O Antiphons: Day 4–O Clavis David
What keys represent
Isaiah had prophesied: “I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open” (22:22). Keys represent authority. In Isaiah 22, the servant Shebna had to turn in his keys to King David for his sinful pride. Those keys to the king’s treasury were then given to a humble servant named Eliakim. Eliakim was granted the right to dispense the temporal blessings upon the kingdom of David.
Eliakim serves as a type of Christ. The victorious Christ holds the key of David in His nail-scarred hands. He uses that key to unlock His heavenly Father and King’s treasury to dispense eternal blessings upon the Kingdom of God.
Sin has locked us out
Our sin has locked the door to heaven for us. It has thrown wide open the gates to hell. Sin makes our lives a prison of fear of death. Like the disciples in the locked upper room on Easter evening, we are hiding from our enemies, hoping death doesn’t find us. We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. No matter how much we struggle against the shackles and rattle the bars, we are unable to break out of prison. The eternal penitentiary of hell is waiting for us once death finds us.
The good news
But Christ has come and entered the prison. He endured the Law’s death sentence. He stormed the gates of death and hell with His death and His descent into hell. He holds the keys of death and Hades (Revelation 1:8). He uses the key of David to unlock our prison cell. He uses that key to slam shut hell’s cell doors and opens wide the gates to our heavenly home. He has smashed the shackles that bound us and broken the bars that held us fast. He has closed the path to misery and set us on the path that leads on high to heaven. He has set us free to live as free children in His free city.
The Key of David demonstrates that Jesus has authority. But not only does Jesus hold the keys, He is the Key. Jesus is the very Key of David who opens and no one can close, and who closes and no one can open (Revelation 3:7).
Michael Zarling
For the first 8 years of my ministry, I served at Faith Lutheran Church, an exploratory congregation in Radcliff, KY. I presently serve at Epiphany Lutheran Church and Wisconsin Lutheran School (WLS) in Racine, WI. I am also very involved with our youth as the WLS head soccer coach and the head counselor for WELS Training Camp, a youth camp for 3rd – 9th graders. I have been married to Shelley for 20 years. Together we have 4 beautiful daughters – Abigail, Miriam, Lydia and Gabrielle. We also have 2 dogs – Messi and Mia – named after Lionel Messi and Mia Hamm (the Zarling family really likes soccer!)
