The “keys to the kingdom” symbolize God’s authority to grant or restrict access to His rule, a power that belongs to Jesus by divine right. Isaiah 22:20–22 depicts Eliakim receiving the “key of the house of David,” representing delegated authority to act in God’s name, foreshadowing Christ’s ultimate authority (Psalm 24:1–2; Isaiah 45:22–23). In the New Testament, Jesus gives Peter the keys in Matthew 16:16–19, symbolizing the responsibility to declare God’s will and the terms of salvation that determine eternal destiny. Some traditions claim Jesus wrestled the keys from Satan between His crucifixion and resurrection, but Scripture shows this is a misinterpretation: hell (Sheol/Hades) is a temporary holding place, Satan has never had authority over human souls, and Jesus had already possessed authority over death and Hades (Luke 16:22–23; Revelation 1:17–18; 20:11–15). Any limited authority granted to Satan, such as over the bottomless pit in Revelation 9 and 20, does not affect humanity’s eternal destiny. The keys to the kingdom emphasize Jesus’ divine right to open access to God’s kingdom and the gospel’s role in determining salvation. Satan is a secondary actor with no power to override God’s sovereign authority.
There is a popular story that says that in between Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, He went down to hell and wrestled the keys to the kingdom from Satan. It implies that Satan held the power of death and the power to condemn men, and only after Jesus' death could He take that power. The story is based on a sequence of a few verses:
In 1 Peter 3:18-19, Peter says, "For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison…"
Psalm 16:10 in the King James Version says, "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption."
In Revelation 1:17b-18, Jesus tells John, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades."
The prophecy in Revelation 9:1-3 says, "And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth." The passage goes on to say the locusts tormented unbelievers for five months, but left the plants and the Christians unharmed.
Preachers have used these passages to say that Jesus went down to hell and wrestled with Satan, taking the authority to send people to heaven. There are several things wrong with this theory. First of all, Satan is not in hell and never has been. Hell doesn't exist yet. Revelation 20:11-15 explains that hell is the permanent place of torment for demons and those humans who reject God. But it will not be used until after the millennial kingdom (Revelation 20:7-10) and the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:15).
Language issues and ancient speculation have added to the confusion. An old story about Jesus descending into hell appeared in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus from AD 425, and was passed around so much it was added to the Apostles' Creed. Although both the Greek and Latin versions of the Apostles' Creed say Jesus went to "those below" or the "abode of the dead," the modern version includes the line "he descended into hell." It's likely the Old English "hell" refers to hades, not the eternal lake of fire. But since the use of terms such as sheol and hades had fallen out of style, the word "hell" was taken literally.
Much of this is speculation on the part of Bible scholars, but we do know this: between Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, Satan was not in prison. And there is nothing in the Bible to indicate Jesus interacted with him at that time.
Finally, the entire concept of Jesus having to fight Satan for the key and the authority to atone for our sins defies logic and gives far more importance to Satan than he warrants. When it comes to fallen man, Jesus' sacrifice, and our sin, Satan is a secondary character only. He does not have control over the eternal destiny of humans. He does not have control over hell—hell was created by God to hold and punish Satan and the other demons (Matthew 25:41). Satan influences people to rebel against God because he wants the attention and because he wants to defy God. But he has no spiritual authority over men except what men give him directly.
So Satan never had authority over who could enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus, whose sacrifice covered the sins of those in the Old Testament as well as we who live after His resurrection, always had that authority. The only keys Satan will hold are to the bottomless pit—the abyss—and only because he will be granted them for a specific time period.
Though the story of Jesus, Satan, and the keys to the kingdom of heaven has spread around the Word of Faith Movement, it is a misinterpretation of Scripture passages. Jesus did not fight Satan for the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
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