When a hero is acknowledged by a certain town or community, it is tradition to give him/her the “Key to the City.” This symbol represents access to the treasures and authority over the city’s populace. 

Nowhere is this act more illustrated than Jesus’ life and sacrifice. Because we could not live sinless, 100% righteous lives to gain access to a relationship with Holy God, Jesus paved the way, offered the needed forgiveness, debt payment for all of us. Revelation 1:18 tells us this heroic achievement afforded Christ the “keys to death and hell,” authority over human life and eternity. 

Our response? Wise people recognize this golden opportunity and seek the key Christ offers, gaining access to God, His Kingdom on earth and ultimately in Heaven forever. This is freedom in the most important way, from the slavery of sin’s power and eternal judgement. 

Our second response is clearly dictated by the Key-Giver in Matthew 6:14-15: For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. 

We must forgive others. Sigh. This is often hard. Forgiveness is not a feeling; it is a heroic act of the will. In Islam, the culture I lived in for seven years, forgiving others is not an obligation. It is encouraged, heralded as a good thing, but Muslims seem to have the option to not forgive when it is “too hard.” 

Many other religions see Jesus’ self-sacrifice as weak, ridiculous, a loss of status when in truth it releases power to gain the freedom we all crave. Instead of lives controlled by sin, bitterness, distrust, paranoia on earth and insecurity for eternity, we can gain the Keys of the Kingdom Christ offers and have power to forgive, live in peace with others and look forward to Heaven.