O Clavis David/O Key of David

O Clavis David,
et sceptrum domus Israël,
qui aperis, et nemo claudit,
claudis, et nemo aperuit:
veni, et educ vinctum
de domo carceris,
sedentem in tenebris,
et umbra mortis.

O Key of David and scepter of the house of Israel,
you open and no one can close,
you close and no one can open:
Come and rescue the prisoners
who are in darkness and the shadow of death.

Keys represnt authority. The one who has the keys has authority. Shebna was King Hezekiah’s chief-of-staff. He held the keys to the palace. He misused his authority by having his tomb carved where kings were buried and to enrich himself at his master’s expense. The servant wanted to be king. And so he was stripped of his office, and Eliakim was called to replace him. Shebna had to turn in his keys. It’s a warning to those who hold authority not to use it for personal profit. 


God used this little bit of palace power politics (see above) to prophesy something greater in Isaiah's words: “I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” These words are applied to Christ in the Revelation. He is the one “who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens.”

Turning from God's love closes doors on us. It makes our lives a prison house of fear. Like the disciples in the upper room on Easter evening, we are locked up into ourselves, locked away from others. We are in bondage - in darkness -  and cannot free ourselves. No matter how much we struggle against the chains and rattle the bars, we are unable to break out of the prison.

But Christ has come and entered the prison house. He turns the key to our prison cell. He is the key, the key that unlocks us from the Law and breaks the chains of death that bind us in fear. He sets us free to live as free children in His free city.

Jesus is the key of David, who opens and no one can close, who closes and no one can open. And He entrusts the keys to His church, to bind and loose from sin in His name. He established the office of the keys in the church, that is, the office of priestly ministry. Through the reconciliation of a penitent, a priest turns the key that unbinds you from your sin and frees you. No pastor does this on their own authority, but by the authority of the church and of the One who is the Key of David.

Advent helps us recall and rejoice at being forgiven, of living in the freedom of forgiveness, of delighting in the Key of David that releases us from the confinement of sin.

-- adapted from the meditation by Pastor William Cwirla