Luke 11:52, commentary and pictures

The key of knowledge is the knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus Christ whom He sent, which gives eternal life to all who believe and opens heaven to them. The Jewish lawyers and teachers who claimed to explain divine truth took that key away, for they would not themselves accept Christ and enter in, and they actively hindered the poor, afflicted, unlearned and perishing who were seeking to enter and believe. The key also unlocks the treasure house of wisdom in the Old Testament Scriptures, to be held in every hand to open God's treasury of precious truth. It is taken away whenever those entrusted with God's law and word pervert or displace it, refuse evidence that conflicts with their ideas, make plain statements mysterious by their explanations, and misinterpret and misapply the Word to an opposite meaning. The same woe falls on priests, pastors and ministers today who cling to forms and creeds, test doctrine by custom and the fathers rather than the Bible, neglect the flock in ignorance, and block seekers by prejudice, denunciation and threats, instead of proclaiming truth openly so souls may be enlightened and saved.

The Key and Its Keepers

The key of knowledge is the knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus Christ whom He sent, which is eternal life to all who believe. It is the key that opens heaven, and the lawyers took it away because they lacked that knowledge themselves and hindered others who were seeking it.

The key is the means to unlock the treasure house of wisdom in the Old Testament Scriptures. It must not be taken away but held in every hand to open the storehouse of God's treasury containing precious gems of truth. Holding it requires no cramping of the intellect but walking in the light, putting off self-righteousness, seeking the righteousness of Christ, wanting none of self and all of Jesus, and receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost without shutting off the giving of what is truth. Searching for truth as for hidden treasures gives more earnest and penetrating vision, opens greater wonders and mines of truth in the mystery of revelation, and brings angels beside the craving mind to lead it into green pastures.

The rabbis and teachers who in Christ's day should have held the key and used it to unlock that wisdom took it away. They virtually shut up the kingdom of heaven from the poor and the afflicted, and shut it against the poor and unlearned, leaving them to perish. Christ restored the key by making every point clear and distinct in His discourses, by not bringing many things before the people at once lest He confuse their minds. He did not disdain the repetition of old and familiar truths in prophecies when they would serve to inculcate ideas. He came to proclaim the gospel to everyone, learned and unlearned, rich and poor, and He restored truths that had been stripped of their life and set among error, giving them renewed power for the benefit of future generations.

The Jewish priests, elders, and lawyers claimed to explain divine truth yet withheld its knowledge from the people. They did not themselves accept Christ and the truth, and they actively hindered others who were seeking it from coming to the words of eternal life and believing in Him. They did this from pride and self-righteousness and from opposition to Jesus and resistance to His teaching. They feared He would turn the people from their teachings and cause them to lose influence and support, and they would not admit they were wrong about Him as Messiah, so they hardened the people against Him.

The same condemnation falls on priests who cling to old forms and customs like the scribes and Pharisees and are jealous of reform. They fear that new light will turn people from their creeds and dogmas and divert support into other channels, and they do not test doctrine by the Bible but by creed, church custom, and the practices of the fathers. They block the people from Bible truth by exciting prejudice, by looking with suspicion on all who do not fully sustain their church, by denouncing as heretics those who instruct the people in Scripture, by stirring up the authorities against them, and by using commands and threats to prevent their members from going to hear Bible preaching. Pastors who are ignorant of Scripture and of God's power and who neglect their flock also take away the key, for they do not enter into truth themselves and hinder those who would enter, leaving people perishing in ignorance.

How the Key Is Taken Away

Those entrusted with God's law and word perverted or displaced what had been entrusted to them, persisted in rebellion like earlier generations rather than reforming, and set themselves up as judges over those moved by the Holy Spirit to speak God's word, thereby hindering seekers.
The key is taken away by refusing the evidence of Scripture because it conflicts with one's own ideas, then using objections, wordplay, or changing subjects to avoid acknowledging truth and to confuse others.
Taking away the key means refusing to yield to evidence and refusing to humble oneself to receive fresh light by searching the Word, reasoning upon false premises, making clear statements mysterious by explanations, and misinterpreting and misapplying the Word to give it a meaning opposite to truth, wresting the Scriptures to one's own destruction and to the destruction of many others.

Ministers repeat the sin of the lawyers when they refuse to hear and be convinced and will not themselves enter into the sanctuary of truth to receive knowledge of truth from the Word, especially the Sabbath truth that calls for self-denial and self-sacrifice.
They take the key from the people by perversion of the Scriptures and wresting the Word from its true meaning, hindering those who were entering in to be saved from error and disobedience.
Every step gained in reaching the people then requires a hard constant battle that must not stop but go forward by lifting up the standard and planting memorials of truth that will bring conversions.

