What is the
KEY of DAVID?

Q. What is the KEY OF DAVID and what does it symbolize? Does this key have ANYTHING to do with prophecy or understanding Biblical prophecy?

A. The phrase "key of David" only appears once in the scriptures:

"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the KEY OF DAVID.  What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open." (Revelation 3:7, NIV, emphasis added)

The speaker is the resurrected Jesus, whom John sees in a vision, and the message is to the church at Philadelphia. The one who is "holy and true" is, of course, Jesus, who "holds the key of David".

Exactly what is the key of David? The scriptures do not give us a direct answer to this question. There is a lot of conjecture and supposition on this subject but one should understand that the Bible does not specifically identify this "key".

That said, the one thing that made King David unique was the promise God made to him. God, speaking through the prophet Jeremiah, prophesied of the descendent of David who would bring salvation. God reiterates His covenant with King David:

"'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

"'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line;  he will do what is just and right in the land.  In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.  This is the name by which it will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness.'

"For this is what the LORD says: 'David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, nor will the priests, who are Levites, ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.'

"The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: "This is what the LORD says: 'If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant -- and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me -- can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne.  I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.' "

"The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: "Have you not noticed that these people are saying, 'The LORD has rejected the two kingdoms he chose?' So they despise my people and no longer regard them as a nation.  This is what the LORD says: 'If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed laws of heaven and earth, then I will reject the descendants of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.' " " (Jeremiah 33:14-26, NIV)

Some have speculated that the covenant would require a physical descendent to be ruling over at least some portion of Israel down to our present time. One explanation of this can be found in Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright, written by J. H. Allen, which traces the lineage of David down to the royal family in England. Mr. Allen makes a powerful case for his point of view, which this writer tends to believe for the most part.

The problem with considering this to be a physical, ruling king of the present time is that the covenant also covered the Levites [Jeremiah 33:18]. We know that since the time Jesus became our High Priest, the Levitical priesthood has had no function (see Hebrews 7-10). Some have explained this problem by saying that Jesus, a descendant of David through Mary, now rules over "spiritual Israel", the church, and will in the future once again physically rule over Israel on this earth. That still does not explain the question of the promise of the Levitical priesthood remaining functioning and offering burnt offerings and sacrifices, which parallels the promise of a ruling descendent of David.

There is no concrete answer to this dilemma and we should be careful about establishing our beliefs on conjecture, or formulating doctrines based on such conjecture.

However, Jesus and His apostles have given us the plan for our salvation and that salvation DOES NOT depend on our interpretation of the "key of David." It is, indeed, one of the most fascinating areas of study in the Bible but we should not claim to know for certain what this means. Each of us will have to decide for himself its meaning and its purpose in understanding God’s plan for man.

"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.  And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love." (1Corinthians 13:12-13, NIV)

The meaning of the Jeremiah scripture and the key of David rank high on my list of things to learn about when, God willing, I get the opportunity to ask for such explanations in the future.