Dwelling in God’s Heart – The Key of David
Dwelling in God’s Heart – The Key of David.
“I am inside My Father, and you are inside Me, and I am inside you.” (John 14:20).
During the Biblical era, the heart was seen as the center of the body, so the reasoning was that therefore the heart was the center, the core, of every person. The heart was viewed as that which housed everything about a person that made him human… emotions, thoughts, motivations, inspirations. The heart was the central part of the inner life of each person, a home to the essence of each person, and represented a person’s personality, character traits, actions, thought process. The heart was the source of love and faith, as well as hate and sin.
With that in mind, God of course has a heart. The only reason each person has a heart is that we were all made in God’s image, therefore we all have an inner home within that operates as a source of what is true and distinctive about each of us. Yes, God has a heart that is bigger than the universe, an inner home that is able to contain everything and everyone. God had been on the lookout for a “person after God’s own heart” as He searched for a suitable King of Israel to replace Saul. (1 Samuel 13:14). The closest man God could find was David, but even the best of men are not perfect. But God knew all along that there was only one Man who would perfectly reflect His heart as a King… His Son Jesus. Jesus was the tangible image of the intangible God, and so it was Jesus who was perfectly able to reveal God’s heart on earth. If we wonder what makes God tick, that will remain a mystery. But Jesus did reveal the inside of God’s heart-home. So as we explore something as incomprehensible as the heart of God, at least, through Jesus, we have something to get us started. The heart of God… full of grace and truth.
Jesus fleshed out the spiritual heart of God, and in fact is somehow inside His Father’s heart. The Father is so intimately in union with the Son, that they are somehow inside each other. And going a step further, we are inside Jesus when we begin to trust in Him and accept Him into our own heart. In the kingdom of God, we find unions popping up everywhere… Christ inside the Father; the Father inside of Christ; Believers inside of Jesus, and at the same time Jesus inside of believers. “Dwell inside of Me, abide in Me, make yourself at home inside of Me, and I am inside of you.” (John 15). “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives continuously inside me, and I live inside of him.” (John 6:56). “God has given us His Spirit as proof that we live inside Him, and He inside us.” (1 John 4:13). “Those who obey God’s teachings remain inside Him, and He inside them.” (1 John 3:24).
Even though the phrase “accept Jesus into our heart” is not in Scripture, we get the picture. Accepting Jesus into our hearts means we receive Him into the very core of our being, into the centerpiece of who we are, affecting everything about us. When we receive Jesus into our heart-home, our identity becomes His, the essence of our personhood is intimately wrapped into the essence of Christ’s Personhood. When we make our home in His home, He miraculously become a resident inside each of us as well. And when we experience that Double Union with Jesus Christ, we discover that our spiritual location is inside of the very heart of God. In other words, if the Son is inside the Father, and we are inside the Son, then logically we are inside the Father! By dwelling in the Son’s heart, we dwell in the Father’s heart as well. By living inside the “Person after God’s own heart,” we find ourselves inside God’s heart! As Paul claims in Colossians 3:3, believers are “hidden within Christ, inside of God.”
What should we expect to see inside of the heart of God? At this point, we can only imagine the interior of God’s house, but we have some clues. Scripture reveals some of Gods’ character through the ages, His personality, His actions, His Self-descriptions (Exodus 34). Through the Bible, we can even read a little bit of God’s eternal mind. And then of course, Jesus fleshed out God’s temperament and revealed much of God’s heart during His ministry on earth. May we be so bold as to take a guided tour through the home-heart of God in our imaginations? What would we expect to find waiting for us as we are escorted through the inner home of God?
Way back in 1954 there was a creative little evangelistic tract produced by Inter-Varsity Press, written by a pastor named Robert Boyd Munger. He entitled his brief tract, “My Heart – God’s Home.” I recommend it if you find it. Following up on Revelation 3:20, Pastor Munger imagined a believer opening his door and escorting Jesus through the home of his heart, now that Jesus has taken up residence in him. Now that Jesus dwells in him, and He has moved into his heart, what will Jesus see there? So the believer in the tract proceeds to give a tour of his heart-home with Jesus as he welcomes Christ into his heart. Together they tour the person’s study, dining room, living room, workroom, recreation room, bedroom and hall closet. I thought this was an engaging idea, but now I would like to give the other side of the story. Jesus lives within us, to be sure. But we also live within Jesus, hence inside the very heart of God. So if the Father was to give us a guided tour of His heart, what would we find? What will be waiting for us to discover in the many rooms of God’s heart? We could easily entitle this, “God’s Heart -My Home.”
Like anyone’s home, God’s heart will reflect His attitudes, motivations, personality, character traits, His heavenly “tastes” in interior décor. God’s deeply held convictions will be revealed in His heart-home, as they are in our own hearts. Using Scripture as our guide, we will explore God’s heart as we make ourselves at home and abide in Him. We will explore everything from the front porch to the front door, the living room to the dining room, from the kitchen to the study to the chapel. And many more rooms as well, like the bedroom, the bathroom, and the sick bay. There may be a sneak peek at the family room, the children’s playroom, and the school room. And could there be a rooftop vineyard as well?
“… and He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on His shoulder the key of the house of David; whatever He opens, no one can shut, and whatever he shuts, no one can open.” (Isaiah 22:22); “These are the words of the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shall shut, who shuts and no one opens.” (Revelation 3:7).
