What if someone handed you your own set of keys to the kingdom of heaven—keys that could never be lost and that worked every time on a lock that never changed? This is essentially what happened to Jesus’ disciple Peter, as related in the book of Matthew (see 16:13–19). Jesus asked if the disciples recognized who he, Jesus, was, and Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus approved this answer with the words, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar–jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 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. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

But was Peter the only disciple who received this gift? While Peter may have answered before his fellow disciples, Jesus’ response was, in essence, giving each of them—and each of us—the same set of keys. After all, the kingdom of heaven isn’t a physical place that we need to find and unlock. It doesn’t have a lock. It cannot be locked, because it’s spiritual and infinite—the totality of God’s creation. The Bible tells us that God is the only creator and that His creation is wholly good. If God, Spirit, created all, then that which is real and good, the kingdom of heaven, must, in reality, be spiritual and therefore present and totally accessible to all of God’s children all the time.

The Discoverer of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes, “Truth has furnished the key to the kingdom, and with this key Christian Science has opened the door of the human understanding” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 99). When our study of the Science of Christianity unlocks our spiritual understanding, we can’t help but see the kingdom of God, Love, as ever present and eternal and Love’s law as governing all. The “key” to opening the door to our understanding is first recognizing and acknowledging this always-present heavenly creator and creation and then acting on that. This is what made Peter’s declaration so important.