The Keys of the Kingdom

To my son,

               Yesterday as we did a little scripture study we read this verse: “For I have given him the keys of the mysteries, and the revelations which are sealed, until I shall appoint unto them another in his stead” (Doctrine and Covenants 28:7). Here the Lord was speaking about the Prophet Joseph Smith and how he was given the keys of the priesthood to do the work of the Lord in these latter days. You are familiar with keys that we use to drive the car: someone must have them and use them to turn the car on and take the family somewhere. We can all ride in the car and get to the destination together, but only one person at a time has the keys and can use them to drive the car. This is similar to how the keys of the priesthood work—all of us are blessed by the priesthood, but only designated people hold keys that allow the work of the Lord to take place. These are not physical keys like those you can put in the ignition of a car, though; they are the permission to lead and direct the Church in a certain area obtained by the laying on of hands by someone who has the authority. For example, our Bishop holds keys to direct our ward: he gives callings for people to serve like your primary teachers, he enables baptisms to take place like your brother’s recently, and he helps young men like you one day to receive the Aaronic and then Melchizedek priesthoods. For the Church as a whole there is only one who holds all the keys to direct the work and reveal to us the things that the Savior would have us know: “There is never but one on the earth at a time on whom this power and the keys of this priesthood are conferred” (Doctrine and Covenants 132:7). I know that President Russell M. Nelson is that person on the earth right now and that as we follow his teachings we will be blessed by the Lord in our lives.

               When the Savior was on the earth He gave priesthood keys to His chief apostle named Peter. He said this about six months before His death: “That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19). When the Savior ascended into heaven after His resurrection and spending time teaching His apostles, Peter became the leader of the saints and moved the work of the Lord forward as the one holding keys. It was that same Peter, any hundreds of years later, who visited the Prophet Joseph Smith with James and John to confer those same keys upon him. Those priesthood keys are what enabled him and his successors to guide the Church by revelation. I love this story about President Kimball who was one of those successors that Elder Hales recounted: “At the Copenhagen Denmark Area Conference held August 3–5, 1976, President Kimball went to see Thorvaldsen’s beautiful sculpture The Christus, the resurrected Christ, which has been reproduced, as you know, for the visitors’ centers in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and New Zealand. After a few spiritual moments admiring The Christus, President Kimball bore his testimony to the caretaker who stood nearby. As he turned to the statue of Peter and pointed to the large set of keys in Peter’s right hand, he proclaimed: ‘The keys of priesthood authority which Peter held as President of the Church I now hold as President of the Church in this dispensation.’ Then he stated to the caretaker, ‘You work every day with Apostles in stone, but today you are in the presence of living Apostles.’ He then introduced President N. Eldon Tanner, Elder Thomas S. Monson, and Elder Boyd K. Packer. He presented the caretaker with a Book of Mormon in Danish, and bore his testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The caretaker was moved to tears in acknowledgment of the Spirit he felt in the presence of a prophet and Apostles. He acknowledged to me as we left the church, ‘Today I have been in the presence of servants of God.’” I know that President Nelson is indeed a prophet of God and holds those same keys to direct the work of Jesus Christ on the earth today. I hope that as you think of your own name you will remember the apostle Peter and how the Savior directs His work today through living prophets.

Love,

Dad