The Key of David. Once someone has even the slightest interest in the Lord, interested enough to stand on the front porch of His heart-house, this person will be directly facing a beautiful door, the main entrance. This hand-carved oaken door is clearly the only way to enter into God’s house. Standing at the door, one would naturally wonder if it is locked. This person, like most of us, would start a little conversation with himself. What do I do if it’s locked? I don’t have the key to the front door, and I don’t know where I could even find it. There must be a key here somewhere, maybe under this flower pot. Nothing there. Or how about under this big Welcome Mat? Yes! There’s the key, and there’s a note attached to it. The note says, “You have found the Key of David, but you don’t have to use it to enter God’s house. If you’re interested enough to find this key, then the door will be unlocked. Just open the door and walk through the entranceway into God’s house.” Interesting. Obviously, whoever has the Key of David has the authority to control access to the Father. And it appears that the front door holds the Key of David! I wonder why the key is in the shape of the Cross?
So I enter the house of God’s heart, and immediately I am welcomed into the Living Room, a casual, comfortable room that had loving conversation filling the atmosphere, and everyone seemed to be offering their peaceful presence to each other. Since it was centrally located in the Living Room, the bright flames in the Fireplace drew me, and I was in awe being in the presence of the heavenly fire of God’s glory. It looked like His glory set the tone for the whole house. I continued exploring what God offered to everyone who entered into God’s heart, and the Study came into view, where the students were focused on digesting His Word and gaining the mind of Christ. Then I heard lots of loud, joyful voices in the room nearby, and sure enough there was the Dining Room, where a large boisterous group of people were sitting around a huge table, enjoying delicious food, celebrating the blessings of life inside God, singing and offering toasts, and being grateful for each other. I peeked into the Kitchen at that point and saw that this was where those meals were prepared, but also where the life-giving fresh bread was safely stored. Pure water was continually available for everyone at the golden tap.
Near the Kitchen and down the hallway was the Chapel, privately situated so I could enter into that sacred space whenever I wanted and have more intimate conversations with God through His Spirit. This wonderful Chapel allowed me to be inside the Holy Spirit, and there was nothing like it that I have ever experienced. Next down the hallway was the Family Room, where children and family and marriage were honored and celebrated. Everyone seemed to enjoy each other’s company here and considered it a safe place to practice those “one another’s” that are so important in community life. The children’s Play Room was right next door to the Family Room, and kids of all ages were able to be louder, more expressive, and explore wherever their child-like heart wanted to explore. They would play games, use their imagination in creative ways, and enjoy the innocent freedom of childhood. Interestingly enough, I discovered the School Room right next to the Play Room, aa if they were connected in spirit somehow. The School Room was kind of like a children’s museum with interesting things to discover and experience, as well as a library and writing room, and the children were all curious about this and that, and wanting to cooperate with the whole learning process. The school master was managing the room with a very effective mixture of love and firmness, full of grace and truth, and it was obviously a place where the students love to learn and learned to love each other as well.
I continued to explore, and almost walked right by the Clothes Closet, where there was an attendant who held up a new wardrobe for me to put on. I obviously had to remove my old clothes in order for me to put on the new clothes. The smiling attendant said that I needed to clothe myself with the Son, put on His new identity over me, and wear His suit of love. After putting on my new set of clothes, I ventured further down the hall and found this huge Workroom, and sure enough the Father and the Son were both in there working hard to create new babies and generally sustain the world. When I poked my head into the workroom, they both asked if I would like to work right along with them as they love the world and renew it daily. After joining them for a while, I walked into the exercise room next door, where I was trained to vigorously practice the truth after I hear it, and to offer worship as a spiritual exercise using body and soul.
This huge and inspiring house in God’s heart has a Sickbay down the hall, where we can be treated for any type of injury or illness we might receive, whether in heart, mind or body. God wants us to be healthy, to flourish, and so He makes sure we don’t hesitate to use the “healing room” if we need it. After all that time in the exercise room and then the work room, I see the need to have a room right nearby where we can wash off and be cleansed, inside and out. The cleansing room has also been used as the baptismal if we want to follow Jesus in that way. It is strongly suggested that we do so. The bedroom is next door, and this is where we can invite an intimate union with God, a Double Union in fact, where our life inside God’s heart is made official, and God can begin His life inside our heart. And then I spy out a secret spiral staircase that leads up through the ceiling and into the rooftop. God has planted a very fruitful vineyard on the roof, where it can get so much sunlight and rain and fresh air. God’s vineyard is His special way of teaching me that I need to be grafted onto the True Vine of His Son, and become just as fruitful as His grapevines on the roof. Evidently, I won’t even bear one grape unless I am living inside the Vine.
Well, I loved every minute of this tour of God’s heart-house, where I can make myself at home and enjoy my eternal union with Him. And to think I didn’t even need the key of David, because the Door was Jesus, David’s Messiah, and He was in charge of the key! The Son is the only entrance to the Father’s house (John 14:6), and It seems to make perfect sense that the front Door key was named after David… Messiah Jesus was in David’s family bloodline, God had a special promise that the Messiah would come from David’s family, and David was a man after God’s own heart. The name David means, “Beloved,” so the Father continued David’s family tradition by calling Jesus “my beloved Son” at both the Baptism and the Transfiguration. So apart from the Key of David, Jesus has the keys to the universe, all the authority and power to govern this world (Matt. 28:18), as well as the New Jerusalem coming soon.
I made my decision, or was it in a sense made for me? My dwelling place is right here inside God’s house. I want to remain here and make myself at home. God’s heart-house is too inviting to turn down, and the Door invited me to “abide” here forever. How can I refuse?
“O come thou Key of David, come, and open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, and close the path to misery,
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!”