Religious leaders who refuse to investigate Scripture with teachable, candid, receptive minds shut themselves off from its light, fail to enter a deeper knowledge of truth, and hinder others from receiving it, resisting the message and working to turn people against the messenger God sends.
Ministers who refuse the last message of mercy take the key from the people by keeping back the saving truth the people must receive, refusing to accept what God sends by His messengers and refusing to fairly investigate the Scriptures to see if it is true.
They claim for themselves the promises made to commandment-keeping people while transgressing the law, trampling it underfoot, speaking contemptuously of it, and placing themselves beside the great rebel who brought sin into the world.
They eat up the good pasture and foul the deep waters by appropriating the richest portion of the Word and making the law contemptible before a wicked world.
God is against these shepherds and will require His flock at their hand, cause them to cease from feeding the flock, and deliver His flock from their mouth.

The key is taken away by dictating how divine light must come and marking out the course it must take.
God is willing to bestow great light on those who open their hearts to its divine rays and works in His own appointed way, so a controlling spirit, suspicion, and unwillingness to accept light in that way fails to receive it and hinders and turns others who would enter.
Unless the attitude quickly changes the woe will apply.
The key is also taken away by closing the door of the heart for fear some ray of light shall come, failing to see light oneself while carrying truth to the people and therefore closing the door to others and preventing the rays of light from coming to them.
The verse therefore calls for ever searching for truth as for hidden treasures, needing greater light and clearer understanding, and receiving precious old truths in new light in the very way the Lord sends them with humble, softened hearts, a warning belonging to this highly favored people upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Leaders take away the key when they sit in the gate deciding what the people should have and what they should not have and what they may receive, refusing to enter truth themselves and hindering seekers.
They act as unfaithful stewards facing vengeance and do not bear the seal of the living God, and all in responsible positions must be solemnly afraid of being found unfaithful in this time.
Taking the key into one's own hands can keep even one other person from truth in darkness, as when a self-willed husband leads his wife to rely on his claimed knowledge rather than the truth known by faithful servants of God, making him a hindrance to her.

Those entrusted with religious knowledge keep the key from others by refusing to enter the light through blindness and pride of opinion, refusing the pure gospel, clinging to a legal religion that teaches salvation by one's own merit, and allowing compromises with popery that threaten religious liberty and obstruct reception of the gospel and perception of danger.
The verse warns to proclaim truth openly so people may be enlightened.
By contrast the key is received when right principles are presented judiciously and people with investigative, receptive minds discover truths that enrich other minds and help save souls, with words and actions shaped by love and reverence for God guiding people toward righteousness and truth rather than hindering them.

Holding the key requires no cramping of the intellect but walking in the light, putting off self-righteousness, seeking Christ's righteousness, wanting none of self and all of Jesus, and receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost without shutting off the giving of truth.
Searching for truth as for hidden treasures gives more earnest and penetrating vision, opens greater wonders and mines of truth in revelation, and brings angels beside the craving mind to lead it into green pastures.

Warnings to Lawyers and Leaders

The rebuke to the lawyers falls on anyone who turns legal work against Christian principles and helps obstruct God's work, warning against joining unjust schemes that hinder the advancement of truth and the saving of souls.
Christ's woe falls on lawyers who deal unjustly with others and exact strong, overcharged fees, especially in business connected with the Lord's work. One who keeps the fear of God before him in every case strives for justice and equity and receives reward, but one who listens to a corrupting adviser has judgment perverted and tries to make unrighteousness appear as justice, leaving dishonesty upon his profession. An unseen messenger records every exaction in the books of heaven, and judge and lawyer must meet that traced account in the heavenly courts on the great day of final accounts, where shrewd dealing will cost far more than had been calculated.
The woe exposes perverting truth and using false moves and legal documents to carry one's own way instead of Christ's calm, truthful, loving order, taking advantage of others by binding heavy burdens on them. Such ungodliness has no part in the kingdom of God, and condemnation will come on all transgressors of God's law who depart from the right. The woe against lawyers who do not obey God's law, which Christ came from heaven to make known, rests on hearts lacking that law whose corruption leads to dishonest violation of its principles, as shown by fraudulent conduct connected with San Francisco and Oakland.

The verse condemns preparing formulated papers to fasten and bind up means for medical missionary sanitarium work and pressing people to sign them with no surety they know what they sign. Placing such a deceiving power in men's hands to take advantage of donors is not to be encouraged and is not the right way to procure means, for it diverts stewards' means needed in new places and produces perplexity, distress, confusion, disappointment, and loss of confidence in leaders and in Dr. Kellogg. The denunciation can fall on professedly believing lawyers if they permit things that in any way undermine trust in the medical missionary work or the ministry, and God will take them in hand. Such legal work is perilous, and each must take heed where he goes so as not to help others take wrong steps and destroy themselves.
Those entrusted with religious knowledge bring woe by withholding that knowledge, failing to enter it themselves, and using position or conduct to obstruct rather than help seekers. This includes allowing practices that undermine truth or protecting and supporting those who do so instead of standing up to correct them, which puts them in spiritual peril and may lead to their own loss. Like the ancient Jewish leaders, modern rejecters of truth keep others from it, as when ministers at Wellington spread prejudice against the work, would not enter truth themselves, and hindered those who wanted to enter. The Jewish teachers rejected Jesus as Messiah because accepting him would require admitting they were wrong, and they hardened the people against him, so those who do not accept the light God sends must not obstruct others who are ready to receive it.