor tells his congregation similar Bad News, he can close the gates of heaven against children and youth. We may wonder why they drop out of the "family" when they reach their teens, but that was the reason. In a fit of anger, a husband/wife can tell his/her spouse words that wound forever: "There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword" (Prov. 12:18). Sometimes the words are so painful that they are like a barb--it hurts even to draw them out in repentance. You are indeed an authority figure even to your spouse!
But there's another half to that verse: "But the tongue of the wise is health." Yes, don't forget the Good News side to what Jesus said: we can say Good News to children and youth, yes to spouses, words that will be the opening of the gates of the New Jerusalem to their souls. Let us thank God for a new Today wherein we can apply some healing balm to the wounds we have made, and we can tell someone some precious Good News. There is nothing to thank God for more earnestly than that we have another day in which to receive His precious gift of repentance with another opportunity to use those "keys" the right way.
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: August 18, 1998.
Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.
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