question on Matt 18:18

[Kat]

I have been looking at this scripture,
and I am trying to understand what is being referred to here in v. 18.
If anyone has any insite into the meaning of this, I would appreciate hearing it.

Mat 18:18  Truly I say to you, Whatever you shall bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in heaven;
and whatever you shall loose on earth shall occur, having been loosed in Heaven.
Mat 18:19  Again I say to you that if two of you shall agree on earth as regarding anything that they shall ask,
it shall be done for them by My Father in Heaven.
Mat 18:20  For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.

mercy, peace, and love
Kat

[orion77]

Hello Kat, I have often thought of that verse.  Many false prophets like to use that verse as if they have some power of their own, and use it in a way to attempt to destroy other peoples names and characters.

It brings this verse to mind:

(Deu 17:6 LITV)  At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses shall he that is to die be put to death. He shall not be put to death at the mouth of one witness.

When we are baptized unto His death, at that point the law of Moses is fulfilled as in Jesus.  Now it is bound on earth and heaven.  The law of faith is loosed on earth and in heaven for us now.

The Father and Son are two witnesses, and when His Spirit witnesses to our spirit, we are one, and now three witnesses, if that makes sense.  The law is bound and faith is loosed, for the righteous shall live by faith.

That is the way I see it, hopefully it will help.

God bless,

Gary

[orion77]

Kat, here is some more scripture that maybe can give us a better understanding:


(Isa 61:1 LITV)  The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is on Me, because Jehovah has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the meek. He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to captives, and complete opening to the bound ones;

(Isa 61:2 LITV)  to proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;

(Isa 61:3 LITV)  to appoint to those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of the spirit of infirmity, so that one calls them trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, in order to beautify Himself.


Those verses in Isiah are interesting, because we all know the righteous live by faith, and there is freedom or liberty in Christ, especially since the new covenant.



(Eze 34:25 LITV)  And I will cut a covenant of peace with them and make evil beasts cease out of the land. And they shall live in the wilderness securely and sleep in the forests.

(Eze 34:26 LITV)  And I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will bring down the shower in its season, there shall be showers of blessing.

(Eze 34:27 LITV)  And the tree of the field shall give its fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase. And they shall be securely on their land. And they shall know that I am Jehovah when I have broken the staffs of their yoke, and have rescued them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

(Eze 34:28 LITV)  And they shall not any more be a prey to the nations, and the beast of the land shall not eat them. But they shall live securely, and no one shall terrify them.

(Eze 34:29 LITV)  And I will raise up for them a noted planting place, and they shall not any more be of those gathered by famine in the land. And they shall not any more bear the shame of the nations.

(Eze 34:30 LITV)  And they shall know that I, Jehovah their God, am with them, and they are My people, the house of Israel, declares the Lord Jehovah.

(Eze 34:31 LITV)  And you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are men. I am your God, declares the Lord Jehovah.


These are comforting words from God to those who are not longer enslaved by the law the nations look to, but who live by faith, because the famine of the land, no longer effects us, because our bread is the word of God. 


(Hos 6:1 LITV)  Come and let us return to Jehovah. For He has torn, and He will heal us. He has stricken, and He will bind us up.

(Hos 6:2 LITV)  After two days He will bring us to life. In the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him.

(Hos 6:3 LITV)  Then we shall know, we who follow on to know Jehovah. His going forth is established as the dawn. And He shall come to us as the rain, as the latter and former rain to the earth.


The third day, here we are raised (spiritually) with Him and live and follow on to know God.  We are set free with that faith, which His gift to us. 


(Act 12:5 LITV)  Then Peter was indeed kept in the prison, but fervent prayer was made by the assembly to God on his behalf.

(Act 12:6 LITV)  But when Herod was about to bring him out, in that night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, being bound with two chains, also guards were keeping the prison before the door.

(Act 12:7 LITV)  And, behold! An angel of the Lord stood by, and a light shone in the building. And striking Peter's side, he raised him up, saying, Rise up in haste! And the chains fell off from his hands.

(Act 12:8 LITV)  And the angel said to him, Gird yourself, and bind on your sandals. And he did so. And he said to him, Throw around your garment and follow me.

(Act 12:9 LITV)  And going out, he followed him, and did not know that this happening through the angel was real, but he thought he saw a vision.

(Act 12:10 LITV)  And going through a first and a second guard, they came on the iron gate leading into the city, which opened to them of itself. And going out, they went on one street; and instantly the angel withdrew from him.

(Act 12:11 LITV)  And having come, Peter said within himself, Now I know truly that the Lord sent out His angel and plucked me out of Herod's hand, and out of all the expectation of the people of the Jews.


This is a cool story, even when only seen of the miraculous escape of Peter, but looked at spiritually, maybe there is something deeper here.  Notice he was bound in chains, and miraculously freed and plucked out of Herods hand, and importantly he was also freed out of all the expectation of the people of the Jews.  At that time the expectation of the Jews is the law of Moses.  Now he is free of it, and into the faith of God, because he was led out of the city.  Now we look for the new Jerusalem.


The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, is interesting for this thread.  It is in Dan.3:4-30.  It is a good read, a great story of faith.

(Dan 3:25 LITV)  He answered and said, Behold! I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the fire, and there is no harm among them. And the form of the fourth is like a son of the gods.


I am very thankful for God releasing His faith towards us, and setting us free and having hope in faith instead of actual physical laws.  Hope is let loose through faith, the law is bound, no longer having power over us.

God bless,

Gary

[YellowStone]

Kat asked:

I have been looking at this scripture,
and I am trying to understand what is being referred to here in v. 18.
If anyone has any insite into the meaning of this, I would appreciate hearing it.

Mat 18:18  Truly I say to you, Whatever you shall bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in heaven; and whatever you shall loose on earth shall occur, having been loosed in Heaven.
Mat 18:19  Again I say to you that if two of you shall agree on earth as regarding anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by My Father in Heaven.
Mat 18:20  For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.



Great Posts Gary

I too am thankful for God releasing His faith towards us.

Kat, this might shed a little light on your question too.


Mat 16:15 

• He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?

Mat 16:16 

• And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Mat 16:17 

• And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

Mat 16:18 

• And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Mat 16:19

• 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.

This next part may be a bit of stretch but I think it fits very well. What exactly are the 'keys of the kingdom of heaven'?

Act 10:13 

• And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.

Act 10:14 

• But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.

Act 10:15 

• And the voice [spake] unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, [that] call not thou common.

Following on.....I blelieve Peter learned the truth behind the Keys of Heaven.

Act 10:34

• Then Peter opened [his] mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

Act 10:35

• But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

I might be very wrong, but I feel that Peter learned a very worthy lesson. How dare he, or any one of us call anything unfit when God has made cleansed. This now adds a new meaning to the following words of John.

Joh 20: 23

• If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Did Peter learn the truth behind the keys to heaven? Did he learn that with his knowledge came great power? Or did he rather learn that he was not the one to judge, label and/or belittle. Who was he to withhold the keys to the heavenly kingdom. Was he God? Are we?

Kat, I learned a valuable lesson with this study and I would like to hear your thoughts on it.

May God keep you and yours safe in his arms.

Praise to God,

Darren

[Kat]

Hi Gary,

This was a lot more than I ask for 
You have shown me some really good scripture to consider here,
there is a lot to learn in this.
Thanks for taking the time to share this.

Darren,

I had not considered this scripture in this way.
Isn't it great when God shows you a certain combination of scripture,
that lead to understanding His truth.
Thanks for sharing that, it is another part of God's truth we need to know.

mercy, peace, and love
Kat